REBELS AND THE RAJ

THE REVOLT OF 1857

AND ITS REPRESENTATIONS

THEME-11

NATURE OF THE REVOLT

• V.D.SAVARKAR : “FIRST WAR OF INDIA INDEPENDENCE”.
• BENJAMIN DISREILY : “NATIONAL RISING”. (Opposition leader of House of Commons-

-Leader of Conservative Party)

• ASOK MEHTHA : “GREAT REBELLION”.
• R.C.MAJUMDAR : “NEITHER FIRST WAR NOR NATIONAL WAR OF INDEPENDENCE”.
• JOHN LAWRENCE : “SEPOY MUTINY”.
• M.N.ROY, R.P.DATH, A.R.DESAI, J.L.NEHRU : “FEUDAL UPRISING”.

POLITICAL CAUSES

• SUBSIDIARY ALLIANCE SYSTEM
• DOCTRINE OF LAPSE

JHANSI- Gangadhar Rao died without a natural heir- adopted son-Ananda Rao- Not admitted by British- Rani Lakshmi Bhai became the enemy of the British.

Annexed Satara, Nagpur, Sambalpur, Udaipur.

• POLICY OF ANNEXATION – ANNEXATION OF OUDH

SOCIAL & RELIGIOUS CAUSES

• Racial Arrogance
• Social Reform Legislations
• Abolition of Sati-1829, Infanticide- 1802, Slavory-1845 etc..
• Widow Re-marriage Act-1856
• Introduction of Railway, Telegraph etc…Suspicions of Indians.
• Religious conversion – into Christianity

ECONOMIC CAUSES

• Economic exploitation – Colonial exploitation.
• Ruin of artisans and craftsmen.
• Stagnation and decline of agriculture

– excessive land revenue demand.

• Ruin of old Zamindars.

ADMINISTRATIVE CAUSES

• Corruption of rulers and officials.
• Bribe
• No Indians appointed in higher posts.

MILITARY CAUSES

• Dissatisfaction of the sepoys.
• Nominal salary
• Bad food
• No higher post- No promotion
• Compulsory foreign service- No extra Batta for foreign service
• Banning of religious symbols – Dress code
• Appointment of Christian missionaries in Barracks.

IMMEDIATE CAUSE

• Introduction of new Enfield Rifle and Cartridges.
• In 1857 there were 36,000 English and 2,57,000 Indian soldiers in the British India Army.
• In 1857 a rumour spread that the catridges of the new enfield rifle was greased with the fat of cows and pigs, objectionable to both Hindus and Muslims.
• The story of catridges spread like wild fire through out the country.

IMMEDIATE CAUSE

• Sepoys refused to use and when compelled to use they shot the European Officers.
• 1857 March 29-Mangal Pandey of the 34^th Infantry of Barrackpur shot his superior and the British captured and killed him.
• The Revolt started on 10^th May at Meerut and later spread to other parts of the country.

PATTERN OF THE REBELLION

Beginning……

• 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, burn their bungalows and property.

Pattern of the Rebellion

• 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 marched towards Delhi. The sepoys arrived at the gates of the Red Fort early in the morning on 11 May.
• They proclaimed Bahadursha, the Mughal emperor, as their ruler.

PATTERN OF THE REBELLION

• When ordinary people began joining the revolt, the targets of attack widened.
• In major towns like Lucknow, Kanpur and Bareilly, moneylenders 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.

PATTERN OF THE REBELLION

• 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’’.

• The reason for the similarity in the pattern of the revolt in different places lay partly in its planning and coordination.

Rumours and prophecies

• Rumours and prophecies played a part in moving people to action.
• There was a rumour that the new cartridges were greased with the fat of cows and pigs which would pollute their castes and religion.
• The rumours about the British trying to destroy the religion of Indians by mixing the bone dust of cows and pigs into the flour led people to avoid touching the flour.
• There was fear and suspicion that the British wanted to convert Indians to Christianity.

