NCERT Textbook - Rebels and the Raj | History Class 12 - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

 Page 1


 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III 258
Late in the afternoon of 10 May 1857, the sepoys in the cantonment
of Meerut broke out in mutiny. It began in the lines of the native
infantry, spread very swiftly to the cavalry and then to the city.
The ordinary people of the town and surrounding villages joined
the sepoys. The sepoys captured the bell of arms where the arms
and ammunition were kept and proceeded to attack white people,
and to ransack and burn their bungalows and property.
Government buildings – the record office, jail, court, post office,
treasury, etc. – were destroyed and plundered. The telegraph line
to Delhi was cut. As darkness descended, a group of sepoys rode
off towards Delhi.
The sepoys arrived at the gates of the Red
Fort early in the morning on 11 May. It was
the month of Ramzan, the Muslim holy month
of prayer and fasting. The old Mughal emperor,
Bahadur Shah, had just finished his prayers
and meal before the sun rose and the fast
began. He heard the commotion at the gates.
The sepoys who had gathered under his window
told him: “We have come from Meerut after
killing all the Englishmen there, because they
asked us to bite bullets that were coated with
the fat of cows and pigs with our teeth. This
has corrupted the faith of Hindus and Muslims
alike.’’ Another group of sepoys also entered
Delhi, and the ordinary people of the city joined
them. Europeans were killed in large numbers;
the rich of Delhi were attacked and looted. It
was clear that Delhi had gone out of British
control. Some sepoys rode into the Red Fort,
without observing the elaborate court etiquette
expected of them. They demanded that the
emperor give them his blessings. Surrounded
by the sepoys, Bahadur Shah had no other
option but to comply. The revolt thus acquired
a kind of legitimacy because it could now be
carried on in the name of the Mughal emperor.
Fig. 10.1
Portrait of Bahadur Shah
Rebels and the Raj
The R The R The R The R The Re e e e ev v v v volt of olt of olt of olt of olt of     1 1 1 1 185 85 85 85 857 7 7 7 7
and Its R and Its R and Its R and Its R and Its Repr epr epr epr epresent esent esent esent esentations ations ations ations ations
THEME
TEN
2024-25
Page 2


 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III 258
Late in the afternoon of 10 May 1857, the sepoys in the cantonment
of Meerut broke out in mutiny. It began in the lines of the native
infantry, spread very swiftly to the cavalry and then to the city.
The ordinary people of the town and surrounding villages joined
the sepoys. The sepoys captured the bell of arms where the arms
and ammunition were kept and proceeded to attack white people,
and to ransack and burn their bungalows and property.
Government buildings – the record office, jail, court, post office,
treasury, etc. – were destroyed and plundered. The telegraph line
to Delhi was cut. As darkness descended, a group of sepoys rode
off towards Delhi.
The sepoys arrived at the gates of the Red
Fort early in the morning on 11 May. It was
the month of Ramzan, the Muslim holy month
of prayer and fasting. The old Mughal emperor,
Bahadur Shah, had just finished his prayers
and meal before the sun rose and the fast
began. He heard the commotion at the gates.
The sepoys who had gathered under his window
told him: “We have come from Meerut after
killing all the Englishmen there, because they
asked us to bite bullets that were coated with
the fat of cows and pigs with our teeth. This
has corrupted the faith of Hindus and Muslims
alike.’’ Another group of sepoys also entered
Delhi, and the ordinary people of the city joined
them. Europeans were killed in large numbers;
the rich of Delhi were attacked and looted. It
was clear that Delhi had gone out of British
control. Some sepoys rode into the Red Fort,
without observing the elaborate court etiquette
expected of them. They demanded that the
emperor give them his blessings. Surrounded
by the sepoys, Bahadur Shah had no other
option but to comply. The revolt thus acquired
a kind of legitimacy because it could now be
carried on in the name of the Mughal emperor.
