Mangal Pandey (The Spark that Ignited the 1857 Rebellion against Colonial Domination)

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The true and authentic story of the rebel soldier of East India Company will never be known in the absence of credible documents, accounts and records of that period. To make matter worse Indians have always been fact-shy and prefer fantasies. Because of the same mindset Indians never recorded their life through personal diaries or letter. For most of us Indians the life was dictated by social customs or traditions. So, individually there was nothing to write about being an insignificant cog of the social machine.

The 1857 rebellion threw up Mangal Pandey as the accidental hero of the sudden flare up of the pent up emotions. He was just one of bottom rung soldiers till then. Every one added his own imagination to construct the posthumous portrait of Mangal Pandey once he became a hero by default. Thus, no life story of Mangal Pandey is authentic. Even his descendents know little about him and precious little to offer as credible evidence. They are more interested in creating myths and cashing on their biological connections.

In such background this book has been written. It was like extracting a real human out of a phantom. Please read his story in that context. We have filled the gaps keeping in mind the logic, continuity and the common sense just like our vision fills up the blind spot with logical construction.

Mangal Pandey is our hero nevertheless.