MODERN INDIA
CHAPTER
1
The
Revolt of 1857
The
revolt of 1857 was a product of the character and policies of rule.
The
cumulative effect of British expansionist policies, economic
exploitation
and administrative innovations over the years had adversely
affected
the positions of all— rulers of Indian states, sepoys,
zamindars,
peasants, traders, artisans, pundits, maulvis, etc. The
simmering
discontent burst in the form of a violent storm in 1857 which
shook
the British empire in India to its very foundations.
The
causes of the revolt emerged from all aspects— socio-cultural,
economic
and political—of daily existence of Indian population cutting
through
all sections and classes. These causes are discussed below.
ECONOMIC CAUSES
The
colonial policies of the East India Company destroyed the traditional
economic
fabric of the Indian society. The peasantry were never really to
recover
from the disabilities imposed by the new and a highly unpopular
revenue
settlement (see chapter on "Economic Impact of British Rule in
India"
for details). Impoverished by heavy taxation, the peasants
resorted
to loans from moneylenders/traders at usurious rates, the latter
often
evicting the former on non-payment of debt dues. These
moneylenders
and traders emerged as the new landlords. While the scourge
of
indebtedness has continued to plague Indian society to this day.
British
rule also meant misery to the artisans and handicraftsmen. The
annexation
of Indian states by the Company cut off their major source of
patronage.
Added 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
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MODERN
INDIA
existed,
as the destruction of Indian handicrafts was not accompanied by
the
development of modern industries. 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.
Zamindars,
the traditional landed aristocracy, often saw their land
rights
forfeited with frequent use of a quo warranto by the
administration.
This resulted in a loss of status for them in the
villages.
In Awadh, the storm center of the revolt, 21,000 taluqdars had
their
estates confiscated and suddenly found themselves without a source
of
income, "unable to work, ashamed to beg, condemned to penury". These
dispossessed
taluqdars seized the opportunity presented by the sepoy
revolt
to oppose the British and regain what they had lost.
The
ruination of Indian industry increased the pressure on agriculture
and
land, the lopsided development in which resulted in pauperization of
the
country in general.
POLITICAL CAUSES
The
East India Company's greedy policy 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, through such policies as of 'Effective
Control',
'Subsidiary Alliance' and 'Doctrine of Lapse'. The right of
succession
was denied to Hindu princes. The house of Mughals was humbled
when
on Prince Faqiruddin's death in 1856, whose succession had been
recognized
conditionally by Lord Dalhousie. Lord Canning announced that
the
next prince on succession would have to renounce the regal title and
the
ancestral Mughal palaces, in addition to renunciations agreed upon by
Prince
Faqiruddin.
The
collapse of rulers—the erstwhile aristocracy—also The Revolt of 1857
adversely
affected those sections of the Indian society which derived
their
sustenance from cultural and religious pursuits.
ADMINISTRATIVE CAUSES
Rampant
corruption in the Company's administration, especially among the
police,
petty officials and lower law courts, and the absentee
sovereigntyship
character of British rule imparted a foreign and alien
look
to it in the eyes of Indians.
SOCIO-RELIGIOUS CAUSES
Racial
overtones and a superiority complex characterized the British
administrative
attitude towards the native Indian population. The
activities
of Christian missionaries who followed the British flag in
India
were looked upon with suspicion by Indians. The attempts at socioreligious
reform
such as abolition of sati, support to widow-remarriage
and
women's education were seen by a large section of the population as
interference
in the social and religious domains of Indian society by
outsiders.
These fears were further compounded by the Government's
decision
to tax mosque and temple lands and legislative measures, such
as
the 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.
INFLUENCE OF OUTSIDE
EVENTS
The
revolt of 1857 coincided with certain outside events in which the
British
suffered serious losses—the First Afghan War (1838-42), Punjab
Wars
(1845-49), Crimean Wars (1854-56), Santhal rebellion (1855-57).
These
had obvious psychological repercussions.