Fig. 10.1
Portrait of Bahadur Shah
Rebels and the Raj
The R The R The R The R The Re e e e ev v v v volt of olt of olt of olt of olt of     1 1 1 1 185 85 85 85 857 7 7 7 7
and Its R and Its R and Its R and Its R and Its Repr epr epr epr epresent esent esent esent esentations ations ations ations ations
THEME
TEN
2024-25
259
Through 12 and 13 May, North India remained quiet. Once
word spread that Delhi had fallen to the rebels and Bahadur
Shah had blessed the rebellion, events moved swiftly.
Cantonment after cantonment in the Gangetic valley and some
to the west of Delhi rose in mutiny.
1.  Pattern of the Uprising
If one were to place the dates of these mutinies in
chronological order, it would appear that as the news
of the mutiny in one town travelled to the next the
sepoys there took up arms. The sequence of events
in every cantonment followed a similar pattern.
1.1 How the mutinies began
The sepoys began their action with a signal: in many
places it was the firing of the evening gun or the
sounding of the bugle. They first seized the bell
of arms and plundered the treasury. They then
attacked government buildings – the jail, treasury,
telegraph office, record room, bungalows – burning
all  records. Everything and everybody connected
with the white man became a target. Proclamations
in Hindi, Urdu and Persian were put up in the cities
calling upon the population, both Hindus and
Muslims, to unite, rise and exterminate the firangis.
When ordinary people began joining the revolt,
the targets of attack
widened. In major towns
like Lucknow, Kanpur
and Bareilly, money-
lenders and the rich
also became the objects
of rebel wrath. Peasants
not only saw them
as oppressors but also
as allies of the British.
In most places their
houses were looted and
destroyed. The mutiny
in the sepoy  ranks quickly
became a rebellion.
There was a general
defiance of all kinds of
authority and hierarchy.
Firangi, a term of Persian origin,
possibly derived from Frank
(from which France gets its
name), is used in Urdu and
Hindi, often in a derogatory
sense, to designate foreigners.
REBELS AND THE RAJ
Fig. 10.2
Ordinary people join the sepoys in
attacking the British in Lucknow.
Bell of arms is a storeroom in
which weapons are kept.
2024-25
Page 3


 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III 258
Late in the afternoon of 10 May 1857, the sepoys in the cantonment
of Meerut broke out in mutiny. It began in the lines of the native
infantry, spread very swiftly to the cavalry and then to the city.
The ordinary people of the town and surrounding villages joined
the sepoys. The sepoys captured the bell of arms where the arms
and ammunition were kept and proceeded to attack white people,
and to ransack and burn their bungalows and property.
Government buildings – the record office, jail, court, post office,
treasury, etc. – were destroyed and plundered. The telegraph line
to Delhi was cut. As darkness descended, a group of sepoys rode
off towards Delhi.
The sepoys arrived at the gates of the Red
Fort early in the morning on 11 May. It was
the month of Ramzan, the Muslim holy month
of prayer and fasting. The old Mughal emperor,
Bahadur Shah, had just finished his prayers
and meal before the sun rose and the fast
began. He heard the commotion at the gates.
The sepoys who had gathered under his window
told him: “We have come from Meerut after
killing all the Englishmen there, because they
asked us to bite bullets that were coated with
the fat of cows and pigs with our teeth. This
has corrupted the faith of Hindus and Muslims
alike.’’ Another group of sepoys also entered
Delhi, and the ordinary people of the city joined
them. Europeans were killed in large numbers;
the rich of Delhi were attacked and looted. It
was clear that Delhi had gone out of British
control. Some sepoys rode into the Red Fort,
without observing the elaborate court etiquette
expected of them. They demanded that the
emperor give them his blessings. Surrounded
by the sepoys, Bahadur Shah had no other
option but to comply. The revolt thus acquired
a kind of legitimacy because it could now be
carried on in the name of the Mughal emperor.
