[6]. Saul, David (2003), page 294 "The Indian Mutiny", Penguin Books. There was rumor about an old prophecy that the company's rule would end after a hundred years. A popular American illustrated magazine, "Ballou's Pictorial", published afull-page woodcutillustration showing the preparations for such an execution in its issue of October 3, 1857. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 203-204 A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. [15], The varying stances of the British government, the reduction of allowances, and harsh punishments, contributed to a feeling amongst the troops that the Company no longer cared for them. When soldiers of the Bengal army mutinied in Meerut on May 10, 1857, tension had been growing for some time. But in the 1830s and 1840s, tensions began to emerge. Mason, Philip (1974), page 264 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. [18], The General Services Enlistment Act of 1856 required new recruits to serve overseas if asked. At other times however, the Company directly or indirectly conceded the legitimacy of the sepoy's demands, such as when troops of the Bengal and Madras armies refused to serve in Sindh without batta after its conquest. "[4] Those European men and women who had previously converted to Islam such as Sergeant-Major Gordon, and Abdullah Beg, a former Company soldier, were spared. Some time in February 1857, a curious occurrence took place. I had no conversation with the King on the subject; but others talked in his presence about it, wondering what could be the object. The events of 1857 have been considered the first outbreak of an independence movement against British rule. The movement that Hadow was describing was a remarkable example of rumor gone wild. In 1877, outside Delhi, essentially in the spot where bloody fighting had taken place 20 years earlier, an event called the Imperial Assemblage was held. [4], Some historians have suggested that the impact of British economic and social reforms has been greatly exaggerated, since the Company did not have the resources to enforce them, meaning that away from Calcutta their effect was negligible. 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. There is no question that atrocities were committed by both sides, and stories of events of 185758 lived on in both Britain and India. on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. In the 1870s the British government formalized its role as an imperial power. 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 event and Pandey's subsequent punishment led to more resentment among the sepoys of the Bengal Army ultimately aiding in the Revolt of 1857.. But those who did would not have been surprised by what happened next, for some very similar beliefs were spreading in the early months of 1857. The whole episode falls into three periods: first came the summer of 1857, when the British, without reinforcements from home, fought with their backs to the wall; the second concerned the operations for the relief of Lucknow in the autumn; and the third was the successful campaign of Sir Colin Campbell (later Baron Clyde) and Sir Hugh Henry Rose (later Baron Strathnairn of Strathnairn and Jhansi) in the first half of 1858. Click to view in higher resolution. As mutineers were captured, they were often killed on the spot, and many were executed in dramatic fashion. Sepoys throughout India were issued with a new rifle, the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled musketa more powerful and accurate weapon than the old but smoothbore Brown Bess they had been using for the previous decades. The first sepoy who rebelled by aiming his loaded weapon at a British officer was Mangal Pandey who was later executed.[25]. In the illustration, a mutineer was depicted chained to the front of a British cannon, awaiting his imminent execution, as others were gathered to watch the grisly spectacle. Total loading time: 0 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. 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. Few of these participated in the rebellion, and one contingent in particular (the recently raised Punjab Irregular Force) actively participated on the British side. Most Indians thought they were the work of the British, whothrough the East India Companyhad ruled over large portions of the country for almost a century (and were, according to one well-known prophecy, due to be unseated at that centurys end). Has data issue: true 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. The revolt began on May 10, 1857, at Meerut as a sepoy mutiny. Their educational policy was a Westernizing one, with English instead of Persian as the official language; the old elites, schooled in the traditional pattern, felt themselves slighted. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine [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. Thornhill examined the chapatis in his office. He first defeated the Gwalior contingent and then, when the rebels Tantia Topi and Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi had seized Gwalior, broke up their forces in two more battles. 