DISCONTENT
AMONG SEPOYS
The
conditions of service in the Company's Army and cantonments
increasingly
came into conflict with the religious beliefs and
prejudices
of the sepoys. Restrictions on wearing caste and sectarian
marks
and secret rumors of proselytizing
4 A
Brief History of Modern India
activities
of chaplains (often maintained on the Company's expenses)
were
interpreted by Indian sepoys, who were generally conservative by
nature,
as interference in their religious affairs. To the religious
Hindu
of the time, crossing the seas meant loss of caste. In 1856 Lord
Canning's
Government passed the General Service Enlistment Act which
decreed
that all future recruits to the Bengal Army would have to give
an
undertaking to serve anywhere their services might be required by
the
Government. This caused resentment.
The
Indian sepoy was equally unhappy with his emoluments compared to his
British
counterpart. A more immediate cause of the sepoys'
dissatisfaction
was the order that they would not be given the foreign
service
allowance (Matta) when serving in Sindh or in Punjab. The
annexation
of Awadh, home of many of the sepoys, further inflamed their
feelings.
The
Indian sepoy was made to feel a subordinate at every step and was
discriminated
against racially and in matters of promotion and
privileges.
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. "The
Army
voiced grievances other than its own; and the movement spread
beyond
the Army", observes Gopal.
Finally,
there had been a long history of revolts in the British Indian
Army—in
Bengal (1764), Vellore (1806), Barrackpore (1825) and during the
Afghan
Wars (1838-42) to mention just a few.
BEGINNING
AND SPREAD The reports about the mixing of bone dust in rtta
(flour)
and the introduction of the Enfield rifle enhanced the sepoys'
growing
disaffection with the Government. The cartridge of the new rifle
had
to be bitten off before loading and the grease was reportedly made
of
beef and pig fan The Army The Revolt of 1857
administration
did nothing to allay these fears, and the sepoys felt
their
religion was in grave danger.
The
greased cartridges did not create a new cause of discontent in the
Army,
but supplied the occasion for the simmering discontent to come out
in
the open. The revolt began at Meerut, 58 km from Delhi, on May 10,
1857
and then, gathering force rapidly, soon 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.
Even
before the Meerut incident, there were rumblings resentment in
various
cantonments. the 19th Native Infantry at Berhampur, which refused
to
use the newly introduced Enfield rifle and broke out in mutiny in
February
1857 was disbanded in March 1857. A young sepoy of the 34th
Native
Infantry, Mangal Pande, went a step further and fired at the
sergeant
major of his unit at Barrackpore. He was overpowered and
executed
on April 6 while his regiment was disbanded in May. The 7th
Awadh
Regiment which defied its officers on May 3 met with a similar
fate.
And then came the explosion at Meerut. On April 24, ninety men of
3rd
Native Cavalry refused to accept the greased cartridges. On May 9,
eighty-five
of them were dismissed, sentenced. to 10 years' imprisonment
and
put in fetters. This sparked off a general mutiny among the Indian
soldiers
stationed at Meerut. The very next day, on May 10, they
released
their imprisoned comrades, killed their officers and unfurled
the
banner of revolt. They set off for Delhi after sunset. In Delhi, the
local
infantry joined them, killed their own European officers including
Simon
Fraser, the political agent, and seized the city. Lieutenant
Willoughby,
the officer-in charge of the magazine at Delhi, offered some
resistance,
but was overcome. The aged and powerless Bahadur Shah Zafar
was
proclaimed the emperor of India.
Delhi
was soon to become the centre of the Great Revolt and Bahadur
Shah,
its symbol. This spontaneous raising of the last Mughal king to
the
leadership of the country was a recognition of the fact that the
long
reign of Mughal dynasty
6 A
Brief History of Modern India
had
become the traditional symbol of India's political unity. With this
single
act, the sepoys had transformed a mutiny of soldiers into a
revolutionary
war, while all Indian chiefs who took part in the revolt
hastened
to proclaim their loyalty to the Mughal emperor.
