Seige of Krishnapur

International Baccalaureate World Literature

The journey of the colonizer from the siege to the flight.

Based before the revolt of 1857, both the books the siege of krishnapur and the flight of pigeons, singnify the short period through which the colonised captured a few lands of the colonizer in India and moved towards harsh treatments imposed in the same manner as the colonizer did. The British start their journey into India by settling in and aiming to provide India with better infrastructural facilities and exposing them to western culture. After seeing the wealth in India, the British exploit the Indians in every way possible to extract the maximum from them in means of wealth and skill.

In both the books the natives revolt against the colonizer and take the British by surprise. In both the books the luxurious styles in which the British live are clearly prevalent in the books, the palaces they live in with Indian servants and their stupidness can also be seen as the men and women wear clothes made out of silk during the scorching summer heat. The unity of the British is dominant in both books, as we see that during the siege the British work together fighting against the natives while in the flight of pigeons the white pigeons referred to as the Britishers fly and land together.

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They begin their journey from the siege where they pass through all miseries of life, they go through situations which they in their wildest dreams would never have imagined to go through. The British are confined to the one residency in krishnapur where all the soldiers and their wives and children have taken shelter. They loose their people everyday and there are bodies piled up waiting to be buried, the smell of these corpses in unbearable. Soon the British are reduces to such animosity that they do not have water to drink nor food to eat. In such circumstances they make use of their surroundings. The women who are portrayed to be weak and feeble disprove themselves as weaklings and work with the men supporting them. Example of such women is Louise who is a very beautiful girl and has many admirers, she wears the same clothes for many days which are torn and she also helps doctors to cure the wounded patients. She has also suffered tremendously during the siege. Diseases have caught every person in the residency as many of the people have given up hope. The Colonizers use all their armaments, they use clothes to stuff up the canon balls and light them. Such brutality was never faced by the whites. The fight continues for a long period of time, but finally the British preside over the residency due the external help offered by other british generals. During the journey of the colonizer, there is an attack on the imperialism of the British, where there are mass killings of British officers in the church and then houses of al the Britishers are burnt down thus occupying the town of Shahjanpur. The revolt against the British is seen in many places and soon at Delhi where the natives are overthrown by the British due to planning and the unity that existed in the British Empire. The Book shows how the British capture back their land. The story revolves around Mariam And Ruth Labadoor who have escaped the revolt against the British and stay with their faithful servant Lalaji. During their stay, one of the head sepoys Javed Khan come into Lalajis house and take away Mariam and Ruth. He takes them to his house where he lays down a proposal of marriage to Mariam for her daughter Ruth. The british are afraid of the actions of the natives as they may prove to be notorious. The two ladies along with Mariam’s mother who is a muslim take shelter at Javed Khan’s house and are at the mercy of Javed khan, they prey for the re-establishment of the British rule. Mariams is portrayed as a very strong lady who stands up for her daughter. She is not afraid of death as she stands in front of the sword and asks Javed Khan to kill her and her family or none would be touched. The pigeons are the British who we see are omens for the natives who are superstitious. The two mother and daughter re-unite with the British after Delhi is taken over by them and then Shahjanpur.

In both the books the strife of the natives is noticed against the British. The Natives lack the skill of planning, unity and other modern techniques of war which prevail in the European society. In the Siege of Krishnapur the natives show no pitty for the British and are unfriendly towards them. Hari the son of the Maharaja praises European culture and men but yet he is taken in to custody by the collector during the siege and kept as a slave, who could reconcile the disputes between the natives and suppress their revolt. But is later released due the trust and friend seen by hari in the collector. In the flight of pigeons after the attack at the church and destroying all life and property of the British, Lalaji the native who was loyal to the Labadoors gave shelter to the Labadoor family and provided them with food despite of the ignorance showed by his family members and the threat to his life. Such loyal Indians also existed who would lay down their lives for British. But the British would not do anything to show their grateful gestures but instead exploit Indians and reduce them to mere servants capable of doing only laborious work.

The journey for the British may prove to be an eye opener for the coming years or it may just be another phase that passed by. The British then ruled India for another 100 years till India got their independence. The British went through the major hardships of life which were faced by the natives in their normal life. We can also compare Louise to Ruth, both are very beautiful and both have men running behind them, in the case of Louise its Fleury and in the case of Ruth its Javed Khan. In both the books towards the end only Louise and Ruth fall in love with their loved ones. While Fleury and Louise live together, Ruth and Khan don’t. Javed Khan has to leave Ruth as he would not falter on his own words as he was a true pathan. But we can see the love that Ruth now had for Javed Khan.

These books talk about the rise and fall of the British. But eventually the British triumph from the siege to the flight.