---
title: India's Martyrs (Ghadar Party handbill, San Francisco, 1916)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ghadar-indias-martyrs-handbill-1916/
description: Ten head-and-shoulders portraits in a grid under the heading 'INDIA'S MARTYRS', with one footnote saying the ten are 'among the 400 who have been hanged…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![India's Martyrs (Ghadar Party handbill, San Francisco, 1916)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ghadar-indias-martyrs-handbill-1916.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ghadar-indias-martyrs-handbill-1916.jpg)

# India's Martyrs (Ghadar Party handbill, San Francisco, 1916)

Ten head-and-shoulders portraits in a grid under the heading 'INDIA'S MARTYRS', with one footnote saying the ten are 'among the 400 who have been hanged during 1915 and 1916'. The tell is the honorific plus the portrait gallery: named men who were executed are presented as martyrs, so the prestige of martyrdom is transferred onto the party's cause.

- **Date:** 1916
- **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi)
- **Made by:** Ghadar Party (Hindustan Ghadar), San Francisco
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Leaflet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=leaflet)
- **Issuer type:** [Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=movement)
- **Regime:** [Wilson Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=wilson-administration)
- **Leader:** [Woodrow Wilson](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=woodrow-wilson)
- **Audience:** [Diaspora or minority](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=diaspora-minority)
- **Purpose:** [Commemorate](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=commemorate)
- **Themes:** [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism), [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military)
- **Event:** [Ghadar Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=ghadar-movement)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Regime:** [Wilson administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/wilson-administration/)
- **Leader:** [Woodrow Wilson](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/wilson-administration/#woodrow-wilson)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons (scan from the Ghadar Party Collection, Berkeley Library, University of California)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ghadar_Party_Handbill_-_India's_Martyrs.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published in San Francisco, 1916, before 1931; Commons tag PD-1923) Hindustan Ghadar (Ghadar Party), San Francisco, 1916; Ghadar Party Collection, Berkeley Library, University of California, via Wikimedia Commons

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
GHADAR PARTY COLLECTION
[library stamp: BERKELEY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA]
[handwritten: 18]

INDIA'S MARTYRS

Kartar Singh
Gurdit Singh
Kanshi Ram
Amir Chand
Rahmat Ali Shah
Sohan Lal
V. G. Pingle
Jiwan Singh
Jagat Singh
Kehar Singh

The above are among the 400 who have been hanged during 1915 and 1916.

PHOTO COPR. "HINDUSTAN GADAR." 1916
```

Names are captions under the portraits, read in grid order (row 1: two; row 2: three; row 3: three; row 4: two). The Berkeley stamp and handwritten number were added by the library.

[← Die vier hohen Verbündeten mit ihren ersten Heerführern (The Four High Allies with Their Foremost Commanders)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/die-vier-hohen-verbundeten-postcard-1916/) [Gold gab ich zur Wehr, Eisen nahm ich zur Ehr (I Gave Gold for Defence, I Took Iron for Honour) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-gab-ich-zur-wehr-1916/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)