Tatya Tope Operation Red Lotus Parag Tope 9788129115621 Books
Download As PDF : Tatya Tope Operation Red Lotus Parag Tope 9788129115621 Books
Tatya Tope's Operation Red Lotus is a quest to understand the real history of the Revolt of 1857. It is a quest that led the Tope family to discover the dramatic battle manoeuvres of their ancestor the legendary Tatya Tope, as well as the true import of the war. The first detailed account of Tatya Tope, covering his entire campaign from the planning of the war to his death, Operation Red Lotus offers a surprising answer to the generations-old question of whether the man hanged on 18 April 1859 was really Tatya Tope.
Tatya Tope Operation Red Lotus Parag Tope 9788129115621 Books
This is a potentially important book, bot only because it employs the types of sources which many scholars of the Indian rebellion of 1857 have either ignored, cannot read, or simply deny. The book challenges us to employ new forms of historical thinking and I fear that,. for that reason alone, many historians (especially in the UK) may dismiss it. I cannot say that I agree with all of the explicit and implicit conclusions, but this is a challenging book that forces the reader to reassess their simplistic views of the events of the "Mutiny". Highly recommended.Product details
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Tags : Tatya Tope's Operation Red Lotus [Parag Tope] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Tatya Tope's Operation Red Lotus is a quest to understand the real history of the Revolt of 1857. It is a quest that led the Tope family to discover the dramatic battle manoeuvres of their ancestor the legendary Tatya Tope,Parag Tope,Tatya Tope's Operation Red Lotus,Rupa Publications,812911562X,History Asia
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Tatya Tope Operation Red Lotus Parag Tope 9788129115621 Books Reviews
Parag Tope's Operation Red Lotus is a must read for anyone who wants to know the complete truth about India's First War of Independence fought in 1857. The author highlights substantive evidence, some of it completely new in the form of recently untranslated letters, to argue that the 1857 War that lasted nearly 2 years involved considerable planning, leadership and creativity by the Indians. Chapattis (flat bread) were passed from town to town on the routes on which the "native" Indian troops planned their marches to major cities like Delhi and Kanpur. These chappatis were a signal to the civilians to feed and house the "rebelling" troops. Red lotuses were passed in sync among the "native infantry" regiments to ignite the flame of freedom, and also a practical matter of counting heads. Tope makes an important observation regarding the relative proportions of chappatis and flowers being passed around. Together they signaled the numerical strength of the marching soldiers. The author rejects the prevalent reasons put forth for India's defeat in the War as lack of planning and betrayal. He forcibly argues that the real reason for the defeat was the so called "Campaign of Eight" unleashed under the leadership of Havelock and Neil, most probably on direct orders from London. This vicious "defensive" campaign involved the horrible destruction of all the towns and its inhabitants who received chappatis. The English hurridly passed some "laws" to punish anyone who aided the "mutineers." In reality this involved wonton destruction of civilian life and property to "tranquilize" others who might have supported the War effort. The massacre after the fall of Jhansi was also a part of this terror campaign. Perhaps the most sensational finding by the author is about the death of General Ramchandra Pandurang Tope (Tatya Tope). According to the author Tatya Tope died in the battle fought at Chippa Barod currently in Rajasthan on the morning of January 1st, 1859. Tatya Tope was not betrayed by Man Singh that led his capture and hanging in April 1859. This conclusion is based on eyewitness testimony by Commander Paget, as well English internal communications regarding the identity of Tayta. The motive for this deception by Mead was prize money and knighthood. Havelock did receive knighthood for his "achievements" in the War. The name of Tatya inspired awe in the Indian population and struck terror in the hearts of the best English generals. The book contains dozens of well illustrated maps and diagrams regarding various troop movements and battles fought.
Parag Topé has made a significant contribution to the understanding of the events of 1857. In the book he not only demolished the popular British narratives of belittling the events as a mutiny by disgruntled soldiers but also challenged the shortsightedness of Indian historians and academics who simply parrot the British narratives without any of their own analysis or self introspection. He further points to the shortsightedness as an intellectual slavery from which the English educated Indian academic elite has neither been able to nor have tried to free themselves. The author rightly labels the events as the First Anglo-Indian war and provides ample justification.
The book provides explanations for many events that remained mysterious in the past especially the story of traveling chapatis and lotus flowers in the barracks. British historians were diverting focus away from them because they were busily covering up their lapses by labeling those events as "native superstitions". The mainstream Indian historians did not bother to probe any further. The author presents the roles of Nana, Tatya Topé, Rani Lakshmibai and others in a very cogent manner and makes persuasive arguments that add credence to his narrative. The reader with intellectual curiosity is fed with a feast of information which leads to a total reassessment of the 1857 Anglo-Indian war and the reasons for the Indian failure.
The key points of the new thesis in the book are
1. A major cause of the war was the East India Company's effort to impose Christianity on the Indian population.
2. The meticulous war planning by Nana, Tatya Topé and others and their vision of a liberated India with freedom for the populace.
3. The genocidal policy (the Figure Eight Campaign) of the British by which they completely destroyed most villages and murdered the entire populations along the Grand Trunk Road.
4. The episode of "Cawnpore massacre" resulted form British using their women and children as human shields. The tragedy of the massacre at Kanpur was the result of the genocidal actions by British and not the other way around.
5. The major reason for weakening Indian resolve to continue the war was the wholesale murder of the civilian population in Jhansi after its fall and it terrorized the population in Central India.
6. The brilliance and courage of Tatya Topé in conducting his campaigns in Central India and the inability of British to stop him.
7. Queen Victoria's proclamation of not interfering in the religious beliefs of Indians came as a truce offering to discourage the population from supporting the war effort..
The crux of the message of the book was saved for the last two chapters, 'Epilogue' and 'Hindsight-Foresight'. The two chapters provide a revealing commentary on the discourse of Indian history in our own time
First, it is the story of the politicians of the Indian National Congress hijacking history and claiming exclusive credit for the departure of British from India. The reality is that the British lost confidence that Indians would continue to obey their orders after the INA trials and the mutinies by the Indian Navy in Bombay and the army in the Jubbalpore in 1946. Further, the general population was becoming exposed to the first hand stories of defeat of British soldiers at the hands of Japanese in Malaya and Burma. Those stories had been blacked out of news media all through Second World War. The British ruling establishment had reconciled that their bluff of superiority that worked for two hundred years had run out of its magic.
Second is the tragedy of the Indian history being held hostage by the Marxists and the Indian academics who are under the intellectual slavery of the Macaulay influenced English education. Unfortunately this hijacked history has been accepted by the mainstream population which is an even greater tragedy. A nation which does not know where it came from and how it got there will not know where it is going, and will not get where it wants to.
"Tatya Topé's Operation Red Lotus" is a must reading all students of Indian history, for it logically resolves many of the puzzling events of 1857 war and provides the total picture in a clearer perspective.
The book tries to give behind the scene events that were not revealed by english historians. It found that it repeats the same point over and over again.
This is a potentially important book, bot only because it employs the types of sources which many scholars of the Indian rebellion of 1857 have either ignored, cannot read, or simply deny. The book challenges us to employ new forms of historical thinking and I fear that,. for that reason alone, many historians (especially in the UK) may dismiss it. I cannot say that I agree with all of the explicit and implicit conclusions, but this is a challenging book that forces the reader to reassess their simplistic views of the events of the "Mutiny". Highly recommended.
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