Rumours and prophecies

• The rumour about the British rule coming to an end on the centenary of the Battle of Plassey also reinforced the call for a revolt against the masters (23 June 1857).
• The British policies to reform Indian society by introducing western education and social reforms targeted their long cherished customs and practices.
• The activities of Christian missionaries also created doubt and discomfort.
• The annexations on the pretext of the Doctrine of Lapse also made the people suspicious of British intentions.

Subsidiary Alliance

• Subsidiary Alliance was a system introduced by Lord Wellesley in 1798.Those who entered into such an alliance with the British had to accept certain terms and conditions.
• The British would be responsible for protecting their ally from external and internal threats to their power.
• In the territory of the ally, a British armed contingent would be stationed.
• The ally would have to provide the resources for maintaining this contingent.
• The ally could enter into agreements with other rulers or engage in warfare only with the permission of the British.
• The ally had to keep the resident who was the representative of the Governor General and was not under direct British rule.

Annexation of Awadh.

• Dalhousie described the kingdom of Awadh as “a cherry

that will drop into our mouth one day”.Awadh was formally annexed into the British empire in 1856 by Lord Dalhousie.

• The conquest happened in stages. The Subsidiary Alliance had been imposed on Awadh in 1801.
• By the terms of this alliance the Nawab had to disband his military force, allow the British to position their troops within the kingdom, and act in accordance with the advice of the British Resident who was attached to the court. Thus the Nawab became dependent on British.

Subsidiary Alliance

• The British were keen to acquire Awadh as its soil was good for growing indigo and cotton and was ideally located for trade.
• Annexation of Awadh would complete the territorial annexation by the British beginning with that of Bengal a century earlier.
• It was annexed on the grounds of maladministration. The British wrongly assumed that the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was an unpopular ruler; on the contrary he was widely loved.

Displacement of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah

• Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was displaced and exiled to Calcutta.
• He was so admired by his people that his subjects followed him all the way to Kanpur singing songs of lament. There was widespread emotional upheaval at his dethronement.
• Contemporary writers observed that “The life was gone out of the body, and the body of this town had been left lifeless...”Folk song mourned that “the honourable English came and took the country”.

Displacement of the Taluqdars

• The annexation of Awadh displaced not only the Nawab , but also the taluqdars.The country side of Awadh
• had many estates and forts of taluqdars.They had held power for generations. Under the Nawab the
• taluqdars had enjoyed a fair degree of autonomy as long as they accepted the suzerainty of the Nawab.They
• paid revenue of their taluqs to the British. Many taluqdars had

armies of about 12,000 foot soldiers and

• even the smaller ones had armies of about 200.The British did not tolerate the power of the taluqdars.They
• were annexed ,disarmed and their best forts were destroyed.

Displacement of the Taluqdars

• The British land revenue policy reduced their power. They introduced the Summary Settlement in 1856.It
• was based on the idea that taluqdars had acquired the land by force and fraud and thus had no permanent
• rights over land. They removed them from power. For example, in pre-British times, taluqdars held 67% of
• the total number of villages in Awadh and after the introduction of

the Summary Settlement, this number

• reduced to a mere 38%.

Displacement of the Taluqdars

• By removing them, the British thought they will settle the land with the owners of soil. They wanted to
• reduce exploitation done to peasants. They wanted to increase the revenue returns to the state. In actual
• practice, this did not happen-although the revenues increased, the burden on the peasants did not reduce.
• Officials soon found out that there was increase in revenue rates

from 30 to 70 percent and large areas of

• Awadh were heavily over assessed.

Displacement of the Taluqdars

• With the removal of the taluqdars, the peasants were directly expose to the harsh revenue policies of the
• British and could no longer avail loans in times of hardship or crop failure. There were no means by which
• the payment of revenue could be postponed upon failure of the crop or other unforeseen situation. The ties
• of loyalty and patronage had bound the peasant to the taluqdar

but it was disrupted. The British overassessed

• the revenue due and used inflexible methods of collection.