Fig. 10.1
Portrait of Bahadur Shah
Rebels and the Raj
The R The R The R The R The Re e e e ev v v v volt of olt of olt of olt of olt of     1 1 1 1 185 85 85 85 857 7 7 7 7
and Its R and Its R and Its R and Its R and Its Repr epr epr epr epresent esent esent esent esentations ations ations ations ations
THEME
TEN
2024-25
259
Through 12 and 13 May, North India remained quiet. Once
word spread that Delhi had fallen to the rebels and Bahadur
Shah had blessed the rebellion, events moved swiftly.
Cantonment after cantonment in the Gangetic valley and some
to the west of Delhi rose in mutiny.
1.  Pattern of the Uprising
If one were to place the dates of these mutinies in
chronological order, it would appear that as the news
of the mutiny in one town travelled to the next the
sepoys there took up arms. The sequence of events
in every cantonment followed a similar pattern.
1.1 How the mutinies began
The sepoys began their action with a signal: in many
places it was the firing of the evening gun or the
sounding of the bugle. They first seized the bell
of arms and plundered the treasury. They then
attacked government buildings – the jail, treasury,
telegraph office, record room, bungalows – burning
all  records. Everything and everybody connected
with the white man became a target. Proclamations
in Hindi, Urdu and Persian were put up in the cities
calling upon the population, both Hindus and
Muslims, to unite, rise and exterminate the firangis.
When ordinary people began joining the revolt,
the targets of attack
widened. In major towns
like Lucknow, Kanpur
and Bareilly, money-
lenders and the rich
also became the objects
of rebel wrath. Peasants
not only saw them
as oppressors but also
as allies of the British.
In most places their
houses were looted and
destroyed. The mutiny
in the sepoy  ranks quickly
became a rebellion.
There was a general
defiance of all kinds of
authority and hierarchy.
Firangi, a term of Persian origin,
possibly derived from Frank
(from which France gets its
name), is used in Urdu and
Hindi, often in a derogatory
sense, to designate foreigners.
REBELS AND THE RAJ
Fig. 10.2
Ordinary people join the sepoys in
attacking the British in Lucknow.
Bell of arms is a storeroom in
which weapons are kept.
2024-25
 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III 260
 In the months of May and June, the British had no
answer to the actions of the rebels. Individual Britons
tried to save their own lives and the lives of their
families. British rule, as one British officer noted,
“collapsed like a house made of cards’’.
Source 1
Ordinary life in extraordinary times
What happened in the cities during the months of the revolt?
How did people live through those months of tumult? How
was normal life affected? Reports from different cities tell us
about the breakdown in routine activities. Read these
reports from the Delhi Urdu Akhbar, 14 June 1857:
The same thing is true for vegetables and saag (spinach).
People have been found to complain that even kaddu
(pumpkin) and baingan (brinjal) cannot be found in the
bazaars. Potatoes and arvi (yam) when available are of
stale and rotten variety, stored from before by farsighted
kunjras (vegetable growers). From the gardens inside the
city some produce does reach a few places but the poor
and the middle class can only lick their lips and watch
them (as they are earmarked for the select).
... There is something else that needs attention which is
causing a lot of damage to the people which is that the
water-carriers have stopped filling water. Poor Shurfas
(gentility) are seen carrying water in pails on their shoulders
and only then the necessary household tasks such as
cooking, etc. can take place. The halalkhors (righteous) have
become haramkhors (corrupt), many mohallas have not
been able to earn for several days and if this situation
continues then decay, death and disease will combine
together to spoil the city’s air and an epidemic will spread
all over the city and even to areas adjacent and around.
1.2 Lines of communication
The reason for the similarity in the pattern of the revolt
in different places lay partly in its planning and
coordination. It is clear that there was communication
between the sepoy lines of various cantonments. After
the 7th Awadh Irregular Cavalry had refused to accept
the new cartridges in early May, they wrote to the 48th
Native Infantry that “they had acted for the faith and
awaited the 48th’s orders”. Sepoys or their emissaries
moved from one station to another. People were thus
planning and talking about the rebellion.
