DUDHNATH TIWARI

DUDHNATH TIWARI, a Sepoy with 14 Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry in British India, was convicted of mutiny & desertion during 1st war of Indian Independence in 1857 & was sentenced on 27th September 1857 by the Commissioner at Jhelum, to be deported to Andaman for life with labor in fetters. He reached Port Blair by Roman Emperor from Karanchi on 6th April 1858 & was allotted convict no 276.His name appears at S.Nos 7 in Andaman Cellular Jail document.

On 23rd April 1858 he escaped from Ross Island with 90 others, upon rafts built from felled trees bound together with tent ropes, into the jungle around Port Blair. The group wandered aimlessly, suffering from lack of food and water. After thirteen days of this, they suddenly found themselves encircled by a war party of about 100 native men (aborigines known as Andamanese) who immediately set about massacring the defenseless crowd. Dudhnath had been seriously wounded by three arrows when he managed to escape and hide. Two others had also done likewise. The next morning the three survivors tried to resume their wanderings but were spotted by a new group of 60 natives including women and children. They, too, attacked at once and again Dudhnath survived, by feigning death. The natives pulled him out of his hiding place and despite piteous pleading shot more arrows at him from a short distance. Again he survived. After playing dead yet again and then by pleading for mercy when the natives came up to him, to pull their arrows out of his body, his assailants finally relented. They looked after his wounds and took him to their camp. The incident is extreme but seems characteristic of the unpredictable Andamanese behavior. Dudhnath stayed with his group and moved all over southern Great Andaman and the Labyrinth islands with them, never staying long in one place. He adapted to his new circumstances, learnt the language, wore no clothes, shaved his head and apart from his slowly-healing wounds enjoyed the best of health despite the unhygienic conditions of traditional Andamanese life, we can only marvel at such resilience. The natives remained suspicious of Dudhnath, however, and never allowed him near a weapon. After about four months of this, the chief of the group suddenly and without discussion made over his daughter aged 20 as wife along with a much younger girl which Dudhnath mistakenly thought of as a second wife. The bridegroom later complained movingly about the lack of fuss surrounding his marriage.

During the following months of wandering, Dudhnath found out about a native plan to attack and loot Port Blair. He traveled with his group towards Port Blair until he could break away and warn the British. This he managed to do at the last possible moment on 17th May 1859, deserting his wives, at a time when, one of whom was expectant. The Andamanese attack is known rather melodramatically as the "Battle of Aberdeen." No one had thought the natives capable of organizing an attack on such a scale. Just as surprising to the British was the fact that the Andamanese could distinguish not only between convicts and jailers but also between the different ranks of convicts. Unless actively opposed, they left the ordinary convicts alone and concentrated their attacks on supervising convicts and British officers. It was to be the only such large-scale attack.This 'Battle of Aberdeen' of May 1859 was probably the worst case of genocide in the British colonial history of tribal encounters, a veritable slaughter causing a sudden decline in the number of young male Great Andamanese and thus threatening the genes and future survival of the tribe. The deaths of the young Great Andamanese resulted in a decline of population as they constituted the core of the reproductive age group. The consequence was a long lasting impact on the entire population, who could never make up the loss.Till last survey only one family of this tribe was surviving.

Dudhnath received an unconditional pardon from the British for his (heroic or cowardice?) part in the battle and was freed on 5th October 1860. He spent the rest of his life telling tall stories about his adventures among the savages.

Poor Andamanese had to pay such a huge price for trusting & sheltering an outsider.