Relation between the white and Indian officers

• Prior to the uprising of 1857, the relationship between the white and Indian officers was cordial-the former were well versed in Hindustani, fenced and wrestled with their Indian counterparts and often went out hawking with them, and were thus, disciplinarian and father figure rolled into one.
• In the 1840s, this relationship underwent a drastic change, with the British officers considering their Indian sepoys as racially inferior and riding roughshod over their sensibilities.

Close links between the peasants and sepoys

• The grievances of the peasants were also discussed within sepoys lines as most of the soldiers were recruited from the peasantry. Awadh was called “the nursery of the Bengal Army”.
• The sepoys also complained about the difficulty of getting leave misbehavior and racial abuse of their white officers.
• Thus, their discontent spilled over into the ranks peasantry. When the sepoys took up arms they were joined by the peasants.

What the rebels wanted (Vision of unity)

• The Proclamations and ishtahars(notifications)were issued by rebel leaders. For example the Azamgarh Proclamation on 25 August 1857.
• The rebels tried to get the support of all sections of the society irrespective of their caste and creed.
• The rebellion was viewed as a war in which both Hindus and Muslims stood. Both communities stood equally to lose or gain.
• The ishtahars brought to the forefront memories of the pre-British Hindu Muslim past.
• The proclamation issued under the name of Bahadur Shah appealed to the people to join the fight under the standards of both Muhammad and Mahavir.

What the rebels wanted (Vision of unity)

• Thus religious differences were not visible between the two communities in 1857 despite. The British attempt to create a wedge between them but the rebels tried to materialize their vision of unity.
• The proclamation completely rejected everything associated with British rule. (firangi raj).
• They condemned the British for the annexations they had carried out and the treaties they had broken.
• Rebels declared that the British could not be trusted.

What the rebels wanted (Vision of unity)

• The British land revenue settlements or systems had dispossessed landlords.
• Foreign commerce had ruined the weavers and artisans.
• British rule was attacked and accused of destroying a way of life that was familiar and cherished.
• The rebels wanted to restore the previous life.
• The rebels wanted their livelihood to be secure.

The vision of different social groups

• In many places the rebellion against the British widened into attack on all those who were seen as allies of the British or local oppressors.
• The rebels deliberately sought to humiliate the elites of the city.

In villages, they burnt account books and ransacked moneylenders’ houses.

• This was an attempt to overturn traditional hierarchies, rebel against all oppressors, which presents a glimpse of an alternative vision of a egalitarian society.
• Such visions were not articulated in the proclamations which sought to unify all social groups in the fight against firangi raj.

The search for alternative power

• In the regions where the British rule collapsed, the rebels set up parallel administration (in Delhi, Lucknow and Kanpur). But they proved to be a failure.
• The rebel leadership wanted to restore the pre-British world of the 18^th century.
• The administrative structure established by the rebels aimed at meeting the demands of war.
• The leaders went back to the culture of the court.
• Appointments were made to various posts.
• Arrangements were made for the collection of land revenue and the payments of the troops.
• Side by side plans were made to fight battles against the British.

Repression: Steps taken by the British to quell the uprising.

• The British passed a series of laws to help them quell the insurgency. Whole North India was brought under martial law.
• Military officers and even ordinary Britons were given the power to try and punish Indians suspected of rebellion.
• The ordinary processes of law and trial were suspended and it was put out that rebellion would have only one punishment –death. The British used military power on a gigantic scale. But this was not the only instrument they used. The British tried to break up the unity promising to give back to the big land holders their estates. Rebel landholders were dispossessed and the loyal rewarded.

Images of the Revolt

• Official records tell us about the fears and anxieties of officials and their perception of the rebels. The stories of the revolt that were published in British newspapers and magazines in gory detail the violence of the mutineers and these stories inflamed public feelings and provoked demands of retribution and revenge.
• One important record of the mutiny is the pictorial images (posters and cartoons) produced by the Indians and British.
• British pictures provide a variety of images that were meant to provoke emotions and reactions.
• Some of them commemorate the British heroes who saved the English and repressed the rebels.

