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. [20], In 1857, the Bengal Army contained 10 regular regiments of Indian cavalry and 74 of infantry. Vital though their Indian empire was to them, they controlled the subcontinent with a comparative handful of menabout 100,000 in all, less than half of whom were soldiers, ruling over a population of 250 millionand they were all too aware of just how inadequate these numbers would be in the event of any serious rebellion. Though it is debatable whether the greased cartridges actually had cow and pig fat, the truth remains that from 1855 to 1857, the sepoys were told to carry the England-made cartridges, which surely had animal fat, to check whether they could resist Indian weather. Books and articles about the bloody fighting and heroic deeds by British officers and men were published for decades in London. 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. Prior to the outbreak of the Revolt, Bahadur Shah Zafar lived in Delhi as a Pensioner of the British. A keen cricketer and tennis player, he now lives in Delhi and serves as director of a few companies. They shot the British officers and made for Delhi, 40 miles (65 km) distant, where there were no British troops. A cartridge for the new Enfield rifle. A rumour spread that the cartridges of the new enfield rifles were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. Thornhill examined the chapatis in his office. The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. Mangal Pandey was an Indian soldier who played an important role in incidents prior to the uprising of 1857, known by different names like the 'Indian Rebellion of 1857,' the 'Sepoy Mutiny' and 'India's First War of Independence.'. [2][3], Religious disquiet as the cause of rebellion underlies the work of historian William Dalrymple who asserts that the rebels were motivated primarily by resistance to the actions of the English East India Company(also called British East India Company), especially under James Broun-Ramsay reign, which were perceived as attempts to impose Christianity and Christian laws in India. Beyond that, however, opinions remained divided. In the altercation, Pandey was surrounded by British troops and shot himself in the chest. The rifle's cartridges contained 68 grains of FF black powder, and the ball was typically a 530-grain Pritchett or a Burton-Mini ball. Mason, Philip (1974), page 236 "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. "useRatesEcommerce": false 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. Furthermore, legal changes introduced by the British were accompanied by prohibitions on Indian religious customs and were seen as steps towards forced conversion to Christianity. The greased cartridges had to be opened by biting off the top with your teeth. At some point the chapattis passed beyond the limits of their meaningful transmission and simply continued through the country as a blank message. [9], Until the 1840s there had been a widespread belief amongst the Bengal sepoys in the Iqbal or continued good fortune of the East India Company. 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. These are deep waters that we trawl in, and dangerous ones, too. 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. Pandey, it should be noted, is considered a hero in India, and has been portrayed as a freedom fighter in films and even on an Indian postage stamp. Western inventions such as the telegraph and railways aroused the prejudice of a conservative society (though Indians crowded the trains when they had them). Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. Cookie Policy 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. | READ MORE. The Muslims had lost the large state of Avadh; the Marathas had lost Nagpur, Satara, and Jhansi. The Company had upgraded to the new Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle, which used greased paper cartridges. The Revolt of 1857 started as a Mutiny of the sepoys. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/sepoy-mutiny-of-1857-1774014. The musketry books also recommended that, "Whenever the grease around the bullet appears to be melted away, or otherwise removed from the cartridge, the sides of the bullet should be wetted in the mouth before putting it into the barrel; the saliva will serve the purpose of grease for the time being" This meant that biting a musket cartridge was second nature to the Sepoys, some of whom had decades of service in the company's army, and who had been doing musket drill for every day of their service. This war of Independence marked the end of rule by the British East India company. Both Hindu and Muslim sepoys refused to use them. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857-58 against the rule of the British East India Company, . From Delhi the revolt spread in June to Kanpur (Cawnpore) and Lucknow. As the mutiny spread, the British began called mutineers "pandies." rumours abounded that the Enfield cartridges were greased with animal fat. . Underlying grievances over British taxation and recent land annexations by the English East India Company (EEIC) also contributed to the anger of the sepoy mutineers, and within weeks, dozens of units of the Indian army joined peasant armies in widespread rebellion. 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. Both Hindu and Muslim sepoys refused to use them. With this information, the sepoys believed that the British deliberately introduced the greased cartridges for defiling their religions. Then the bullet had to be rammed down the rifled barrel. 