In the 1857 Rising the war was lost but the seeds of a nation was sown on the battleground. The year long events encompassing the northern and the central part of the Indian subcontinent witnessed the fluctuating fortunes of the conqueror and the vanquished, the sepoys’defiance and the white rulers’ rage and revenge. Bengal was geographically far from the centres of combat and violence but the Bengalis with their deskjob skill were found in abound in the entire northern belt. They dreaded the nightmare of lawlessness of the previous regime and initially applauded the British victory. But the Rising broke the mutual trust, the English turned more racist and the Queen’s announcement rested in the paper. The middle class Bengali got little share in the administration or their land, low paid jobs and faced hundreds of discrimination. The egoistic Bengali fumed but could not revolt owing to his racial disabilities. He could not help saluting the unlettered rustic sepoys’ undaunted front. A new brand of nationalism emerged upon love of motherland. The Bengali literary stalwarts ventured patriotic writings in vernacular, the Bengali stage carried it among the common folk and the folk entertainers spread it to remotest corner. This book tells of those narratives reflecting cultural reversal. Learn More