Ü Read the two reports
and the descriptions of
what was happening in
Delhi provided in the
chapter. Remember that
newspaper reports often
express the prejudices of
the reporter. How did
Delhi Urdu Akhbar view
the actions of the people?
2024-25
Page 4


 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III 258
Late in the afternoon of 10 May 1857, the sepoys in the cantonment
of Meerut broke out in mutiny. It began in the lines of the native
infantry, spread very swiftly to the cavalry and then to the city.
The ordinary people of the town and surrounding villages joined
the sepoys. The sepoys captured the bell of arms where the arms
and ammunition were kept and proceeded to attack white people,
and to ransack and burn their bungalows and property.
Government buildings – the record office, jail, court, post office,
treasury, etc. – were destroyed and plundered. The telegraph line
to Delhi was cut. As darkness descended, a group of sepoys rode
off towards Delhi.
The sepoys arrived at the gates of the Red
Fort early in the morning on 11 May. It was
the month of Ramzan, the Muslim holy month
of prayer and fasting. The old Mughal emperor,
Bahadur Shah, had just finished his prayers
and meal before the sun rose and the fast
began. He heard the commotion at the gates.
The sepoys who had gathered under his window
told him: “We have come from Meerut after
killing all the Englishmen there, because they
asked us to bite bullets that were coated with
the fat of cows and pigs with our teeth. This
has corrupted the faith of Hindus and Muslims
alike.’’ Another group of sepoys also entered
Delhi, and the ordinary people of the city joined
them. Europeans were killed in large numbers;
the rich of Delhi were attacked and looted. It
was clear that Delhi had gone out of British
control. Some sepoys rode into the Red Fort,
without observing the elaborate court etiquette
expected of them. They demanded that the
emperor give them his blessings. Surrounded
by the sepoys, Bahadur Shah had no other
option but to comply. The revolt thus acquired
a kind of legitimacy because it could now be
carried on in the name of the Mughal emperor.
Fig. 10.1
Portrait of Bahadur Shah
Rebels and the Raj
The R The R The R The R The Re e e e ev v v v volt of olt of olt of olt of olt of     1 1 1 1 185 85 85 85 857 7 7 7 7
and Its R and Its R and Its R and Its R and Its Repr epr epr epr epresent esent esent esent esentations ations ations ations ations
THEME
TEN
2024-25
259
Through 12 and 13 May, North India remained quiet. Once
word spread that Delhi had fallen to the rebels and Bahadur
Shah had blessed the rebellion, events moved swiftly.
Cantonment after cantonment in the Gangetic valley and some
to the west of Delhi rose in mutiny.
1.  Pattern of the Uprising
If one were to place the dates of these mutinies in
chronological order, it would appear that as the news
of the mutiny in one town travelled to the next the
sepoys there took up arms. The sequence of events
in every cantonment followed a similar pattern.
1.1 How the mutinies began
The sepoys began their action with a signal: in many
places it was the firing of the evening gun or the
sounding of the bugle. They first seized the bell
of arms and plundered the treasury. They then
attacked government buildings – the jail, treasury,
telegraph office, record room, bungalows – burning
all  records. Everything and everybody connected
with the white man became a target. Proclamations
in Hindi, Urdu and Persian were put up in the cities
calling upon the population, both Hindus and
Muslims, to unite, rise and exterminate the firangis.
When ordinary people began joining the revolt,
the targets of attack
widened. In major towns
like Lucknow, Kanpur
and Bareilly, money-
lenders and the rich
also became the objects
of rebel wrath. Peasants
not only saw them
as oppressors but also
as allies of the British.
In most places their
houses were looted and
destroyed. The mutiny
in the sepoy  ranks quickly
became a rebellion.
There was a general
defiance of all kinds of
authority and hierarchy.
