This book is essentially about the heroes - Tatya Tope, Nana. Though the revolt failed in its objective, even in failure it served a grand purpose. A number of Indians began to suspect that the British intended to convert the Indian population to Christianity. Yet discreet inquiries soon revealed that many hundreds of chapatis were passing through his district, and through other parts of India as welleverywhere from the Narmada river in the south to the border with Nepal several hundred miles to the north. ThoughtCo. "[26] Their rule in India had begun with the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Host of Midian: the chapati circulation and the Indian Revolt of 1857-58. Studies in History 16 (2000);Christopher Hibbert. Measures of prevention of future crises naturally began with the army, which was completely reorganized. [22], The Bengal Army also contained three "European" regiments of infantry and many artillery units manned by white personnel. Or it might have been an aristocratic plot, set off too soon by the Meerut outbreak. The cartridge of the Enfield rifle was heavily greased - with animal fat, to facilitate an easier load into the muzzle. The moment at which the sepoys' grievances led them openly to defy British authority also happened to be the most favorable opportunity to do so.[24]. In contrast to their Indian predecessors, the British considered such refusals at times to be outright "mutinies" and therefore to be suppressed brutally. Order was restored by the firmness of Charles John Canning (later Earl Canning), first viceroy of India (governed 185862), whose title of Clemency was given in derision by angry British merchants in Calcutta, and of Sir John Lawrence in the Punjab. This meant that when they came to be threatened by modernizing regimes in Calcutta, from the 1840s onwards, the sepoys had become accustomed to very high ritual status, and were extremely sensitive to suggestions that their caste might be polluted. The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. Rich people like the merchants and moneylenders were, therefore, able to speculate in British land sales and drive out the most vulnerable peasant farmers. In spite of their apparently desperate situation, the British possessed long-term advantages: they could and did receive reinforcements from Britain; they had, thanks to the resolution of Sir John Lawrence, a firm base in the Punjab, and they had another base in Bengal, where the people were quiet; they had virtually no anxiety in the south and only a little in the west; and they had an immense belief in themselves and their civilization, which gave resolution to their initial desperation. Once the first rebellions took place, it was clear to most British commanders that the grievances which led to them were felt throughout the Bengal army and no Indian unit could wholly be trusted, although many officers continued to vouch for their men's loyalty, even in the face of captured correspondence indicating their intention to rebel. 24 October 2009. He was Amazon.com's first-ever history editor and has bylines in New York, the Chicago Tribune, and other national outlets. However much of this sense of the invincibility of the British was lost in the First Anglo-Afghan War where poor political judgment and inept British leadership led to the massacre of Elphinstone's army (which included three Bengal regiments) while retreating from Kabul. Map: Wikicommons. Narasimha Rao, The BJP becomes the largest party in the Lok Sabha, BJP reelection bids and tensions in Kashmir, Addressing COVID-19 and its economic impact. The Politics of a Popular Uprising: Bundelkhand in 1857 (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994);Mark Thornhill. Such measures were considered a valid negotiating tactic by the sepoys, likely to be repeated every time such issues arose. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. These recalcitrant troops were placed in irons, but their comrades soon came to their rescue. In Britain and in the West, it was almost always portrayed as a series of unreasonable and bloodthirsty uprisings spurred by falsehoods about religious insensitivity. Cookie Settings. Queen Victoria, at the prompting of Benjamin Disraeli, announced to Parliament that her Indian subjects were "happy under My rule and loyal to My throne.". On the fourth side of the . The system was subject to abuse, and the company used it to annex territories in a questionable manner. . Sympathetic rulers, such as Lord William Bentinck were replaced by arrogant aristocrats, such as Lord Dalhousie, who despised the troops and the populace. [5], Dalrymple further points out that as late as 6 September, when calling the inhabitants of Delhi to rally against the upcoming Company assault, Zafar issued a proclamation stating that this was a religious war being prosecuted on behalf of 'the faith', and that all Muslim and Hindu residents of the imperial city, or of the countryside were encouraged to stay true to their faith and creeds. To facilitate its passage, the cartridges were greased with tallow, which, in the U.K., was made of beef and pork fat. It is called the chupatty movement. . This revolt had shaken the foundation of . Western inventions such as the telegraph and railways aroused the prejudice of a conservative society (though Indians crowded the trains when they had them). Whether the cartridge was unballed or balled, it was necessary, in loading a muzzle-loader, to open the end of the cartridge. There at a stroke was an army, a cause, and a national leaderthe only Muslim who appealed to both Hindus and Muslims. This event and Pandey's subsequent punishment led to more resentment among the sepoys of the Bengal Army ultimately aiding in the Revolt of 1857.. E. Jaiwant Paul is a man of varied interests, having authored eight other books, including Rani of Jhansi, The Story of Tea, Baji Rao, The Unforgettable Maharajas, Har Dayal: The Great Revolutionary (co-author Mrs Shubh Paul), Arms and Armour: Traditional Weapons of India, and Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. Post