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. Some time in February 1857, a curious occurrence took place. It was no secret that the Companys armies had been making preparations for the introduction of a new sort of ammunition for a new model of Enfield rifle. This book is essentially about the heroes - Tatya Tope, Nana. There has been much controversy over its nature and causes. The revolt of 1857 was one of the greatest & most significant developments in the history of the 19th century. Map: Wikicommons. The Bengal army of some 130,000 Indian troops may have contained as many as 40,000 Brahmans as well as many Rajputs. What was the issue of cartridges? Robert J. McNamara is a history expert and former magazine journalist. It was against this backdrop of uneasiness in which the mutiny erupted in 1857. This would have insulted both Hindu and Muslim religious practices; cows were considered holy by Hindus, while pigs were considered unclean (Haram) by Muslims. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, sepoys tended to take great pride in their military prowess, and they exhibited enormous loyalty to their British officers. It came as a greater shock than the loss of the American colonies, and prompted reprisals far more hysterical and vicious than those visited on rebellious subjects elsewhere in the Empire. 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. please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. History of the Siege of Delhi (Edinburgh: A&C Black, 1861);John Kaye. Singhs coalitionits brief rise and fall, Congress government of P.V. 1857 revolt started firstly on 29th March 1857 from Bairakpur (West Bengal) by Mangal Pandey. The . Cookie Settings. 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. But the back of the rebellion had been broken and time gained for reinforcements to restore British superiority. 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. The greased cartridge - what was it all about? On March 29, 1857, on the parade ground at Barrackpore, a sepoy named Mangal Pandey fired the first shot of the uprising. 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. [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. Before loading these rifles the sepoys had to bite off the paper on the cartridges. Post this, India was directly ruled by the British government through representatives known as Governor-General. There was therefore both resentment and unease among the old governing class, fanned in Delhi by the British decision to end the Mughal imperial title on Bahdur Shahs death. 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. 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. Later, the attitudes of British officers changed with increased intolerance, lack of involvement and unconcern of the welfare of troops becoming manifest more and more. The immediate cause of the Revolt was the issue of the greased cartridges. Revolt Of 1857 India Causes Eects History Facts N Info 1 . [6]. It is however also possible to enclose within the paper container the bullet as well as the powder and the cartridge then becomes a balled cartridge. In 1885, however, the founding of the Indian National Congress marked the beginnings of effective, organized protest for national self-determination. The surrender of Kanpur, after a relatively brief siege, was followed by a massacre of virtually all British citizens and loyal Indian soldiers at Kanpur. From the confidential physician to the King of Delhi: Nobody can tell what was the object of the distribution of the chupatties. In some districts like Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, Bose and Jalal argue that "the revolt took on a distinctly millenarian flavor. The revolt was sparked by a number of reasons, including economic exploitation, cultural repression, and mistreatment of Indian soldiers. The rifling inside the musket barrel ensured accuracy at much greater distances than was possible with old muskets. Hostname: page-component-7f44ffd566-7cttp [27][28], After the rebellion, there was rumour in Britain that Russia was responsible.[28]. Economically and socially, there had been much dislocation in the landholding class all over northern and western India as a result of British land-revenue settlements, setting group against group. Then came the Western innovations of the now overconfident British. Certain actions of the government, such as increased recruitment of Sikhs and Gurkhas, peoples considered by the Bengal sepoys to be inferior in caste to them, increased the distrust of the sepoys who thought that this was a sign of their services not being needed any more. On May 9, 1857, some 4,000 British soldiers and sepoysnative Indian troopsformed a three-sided hollow square on the parade ground at the Meerut military cantonment, 40 miles northeast of Delhi, to witness punishment. Numerous explanations were considered. Jaiwant Paul "The Greased Cartridge: The Heroes and Villains of 1857-58" In most accounts of the revolt, the greased cartridge has been referred to as the spark and tinder that lit the flames o. Some of the more knowledgeable British officials linked the spread of the chapatis to an effort to prevent the outbreak of cholera in central India and added that, since incidence of the disease was associated with the movement of the Companys armies, there was a widespread belief that the British were in fact responsible for the disease. Another official suggested that the chupatty movement had been initiated somewhere in central India by dyers, anxious that their dyes were not clearing properly, or were the product of some spellwork aimed at protecting crops against hail. The immediate cause of military disaffection was the deployment of the new breech-loading Enfield rifle, the cartridge of which was purportedly greased with pork and beef fat. Dalhousie had also appointed Inam Commission with powers to confiscate land. ThoughtCo, Jul. The sepoys' British officers dismissed these claims as rumors and suggested that the sepoys make a batch of fresh cartridges, using a religiously acceptable greasing agent such as ghee or vegetable oil. "[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. 