Firangi, a term of Persian origin,
possibly derived from Frank
(from which France gets its
name), is used in Urdu and
Hindi, often in a derogatory
sense, to designate foreigners.
REBELS AND THE RAJ
Fig. 10.2
Ordinary people join the sepoys in
attacking the British in Lucknow.
Bell of arms is a storeroom in
which weapons are kept.
2024-25
 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III 260
 In the months of May and June, the British had no
answer to the actions of the rebels. Individual Britons
tried to save their own lives and the lives of their
families. British rule, as one British officer noted,
“collapsed like a house made of cards’’.
Source 1
Ordinary life in extraordinary times
What happened in the cities during the months of the revolt?
How did people live through those months of tumult? How
was normal life affected? Reports from different cities tell us
about the breakdown in routine activities. Read these
reports from the Delhi Urdu Akhbar, 14 June 1857:
The same thing is true for vegetables and saag (spinach).
People have been found to complain that even kaddu
(pumpkin) and baingan (brinjal) cannot be found in the
bazaars. Potatoes and arvi (yam) when available are of
stale and rotten variety, stored from before by farsighted
kunjras (vegetable growers). From the gardens inside the
city some produce does reach a few places but the poor
and the middle class can only lick their lips and watch
them (as they are earmarked for the select).
... There is something else that needs attention which is
causing a lot of damage to the people which is that the
water-carriers have stopped filling water. Poor Shurfas
(gentility) are seen carrying water in pails on their shoulders
and only then the necessary household tasks such as
cooking, etc. can take place. The halalkhors (righteous) have
become haramkhors (corrupt), many mohallas have not
been able to earn for several days and if this situation
continues then decay, death and disease will combine
together to spoil the city’s air and an epidemic will spread
all over the city and even to areas adjacent and around.
1.2 Lines of communication
The reason for the similarity in the pattern of the revolt
in different places lay partly in its planning and
coordination. It is clear that there was communication
between the sepoy lines of various cantonments. After
the 7th Awadh Irregular Cavalry had refused to accept
the new cartridges in early May, they wrote to the 48th
Native Infantry that “they had acted for the faith and
awaited the 48th’s orders”. Sepoys or their emissaries
moved from one station to another. People were thus
planning and talking about the rebellion.
Ü Read the two reports
and the descriptions of
what was happening in
Delhi provided in the
chapter. Remember that
newspaper reports often
express the prejudices of
the reporter. How did
Delhi Urdu Akhbar view
the actions of the people?
2024-25
261
Sisten and the tahsildar
In the context of the communication of the message of
revolt and mutiny, the experience of François Sisten, a
native Christian police inspector in Sitapur, is telling.
He had gone to Saharanpur to pay his respects to the
magistrate. Sisten was dressed in Indian clothes and
sitting cross-legged. A Muslim tahsildar from Bijnor
entered the room; upon learning that Sisten was from
Awadh, he enquired, “What news from Awadh? How
does the work progress, brother?” Playing safe, Sisten
replied, “If we have work in Awadh, your highness will
know it.” The tahsildar said, “Depend upon it, we will
succeed this time. The direction of the business is in
able hands.” The tahsildar was later identified as the
principal rebel leader of Bijnor.
The pattern of the mutinies and the pieces of
evidence that suggest some sort of planning and
coordination raise certain crucial questions. How
were the plans made? Who were the planners? It is
difficult on the basis of the available documents to
provide direct answers to such questions. But one
incident provides clues as to how the mutinies came
to be so organised. Captain Hearsey of the Awadh
Military Police had been given protection by his
Indian subordinates during the mutiny. The 41st
Native Infantry, which was stationed in the same
place, insisted that since they had killed all their
white officers, the Military Police should also kill
Hearsey or deliver him as prisoner to the 41st. The
Military Police refused to do either, and it was
decided that the matter would be settled by a
panchayat composed of native officers drawn from
each regiment. Charles Ball, who wrote one of the
earliest histories of the uprising, noted that
panchayats were a nightly occurrence in the Kanpur
sepoy lines. What this suggests is that some of the
decisions were taken collectively. Given the fact that
the sepoys lived in lines and shared a common
lifestyle and that many of them came from the same
caste, it is not difficult to imagine them sitting
together to decide their own future. The sepoys were
the makers of their own rebellion.
