The Revolt of 1857

The Revolt of 1857

The year 1857 in the history of India marked the beginning of a new era and the end of an era.

It witnessed the century long tradition of fierce popular resistance to the British domination in the form of a great revolt which nearly swept away the British rule.

It was marked by the intense anti British feeling and the administration was invariably toppled.

Causes of the Revolt - The causes of the revolt was so inextricably woven together that it is difficult to determine the sequence in which they rose. There was faithful combination of circumstances in 1857 which did not appeared in the past, not tended to re-occur in the future.

Immediate cause -

• The replacement of old Musket Brown Bess with the new Enfield rifle for its longer range and greater accuracy provided the immediate reason.
• Sepoys had to load this new rifle after biting off a paper on cartridge which is rumored to be greased with cow and pig fat.
• The affairs of greased cartridges provoked the religious sentiments of Hindus as well as Muslims alike to bring about a united resistant against the British.

Military causes of the revolt 

1. The Enlistment Order of 1856 - This order made it obligatory on the part of the sepoys to go on duty whenever/wherever ordered. For Hindus crossing the sea means loss of religion/caste. It led the sepoys to suspect that government intended to force them all to embrace Christianity.
2. On professional level, an Indian sepoy was paid one-third the salary of an European sepoy. Moreover, there was racial discrimination in the matters of promotion and Indian sepoys were treated roughly and were abused and humiliated.
3. In 1854, Post office Act was passed which withdrew the free postage privilege of the sepoys.
4. The majority of the recruits of the British army was withdrawn from Awadh, North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and most of them belong to high caste brahmin and rajputs who did not like being treated on par with the low caste recruits.
5. Due to the expansion of British dominion, sepoys were required to serve in the areas far from their homes without any extra allowance (bhatta).
6. British military reverses in Afghanistan, Crimea and Persia brought down the prestige of government and generated a spirit of stimulus and seditious belief in the minds of sepoys that the British would be forced to quit India.

Economic causes of the revolt 

1. Exploitative land revenue system - Permanent, Ryotwari and Mahalwari land revenue settlement introduced by the British meant loss of land for land holders and heavy taxation for cultivators. The land revenue assessment under all the system were heavy and oppressive. Taxes were collected even when the crop was fully damaged. In such cases cultivators took loans from the local moneylenders who charged them exorbitant interest rates. This economic decline of peasantry also found expression in 12 major and several minor famines in between 1770 to 1857.
2. Destruction of trade, handicrafts and Indian industries - The company traders enjoyed various privileges such as duty free trade which made their goods comparatively cheaper than those of Indian traders who had to pay full duty which made their goods uncompetitive. The belligerent of Indians is reflected in the proclamation of Azamgarh (August 25, 1857).
3. Confiscation of rent free estates - In the 1850s, government setup a tribunal (Inam commission) to enquire into the title deeds of the estates of those who had been granted rent free tenures. From 1852 to 1857, the Inam commission pronounced sentences of confiscation of estates on 21000 cases brought before it. The one's to suffer most were the maulvis and ulemas who had enjoyed rent free tenures for maintenance of religious services. They played very active role in the revolt.

Socio-religious causes of the revolt 

1. The British system which was identified by a policy of social reform to a degree, created an ambivalence among the people towards old orthodox order of Indian society. But the Indians were put off by the bad faith of an alien government and its rudeness and arrogance.
2. The British openly disregarded Hindus and Muslims and called them barbaric and bigots. 
3. Furthermore, the proselytising activities of Christian Missionaries further fueled the fire.
4. In 1856, introduction of Religious disability Act which tried to modify many Hindu customs was highly contested by the Indians. This act specified that the change in religion did not debar a son from inheriting father's property.

Political causes of the revolt 

1. The company made several annexation under Wellesley's Subsidiary alliance and Dalhousie's Doctrine of lapse.
• States annexed by the application of Doctrine of Lapse are -
• Satara (1848)
• Jaitpur & Sambhalpur (1849)
• Bhagat (1850)
• Udaipur (1852)
• Jhansi (1853)
• Nagpur (1854)
2. The absorption of these kingdoms and vast estates into British territory was carried out with impunity.
3. The annexation of Awadh on the ground of Mis-administration and the imposition of colonial rule there was hugely resented by the sepoys as 'Sepoys are Peasants in uniform'.
4. The Mughal emperor was reduced to the state of helplessness. 
5. Awadh and Punjab both were annexed in defiance of the treaty rights.
6. The last Peshwa, Nana Sahib was not recognised by the British.
7. An enormous amount of ill will and popular discontent was the residue of this whole sale sweeping away of native rulers and native states.