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. Pandey rebelled by shooting a British sergeant-major and a lieutenant. His unit in the Bengal Army, which had refused to use the new rifle cartridges, was about to be disarmed and punished. These recalcitrant troops were placed in irons, but their comrades soon came to their rescue. More disturbing to traditional sensibilities were the interventions, in the name of humanity, in the realm of Hindu custome.g., the prohibition of suttee, the campaign against infanticide, the law legalizing remarriage of Hindu widows. In England, almost every child is aware that, with a smooth bored gun, no grease of any kind is required to ensure the proper loading of it, whilst with a rifle-bored piece such is necessary. So writes Mrs Peile, one of those who escaped from Delhi on 11 May 1857. This is what led to the revolt of 1857 in many localized areas. Indian soldiers in the East India Company's armies believed they risked defilement because the new rounds were being issued greased with the fat of pigs and cowsuntrue, but sufficient to spark the most dangerous uprising against British imperial rule since the American Revolution. 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. Author Pramod Nayar points out that by 1851 there were nineteen Protestant religious societies operating in India whose goal was the conversion of Indians to Christianity. 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. please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. 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. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 203-204 A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. The grease used was tallow, probably containing both cow and pig fat. of your Kindle email address below. 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. This book is essentially about the heroes - Tatya Tope, Nana Saheb, Rani Lakshmi Bai, Kunwar Singh of Jagdishpur - and not to forget, a few villains. Find out more about saving to your Kindle. And where had the chowkidar got them? Seven Years' War: Major General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, Biography of Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, 20 Facts About the Life of Mahatma Gandhi, independence movement against British rule. Saul, David (2003), page 294 "The Indian Mutiny", Penguin Books. And the uprising became extremely violent. What was the main cause of revolt of 1857? Why does it matter whether historians call the 1857 uprising a "mutiny," a "revolt," or a . Whether the cartridge was unballed or balled, it was necessary, in loading a muzzle-loader, to open the end of the cartridge. Immediate Cause The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. Privacy Statement 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. The Sepoy Mutinywas a violent and very bloody uprising againstBritish rule in Indiain 1857. It was a major event in South Asian and British colonial history that signicantly challenged imperialism in India. . The campaign then settled down to British attempts to take Delhi and relieve Lucknow. The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and very bloody uprising against British rule in India in 1857. There was rumor about an old prophecy that the company's rule would end after a hundred years. Greased Cartridges: The Revolt of 1857 was triggered by the use of new Enfield rifles whose cartridges were believed to be greased with cow and pig fat, leading to the refusal of both Hindu and Muslim sepoys to use them. Kanpur As further evidence, he observes that the Urdu sources of the pre- rebellion and post- rebellion periods usually refer to the British not as angrez (the English), goras (whites) or firangis (foreigners), but as kafir (disbeliever) and nasrani (Christians). Partly owing to this, Bengal sepoys were not subject to the penalty of flogging as were the European soldiers. The next phase was the central Indian campaign of Sir Hugh Rose. It is also known by other names: the Indian Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indian Revolt of 1857. 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. [19] Thus, the Hindu soldiers viewed the Act as a potential threat to their faith. Published online by Cambridge University Press: The irony is that all this effort actually supplied historians with evidence that the chupatty movement had nothing at all to do with the outbreak of disorder some months laterand that the circulation of the breads early in 1857 was nothing more than a bizarre coincidence. 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. 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. Fighting in some places continued well into 1858, but the British were ultimately able to establish control. @free.kindle.com emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. Large numbers of native soldiers, known as sepoys, were employed by the company to maintain order and defend trading centers. To save content items to your account, 24 October 2009. They bore no message, and were identical to the breads cooked in every home in India, a staple part (even today) of the locals diet. Many Animals, Including the Platypus, Lost Their Stomachs. McNamara, Robert. 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. 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