modern india revolt of 1857 detailed notes sample

8/22/2019 Modern India Revolt of 1857 Detailed Notes Sample

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Revolt of 1857




Introduction

From the previous chapters of modern history, it is easy to see

that the cumulative effect of the British expansionist policies,economic exploitation and administration innovations over the

years had adversely affected the positions of all – be it rulers of

Indian states, sepoys, zamindars, peasants, traders, artisans,

pundits, maulvis, etc. This simmering discontent burst in the form

of a violent storm in 1857 which shook the British empire in India

to its very foundations.

Battle of Plassey in 1757, marked the beginning of the political

influence of the English East India Company, an influence which

ended in 1858 when the Crown rule was established in British

India. A decade short of a century later in 1947, India gained

independence. So, it is sometimes regarded as the ‘great divide’

in the colonial history of British India.

The cause of the revolt emerged from all the aspects – socio-

cultural, economic and political – of daily existence of Indian

population cutting through all sections and classes.

The fact that its suppression was followed by some fundamental

changes in the administration of India it can be regarded as a

historic landmark.

Even in failure it served a grand purpose of a source of

inspiration for the national liberation movement which later

achieved what the Revolt could not.




Beginning & Spread

The greased cartridges did not create a new cause of discontent

in the Army, but supplied the occasion for the simmeringdiscontent to come out in the open. The Revolt began at Meerut,

58 km from Delhi, on May 10, 1857.

The Revolt gathered force rapidly, and embraced a vast area from

the Punjab in the North and the Narmada in the south to Bihar in

the east and Rajputana in the west.




Participation

The revolt at Meerut and the capture of Delhi was the precursor

to a widespread mutiny by the sepoys and rebellion almost allover North India, as well as Central and Western India.

In Bengal, it was basically the Bengal Army which was recruited

from North Western Provinces especially Awadh, that rose up in

mutiny. The Revolt embraced almost every cantonment in the

Bengal and a few in Bombay. The sepoys were joined by the

civilians from the North, Central and Western India.

South India remained quiet and Punjab and Bengal were onlymarginally affected.

Only the Madras army remained totally loyal. Also, the Gurkha

and the Punjabi soldiers fought on behalf of the English to put

down the rebels.




Causes

Its cause can be categorized into the following broad classes: -

1. Economic Causes

2. Socio-Religious Cause

3. Military Grievances

4. Political Causes

5. Agrarian Causes

6. Administrative Causes

Economic Causes

1) Heavy taxation and highly unpopular revenue settlement

impoverished the conditions of the peasantry class of the

Indian society. As a result, peasants resorted to loans from

moneylenders/traders at usurious rates which often resulted in

eviction of the former on non-payment of the debt dues. These

moneylenders and traders emerged as the new landlords, while

the curse of indebtness plagued the Indian peasantry. So,

revenue policies of the British East India Company destroyed

the traditional economic fabric of the Indian society.

E.g. Permanent Settlement(1793); Ryotwari Settlement

(1820).

2) Annexation of Indian states by the company led to cut off of

the major source of patronage to Indian artisans and

handcraftsmen. In addition to this, British policy discouraged

Indian handicrafts and promoted British goods. The highly

skilled Indian craftsmen were forced to look for alternate

sources of employment that hardly existed as the destruction

of Indian handcrafts was not accompanied by the development

of modern industries.




To stress on the fact, Karl Marx remarked in 1853: “It was

the British intruder who broke up the Indian handloom 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.”

3) Zamindars, the traditional landed aristocracy, were often

forfeited of their land rights with frequent use of quo

warranto by the administration. Having lost their status,

these dispossessed taluqdars, in order to regain their land

rights, grabbed the opportunity presented by the sepoy revolt

to oppose the British. For e.g.

i. In Awadh itself, a major storm centre of the revolt,

21000 taluqdars had their estates confiscated and

suddenly found themselves without a source of income.

ii. The British ordered an enquiry into the title deeds of the

landed estates in Bengal and its adjoining areas. Many

people who had held lands before the coming of the

British lost their lands under the reorganization of theland titles.

