You also talk about the class factor in the uprising.
This is one of the aspects of the uprising not many people want to acknowledge. Nationalist historians will talk about the greatness of people like Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi and her opposition to the British, but much of the uprising was in Delhi and, from the morning of May 11 onwards, the largest number of rebels were lower middle-class workers, such as the Muslim weavers. Many of the Hindu insurgents, who came from Bihar and other parts of Uttar Pradesh, were also from the lower working classes.
On the other hand, the Hindu and Muslim elite in Delhi remained divided over joining the uprising. The poet Mirza Ghalib did not like the nature of pillage and killing. He wrote that he did not like the look of the rebels 'swarming through the open gates of Delhi, the intoxicated horsemen and rough foot soldiers (who) ravished the city.'
He saw the uprising more as a rise of the rabble of lower classes than about the fall of the British. 'Noble men and great scholars have fallen from power,' he lamented. He called the insurgents 'nameless men with neither name nor pedigree nor jewels nor gold,' and he complained that Zafar was powerless to repulse them.
What would you say is the most significant aspect of Zafar's life?
I make the case that while he has few backers in the history books and it is quite possible to see his life as a failure since he lacked heroism and did not make a solid attempt to prevent the collapse of the Indo-Islamic civilisation, he cannot be denied his place in history.
Like his ancestor, the Emperor Akbar, Zafar too became the symbol of an Islamic world at its most tolerant and pluralistic. Compare him to the rising tactics of Christian missionaries in India, and see how he looked at Hinduism. He, of course, could not share their (the British evangelicals') hatred of Islam but he did not have their arrogance and insensitivity in dealing with Hinduism.
He always emphasised the protection of Hindus and rejected the demands of radical Muslims. He believed in the importance of preserving the bond between his Hindu and Muslim subjects.
Image: Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last Mughal emperor. Seen as a failure since he lacked heroism, he has few backers in the history books.
Also see: Who divided India?
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