There is no doubt that conflict over the new rifle cartridges sparked the uprising in 1857, but the reality is that social, political, and even technological reforms had set the stage for what happened. Eleven of the sepoys were executed and hundreds more sentenced to hard labor. McNamara, Robert. The grotesque executions by cannon became even became widely known in America. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 203-204 A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. [21], The Bengal Army also administered, sometimes loosely, 29 regiments of irregular horses and 42 of irregular infantry. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 305-306 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service. These recalcitrant troops were placed in irons, but their comrades soon came to their rescue. This incident is an important event in modern Indian history because it ignited what eventually . The cartridge was then rammed down the muzzle of the rifle.. 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. #Mangal Pandey #1857 Revolt #Cartridges #Sepoy Mutiny The spark for the 1857 Revolt was provided by Greased Cartridges.Why Greased Cartridges triggered the R. Outraged by events such as the massacre of women and children at Cawnpore, some British officers believed that hanging mutineers was too humane. each other as brothers.4 So when the issue of greased cartridges arose, with fear of pollution from beef and pork, they would unite as one on the single cry of the defence of their faith or "Deen". Some currents simply ran cold, while others moved in parallel, or paused before continuing. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. India at the time of the 1857 rebellion. The sepoys were generally under the command of British officers. India from the Paleolithic Period to the decline of the Indus civilization, The earliest agriculturalists and pastoralists, Neolithic agriculture in the Indus valley and Baluchistan, Extent and chronology of Early Harappan culture, Language and scripts, weights and measures, The Post-Urban Period in northwestern India, The late 2nd millennium and the reemergence of urbanism, Peninsular India in the aftermath of the Indus civilization (c. 20001000, The development of Indian civilization from c. 1500, Traditional approaches to Indian historiography, The beginning of the historical period, c. 500150, North India under Muslim hegemony, c. 12001526, Taxation and distribution of revenue resources, The Muslim states of southern India, c. 13501680, Extension and consolidation of the empire, Central, provincial, and local government, Organization of the nobility and the army, The emperor, the nobility, and the provinces, The Afghan-Maratha struggle for northern India, Political and economic decentralization during the Mughal decline, The Afghan factor in northern India, 174772, Cultural aspects of the late precolonial order, India and European expansion, c. 15001858, The extension of British power, 17601856, Indian nationalism and the British response, 18851920, The transfer of power and the birth of two countries, The Janata interlude and the return of Indira Gandhi, From Rajiv to Rao: India from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, V.P. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Wild stories circulated freely in the panic-stricken atmosphere of 1857, and there were enough real massacres and murders to make almost anything seem possible. Following the fighting of 185758, India was legally considered a colony of Britain, ruled by a viceroy. The rani found a soldiers death, and Tantia Topi became a fugitive. These are deep waters that we trawl in, and dangerous ones, too. One common punishment was to tie mutineers to the mouth of a cannon and then fire the cannon, completely obliterating the victim. The greased cartridges had to be opened by biting off the top with your teeth. It consisted of the distribution of many thousands of chapatisunleavened Indian breadsthat were passed from hand to hand and from village to village throughout the mofussil (interior) of the subcontinent. The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and very bloody uprising against British rule in India in 1857. The Great Fear of 1857: Rumours, Conspiracies and the Making of the Indian Uprising (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010);Andrew Ward. By the time the British came to examine the causes of the rebellion, therefore, the chupatty movement had assumed a fresh significance. The revolt of 1857, which the British call the Indian Mutiny but many Indians prefer to think of as the First War of Independence, was the defining event in British imperial history. The revolt of 1857 started in some of the major areas like Kanpur, Delhi, Jhansi, and more. Extensive inquiries into the meaning of the breads produced plenty of theories but few facts; even the runners and watchmen who baked them and carried them from village to village did not know why they had to run through the night with chupatties in their turbans, though they took them just the same. The system was subject to abuse, and the company used it to annex territories in a questionable manner. on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Privacy Statement Any British plans to reform Indian society, which had been one of the underlying causes of the revolt, were essentially set aside, and religious conversion of the Indian population was no longer viewed as a practical goal. 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. Map: Wikicommons. The army became an efficient professional body, drawn largely from the northwest and aloof from the national life. The Revolt of 1857, an anti-colonial movement which fought against the imperialist policies of the British East India Company, is an important event that took place in Indian history. B. On 29 March 1857, Mangal Pandey, a sepoy of the 34 th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) mutinied against his commanding officers of the East India Company. [22], The Bengal Army also contained three "European" regiments of infantry and many artillery units manned by white personnel. Western inventions such as the telegraph and railways aroused the prejudice of a conservative society (though Indians crowded the trains when they had them). However, in those two years, they were not ordered to use them. Mutiny Memoirs of an Old Officer (London: Folio Society, 1984);Troy Downs. [8], Unlike the Madras and Bombay Armies of the BEIC, which were far more diverse, the Bengal Army recruited its regular soldiers almost exclusively amongst the landowning Bhumihars and Rajputs of the Ganges Valley. Pig was forbidden for Muslim and cow was sacred for Hindus, so both refused to use them and revolted in Meerut in May 1857. British officials were alarmed at the rapid distribution of mysterious Indian breads across much of the Raj, There is a most mysterious affair going on throughout the whole of India at present, Dr. Gilbert Hadow wrote in a letter to his sister in Britain in March 1857. All of the Bengal Native Cavalry regiments and 45 of the infantry units rebelled at some point. The Revolt of 1857-58 was the biggest and bloodiest