4) The British Land revenue settlements increased

commercialization of agriculture i.e. peasants being forced to

cultivate cash or commercial crops such as cotton, jute, indigo,

opium, sugarcane etc. It is often referred to as coercive

cultivation also.

5) Once, Indian states were annexed, virtually there was no one

to patronize Indian industries as they were the largest

consumers of Indian manufactured goods. The EIC (East India

Company) government only encouraged British goods. The ruin




of Indian industries led to large scale unemployment and when

the revolt broke they joined the rebellion.

In general, ruination of Indian industry increased the

pressure on agriculture and land, the lopsided

development of which result in pauperization of the

country in general.

Socio-Religious Causes

1) From the early decades of 19th century, British had abandoned

its policy of non-interference in the socio-religious life of the

Indians. Abolition of Sati in 1829 under Lord Bentinck, theHindu Widow Remarriage Act of 1856, and women

education all led to disruption in the social world of the people

of Indian society.

2) The activities of Christian missionaries who followed the British

flag in India were looked upon with suspicion by Indians

3) Racial overtones and a superiority complex characterized theBritish administrative attitude towards the native Indian

population.

4) The fear of interference in the social and religious domains of

Indian society by outsiders were further compounded by the

government’s decision to tax mosque and temple lands and

legislative measures such as Religious Disabilities Act

(1856), which modified Hindu customs, for instance declaring

that a change of religion did not debar a son from inheriting

the property of his heathen father.




Military Causes

1) Bengal Army had high proportions of high caste men recruited

from North-West provinces and Awadh, Bhumihar Brahmins

and Rajputs of the Ganges Valley. In the early years of the

Company rule, the British tolerated the caste privileges and

customs within the Bengal Army. But by 1820s, these customs

and privileges were threatened by the modernizing forces and

thus, the conditions of service in the company’s army and

cantonments increasingly came into conflict with the religious

beliefs and prejudices of the sepoys. For e.g. Restrictions were

on Caste and sectarian marks, Growing of beard, Wearing

turbans etc.

2) Secret rumors of proselytizing activities of chaplains were

interpreted by Indian sepoys, who were generally conservative

by nature, as interference in their religious affairs and attempt

to convert to Christianity.

3) To the religious Hindu of the time, crossing the sea meant lossof caste. This clashed with the need to defend the growing

British Empire outside India. In 1856 Lord Canning’s

Government passed the General Service Enlistment

Act(1856) which compelled the sepoys to serve abroad if

required by the company.

4) The Indian sepoy was equally unhappy with his emoluments

compared to his British counterparts. A more immediate causeof the sepoy’s dissatisfaction was the order that they would not

be given the Foreign Service allowance (bhatta) when serving

outside their own regions. This affected the extra pay of the

sepoys. But the English soldiers in the Indian Army continued

to receive this allowance. Also, the Indian sepoys were




discriminated against in terms of promotion and salary.

While the sepoys outnumbered the European soldiers, the

former were not promoted to higher posts in the Army. The

Indian sepoy was made to feel a subordinates at every step

and was discriminated against racially and in matters of

promotion and privileges.

5) The discontent of the sepoys was not limited to matters

military; it reflected the general disenchantment with and

opposition to British rule. The sepoy, in fact, was a ‘peasant

in uniform’ whose consciousness was not divorced from that

of the rural population.

6) The reports about mixing of bone dust in ‘atta’ and the

introduction of the Enfield rifle enhanced the sepoy’s growing

disaffection with the Government. The cartridges of the new

rifle had to be bitten off before loading and the grease was

reportedly made of beef and pig fat. In fact, these reports

proved to be the triggering agent of the revolt in Meerut.

Political Causes

1) The EIC’s greedy policies of aggrandizement accompanied by

broken pledges and oaths resulted in loss of political prestige

for it, on the one hand and caused suspicion in the minds of

almost all ruling princes in India, on the other. For, e.g.

policies of ‘Effective Control’, ‘Subsidiary Alliance’ and

‘Doctrine of Lapse’. The right of succession was denied to

Hindu princes.The collapse of rulers- the erstwhile aristocracy –

also adversely affected those sections of the Indian society

which derived their sustenance from cultural and religious

pursuits.




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