The Great Revolt of 1857- 1 | History Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Introduction to Great Revolt (1857)

• The British expansionist policies, economic exploitation, administrative innovations over the years negatively impacted various groups in India, including rulers of Indian states, sepoys, zamindars, peasants, traders, pundits, moulvies. The only exception was the Western-educated class in towns, who benefited from their position under the Company’s Government.
• The Lucknow Proclamation highlighted that British rule threatened four crucial aspects valued by both Hindus and Muslims: religion, honour, life, property.
• Indian resentment manifested in numerous mutinies and insurrections across the country, driven by a range of political,economic, administrative causes. Notable incidents included:
• Vellore mutiny in 1806
• Barrackpore mutiny in 1824
• Ferozepur mutiny in February 1842
• Mutinies of the 7th Bengal Cavalry and 64th Regiment, 22nd N.I. in 1849, 66th N.I. in 1850, 38th N.I. in 1852, etc.
• Bareilly rising of 1816
• Kol insurrection of 1931-32
• 1848 revolt of the Rajas of Kangta, Jaswar, Datarpur
• Santhal rising of 1855-56, etc.
• This growing discontent culminated in a violent uprising in 1857, which profoundly shook the British Empire in India.

Causes of Revolt

• Earlier historians have greatly emphasized the importance of military grievances and the greased cartridges affair as the most potent causes which led to the great rising of 1857. But ‘the greased cartridge‘ was not the only cause, nor even the most important of them.
• The causes of the Rebellion lay deeper and are to be found in the history of the hundred years of British rule from the Battle of Plassey(June 1757) to the rebellion of Mangal Pandey when on March 29, 1857, he murdered an English Adjutant.
• The greased cartridge and the Mutiny of soldiers was merely the match stick which exploded the inflammable material which had gathered in heap on account of a variety of causes political, social, religious and economic.

Economic Causes:

• The colonial policies of the East India Company destroyed the traditional Indian trade and industry.
• Writing in 1853 Karl Marx remarked:“It was the British intruder who broke up the Indian hand loom and destroyed the spinning wheel. England began with depriving the Indian cottons from the European market; it then introduced twist into Hindustan and in the end inundated the very mother country of cotton with cottons”.
• Ruination of industry and increased the pressure on agriculture and land resulted in pauperization of the country.
• Peasantry:
• Unpopular revenue settlement+loans from moneylenders/traders(led to their eviction from land).
• Money lender became new zamindaar.
• Artisans and handicraftsmen:
• Loss of Patronage+ British policy discouraged Indian handicrafts and promoted British goods.
• The destruction of Indian handicrafts was not accompanied by the development of modern industries.
• Zamindars:
• They were the traditional landed aristocracy, often saw their land rights forfeited with frequent use of a quo warranto(by what authority someone has an office) by the administration.
• In Awadh, the storm center of the revolt, 21,000 taluqdars had their estates confiscated and suddenly trapped into extreme poverty.
• These people were looking for opportunity which was presented by the sepoy revolt to oppose the British and regain what they had lost.

Political Causes of Discontent Against British Rule:

The political causes of discontent against British rule in India during the 19th century can be summarized as follows:

• Loss of Prestige: The East India Company lost political prestige due to its greedy policies and frequent breaking of promises. Policies like 'Effective Control', 'Subsidiary Alliance', and 'Doctrine of Lapse' created suspicion among Indian princes.
• Doctrine of Lapse: Under Lord Dalhousie, the Doctrine of Lapse denied the right of succession to Hindu princes. This policy, along with annexations, caused unease among ruling princes.
• Annexations: Regions like Punjab, Pegu, Sikkim were annexed by the 'Right of Conquest', while states like Satara, Jaipur, Jhansi were annexed through the Doctrine of Lapse. Oudh was annexed for the supposed 'good of the governed.'
• Abolition of Regal Titles: The British abolished the regal titles of Nawabs and stopped pensions, further unsettling Indian rulers. The idea that all states could be absorbed over time created anxiety among princes.
• Impact on the Mughal House: Lord Dalhousie's policies affected the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II, with strict conditions imposed on his successor, Prince Faqir ul Din. After Faqir ul Din's death, Lord Canning's announcement regarding succession disturbed Indian Muslims.
• Absentee Sovereignty: The British were seen as absentee rulers draining India’s wealth, unlike the Pathans and Mughals who had settled in India. The British rule from a distance fueled resentment.
• Pax Britannica: The British policy of Pax Britannica led to the disbanding of Pindaris, Thugs, irregular soldiers, contributing to the formation of antisocial elements. These groups, deprived of their means of livelihood, joined the ranks of rebels during disturbances in 1857.

