Most discussions of India's First War of Independence from British colonial rule in 1857 have centered on the role played by the Mughal emperor, the nawab of Awadh, and other sundry members of mostly urban nobility. What has remained missing from this coverage is how ordinary people across the countryside experienced the rebellion and how they passed their stories down to the following generations. In 1957, eminent Hindi writer Amritlal Nagar set out to correct this, travelling through villages and towns scattered across India's heartland and painstakingly gathering reminiscences and popular...
Most discussions of India's First War of Independence from British colonial rule in 1857 have centered on the role played by the Mughal emperor, the n...