Bahadur
Shah, after initial vacillation, wrote letters to all the chiefs
and
rulers of India urging them to organize a confederacy of Indian
states
to fight and replace the British regime. The entire Bengal Army
soon
rose in revolt which spread quickly. Awadh, Rohilkhand, the Doab,
the
Bundelkhand, central India, large parts of Bihar and East Punjab
shook
off British authority.
The
revolt of the sepoys was accompanied by a rebellion of the civil
population,
particularly in the north-western provinces and Awadh. Their
accumulated
grievances found immediate expression and they rose en masse
to
give vent to their opposition to British rule. It is the widespread
participation
in the revolt by the peasantry, the artisans, shopkeepers,
day
laborers, zamindars, religious mendicants, priests and 'civil
servants
which gave it real strength as well as the character of a
popular
revolt. Here the peasants and petty zamindars gave free
expression
to their grievances by attacking the moneylenders and
zamindars
who had displaced them from the land. They took advantage of
the
revolt to destroy the moneylenders' account books and debt records.
They
also attacked the British-established law courts, revenue offices
(tehsils),
revenue records and police stations.
According
to one estimate, of the total number of about 1,50,000 men who
died
fighting the English in Awadh, over 1,00,000 were civilians.
Within
a month of the capture of Delhi, the revolt spread to different
parts
of the country.
STORM CENTRES AND LEADERS OF THE REVOLT
At
Delhi the nominal and symbolic leadership belonged to the Mughal
emperor,
Bahadur Shah, but the real command lay with a court of soldiers
headed
by General Bakht Khan who
THE
Revolt of 1857 7
had
led the revolt of Bareilly troops and brought them to Delhi. The
court
consisted of ten members, six from the army and four from the
civilian
departments. The court conducted the affairs of the state in
the
name of the emperor. Emperor Bahadur Shah was perhaps the weakest
link
in the chain of leadership of the revolt. His weak personality, old
age
and lack of leadership qualities created political weakness at the
nerve
centre of the revolt and did incalculable damage to it.
At
Kanpur, the natural choice was Nana Saheb, the adopted son of the
last
Peshwa, Baji Rao II. He was refused the family title and, banished
from
Poona, was living near Kanpur. Nana Saheb expelled the English from
Kanpur,
proclaimed himself the Peshwa, acknowledged Bahadur Shah as the
emperor
of India and declared himself to be his governor. Sir Hugh
Wheeler,
commanding the station, surrendered on June 27, 1857.
Begum
Hazrat Mahal took over the reigns at Lucknow where the rebellion
broke
out on June 4, 1857 and popular sympathy was overwhelmingly in
favour
of the deposed Nawab. Her son, Birjis Qadir, was proclaimed the
Nawab
and a regular administration was organized with important offices
shared
equally by Muslims and Hindus. Henry Lawrence, the British
resident,
the European inhabitants and a few hundred loyal sepoys took
shelter
in the residency. The residency was besieged by the Indian
rebels
and Sir Henry was killed during the siege. The command of the
besieged
garrison devolved on Brigadier Inglis who held out against
heavy
odds. The early attempts of Sir Henry Havelock and Sir James
Outrarn
to recover Lucknow met with no success. Finally, Sir Colin
Campbell,
the new commander-in-chief, evacuated the Europeans with the
help
of Gorkha regiments. In March 1858, the city was finally recovered
by
the British, but guerrilla activity continued till September of the
same
year.
At
Bareilly, Khan Bahadur, a descendant of the former ruler of
Rohilkhand,
was placed in command. Not enthusiastic about the pension
being
granted by the British, he organized
8 A
Brief History of Modern India
The
Revolt of 1857. An army of 40,000 soldiers and offered stiff
resistance
to the British.
In
Bihar, the revolt was led by Kunwar Singh, the zamindar of
Jagdishpur.
An old man in his seventies, he nursed a grudge against the
British
who had deprived him of his estates. He unhesitatingly joined
the
sepoys when they reached Arrah from Dinapore.
Maulvi
Ahmadullah of Faizabad was another outstanding leader of the
revolt.