Administrative causes:

• The Indian aristocracy lost its power and status under British rule, with high posts in the civil and military services reserved for Europeans. The highest position an Indian could attain in the military was that of Subedar, earning Rs. 60 or Rs. 70 per month, while in the civil services, it was Sadr Amin, earning Rs. 500 per month. Promotion opportunities were minimal.
• Despite recommendations in the Charter Act of 1833 to employ more Indians, the policy remained largely unchanged.
• The administrative machinery of the East India Company was criticized as inefficient and insufficient.
• The land revenue police was unpopular, many districts in newly annexed states were in constant revolt, requiring military intervention for revenue collection.
• The English administration eliminated middlemen in land revenue settlements by establishing direct contact with peasants, which dispossessed many hereditary landlords and tax collectors, particularly affecting the taluqdars of Oudh.
• Many holders of rent-free tenures were dispossessed through legal actions, large estates were confiscated and sold at public auction, often to speculators.
• Corruption was rampant within the administration.
• The administrative changes and revenue policies gave the British presence a foreign and alien appearance to Indians, contributing to discontent.

Socio-religious causes

1. Racial overtones and a superiority complex.

• The rulers followed a policy of contempt towards the Indians.
• Hindus were described as barbarians with hardly any trace of culture and civilization.
• Muslims were dubbed as bigots, cruel, faithless.
• The Indian was spoken of as nigger and addressed as a suar or pig, an epithet most resented by Muslims.
• The European juries acquitted European criminals with light or no punishment.
• This discrimination rankled in the Indian mind.
• While it may be easy to withstand physical and political injustices, religious persecution touches tender conscience.
• Such persecution forms complexes that are not easy to eradicate.

2. The activities of Christian missionaries.

• One of the aims of the English in India was to convert the Indians to Christianity.
• Major Edwards had openly declared that “the Christianization of India was to be the ultimate end of our continued possession of it.”
• Sepoys were promised promotions if they accepted the True Faith.
• The missionaries were given ample facilities and the American Missionary Society at Agra had set up an extensive printing press.
• Idolatry was denounced, Hindu gods and goddesses ridiculed, Hindu superstitions dubbed as ignorance.
• Sir Syed Ahmed Khan mentions that “it has been commonly believed that government appointed missionaries and maintained them at its own cost.”
• The Evangelical opinion was voiced by Lord Shattesbury who believed that the failure to Christianize India was the cause of the whole trouble.

3. Attempts at socio-religious reform

• Such as abolition of sati, support to widow remarriage and women’s education were seen as interference in the social and religious domains of Indian society.

4. Government’s decision

• To tax mosque and temple lands was also a point of contention.

5. Religious Disabilities Act, 1856

• It modified Hindu customs.
• It declared that a change of religion did not debar a son from inheriting the property of his heathen father.

6. Influence of Outside Events:

• The British faced significant losses in various conflicts, including the First Afghan War (1838-42), the Punjab Wars (1845-49), the Crimean War (1854-56), the Santhal Rebellion (1855-57).
• These defeats had clear psychological effects on the British.

7. Military Causes:

• Since Lord Auckland's Afghan campaign, the army's discipline faced significant decline.
• Lord Dalhousie reported a "scandalous" state of discipline within the army, affecting both officers and soldiers.
• The Bengal Army was a close-knit community, with service often being hereditary.
• Three-fifths of Bengal Army recruits came from Oudh and the North Western Provinces, mainly from high-caste Brahmin and Rajput families who resented equal treatment with lower-caste recruits.
• During Lord Dalhousie's tenure, the army experienced three mutinies.

8. Bengal Army and Oudh Annexation:

• The sepoys in the Bengal Army mirrored the sentiments of the civil population in Oudh.
• Maulana Azad believed that the annexation of Oudh sparked a rebellious spirit in the army, particularly within the Bengal unit.
• The annexation shocked the people, making them realize that the Company used the power gained through their service to depose their king.

