Revolt of 1857- Paper V

A mighty popular revolt broke out in northern and central India in 1857 and nearly swept away British rule it began with a mutiny of the sepoys or the Indian soldiers of the company’s army, but soon engulf wide regions and people millions of peasants, artisans and soldiers fought heroically for over a year and by their courage and sacrifice wrote a glorious chapter in Indian history. VD Savarkar—a revolutionary and ideologue of ‘Hindutva’ called it as Indians first national war of Independence in his book War of Independence. Interestingly, R.C Majumdar wrote that it was neither national nor war of independence.

Grievances of native rulers: An important reason for the outbreak of revolt was the controversial and unjustified policy of ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ imposed by Lord Dalhousie on Satara, Jaipur, Sambhalpur, Baghat, Udaipur, Jhansi, Nagpur. The adopted sons of these states were not recognised and they were annexed but the most controversial annexation was the annexation of Awadh in 1856. The Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah was accused of mis-governance. Although, its ruler always being faithful to the British. A large number of company’s soldiers from Awadh who had sympathy for the Nawab. Abolition of titles and suspension of pensions: Dalhousie abolished the titles of the Nawab of Carnatic and the Raja of Tanjore and refused to grant the pension to the adopted son Nana Saheb of the last Peshwa (Baji Rao II) after that the successor of Bahadur Shah II  would have to leave the Red Fort. Canning’s announced in 1856 that the successor of Bahadur Shah were to be known only as princes and not as kings.

Grievances of Sepoys: Discrimination in payment and promotions; mistreatment of the sepoys by the British officials; refusal of the British to pay foreign service allowances (batta) while fighting in remote regions such as Punjab or Sindh; religious objections of the high caste Hindu sepoys to Lord Canning’s General Service Enlistment Act (1856) ordering all recruits to be ready for service both within and  outside India: encouragement given to the Christian missionaries by the British army officers.

Grievances of orthodox and conservative people: Fear of the Indians (both Muslim and Hindu) due to the activities of the Christian missionaries and the protection and encouragement given to them by the British government; resentment of the conservative and orthodox elements against the social reforms and humanitarian measures introduced by the government, eg. Abolition of Sati (1829), legalization of Widow Remarriage (1856), spread of western education, etc.; Disaffection caused by the official policy of taxing lands belonging to temples, charitable institutions, mosques, etc-all of them alienated these sections from British.

Grievances of the Craftsmen, Peasants and Zamindars: Artisans and Craftsmen-Destruction of village industries and handicrafts due to the one-way free trade policy of the British. Peasants- Loss of their lands to the moneylenders due to the land and land-revenue policies of the British, Particularly the Ryotwari system, and their system of law and admission (which favoured the money-lenders at the cost of the peasants). Traditional Zamindar- Many of them lost their Zamindaris to the new class of urban-based absentee landlords due to the introduction of the Zamindari or the permanent settlement and the strict manner of revenue collection by the British.

Grievances of middle and upper classes: Due to their total exclusion from high administrative and military posts: ruin of those persons who depended on Indian rulers’ patronage of arts and literature.

Immediate Cause: By 1857, the material for a mass upheaval was ready, only a spark was needed to set it afire. The episode of the greased cartridges provided this spark for the sepoys and their mutiny provided the general populace the occasion to revolt. The new Enfield rifle had been first introduced in the army. Its cartridges had a greased paper over whose end had to be bitten off before the cartridges were loaded into the rifle. The grease was in some instances composed of beef and pig fat. The sepoys, Hindu as well as Muslims, were enraged. Mangal Pandey, a young sepoy of 34^th native infantry, was hanged on 29^th March 1857 for revolting single handed and attacking his superior officers. Although, the war ended in a defeat of the Indians by the English, it was definitely a civilian rebellion as its participants belonged to different sections of the community ranging from nobility to tribal groups. By terming it as a mere sepoy mutiny they were in fact justifying their rule in India.