Ü What does this conversation
suggest about the ways in
which plans were communicated
and discussed by the rebels?
Why did the tahsildar regard
Sisten as a potential rebel?
Source 2
REBELS AND THE RAJ
Mutiny –  a collective disobedience
of rules and regulations within
the armed forces
Revolt – a rebellion of people
against established authority
and power. The terms ‘revolt’
and ‘rebellion’ can be used
synonymously.
In the context of the revolt of
1857 the term revolt refers
primarily to the uprising of the
civilian population (peasants,
zamindars, rajas, jagirdars)
while the mutiny was of the
sepoys.
2024-25
Page 5


 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III 258
Late in the afternoon of 10 May 1857, the sepoys in the cantonment
of Meerut broke out in mutiny. It began in the lines of the native
infantry, spread very swiftly to the cavalry and then to the city.
The ordinary people of the town and surrounding villages joined
the sepoys. The sepoys captured the bell of arms where the arms
and ammunition were kept and proceeded to attack white people,
and to ransack and burn their bungalows and property.
Government buildings – the record office, jail, court, post office,
treasury, etc. – were destroyed and plundered. The telegraph line
to Delhi was cut. As darkness descended, a group of sepoys rode
off towards Delhi.
The sepoys arrived at the gates of the Red
Fort early in the morning on 11 May. It was
the month of Ramzan, the Muslim holy month
of prayer and fasting. The old Mughal emperor,
Bahadur Shah, had just finished his prayers
and meal before the sun rose and the fast
began. He heard the commotion at the gates.
The sepoys who had gathered under his window
told him: “We have come from Meerut after
killing all the Englishmen there, because they
asked us to bite bullets that were coated with
the fat of cows and pigs with our teeth. This
has corrupted the faith of Hindus and Muslims
alike.’’ Another group of sepoys also entered
Delhi, and the ordinary people of the city joined
them. Europeans were killed in large numbers;
the rich of Delhi were attacked and looted. It
was clear that Delhi had gone out of British
control. Some sepoys rode into the Red Fort,
without observing the elaborate court etiquette
expected of them. They demanded that the
emperor give them his blessings. Surrounded
by the sepoys, Bahadur Shah had no other
option but to comply. The revolt thus acquired
a kind of legitimacy because it could now be
carried on in the name of the Mughal emperor.
Fig. 10.1
Portrait of Bahadur Shah
Rebels and the Raj
The R The R The R The R The Re e e e ev v v v volt of olt of olt of olt of olt of     1 1 1 1 185 85 85 85 857 7 7 7 7
and Its R and Its R and Its R and Its R and Its Repr epr epr epr epresent esent esent esent esentations ations ations ations ations
THEME
TEN
2024-25
259
Through 12 and 13 May, North India remained quiet. Once
word spread that Delhi had fallen to the rebels and Bahadur
Shah had blessed the rebellion, events moved swiftly.
Cantonment after cantonment in the Gangetic valley and some
to the west of Delhi rose in mutiny.
1.  Pattern of the Uprising
If one were to place the dates of these mutinies in
chronological order, it would appear that as the news
of the mutiny in one town travelled to the next the
sepoys there took up arms. The sequence of events
in every cantonment followed a similar pattern.
1.1 How the mutinies began
The sepoys began their action with a signal: in many
places it was the firing of the evening gun or the
sounding of the bugle. They first seized the bell
of arms and plundered the treasury. They then
attacked government buildings – the jail, treasury,
telegraph office, record room, bungalows – burning
all  records. Everything and everybody connected
with the white man became a target. Proclamations
in Hindi, Urdu and Persian were put up in the cities
calling upon the population, both Hindus and
Muslims, to unite, rise and exterminate the firangis.