conflict against any European colonial power during the nineteenth century. But in the 1830s and 1840s, tensions began to emerge. [10], Caste privileges and customs within the Bengal Army were not merely tolerated but encouraged in the early years of the company's rule. Singhs coalitionits brief rise and fall, Congress government of P.V. And the leaders were not united, because they sought to revive former Hindu and Muslim regimes, which in their heyday had bitterly clashed. Further, the British were becoming increasingly hostile toward traditional survivals and contemptuous of most things Indian. History of the Siege of Delhi (Edinburgh: A&C Black, 1861);John Kaye. The cartridge of the Enfield rifle was heavily greased - with animal fat, to facilitate an easier load into the muzzle. By the time of the chupatty movement, no more than a handful of aged India hands could remember such long-ago events as the Vellore Mutiny. It is no surprise, the historian Kim Wagner notes, that, faced with such a plethora of portents, the British regarded with deep suspicion, bordering on paranoia, any type of communication in India which they could not understand. The colonial administration well understood that rumors, however unfounded, could have serious consequences, and there were plenty of notably more dangerous urban legends about. A chowkidaran Indian village watchman. Richard Barter. The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. The mutiny and great revolt of 1857-59. Large numbers of native soldiers, known as sepoys, were employed by the company to maintain order and defend trading centers. Musket cartridges circa 1858 The Sepoys in the East India Company were first issued with the Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket in 1857. There was thus a suppressed tension in the countryside, ready to break out whenever governmental pressure might be reduced. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 186 and 313 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. The Company had upgraded to the new Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle, which used greased paper cartridges. In 1885, however, the founding of the Indian National Congress marked the beginnings of effective, organized protest for national self-determination. Victoria added the title "Empress of India" to her royal title. In most accounts of the revolt, the greased cartridge has been referred to as the spark and tinder that lit the flames of rebellion. Then enter the name part A Chowkeydar ran up to another village with two chupatties. 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. Seen from a distance of 150 years, the chupatty movement can appear a quaint anomaly, a strange and colorful rumor of interest mostly to historians and psychologists. Robert J. McNamara is a history expert and former magazine journalist. The resumption of tax-free land and confiscation of jagirs (the grant or right to locally control land revenue) caused discontent among the jagirdars and zamindars. "useRatesEcommerce": false In sum, this combination of factors produced, besides the normal tensions endemic in India, an uneasy, fearful, suspicious, and resentful frame of mind and a wind of unrest ready to fan the flame of any actual physical outbreak. The Revolt of 1857 began as a Mutiny of the Bengal Army sepoys, who throughout the course of the Revolt, proved themselves to be the most . It is not known who first projected the plan. Before the rebellion, there were reports that "holy men" were mysteriously circulating chapatis and lotus flowers among the sepoys. The officers continued to be British, but they were more closely linked with their men. He ordered his fellow-official to make ten more, and give two to each of the five nearest village Chowkeydars with the same instructions. Hostname: page-component-7f44ffd566-7cttp 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. The treatment of the aged Bahdur Shah, who was sent into exile, was a disgrace to a civilized country; also, the whole population of Delhi was driven out into the open, and thousands were killed after perfunctory trials or no trials at all. In the Punjab were some 10,000 British troops, which made it possible to disarm the Indian regiments; and the recently defeated Sikhs were so hostile to the Muslims that they supported the British against the Mughal restoration in Delhi. And, historically, much the same thing had happened before in times of trouble. Numerous explanations were considered. Historians have identified diverse political, economic, military, religious and social causes of the Revolt of 1857 (First War of Indian Independence 1857). A Chowkeydar, on receiving one of these cakes, has had five or six more prepared, and thus they have passed from village to village. An idea has been industriously circulated that the Government has given the order. 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. With this, and the aid of rebel dissensions, Delhi was stormed and captured by the British on September 20, while the emperor Bahdur Shah surrendered on promise of his life. No one seems to know the meaning of it. It is not known where it originated, by whom or for what purpose, whether it is supposed to be connected to any religious ceremony or whether it has to do with some secret society. The transfer of the number 66th which was taken away from a regular Bengal Sepoy regiment of the line disbanded over refusal to serve without batta, and given to a Gurkha battalion, was considered by the Sepoy as a breach of faith by the company. The mysterious appearance of chapatisloaves of an Indian unleavened breadspooked the British administrators of the Raj shortly before the outbreak of rebellion in 1857. Following the disarming and disbandment of an additional seventeen Bengal Native Infantry regiments, which were suspected of planning mutiny, only twelve survived to serve in the new post-mutiny army. Q. [7] Several years before the sepoys' mutiny, Lord William Bentinck had attacked several jagirs in western Bengal. Although the armies of many Rajas or states which rebelled contained large numbers of guns, the British superiority in artillery was to be decisive in the siege of Delhi after the arrival of a siege train of thirty-two howitzers and mortars. Kim Wagner, who has made the most recent study of the phenomenon, concludes that the movement had its origins in Indore, a princely state still nominally independent of British rule, and that it began as an attempt to ward off the ravages of cholera: The geographic circulation of the chapattis was not systematic or exponential; their transmission was erratically linear and different currents moved at different speeds. One thing did not change in this new weapon the loading process, which did not improve significantly until the introduction of breech loaders and metallic, one-piece cartridges a few decades later. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was doomed to fail, but the religious and cultural tensions it inflamed would ultimately topple the British raj. Before loading these rifles the sepoys had to bite off the paper on the cartridges. 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