Courses of the revolt 

• On Feb 02, 1857, the 19th Bengal Native infantry at Berhampur refused to use the newly introduced rifle and was disbanded in March the same year.
• Again on March 29, 1857 in the Barrackpore near Calcutta the sepoy of 34th Native infantry refused to use the greased cartridges. One young brahmin sepoy, Mangal Pandey went a step further and killed one of his European officer. Mangal Pandey was overpowered and hanged on April 08, 1857 and his regiment was disbanded.

• The real outbreak is believed to be the mutiny of sepoy at Meerut. Earlier on April 23, Native cavalry refused to use the greased cartridge. They were tried by the court martial and sentenced hard labour of 10 years.
• On May 09, the sentence was to be promulgated before the whole garrison. The mutineers were stripped off their uniform, fettered and marched to jail.
• Next day on Sunday, May 10 the sepoy mutinied.
• Their first act was to release their fellow sepoys from the jail, who were soon to be joined by soldiers of Native infantry.
• On reaching Delhi on May 11, mutineers proclaimed Bahadur Shah II as the Emperor of Hindustan and Europeans in Delhi were massacred by the night.
• Very soon the rebellion spread to other parts of India like Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur, Jhansi, Bareli, Banaras, Bihar, Bengal, etc.

Prominent leaders of the revolt 

• At Delhi, nominal and symbolic leadership belonged to the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II and the real command was in the hands of General Bakht Khan.
• At Kanpur, the natural choice was Nana Sahib, the adopted son of the last peshwa, Baji Rao II. He was refused family title and was banished from Puna and was living near Kanpur.
• Begum Hazrat Mahal took over the reign at Lucknow. Her son Bijris Qadir was proclaimed the nawab and the regular administration was organised with the help of Hindu and Muslim officers.
• At Bareli, Khan Bahadur, a former descendent of Rohilkhand ruler was placed in command.
• In Bihar, the revolt was led by Kunwar Singh, a zamindar of Jagdishpur. An old man in his 70s, Kunwar Singh nurged a grudge against the British who deprived him off his estate.
• Maulvi Ahmedullah of Faizabad was another outstanding leader of the revolt. He was the native of Madras and had moved to Faizabad.
• The most outstanding leader of the revolt was Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi who assumed the leadership of sepoy at Jhansi. She was joined by Tantya Tope, a close associate of Nana Sahib.

Hugh Rose who led the British forces against the Rani Lakshmi Bai, after he death paid tribute by saying - "here lay the woman who was the only man among the rebels".

Suppression of the Revolt 

• More than a year, rebels carried on their struggle against heavy odds. 
• Rani Laxmi Bai and Kunwar Singh escaped the vengeance of the British and got martyred.
• Bahadur Shah II was imprisoned and exiled to Rangoon where he died in 1862.
• Begum Hazrat Mahal and Nana Sahib fled to Nepal and were never heard after that.
• Tantiya Tope was hanged in April 1859.
• Maulvi Ahmedullah was killed by a pro-British raja in Shahjanpur in June 1858.

Causes of the failure of the revolt 

1. The revolt did not embrace the entire country.
2. Lack of support from various sections of the society, particularly the rulers, merchants, zamindars and educated intelligentsia.
3. The revolt was parochial in outlook.
4. The poor organisation and lack of coordination among the rebels was perhaps the most important cause of the failure.
5. Superiority of the British resources. For example - Telegraph services kept commander-in-chief informed about the movement of the rebels.
6. Neither of the leaders not the sepoys were inspired by high ideals of the nationalism.

Significance of the revolt 

Though it was an unsuccessful attempt but even in its failure it served a great purpose. It implanted the seeds of nationalism and anti-imperialism which later going to guide the national movement. 

It serves as the source of inspiration for the later national liberation movement which later achieved what the revolt could not.

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Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own. 

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