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. please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. The magistrates tried to stop it, but, in spite of all they could do, it passed along to the borders of the Punjab. [14], The pay of the sepoy was relatively low and after Awadh and the Punjab were annexed, the soldiers no longer received extra pay (batta or bhatta) if posted there, because this was no longer considered "foreign service". The company had an unbroken series of victories in India, against the Marathas, Mysore, north Indian states, and the Gurkhas, later against the Sikhs, and further afield in China and Burma. [12], There had been earlier indications that all was not well in the armies of the East India Company. The soldiers performed well on the field of battle in exchange for which they were rewarded with symbolic heraldic rewards such as battle honors in addition to the extra pay or "batta" (foreign pay) routinely disbursed for operations committed beyond the established borders of Company rule. Since the batta made the difference between active service being considered munificent or burdensome, the sepoys repeatedly resented and actively opposed inconsiderate unilateral changes in pay and batta ordered by the Military Audit department. is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings All the people in the palace wondered what it could mean. 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 uprising was officially declared over on July 8, 1859. What are the oldest known civilizations of India? In most accounts of the revolt, the greased cartridge has been referred to as the spark and tinder that lit the flames of rebellion. In contrast to their Indian predecessors, the British considered such refusals at times to be outright "mutinies" and therefore to be suppressed brutally. What are the major holidays and festivals of India? When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. The signal spread in all directions with wonderful celerity. A Chowkeydar ran up to another village with two chupatties. The traditional story of the Sepoy Mutiny is that the introduction of a new cartridge for the Enfield rifle provoked much of the trouble. 24 October 2009. https://www.thoughtco.com/sepoy-mutiny-of-1857-1774014 (accessed March 1, 2023). Company officers became aware of the rumours through reports of an altercation between a high-caste sepoy and a low-caste labourer at Dum Dum. A rumor spread that the cartridges of the new Enfield rifles were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. As the East India Company annexed Indian states in the 1840s and 1850s, the Indian soldiers in the company's employ began to feel offended. The lack of planning after the outbreak rules out these two explanations, while the degree of popular support argues more than a purely military outbreak. 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. He is on the expert panel on weapons for several museums of Rajasthan. This revolt had shaken the foundation of . All Indian villages had one, and it was these men, running between their homes and the nearest neighboring settlement with chapatis, who so effectively raised panic among the ruling British. This allowed different meanings an interpretations to be attributed to them, and the chapattis became an index of peoples thoughts and worries. The restoration of peace was hindered by British cries for vengeance, often leading to indiscriminate reprisals. A private company which first entered India to trade in the 1600s, the East India Company had eventually transformed into a diplomatic and military operation. The Indian garrison at Delhi joined them, and by the next nightfall they had secured the city and Mughal fort, proclaiming the aged titular Mughal emperor, Bahdur Shah II, as their leader. Your Privacy Rights A number of Indians began to suspect that the British intended to convert the Indian population to Christianity. For both Indians and British, the period was haunted with dark memories of the mutiny, and numerous measures were taken by the British raj to avoid another conflict. As the mutiny spread, the British began called mutineers "pandies." Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service. Partly owing to this, Bengal sepoys were not subject to the penalty of flogging as were the European soldiers. The Lucknow garrison held out in the residency from July 1, in spite of the death of Sir Henry Lawrence on July 4. During the late eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth century, the armies of the East India Company, in particular those of the Bengal Presidency, were victorious and indomitable the term "high noon of the sepoy army" has been used by a military historian. Some currents simply ran cold, while others moved in parallel, or paused before continuing. With the British recovery of Gwalior (June 20, 1858), the revolt was virtually over. The British had accentuated caste consciousness by careful regulations, had allowed discipline to grow lax, and had failed to maintain understanding between British officers and their men. There at a stroke was an army, a cause, and a national leaderthe only Muslim who appealed to both Hindus and Muslims. It was generally believed, in retrospect, that the circulation of the breads had been a warning of trouble ahead, and that the wave of chapatis must have been set in motion by a cunning group of determined conspirators who had begun plotting the rising months, if not years, in advance. Cookie Policy The mysterious appearance of chapatisloaves of an Indian unleavened breadspooked the British administrators of the Raj shortly before the outbreak of rebellion in 1857. Further, the British were becoming increasingly hostile toward traditional survivals and contemptuous of most things Indian. The cartridge was then rammed down the muzzle of the rifle.. Thousands of entirely blameless Indians who found themselves caught up in the hysterical aftermath of the rebellion were flogged, or blown from cannon, or forced to clean bloodied paving stones using only their tongues before being summarily hanged. The East India Company had been active in India for nearly 250 years, but the violence of the 1857 uprising led to the British government dissolving the company and taking direct control of India. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. In some districts like Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, Bose and Jalal argue that "the revolt took on a distinctly millenarian flavor. This took the form of Muslim millenarianism, with preachers in Lucknow foretelling the end of the raj. [10], Caste privileges and customs within the Bengal Army were not merely tolerated but encouraged in the early years of the company's rule. Though the revolt failed in its objective, even in failure it served a grand purpose. Hostname: page-component-7f44ffd566-7cttp The Sepoy Mutinywas a violent and very bloody uprising againstBritish rule in Indiain 1857. The Revolt of 1857, also known as the First War of Indian Independence, was a significant uprising against British colonial rule in India. 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. Rumors began to spread that the grease used to make the cartridges was derived from pigs and cows, which would be highly offensive to Muslims and Hindus. [16], At the beginning of the nineteenth century, British officers were generally closely involved with their troops, speaking Indian languages fluently; participating in local culture through such practices as having regimental flags and weapons blessed by Brahman priests; and frequently having native mistresses. Victoria added the title "Empress of India" to her royal title. Mason, Philip (1974), page 226 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. Prior to the period of British rule, any refusal to proceed on service until pay issues were resolved was considered a legitimate form of displaying grievance by Indian troops serving under Indian rulers. The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. He was informed that they had been brought in by one of his Indian police officers, who had received them from a puzzled village chowkidar (watchman). Outraged by events such as the massacre of women and children at Cawnpore, some British officers believed that hanging mutineers was too humane. Large numbers of native soldiers, known as sepoys, were employed by the company to maintain order and defend trading centers. Richard Barter. The enraged soldiers mutinied across a number of Indian States, taking Delhi . The revolt failed in overthrowing British Rule. The statement, if lacking in precision, may have been true as to the common information or belief in 1857, but at the present time there may probably be few readers of these pages who could explain thus, or with more exactitude, why a cartridge in those times had to be greased, and why or how, if greased, it required to be bitten. Lands were confiscated from the landlords and auctioned. The ratio of British to Indian troops was fixed at roughly 1:2 instead of 1:5one British and two Indian battalions were formed into brigades so that no sizable station should be without British troops. McNamara, Robert. Terms of Use rumours abounded that the Enfield cartridges were greased with animal fat. Following the fighting of 185758, India was legally considered a colony of Britain, ruled by a viceroy. Map: Wikicommons. 1857 revolt started firstly on 29th March 1857 from Bairakpur (West Bengal) by Mangal Pandey. B. Famous For: Revolt of 1857. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Kanpur Find out more about saving content to Google Drive. The Revolt of 1857-58 was the biggest and bloodiest conflict against any European colonial power during the nineteenth century. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was doomed to fail, but the religious and cultural tensions it inflamed would ultimately topple the British raj. At some point the chapattis passed beyond the limits of their meaningful transmission and simply continued through the country as a blank message. The system was subject to abuse, and the company used it to annex territories in a questionable manner. Singhs coalitionits brief rise and fall, Congress government of P.V. Ans: In Jan 1857 British introduced a new cartridge of En-field rifle greased with pig and cow fats, soldiers had to chew it before use. All in all, the British were extremely spooked by the spread of the chapatis. Both Hindu and Muslim sepoys refused to use them. The cartridge had to be bitten off before loading it into the gun. In addition, the General Service Enlistment Act of 1856 required recruits to serve overseas if ordered, a challenge to the castes who composed so much of the Bengal army. In the altercation, Pandey was surrounded by British troops and shot himself in the chest. One of the first officials to encounter it was Mark Thornhill, magistrate in the little Indian town of Mathura, near Agra. Some Indians were upset with the draconian rule of the Company who had embarked on a project of territorial expansion and westernization that was imposed without any regard for historical subtleties in Indian society. Loading the Enfield often required tearing open the greased cartridge with one's teeth, and many sepoys believed that the cartridges were greased with cow and pig fat. In contrast, foreign Christians such as Revd Midgeley, John Jennings, and Indian converts to Christianity such as one of Zafar's personal physicians, Dr. Chaman Lal, were killed. ThoughtCo. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 291-292 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. In a few hours the whole country was in a stir, from Chowkeydars flying around with these cakes. Thornhill came into his office one morning to find four dirty little cakes of the coarsest flour, about the size and thickness of a biscuit lying on his desk. 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