THE DESTRUCTION OF

DELHI 1857

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After the rebel soldiers had established their control overDelhi, and had proclaimed Bahadur Shah as the emperor on11 May, they attempted to set up a new administration inDelhi. Till the end of June 1857 the main person who coordi-nated these efforts (including the major task of defending thecity) was Mirza Mughal who was the eldest surviving son ofBahadur Shah. Subsequently the leadership of the rebels, andof the administration of Delhi, was taken over by Bakht Khan.Bakht Khan arrived in Delhi at the beginning of July. The rebeladministration found it increasingly difficult to functionbecause it had hardly any access to resources. Wealthiersections of the city were unwilling to give money to them asthey did not have sufficient confidence in the rebel leaders.At the same time the pressure of the British forces increasedand the defence of the city became the main priority. TheBritish had meanwhile launched a counter-offensive. On 6

June 1857 they had defeated a large force of the rebels atBadli-ki-Sarai, a short distance from Delhi. They had thensucceeded in taking over the northern Ridge.

The British force numbered around 6500. Throughout thesummer months the British force remained stationed at theRidge. Then in mid-September 1857 it carried out a majorassault to capture the city. From the Ridge the (British) troopsmoved in the direction of Kashmere Gate. The gate wasstormed and taken. The attack was led by John Nicholsonwho was wounded and died shortly afterwards. By 20September 1857 the entire city had been taken over and therebels were defeated. Then began a period of vicious large-scale massacre of the rebels and the ordinary people ofDelhi. For about a week the troops killed able-bodied menindiscriminately. It is not possible to estimate the number of

people killed in the first six days of the assault, but the num-ber would have been well over ten thousand. Nearly 1400were massacred in just one mohalla-Kucha Chelan. The maintarget of course were the remaining rebel soldiers and theinhabitants of the Red Fort. However, sadistic brutality perpe-trated on a mass scale as a matter of official policy resultedin the entire population of the Walled City being driven out.The aged and the infirm, who had been unable to join thegeneral exodus, too were evicted from the city by the ordersof the military officials. Delhi was literally cleansed of allindigenous inhabitants, barring those who had been incarcer-ated (Bahadurshah Zafar being one of them). The nearly 3000prisoners were summarily tried and almost a thousand ofthese were executed.

The banished residents, numbering between eighty thousand

and a lakh of people, either fled to the surrounding country-side, or had to spend the cold winter months outside the citywalls, without any shelter, warm clothing or food. The mainrefugee camps were located around Nizamuddin basti and inthe Qutab-Mehrauli area. From January 1858 onwards non-Muslim residents of the city were selectively given permis-sion to return to the city. At the beginning of 1858 it was esti-mated that there were about 50,000 people within the citywalls (including a handful of Muslims). Muslims were allowedto return only from January 1859 onwards. Until August 1858no one was allowed to enter the city without a pass. The totalintramural population of the city was around 1,50,000 on theeve of the Revolt; it was less than one lakh in the early 1860s.

By the beginning of 1858 colonial officials were discussingvarious proposals for punishing Delhi. A proposal for razing

the entire Walled City to the ground, and erecting a grandmemorial on the site, was under serious consideration thougheventually abandoned. But large areas of the city weredemolished, especially the zone adjoining the Red Fort. Allbuildings within a radius of 448 sq. yards were levelled (onlythe Dariba was spared). This meant that the Faiz Bazar (lyingbetween the Fort and the Delhi Gate of the city) was demol-ished. The fairly densely populated area between the Fort andthe Jama Masjid was also destroyed, resulting in large-scaledislocation of the residents of this part of the city-an impor-tant centre of Urdu. There was also large-scale confiscationof property, especially property owned by Muslims. Moreover,several prominent Muslims remained under house-arrest forseveral years after 1857-58.

Amar Farooqui

Mori Gate

Samee House Battery

Hindu Rao House

Bahadur Shah Zafar as a prisoner, Right: Coronation portrait

Seige Batteries on the ridgeRed Fort, Naqqar Khana. Arched enclosures were destroyed

St James Church

Qudsia Bagh and Mosque

Metcalfe House

Fezorepur Artillery

Aerial view of city between Jama Masjid and Red Fort before destruction. !850 map below shows areas (colour) demolished by the British.

City demolished and cleared

Rubble of demolition

Jama Masjid from Faiz Bazaar before demolition

Delhi Bank

Faiz Bazaar, 1830

Delhi map, 1850. Coloured area shows British demolitions

SAHMAT 8 VITHALBHAI PATEL HOUSE, RAFI MARG, NEW DELHI 110001. TEL: 2371 1276, 2335 1424. E: sahmat@vsnl.com DESIGN: RAM RAHMAN PHOTOS: HARRIET, ROBERT TYTLER, FELICE BEATO, JOHN MURRAY, SAMUEL BOURNE. COURTESY: BRITISH LIBRARY, JIM MASSELOS

S A H M A T

Zinat Khass Bazaar, Jama Masjid

“ The light has gone out of India. The land is lampless. Lakhs have died and among the survivors hundreds are in jail. ”

Ghalib