When ordinary people began joining the revolt,
the targets of attack
widened. In major towns
like Lucknow, Kanpur
and Bareilly, money-
lenders and the rich
also became the objects
of rebel wrath. Peasants
not only saw them
as oppressors but also
as allies of the British.
In most places their
houses were looted and
destroyed. The mutiny
in the sepoy  ranks quickly
became a rebellion.
There was a general
defiance of all kinds of
authority and hierarchy.
Firangi, a term of Persian origin,
possibly derived from Frank
(from which France gets its
name), is used in Urdu and
Hindi, often in a derogatory
sense, to designate foreigners.
REBELS AND THE RAJ
Fig. 10.2
Ordinary people join the sepoys in
attacking the British in Lucknow.
Bell of arms is a storeroom in
which weapons are kept.
2024-25
 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III 260
 In the months of May and June, the British had no
answer to the actions of the rebels. Individual Britons
tried to save their own lives and the lives of their
families. British rule, as one British officer noted,
“collapsed like a house made of cards’’.
Source 1
Ordinary life in extraordinary times
What happened in the cities during the months of the revolt?
How did people live through those months of tumult? How
was normal life affected? Reports from different cities tell us
about the breakdown in routine activities. Read these
reports from the Delhi Urdu Akhbar, 14 June 1857:
The same thing is true for vegetables and saag (spinach).
People have been found to complain that even kaddu
(pumpkin) and baingan (brinjal) cannot be found in the
bazaars. Potatoes and arvi (yam) when available are of
stale and rotten variety, stored from before by farsighted
kunjras (vegetable growers). From the gardens inside the
city some produce does reach a few places but the poor
and the middle class can only lick their lips and watch
them (as they are earmarked for the select).
... There is something else that needs attention which is
causing a lot of damage to the people which is that the
water-carriers have stopped filling water. Poor Shurfas
(gentility) are seen carrying water in pails on their shoulders
and only then the necessary household tasks such as
cooking, etc. can take place. The halalkhors (righteous) have
become haramkhors (corrupt), many mohallas have not
been able to earn for several days and if this situation
continues then decay, death and disease will combine
together to spoil the city’s air and an epidemic will spread
all over the city and even to areas adjacent and around.
1.2 Lines of communication
The reason for the similarity in the pattern of the revolt
in different places lay partly in its planning and
coordination. It is clear that there was communication
between the sepoy lines of various cantonments. After
the 7th Awadh Irregular Cavalry had refused to accept
the new cartridges in early May, they wrote to the 48th
Native Infantry that “they had acted for the faith and
awaited the 48th’s orders”. Sepoys or their emissaries
moved from one station to another. People were thus
planning and talking about the rebellion.
Ü Read the two reports
and the descriptions of
what was happening in
Delhi provided in the
chapter. Remember that
newspaper reports often
express the prejudices of
the reporter. How did
Delhi Urdu Akhbar view
the actions of the people?
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261
Sisten and the tahsildar
In the context of the communication of the message of
revolt and mutiny, the experience of François Sisten, a
native Christian police inspector in Sitapur, is telling.
He had gone to Saharanpur to pay his respects to the
magistrate. Sisten was dressed in Indian clothes and
sitting cross-legged. A Muslim tahsildar from Bijnor
entered the room; upon learning that Sisten was from
Awadh, he enquired, “What news from Awadh? How
does the work progress, brother?” Playing safe, Sisten
replied, “If we have work in Awadh, your highness will
know it.” The tahsildar said, “Depend upon it, we will
succeed this time. The direction of the business is in
able hands.” The tahsildar was later identified as the
principal rebel leader of Bijnor.