He was a native of Madras and had moved to Faizabad in the north
where
he fought a stiff battle against the British troops. He emerged as
one
of the revolt's acknowledged leaders once it broke out in Awadh in
May
1857.
The
most outstanding leader of the revolt was Rani Laxmibai, who assumed
the
leadership of the sepoys at Jhansi. Lord Dalhousie, the governorgeneral,
had
refused to allow her adopted son to succeed to the throne
after
her husband Raja Ganbadhar Rao died, and had annexed the state by
the
application of the infamous 'Doctrine of Lapse'. Driven out of
Jhansi
by British forces, she gave the battle cry—"main apni Jhansi nahi
doongi"
(I shall not give away my Jhansi). She was joined by Tantia
Tope,
a close associate of Nana Saheb, after the loss of Kanpur. Rani of
Jhansi
and Tantia Tope marched towards Gwalior where they were hailed by
the
Indian soldiers. The Scindhia, the local ruler, however, decided to
side
with the English and took shelter at Agra. Nana Saheb was
proclaimed
the Peshwa and plans were chalked out for a march into the
south.
Gwalior was recaptured by the English in June 1858.
For
more than a year the rebels carried on their struggle against heavy
odds.
SUPPRESSION OF REVOLT
The
revolt was finally suppressed. The British captured Delhi on
September
20, 1857 after prolonged and bitter fighting. John Nicholson,
the
leader of the siege, was badly wounded and later succumbed to his
injuries.
Bahadur Shah was taken prisoner. The royal princes were
captured
and butchered on the spot, publicly shot at point blank range,
by
Lieutenant Hudson himself. The emperor was exiled to Rangoon where
he
died in 1862. Thus the great House of Mughals was finally and
completely
extinguished. Terrible vengeance was wreaked on the
inhabitants
of Delhi. With the fall of Delhi the focal point of the
revolt
disappeared.
One
by one, all the great leaders of the revolt fell. Military
operations
for the recapture of Kanpur were closely associated with the
recovery
of Lucknow. Sir Colin Campbell occupied Kanpur on December 6,
1857.
Nana Saheb, defeated at Kanpur, escaped to Nepal in early 1859,
never
to be heard of again. His close associate Tantia Tope escaped into
the
jungles of central India, was captured while asleep in April 1859
and
put to death. The Rani of Jhansi had died on the battlefield earlier
in
June 1858. Jhansi was recaptured through assault by Sir Hugh Rose, By
1859,
Kunwar Singh, Bakht Khan, Khan Bahadur Khan of Bareilly, Rao Sahib
(brother
of Nana Saheb) and Maulvi Ahmadullah were all dead, while the
Begum
of Awadh was compelled to hide in Nepal. At Benaras a rebellion
had
been organized which was mercilessly suppressed, by Colonel Neil,
who
put to death all suspected rebels and even disorderly sepoys.
By
the end of 1859, British authority over India was fully reestablished.
The
British Government had to pour immense supplies of men,
money
and arms into the country, though Indians had to later repay the
entire
cost through their own suppression.
CAUSES OF FAILURE OF REVOLT
Limited
territorial spread was one factor; there was no all-India
veneer
about the revolt. The eastern, southern and western parts of
India
remained more or less unaffected.
Certain
classes and groups did not join and, in fact, worked against the
revolt.
Big zamindars acted as "breakwaters to storm"; even Awadh
tahacildars
backed off once promises
10 A
Brief History of Modern India
of
land restitution were spelt out. Moneylenders and merchants suffered
the
wrath of the mutineers badly and anyway saw their class interests
better
protected under British patronage. Modern educated Indians viewed
this
revolt as backward looking, and mistakenly hoped the British would
usher
in an era of modernisation. Most Indian rulers refused to join and
often
gave active help to the British. By one estimate, not more than
one-fourth
of the total area and not more than one-tenth of the total
population
was affected.
