His largely comfortable, though not uncomplicated life, is changed immeasurably one night when the sepoys of his own regiment mutiny, and the white population of the cantonements is brutally murdered.
Rodney Savage and a handful of others who escape, of whom the serious young Caroline Langford is one, end up at the palace of the Rani of Kishanpur, whom Rodney had previously been involved with. After another narrow escape, Rodney and Caroline are forced to fend for themselves in a frantic bid to save their lives. To add to their plight is the pressing urgency to warn others of the mutiny that is poised to spread throughout the country, and the problem of Rodney;s state of mind, that is forbidding him to think clearly.
This novel leaves a stunning image of the Indian Mutiny. What I found particularly harrowing was the development of Rodney’s mental decline, as he began to see everyone and everything as conspiring against him. Written almost entirely from his point of view, you see events through an increasinly distorted lens, that goes a long way in reacreating the sense of confusion and bewilderment of both sides. The only complaint I would have, is that his madness is solved almost too easily, but this speedy recovery does enable the storyline to move forward, as it has to do.
Like Forster’s ‘A Passage to India’, the relationship between Englishmen and Indians is explored, as well as issues such as honour, loyalty, and duty. The scene of the army officer refusing to believe that his own troops would ever mutiny returns time and time again with head-shakeable frequency. But it raises an interesting question. Is is better to believe that your troops will turn against you, or to believe that they won’t?
One issue I felt uncertain of, however, was which side of the conflict the book was meant to be on. The novel is dedicated to ‘The Sepoy of India 1695 - 1947’ and was published after independance in 1948, but is written from the point of view of a British army captain. There are also a few sentences referring to the empire that jar slightly with the idea that it is all for the sepoys. Overall, I think the author is trying to refrain from taking sides and just tell the tale. The horror at the sepoy’s brutality against the British is matched by the recoil from the effects of British retaliation. But is still can’t help feeling a little like unfinished business.
A word about the author
John Masters was born in Calcutta, India in 1914. After being educated in England, he returned to India in 1934 as a member of the Prince of Wales’s Own Gurkha Rifles, which then served on the North-West Frontier. He was the fifth generation of his family to serve in India.
He saw active service in Waziristan in 1937, and in Iraq, Syria, and Persia during the Second World War. In 1944 he joined the General Wingate’s Chindits in Burma. He fought at the Singu Bridgehead, the capture of Mandalay, and at Toungoo, and on the Mawchi Road. He retired from the army in 1948 ranked as Lieutenant-Colonel and awarded with the D.S.O. and O.B.E.
Shortly afterwards he went to the USA and turned to writing.
Bibliography:
The Deceivers, The Lotus and the Wind, Bhowani Junction, Coromandel!, Bugles and a Tiger, Far, Far, the Mountain Peak, Fandango Rock, The Venus of Konpara, The Road Past Mandalay, Nightrunners of Bengal.
Suggested Links
The East India Company Website
Bengal Army, Honourable East India Country