9. Impact of British Expansion:

• British territorial expansion negatively impacted the sepoys' service conditions.
• Sepoys were required to serve far from home without additional allowances.
• Emoluments were lower compared to British counterparts.
• Sepoys longed for the times when Indian rulers rewarded their services with jagirs and prizes.
• Following victories in Sind and Punjab, conditions became harsher.
• In 1824, sepoys at Barrackpore refused to serve overseas in Burma.
• In 1844, four Bengal regiments declined orders to move to Sind until extra allowances were granted.
• Recent orders denied foreign service allowances for those serving in Sindh or Punjab.
• Indian sepoys felt subordinate, facing racial discrimination in promotions and privileges.
• They were seen as 'peasants in uniform', sharing the rural population's consciousness.
• Their grievances extended beyond military issues to general dissatisfaction with British rule.
• There was a history of revolts in the British Indian Army, including notable instances in:
  (i) Bengal (1764)
  (ii) Vellore (1806)
  (iii) Barrackpore (1825)
  (iv) During the Afghan Wars (1838-42)

10. Conflict with Religious Beliefs:

• Service conditions clashed with sepoys' religious beliefs and practices.
• Restrictions on caste and sectarian marks and rumors of forced conversions contributed to tensions.

11. General Service Enlistment Act of 1856:

• Passed by Canning's government, this act required future recruits for the Bengal army to agree to serve anywhere as needed by the government.
• For Hindus, serving overseas meant losing caste, soldiers who participated in the invasion of Afghanistan between 1839 and 1842 were not reintegrated into their caste.

12. Withdrawal of Free Postage Privilege:

• With the Post Office Act of 1854, the privilege of free postage previously enjoyed by sepoys was revoked.
• The disparity in numbers between European and Indian troops was increasing.
• In 1856, the Company’s army comprised 238,000 native soldiers and 45,322 British soldiers.
• This imbalance was exacerbated by a shortage of good officers, many of whom were occupied with administrative duties in newly annexed territories and the frontier.
• Troop distribution was also flawed.
• Moreover, setbacks in the Crimean War had diminished the morale of British soldiers.
• These factors made Indian soldiers feel that a timely strike could lead to success, prompting them to wait for an opportune moment, which came with the 'greased cartridge' incident.

13. Greased Cartridges Incident:

• The greased cartridges did not introduce new causes of discontent in the army.
• They provided the occasion for underlying discontent to surface.
• In 1856, the government decided to replace the outdated musket, 'Brown Bess', with the 'Enfield rifle'.
• Training for the new weapon was to be conducted at Dum Dum, Ambala, Sialkot.
• The loading process for the Enfield rifle involved biting off the top paper of the cartridge.
• In January 1857, rumors spread that the greased cartridges contained the fat of pigs and cows.
• The military authorities issued a denial without investigating the matter.
• Assurances from superior officers and minor concessions had little effect.
• The sepoys became convinced that the introduction of greased cartridges was a deliberate attempt to offend their religious beliefs.

Beginning (Immediate cause)

• Reports of bones being mixed into flour and the introduction of the Enfield rifle increased the sepoys' discontent with the British Government.
• The administration did little to ease these concerns, leading the sepoys to believe their religion was under threat.

Beginning and Spread:

• The revolt started in Meerut on May 10, 1857, quickly spread across a vast area, from the Punjab in the north to the Narmada in the south, from Bihar in the east to Rajputana in the west.
• Sequence of events leading to the capture of Delhi:
• At Berhampur, the Infantry refused to use the Enfield rifle with greased cartridges, leading to a mutiny in February 1857. The regiment was disbanded.
• Mangal Pande of the 34th Native Infantry at Barrackpore fired at the sergeant major. He was executed on April 6, his regiment was disbanded in May.
• The 7th Awadh Regiment defied its officers on May 3 and faced a similar fate.
• The explosion in Meerut followed. On April 24, ninety men of the 3rd Native Cavalry refused the greased cartridges. On May 9, eighty-five of them were dismissed, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, shackled.
• On May 10, Indian soldiers freed their imprisoned comrades, killed their officers, began the revolt.
• On May 11, 1857, a group of sepoys from Meerut marched to the Red Fort, appealing to Bahadur Shah II to lead them and legitimize their cause.

Two significant events that gave political meaning to the revolt:

• Bahadur Shah was proclaimed Shahenshah-e-Hindustan, symbolizing India’s political unity. This transformed the sepoys' mutiny into a revolutionary war.
• All Indian chiefs participating in the revolt pledged loyalty to the Mughal emperor.

Although Bahadur Shah was indecisive, unsure of the sepoys' intentions and his own capabilities, he was eventually persuaded to take action.

• He wrote letters to all Indian chiefs and rulers, urging them to form a confederacy to replace the British regime.
• The sepoys captured Delhi.

Simon Fraser, the Political Agent, several other Englishmen were killed. Public offices were either occupied or destroyed.