The
Indian soldiers were poorly equipped materially, fighting generally
with
swords and spears and very few guns and muskets. On the other hand,
the
European soldiers were equipped with the latest weapons of war like
the
Enfield rifle. The electric telegraph kept the commander-in-chief
informed
about the movements and strategy of the rebels.
The
revolt was poorly organized with no coordination or central
leadership.
The principal rebel leaders—Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope, Kunwar
Singh,
Laxmibai—were no match to their British opponents in generalship.
On
the other hand, the East India Company was fortunate in having the
services
of men of exceptional abilities in the Lawrence brothers, John
Nicholson,
James Outram, Henry Havelock, Edward, etc.
The
mutineers lacked a clear understanding of colonial rule; nor did
they
have a forward looking programme, a coherent ideology, a political
perspective
or a societal alternative. The rebels represented diverse
elements
with differing grievances and concepts of current politics.
The
lack of unity among Indians was perhaps unavoidable at this stage of
Indian
history. Modern nationalism was yet unknown in India. In fact,
the
revolt of 1857 played an important role in bringing the Indian
people
together and imparting to them the consciousness of belonging to
one
country.
HINDU-MUSLIM UNITY FACTOR
During
the entire revolt, there was complete cooperation between Hindus
and
Muslims at all levels—people, soldiers,
The
Revolt of 1857
leaders.
All rebels acknowledged Bahadur Shah Zafar, a Muslim, as the
emperor
and the first impulse of the Hindu sepoys at Meerut was to march
to
Delhi, the Mughal imperial capital. Rebels and sepoys, both Hindu and
Muslim,
respected each other's sentiments. Immediate banning of cow
slaughter
was ordered once the revolt was successful in a particular
area
Both Hindus and Muslims were well represented in leadership, for
instance
Nana Saheb had Azimullah, a Muslim and an expert in political
propaganda,
as an aide, while Laxmibai had the solid support of Afghan
soldiers.
Thus,
the events of 1857 demonstrated that the people and politics of
India
were not basically communal before 1858.
NATURE OF THE REVOLT
Views
differ on the nature of the 1857 revolt. It was a mere 'Sepoy
Mutiny'
to some British historians—"a wholly unpatriotic and selfish
Sepoy
Mutiny with no native leadership and no -popular support", said
Sir
John Seeley. However, it is not a complete picture of the event as
it
involved many sections of the civilian population and not just the
sepoys.
The discontent of the sepoys was just one cause of the
disturbance.
Dr
K. Datta considers the revolt of 1857 to have been "in the main a
military
outbreak, which was taken advantage of by certain discontented
princes
and landlords, whose interests had been affected by the new
political
orc:er". The last mentioned factor gave it an aura of a
popular
uprising in certain areas. It was "never all-Indian in
character,
but was localised, restricted and poorly organized". Further,
says
Datta, the movement was marked by absence of cohesion and unity of
purpose
among the various sections of the rebels.
It
was at the beginning of the twentieth century that the 1857 revolt
came
to be interpreted as a "planned war of national independence", by
V.D.
Savarkar in his book, First War of Indian Independence. Dr S.N. Sen
in
his Eighteen FiftySeven considers the revolt as having begun as a
ttfight
for religion but ended as a war of independence. Dr R.C.
12 A BRIEF HISTORY OF
MODERN INDIA
Majumdar,
however, considers it as neither the first, nor national, nor
a
war of independence as large parts of the country remained unaffected
and
many sections of the people took no part in the upsurge.
According
to Marxist historians, the 1857 revolt was "the struggle of
the
soldier-peasant democratic combine against foreign as well as feudal
bondage".
However, this view does not stand scrutiny in the light of the
fact
that the leaders of the revolt themselves came from a feudal
background.
The
revolt of 1857 is not easy to categorise. While one can easily
dismiss
some views such as those of L.E.R. Rees who considered it to be a
war
of fanatic religionists against Christians or T.R. Holmes who saw in
it a
conflict between civilisation and barbarism, one cannot quite go so
far
as to accept it as a war for independence. It had seeds of
nationalism
and anti-imperialism but the concept of common nationality
and
nationhood was not inherent to the revolt of 1857.
