Most discussions on the sepoy mutiny of 1857 have centered largely on the role played in it by the Mughal Emperor, the Nawab of Awadh and other sundry members of mostly urban nobility. What remained missing was ground-zero reportage of how ordinary people across the countryside experienced the rebellion, and described it to coming generations. In 1957, eminent Hindi writer Amritlal Nagar set out to correct this, as he travelled across villages and towns scattered across India’s heartland and painstakingly gathered reminiscences and popular ballads about the revolt, its celebrated and unsung heroes, its survivors and martyrs, and where and how various battles were fought. Ageing courtesans, bedridden octogenarians, nameless singers poured their heart out to him in Awadhi, and the slim volume he finally put together, Ghadar Ke Phool, made it clear even to the lay-reader that nothing can stop the spread of a revolution whose time has come.

Translated from Hindi for the first time, Gathering the Ashes is a poignant look back into history, and is extremely topical for a country now obsessed with bringing new revolutions to the forefront, through protest marches and candlelight vigils.