The rebellion rapidly spread throughout Northern and Central India, including Lucknow,Allahabad,Kanpur,Bareilly,Banaras, parts of Bihar,Jhansi, other places.

Storm centers and leadership:
Delhi became the center of the Great Revolt, with Bahadur Shah as its symbol. Within a month of Delhi's capture, the revolt spread to various parts of the country.

Delhi:

• The real command was under General Bakht Khan, who led the Bareilly troops to Delhi.
• Bahadur Shah's weak leadership due to his old age and lack of qualities harmed the revolt's central command.

Kanpur:

• Led by Nana Saheb, the adopted son of the last Peshwa, Baji Rao II. After being denied the family title and banished from Poona, he lived near Kanpur.
• Nana Saheb expelled the English from Kanpur, proclaimed himself Peshwa, acknowledged Bahadur Shah as Emperor, declared himself his governor.
• General Sir Hugh Wheeler and his forces surrendered on June 27, with some Europeans being murdered.
• Nana Sahib was joined by his able lieutenant,Tantia Tope.

Lucknow:

• Led by Begum Hazrat Mahal, who took control in Lucknow on June 4, 1857, with overwhelming popular support for the deposed Nawab.
• Her son,Birjis Qadir, was proclaimed Nawab.
• Henry Lawrence, the British Resident, other Europeans took shelter in the Residency, which was besieged by Indian rebels.

Bareilly:

• Led by Khan Bahadur, a descendant of the former Rohilkhand ruler, who proclaimed himself Nawab Nazim.

Bihar:

• Led by Kunwar Singh, the zamindar of Jagdishpur.

Faizabad:

• Led by Maulvi Ahmadullah.

Jhansi:

• Led by Rani Laxmibai, who was proclaimed ruler after the troops mutinied in early June 1857.

Gwalior:

• The Rani of Jhansi and Tantia Tope marched to Gwalior, where Indian soldiers welcomed them.
• The Sindhia remained loyal to the English and took refuge in Agra.
• Nana Sahib was proclaimed Peshwa, plans were made for a march south.

The sepoy revolt was accompanied by a rebellion of the civil population, especially in the north-western provinces and Awadh.

The real strength of the revolt came from widespread participation by peasants,artisans,shopkeepers,day laborers,zamindars,religious mendicants,priests, civil servants, giving it the character of a popular revolt.

Peasants and petty zamindars expressed grievances by attacking moneylenders and zamindars who had displaced them from land. They destroyed moneylenders’ account books and debt records, attacked British-established law courts, revenue offices (tehsils), revenue records, police stations.

At Banaras, a rebellion was organized but was brutally suppressed by Colonel Neill.

Suppression of Revolt

Delhi:

• The British aimed to recapture Delhi due to its psychological significance. Troops from Punjab were deployed to the north of the city.
• In September 1857, Delhi was recaptured, but John Nicholson, a key figure in the siege, was severely injured and later died from his wounds.
• The Emperor was captured, brutal reprisals were inflicted on the people of Delhi. Notably, two of the Emperor's sons and a grandson were executed by Lieutenant Hodson.

Lucknow:

• Initial attempts by Havelock and Outram to reclaim Lucknow were unsuccessful.
• Relief came in November 1857 when Sir Colin Campbell, the new Commander-in-Chief, arrived from England, leading Gorkha regiments to assist in evacuating the Europeans from the city. Lucknow was finally subdued in March 1858.

Kanpur:

• Military efforts to retake Kanpur were closely linked with the operations in Lucknow.
• Sir Campbell successfully occupied Kanpur on December 6, 1857. During this period,Tantia Tope escaped and joined the Rani of Jhansi.
• Nana Saheb, defeated in Kanpur, fled to Nepal in early 1859 and was never heard from again.

Jhansi:

• Sir Hugh Rose recaptured Jhansi by assault on April 3, 1858.

Gwalior:

• Gwalior was retaken by the British in June 1858, where the Rani of Jhansi fought bravely and died.
• Tantia Tope managed to escape southward. In April 1859, he was captured by one of Sindhia’s feudal lords and handed over to the British, who executed him.
• By 1859, key figures like Kunwar Singh, Bakht Khan, Khan Bahadur Khan of Bareilly, Rao Sahib(brother of Nana Saheb), Maulvi Ahmadullah had all died, while the Begum of Awadh was forced to seek refuge in Nepal.
• By July 1858, the rebellion was nearly entirely suppressed.
• The British Government had to men, money, arms into India, which the Indians had to repay through their own suppression.