When Arrows Were Heated UP

Hari Ram Meena opens a forgotten chapter of Indian history – a movement culminating into an occasion of supreme sacrifice by Adivasi’s in Rajasthan’s Banswara area. Six years before the Jallianwala Bagh incident at Amritsar, Mangarh hills in Rajputana witnessed the death of several hundred tribals who stood up in protest against oppression of the Raj. They were surrounded by the forces of the British and native rulers. The Adivasi’s, under the leadership of spiritual guru and reformer Govind Bhagat, fought valiantly and died as martyrs. Sadly, the heart-breaking story has mostly remained unknown outside Rajasthan. It is one story that needs to be told and retold to generations of Indians. The author’s painstaking research and his understanding of local history and culture result in the detailed reconstruction of a tragic, yet glorious, saga that should remain permanently etched on the Indian mind.