Images of the Revolt

• Relief of Lucknow painted by Thomas Jones Barker is an example. It represents the siege of Lucknow by mutineers and the British heroes-Campbell, Outram and Havelock.
• In Memorium painted by Joseph Noel Paton depicts violence against English women and children.
• Ms.wheeler’s painting- Miss Wheeler is shown as defending herself against the Sepoys at Cawnpore‘.
• Punch (Magazine) Cartoons published in Britain (1857)- “Justice”, “The British Lion’s Vengeance on the Bengal Tiger” and “The clemency of Canning.”
• Images of executions of Indian soldiers in Peshawar.

Nationalist imageries

• The national movement drew its inspiration from the events of 1857.
• It was the first war of Independence in which people of all the sections of society came together to fight the foreign rule.
• Leaders of the revolt were presented as heroic figures leading the country into battle of freedom.
• The revolt roused the people to come together and fight against the oppressive British rule in India.
• The poets and the writers also gave their full support with their narratives and poems.
• Many books have been written to highlight the contribution of many patriots like Rani Jhansi,Tantia Tope and many others. Specially Subhadra Kumari Chauhan and her poem : “khoob lari mardani who to Jhansi wali rani thi”

Centres and Revolt

• MEERAT : Started
• KANPUR : Nana Saheb
• JAGADISHPUR : Kunwar Sing
• DELHI : Bahadursha and Gen.Bakth Khan
• LUCKNOW : Beegum Hazrath Mahal and Ahammedulla
• JHANSI : Rani Lakshmibhai
• FAIZABAD : Moulavi Ahammedulla
• BARELY : Khan Bahadur

Bahdur shah Safar

Kunwar sing

SHAMAL

• Shah Mal lived in a large village in pargana Barout in Uttar Pradesh. He belonged to a clan of Jat cultivators whose kinship ties extended over chaurasee des (eighty-four villages). The lands in the region were irrigated and fertile, with rich dark loam soil. Many of the villagers were prosperous and saw the British land revenue system as oppressive: the revenue demand was high and its collection inflexible.
• Consequently cultivators were losing land to outsiders, to traders and moneylenders who were coming into the area. Shah Mal mobilised the headmen and cultivators of chaurasee des, moving at night from village to village, urging people to rebel against the British.
• As in many other places, the revolt against the British turned into a general rebellion against all signs of oppression and injustice. Cultivators left their fields and plundered the houses of moneylenders and traders. Displaced proprietors took possession of the lands they had lost.
• Shah Mal’s men attacked government buildings, destroyed the bridge over the river, and dug up metalled roads – partly to prevent government forces from coming into the area, and partly because bridges and roads were seen as symbols of British rule.
• They sent supplies to the sepoys who had mutinied in Delhi and stopped all official communication between British headquarters and Meerut. Locally acknowledged as the Raja, Shah Mal took over the bungalow of an English officer, turned it into a “hall of justice”, settling disputes and dispensing judgments.
• He also set up an amazingly effective network of intelligence. For a period the people of the area felt that firangi raj was over, and their raj had come. Shah Mal was killed in battle in July 1857.

End of the Revolt

• By July 1858 the rebellion was completely suppressed by the British.

CAUSES OF FAILURE

1. It was not a nation wide struggle.
2. There was no capable leader who could unite the scattered elements and infuse the movement with a unity of action.
3. Lack of popular support and antipathy of Indian rulers.
4. The modern educated Indians did not support the revolt.
5. Superiority of British arms.
6. Absence of Unity among various religious sects.

Results of the Revolt of 1857

1. Crown rule began (Queen’s proclamation, Noc.1, 1858- End of the rule of EEIC.
2. Indian army reorganized.
3. Policy of annexation given up and policy of divide rule began.
4. Growth of Indian Nationalism.
5. Viceroy appointed. The Gov.Genrl of India now came to be known as Viceroy of India. (Lord Canning)
6. The end of the Mughal Empire.

Key words

• Bell of arms: A storeroom in which weapons are kept.
• Firangi: A term used to designate foreigners
• Mutiny: A collective disobedience of rules and regulations within armed forces Revolt:
• A rebellion of people against established authority and power.
• Resident: The designation of a representative of the Governor General who lived in a state which was not under direct British rule.