this, India was directly ruled by the British government through representatives known as Governor-General. The sepoys' British officers dismissed these claims as rumors and suggested that the sepoys make a batch of fresh cartridges, using a religiously acceptable greasing agent such as ghee or vegetable oil. Before loading these rifles the sepoys had to bite off the paper on the cartridges. As the mutiny spread, the British began called mutineers "pandies." There is reason to believe that this was originated by some intriguers of the old Court of Lucknow. Under a British policy called the "doctrine of lapse," the East India Company would take control of Indian states in which a local ruler had died without an heir. And where had the chowkidar got them? When soldiers of the Bengal army mutinied in Meerut on May 10, 1857, tension had been growing for some time. A chowkidaran Indian village watchman. In another, however, the appalling atrocities visited by the Companys armies on the people of northern India were far from justified, since the British proved to be just as prone to rumors and panics as their Indian subjects. In 1824, there was another mutiny by a regiment ordered overseas in the First Anglo-Burmese War, who were refused transport to carry individual cooking vessels and told to share communal pots. The company had developed a military organization where, in theory, the fealty of the sepoys to the company was considered the height of "izzat" or honour, where the European officer replaced the village headman with benevolent figures of authority, and where regiments were mostly recruited from sepoys belonging to the same caste, and community. Feature Flags: { The Great Rebellion of 1857 in India - Biswamoy Pati 2010-01 The Great Rebellion of 1857 in India was much more than a e~sepoy mutinye(tm). Britain, of course, would rule India well into the 20th century. Tall tales, panic and misapprehension spread readily in such a climate, and plenty of people felt a certain disquiet in the early months of 1857. Underlying grievances over British taxation and recent land annexations by the English East India Company (EEIC) also contributed to the anger of the sepoy mutineers, and within weeks, dozens of units of the Indian army joined peasant armies in widespread rebellion. Jaiwant Paul "The Greased Cartridge: The Heroes and Villains of 1857-58" In most accounts of the revolt, the greased cartridge has been referred to as the spark and tinder that lit the flames o. His unit in the Bengal Army, which had refused to use the new rifle cartridges, was about to be disarmed and punished. As early as 1806, concerns that the sepoys' caste may be polluted had led to the Vellore Mutiny, which was brutally suppressed. Both Hindu and Muslim sepoys refused to use them. Books and articles about the bloody fighting and heroic deeds by British officers and men were published for decades in London. Pandey rebelled by shooting a British sergeant-major and a lieutenant. This seems to have been a very important reason for the spread of the rebellion, keeping in view the speed at which they ignited in many villages in northern India where farmers rushed to get back their unfairly grabbed title deeds. each other as brothers.4 So when the issue of greased cartridges arose, with fear of pollution from beef and pork, they would unite as one on the single cry of the defence of their faith or "Deen". The revolt of 1857, which the British call the Indian Mutiny but many Indians prefer to think of as the First War of Independence, was the defining event in British imperial history. Other irregular units were raised in frontier areas from communities such as Assamese or Pashtuns to maintain order locally. Some of the more knowledgeable British officials linked the spread of the chapatis to an effort to prevent the outbreak of cholera in central India and added that, since incidence of the disease was associated with the movement of the Companys armies, there was a widespread belief that the British were in fact responsible for the disease. Another official suggested that the chupatty movement had been initiated somewhere in central India by dyers, anxious that their dyes were not clearing properly, or were the product of some spellwork aimed at protecting crops against hail. The Muslims had lost the large state of Avadh; the Marathas had lost Nagpur, Satara, and Jhansi. ), Find out more about saving to your Kindle, Book: The Mutiny Outbreak at Meerut in 1857, Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563386.003. Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service. A rumor that spread like wildfire among the sepoys (Indian soldiers) stationed at cantonments throughout the north of the country was that the British had come up with yet another diabolical contrivance for breaking their caste and defiling their bodies: the greased cartridge. Has data issue: true Fighting in some places continued well into 1858, but the British were ultimately able to establish control. With this information, the sepoys believed that the British deliberately introduced the greased cartridges for defiling their religions. The transfer of the number 66th which was taken away from a regular Bengal Sepoy regiment of the line disbanded over refusal to serve without batta, and given to a Gurkha battalion, was considered by the Sepoy as a breach of faith by the company. It is also known by other names: the Indian Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indian Revolt of 1857. An uprising in several sepoy companies of the Bengal army was sparked by the issue of new gunpowder cartridges for the Enfield rifle in February 1857. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Another suggestion they put forward was to introduce a new drill, in which the cartridge was not bitten with the teeth but torn open with the hand. (2021, July 31). The Great Mutiny: India 1857 (London: Penguin, 1978);House of Commons. [9], Until the 1840s there had been a widespread belief amongst the Bengal sepoys in the Iqbal or continued good fortune of the East India Company. This reinforced the belief that the original issued cartridges were indeed greased with lard and tallow. Sepoy units in the south of India remained loyal, but in the north, many units of the Bengal Army turned on the British. But the only evidence for either of these was the circulation from village to village of chapatis, or cakes of unleavened bread, a practice that, though it also occurred on other occasions, was known to have taken place at any time of unrest. The traditional story of the Sepoy Mutiny is that the introduction of a new cartridge for the Enfield rifle provoked much of the trouble. Mangal Pandey, (born July 19, 1827, Akbarpur, Indiadied April 8, 1857, Barrackpore), Indian soldier whose attack on British officers on March 29, 1857, was the first major incident of what came to be known as the Indian, or Sepoy, Mutiny (in India the uprising is often called the First War of Independence or other similar names). Some currents simply ran cold, while others moved in parallel, or paused before continuing. The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and very bloody uprising against British rule in India in 1857. Before loading these rifles the sepoys had to bite off the paper on the cartridges. The grease used was tallow, probably containing both cow and pig fat. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive. In fact, it was rather the last effort of traditional India. But the wars against the Afghans and the Sikhs and then the annexations of Dalhousie alarmed and outraged them. Mason, Philip (1974), page 264 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. McNamara, Robert. In the 1870s the British government formalized its role as an imperial power. When the mood of the sepoys turned against their masters, they remembered Kabul and that the British were not invincible. Following the fighting of 185758, India was legally considered a colony of Britain, ruled by a viceroy. What are the major holidays and festivals of India? In one sense, this was not surprising; since India had a large and settled British population, there were more women and children around for the rebels to kill. The Siege of Delhi. A small British army was improvised, which held the ridge before Delhi against greatly superior forces until Sir John Lawrence was able to send a siege train under John Nicholson. the Indian Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indian Revolt of 1857. The rifling inside the musket barrel ensured accuracy at much greater distances than was possible with old muskets. #Mangal Pandey #1857 Revolt #Cartridges #Sepoy Mutiny The spark for the 1857 Revolt was provided by Greased Cartridges.Why Greased Cartridges triggered the R. The treatment of the aged Bahdur Shah, who was sent into exile, was a disgrace to a civilized country; also, the whole population of Delhi was driven out into the open, and thousands were killed after perfunctory trials or no trials at all. The Revolt of 1857 in India eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. To load the rifle, the end of the cartridge containing the powder had to be bitten off so that the charge would ignite. When Muslim and Hindu troops learned that the tip of the Enfield cartridge had to be bitten off to prepare it for firing, a number of troops refused, for religious reasons, to accept the ammunition. Destructive 'Super Pigs' From Canada Threaten the Northern U.S. It was a source of inspiration for the national liberation movement, which later achieved what the revolt could not. [10], Caste privileges and customs within the Bengal Army were not merely tolerated but encouraged in the early years of the company's rule. A keen cricketer and tennis player, he now lives in Delhi and serves as director of a few companies. The resumption of tax-free land and confiscation of jagirs (the grant or right to locally control land revenue) caused discontent among the jagirdars and zamindars. The revolt began on May 10, 1857, at Meerut as a sepoy mutiny. [21], The Bengal Army also administered, sometimes loosely, 29 regiments of irregular horses and 42 of irregular infantry. Furthermore, legal changes introduced by the British were accompanied by prohibitions on Indian religious customs and were seen as steps towards forced conversion to Christianity. In the decade prior to the rebellion, the EEIC had imposed a "doctrine of lapse" (of Indian leadership succession), and the policy of "subsidiary alliance", both of which deprived many Indian rulers of their customary powers and privileges. Most worryingly of all, some very similar rumors had once been recorded far to the south, in the Madras Presidency in 1806, at the time of a serious outbreak of mutiny among Indian soldiers stationed at Vellore. In an elaborate ceremony, Lord Lytton, the serving viceroy of India, honored a number of Indian princes. The chupatty movement first came to British attention early in February 1857. The Revolt of 1857-58 was the biggest and bloodiest conflict against any European colonial power during the nineteenth century. Increasing numbers of Christian missionaries began arriving in India, and their presence gave credence to rumors of impending conversions. Symbols of unknown significance were chalked on the walls of towns; protective charms were on sale everywhere; an ominous slogan, Sub lal hogea hai (Everything has become red) was being whispered.. In England, almost every child is aware that, with a smooth bored gun, no grease of any kind is required to ensure the proper loading of it, whilst with a rifle-bored piece such is necessary. So writes Mrs Peile, one of those who escaped from Delhi on 11 May 1857. Mason, Philip (1974), page 226 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. [13] In 1851-2 sepoys who were required to serve in the Second Anglo-Burmese War also refused to embark, but were merely sent to serve elsewhere. On 29 March 1857, Mangal Pandey, a sepoy of the 34 th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) mutinied against his commanding officers of the East India Company.
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