The pattern of the mutinies and the pieces of
evidence that suggest some sort of planning and
coordination raise certain crucial questions. How
were the plans made? Who were the planners? It is
difficult on the basis of the available documents to
provide direct answers to such questions. But one
incident provides clues as to how the mutinies came
to be so organised. Captain Hearsey of the Awadh
Military Police had been given protection by his
Indian subordinates during the mutiny. The 41st
Native Infantry, which was stationed in the same
place, insisted that since they had killed all their
white officers, the Military Police should also kill
Hearsey or deliver him as prisoner to the 41st. The
Military Police refused to do either, and it was
decided that the matter would be settled by a
panchayat composed of native officers drawn from
each regiment. Charles Ball, who wrote one of the
earliest histories of the uprising, noted that
panchayats were a nightly occurrence in the Kanpur
sepoy lines. What this suggests is that some of the
decisions were taken collectively. Given the fact that
the sepoys lived in lines and shared a common
lifestyle and that many of them came from the same
caste, it is not difficult to imagine them sitting
together to decide their own future. The sepoys were
the makers of their own rebellion.
Ü What does this conversation
suggest about the ways in
which plans were communicated
and discussed by the rebels?
Why did the tahsildar regard
Sisten as a potential rebel?
Source 2
REBELS AND THE RAJ
Mutiny –  a collective disobedience
of rules and regulations within
the armed forces
Revolt – a rebellion of people
against established authority
and power. The terms ‘revolt’
and ‘rebellion’ can be used
synonymously.
In the context of the revolt of
1857 the term revolt refers
primarily to the uprising of the
civilian population (peasants,
zamindars, rajas, jagirdars)
while the mutiny was of the
sepoys.
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 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III 262
1.3 Leaders and followers
To fight the British, leadership and organisation
were required. For these the rebels sometimes
turned to those who had been leaders before the
British conquest. One of the first acts of the
sepoys of Meerut, as we saw, was to rush to Delhi
and appeal to the old Mughal emperor to accept
the leadership of the revolt. This acceptance of
leadership took its time in coming. Bahadur
Shah’s first reaction was one of horror and
rejection. It was only when some sepoys had
moved into the Mughal court within the Red Fort,
in defiance of normal court etiquette, that the
old emperor, realising he had very few options,
agreed to be the nominal leader of the rebellion.
Elsewhere, similar scenes were enacted
though on a minor scale. In Kanpur, the sepoys
and the people of the town gave Nana Sahib,
the successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II, no choice
save to join the revolt as their leader. In Jhansi,
the rani was forced by the popular pressure
around her to assume the leadership of the
uprising. So was Kunwar Singh, a local
zamindar in Arrah in Bihar. In Awadh, where
the displacement of the popular Nawab Wajid
Ali Shah and the annexation of the state were
still very fresh in the memory of the people,
the populace in Lucknow celebrated the fall of
British rule by hailing Birjis Qadr, the young
son of the Nawab, as their leader.
Not everywhere were the leaders people of the
court – ranis, rajas, nawabs and taluqdars.
Often the message of rebellion was carried by
ordinary men and women and in places by
religious men too. From Meerut, there were
reports that a fakir had appeared riding on an
elephant and that the sepoys were visiting him
frequently. In Lucknow, after the annexation of
Awadh, there were many religious leaders and
self-styled prophets who preached the
destruction of British rule.
Elsewhere, local leaders emerged, urging
peasants, zamindars and tribals to revolt. Shah
Mal mobilised the villagers of pargana Barout in
Uttar Pradesh; Gonoo, a tribal cultivator of
Singhbhum in Chotanagpur, became a rebel
leader of the Kol tribals of the region.
Fig. 10.3
Rani Lakshmi Bai, a popular image
Fig. 10.4
Nana Sahib
At the end of 1858, when the
rebellion collapsed, Nana Sahib
escaped to Nepal. The story of his
escape added to the legend of
Nana Sahib’s courage and valour.
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