One
may say that the revolt of 1857 was the first great struggle of
Indians
to throw off British rule. It established local traditions of
resistance
to British rule which were to pave the a y for the modern
national
movement.
CONSEQUENCES
The
revolt of 1857 marks a turning point in the history of India. It led
to
changes in the system of administration and the policy of the
Government.
(i)
The direct responsibility for the administration of the
country
was assumed by the British Crown and Company rule
was
abolished. The assumption of the Government of India by
the
sovereign of Great Britain was announced by Lord Canning
at a
durbar at Allahabad in the 'Queen's Proclamation'
issued
on November 1, 1858.
(ii)
The era of annexations and expansion ended and the British promised
to
respect the dignity and rights of the native princes.
The
Revolt of 1857 13
(ii)
The Indian states were henceforth to recognise the
paramountcy
of the British Crown and were to be treated as
parts
of a single charge.
(iii)
The Army, which was at the forefront of the outbreak, was
thoroughly
reorganised and British military policy came to
be
dominated by the idea of "division and counterpoise".
(v)
Racial hatred and suspicion between the Indians and the English was
aggravated.
Views
It
is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the so-called Firs
National
War of Independence of 1857 is neither First, not
National,
nor War of Independence.
R.C.
Majumdar, The Mutiny became a Revolt and assumed a political
character
when the mutineers of Meerut placed themselves under the king
of
Delhi a section of the landed aristocracy and civil population
decided
in his favour. What began as a fight for religion ended as a war
of
independence. S.N. Sen had a single leader of ability arisen among
them
(the rebels), we must have been lost beyond redemption. John
Lawrence,
The revolt of 1857 was a struggle of the soldier-peasant
democratic
combine against foreign imperialism as well as indigenous
landlordism.
Marxist
Interpretation
Here
lay the woman who was the only man among the rebels.
Hugh
Rose (a tribute to the Rani of Jhansi from the man who defeated
her)
It
was far more than a mutiny, yet much less than a first war of
independence.
taniey vvolpert
14 A
Brief History of Modern India
Summary
Revolt—a product of character and policies of colonial rule.
Economic
causes—
Heavy
taxation under new revenue settlement,
Summary
evictions,
Discriminatory
tariff policy against Indian products,
Destruction
of traditional handicrafts industry, and
Absence
of concomitant industrialisation on modern lines that hit
peasants,
artisans and small zamindars.
Political
causes—
Greedy
policy of aggrandisement,
Absentee
sovereigntyship character of British rule,
British
interference in socio-religious affairs of Indian public.
Military
causes—
Discontent
among sepoys for economic,
Psychological
and religious reasons,
Coupled
with a long history of revolts.
CENTRES
OF REVOLT AND LEADERS
Delhi
- General Khan Kanpur - Nana Saheb Lucknow -
Begum
Hazrat Mahal Bareilly - Khan Bahadur Bihar -
Kunwar
Singh Faizabad - Maulvi Ahmadullah Jhansi - Rani
Laxmibai
THE BRITISH RESISTANCE
Delhi
-- John Nicholson,
Kanpur
Lucknow
Jhansi
Benaras
-
Lieutenant Willoughby,
Lieutenant
Hudson - Sir Hugh Wheeler, Sir Colin Campbell - Henry
Lawrence,
Brigadier Inglis,
Henry
Havelock, James Outram, Sir Colin Campbell - Sir Hugh Rose -
Colonel
James Neill
CAUSES
OF FAILURE
Limited
territorial and social base.
Crucial
support of certain sections of Indian public to British
authorities.
Lack
of resources as compared to those of the British.
Lack
of coordination and a central leadership.
Lack
of a coherent ideology and a political perspective.
NATURE
Not
quite the first war of independence but sowed the seeds of
nationalism
and quest for freedom from alien rule.
EFFECT
Crown
took over.
Company
rule abolished.
Queen's
Proclamation altered administration.
Army
reorganised.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon