The magistrates tried to stop it, but, in spite of all they could do, it passed along to the borders of the Punjab. 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. Before the rebellion, there were reports that "holy men" were mysteriously circulating chapatis and lotus flowers among the sepoys. 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. [17], Officers of an evangelical persuasion in the company's Army (such as Herbert Edwardes and Colonel S.G. Wheler of the 34th Bengal Infantry) had taken to preaching to their Sepoys in the hope of converting them to Christianity. Immediate Cause The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. In one sense, this was not surprising; since India had a large and settled British population, there were more women and children around for the rebels to kill. The immediate cause of the Indian Revolt of 1857, or Sepoy Mutiny, was a seemingly minor change in the weapons used by the British East India Company's troops. The army so far had been quipped with the smooth-barrelled musket, which had a protracted loading procedure and was not accurate over long ranges. 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. Rich people like the merchants and moneylenders were, therefore, able to speculate in British land sales and drive out the most vulnerable peasant farmers. This is what led to the revolt of 1857 in many localized areas. It is called the chupatty movement. . [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. Kanpur There at a stroke was an army, a cause, and a national leaderthe only Muslim who appealed to both Hindus and Muslims. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. To these points may be added the fact that the British garrison in Bengal had been reduced at this time to 23,000 men because of troop withdrawals for the Crimean and Persian wars. Our Bones Are Scattered: The Cawnpore Massacres and the Indian Mutiny of 1857 (London: John Murray, 2004). This war of Independence marked the end of rule by the British East India company. 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. A cartridge of this kind, containing powder and nothing more, is often specified as an unballed cartridge. Mason, Philip (1974), page 226 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. The moment at which the sepoys' grievances led them openly to defy British authority also happened to be the most favorable opportunity to do so.[24]. In some districts like Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, Bose and Jalal argue that "the revolt took on a distinctly millenarian flavor. 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 quarter century following the bitter Indian revolt of 185759, though spanning a peak of British imperial power in India, ended with the birth of nationalist agitation against the raj (British rule). Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857-58 against the rule of the British East India Company, . The sepoys were generally under the command of British officers. To "the cow reverencing Hindu and the pig paranoid Muslims" having to bite this was repellent, defiling and deadly to their religious prospects. The revolt of 1857 was one of the greatest & most significant developments in the history of the 19th century. The British military commander Sir James Outram thought it was a Muslim conspiracy, exploiting Hindu grievances. Some people said that it was a propitiatory observance to avert some impending calamity; others, that they were circulated by the Government to signify that the population throughout the country would be compelled to use the same food as the Christians, and thus be deprived of their religion; while others again said that the chupatties were circulated to make it known that Government was determined to force Christianity on the country by interfering with their food, and intimation of it was thus given that they might be prepared to resist the attempt. This made them more accurate and gave them a longer range. It was alluded to , and it was supposed to portend some coming disturbance, and was, moreover, understood as implying an invitation to the whole population of the country to unite for some secret objective afterwards to be disclosed. Due to the need for technical specialists, the artillery units generally had a higher proportion of British personnel. Once the first rebellions took place, it was clear to most British commanders that the grievances which led to them were felt throughout the Bengal army and no Indian unit could wholly be trusted, although many officers continued to vouch for their men's loyalty, even in the face of captured correspondence indicating their intention to rebel. Mopping-up operations followed, lasting until the British capture of rebel leader Tantia Topi in April 1859. 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. McNamara, Robert. Throughout May and June 1857 more units of Indian troops mutinied against the British. History of the Siege of Delhi (Edinburgh: A&C Black, 1861);John Kaye. By origin, a cartridge is a container, usually of paper, designed to hold enough powder for one discharge of the weapon. It was initiated by sepoys in the Bengal Presidency against the British officers. In Britain and in the West, it was almost always portrayed as a series of unreasonable and bloodthirsty uprisings spurred by falsehoods about religious insensitivity. Several events happened that led to the Sepoys revolting and was called the Indian Revolt of 1857. Another important source of discontent among the Indian rulers was that the British policies of conquest had created significant unrest. Books and articles about the bloody fighting and heroic deeds by British officers and men were published for decades in London. When the mood of the sepoys turned against their masters, they remembered Kabul and that the British were not invincible. ), Find out more about saving to your Kindle, Book: The Mutiny Outbreak at Meerut in 1857, Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563386.003. Famous For: Revolt of 1857. There is reason to believe that this was originated by some intriguers of the old Court of Lucknow. Find out more about saving to your Kindle. 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. The mutiny and great revolt of 1857-59. There was thus a suppressed tension in the countryside, ready to break out whenever governmental pressure might be reduced. was the rumour that the newly issued rie cartridges would be greased either with tallow, derived from beef and thereby oensive to Hindus, or lard, derived from pork and thereby oensive to Muslims. History of the Sepoy War in India, 1857-58 (London, 3 vols. 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". Saul, David (2003), page 294 "The Indian Mutiny", Penguin Books. Thus, long after the chapattis reached their northern-most point of Meerut, there was another northwards distribution from Cawnpore to Fattehgarh, which was widely reported in the newspapers The circulation took place along well-established routes of transmission, which followed the main trade and pilgrimage routes between the bigger cities. The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. 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. Coconuts had passed at great speed from village to village in central India in 1818, at a time when the mofussil was being ravaged by large bands of merciless looters known as the Pindaris. Then enter the name part 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. Measures of prevention of future crises naturally began with the army, which was completely reorganized. The restoration of peace was hindered by British cries for vengeance, often leading to indiscriminate reprisals. Indian sepoys believed that the cartridge was greased with either pig fat or made from cow fat. Both Hindu and Muslim sepoys refused to use them. The revolt is known by several names. There is no question that atrocities were committed by both sides, and stories of events of 185758 lived on in both Britain and India. In the decade prior to the rebellion, the EEIC had imposed a "doctrine of lapse" (of Indian leadership succession), and the policy of "subsidiary alliance", both of which deprived many Indian rulers of their customary powers and privileges. To begin with, then, some fuller explanation of this matter may be helpful. E. Jaiwant Paul is a man of varied interests, having authored eight other books, including Rani of Jhansi, The Story of Tea, Baji Rao, The Unforgettable Maharajas, Har Dayal: The Great Revolutionary (co-author Mrs Shubh Paul), Arms and Armour: Traditional Weapons of India, and Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine This fascinating collection explores hitherto ignored diversities of the Great Rebellion : WH Allen, 1864);Tapti Roy. 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. The rebels were . 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. The next phase was the central Indian campaign of Sir Hugh Rose. 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. ThoughtCo, Jul. Another suggestion they put forward was to introduce a new drill, in which the cartridge was not bitten with the teeth but torn open with the hand. Revolt Of 1857 India Causes Eects History Facts N Info 1 . He was Amazon.com's first-ever history editor and has bylines in New York, the Chicago Tribune, and other national outlets. Did an Ancient Magnetic Field Reversal Cause Chaos for Life on Earth 42,000 Years Ago? It is not known who first projected the plan. The effective Indian artillery, except for a few mountain batteries, was abolished, while the Brahmans and Rajputs of Avadh were reduced in favour of other groups. As the mutiny spread, the British began called mutineers "pandies." Pandey rebelled by shooting a British sergeant-major and a lieutenant. [20], In 1857, the Bengal Army contained 10 regular regiments of Indian cavalry and 74 of infantry. When soldiers of the Bengal army mutinied in Meerut on May 10, 1857, tension had been growing for some time. The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and very bloody uprising against British rule in India in 1857. The Revolt ended the rule of the English East India Company. Illustrations of events tended to reinforce Victorian notions of honor and bravery. To be loaded, this cartridge had to be torn open so that the powder it contained could be poured down the barrel of the muzzle-loading gun; because the soldiers hands were full, this was done with the teeth. "useRatesEcommerce": false And when the Indian independence movement gained momentum in the 20th century, events of the Revolt of 1857 were viewed as having been an early battle for independence, while individuals such as Mangal Pandey were hailed as early national heroes. [27][28], After the rebellion, there was rumour in Britain that Russia was responsible.[28]. KoboE. 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. 24 October 2009. The general factors that turned a military mutiny into a popular revolt can be comprehensively described under the heading of political, economic, social, and cultural Westernization. It began on a point of caste pollution; its leaders were traditionalists who looked to reviving the past, while the small new Westernized class actively supported the British. From the interrogation of an official at the King of Delhis court: I did hear of the circumstance. 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. Government was ostentatiously neutral, but Hindu society was inclined to regard the missionaries as eroding Hindu society without openly interfering. 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). But the spark was interestingly not so much of religious clashes, but the grease used in the new Enfield rifle. of your Kindle email address below. https://www.thoughtco.com/sepoy-mutiny-of-1857-1774014 (accessed March 1, 2023). 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. The greased cartridges had to be opened by biting off the top with your teeth. #Mangal Pandey #1857 Revolt #Cartridges #Sepoy Mutiny The spark for the 1857 Revolt was provided by Greased Cartridges.Why Greased Cartridges triggered the R. [7] Several years before the sepoys' mutiny, Lord William Bentinck had attacked several jagirs in western Bengal. 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. The cartridge of the Enfield rifle was heavily greased - with animal fat, to facilitate an easier load into the muzzle. The greased cartridges thus posed precisely the same threat to observant sepoys as would flour adulterated with the blood of pigs and cows, and though the British recognized the problem early on, and never issued a single greased cartridge to any Indian troops, fear that the Company was plotting to defile them took hold among the men of many Indian regiments and resulted in the outbreak of rebellion in the cantonment of Meerut in April 1857. When Muslim and Hindu troops learned that the tip of the Enfield cartridge had to be bitten off to prepare it for firing, a number of troops refused, for religious reasons, to accept the ammunition. He also resumed the practice of tax-free lands in some areas. Britain, of course, would rule India well into the 20th century. The traditional story of the Sepoy Mutiny is that the introduction of a new cartridge for the Enfield rifle provoked much of the trouble. 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. 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. [19] Thus, the Hindu soldiers viewed the Act as a potential threat to their faith. The Greased Cartridge: The Heroes and Villains of 1857-58, Rezensionen werden nicht berprft, Google sucht jedoch gezielt nach geflschten Inhalten und entfernt diese. And yet its just as possible to see the bloody results of the mutual incomprehension between the British and native communities in India as a potent reminder that mistrust and panic can have serious consequences. 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. A number of Indians began to suspect that the British intended to convert the Indian population to Christianity. No, it is not by any means a custom; I am 50 years old, and never heard of such a thing before. 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. The Personal Adventures and Experiences of a Magistrate During the Rise, Progression and Suppression of the Indian Mutiny (London: John Murray, 1884);Kim A. Wagner. 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. Cookie Settings. Richard Barter. For instance, once the rebellion was underway, Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar met the sepoys on 11 May 1857, he was told: "We have joined hands to protect our religion and our faith." 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. Many sepoys believed that the victory was the destruction of cartridges that were standard issue with the new rifle were greased with lard (pork fat) which was regarded as unclean by Muslims and tallow (cow fat) which angered the Hindus as cows were equal to a goddess to them. The Great Fear of 1857: Rumours, Conspiracies and the Making of the Indian Uprising (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010);Andrew Ward. The uprising was put down, but the methods employed by the British were so harsh that many in the western world were offended. Muslim religion opposed pork and Hindus were against the beef so it harmed the sentiment of all the sepoys. 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. please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. 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. Or it might have been an aristocratic plot, set off too soon by the Meerut outbreak. In the altercation, Pandey was surrounded by British troops and shot himself in the chest. } This took the form of Muslim millenarianism, with preachers in Lucknow foretelling the end of the raj. Mike Dash is a contributing writer in history for Smithsonian.com. The events of 1857 have been considered the first outbreak of an independence movement against British rule. He also passed decrees allowing Hindus who had converted to Christianity to be able to inherit property, which had previously been denied by local practice. Tall tales, panic and misapprehension spread readily in such a climate, and plenty of people felt a certain disquiet in the early months of 1857. It is also known by other names: the Indian Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indian Revolt of 1857. From Delhi the revolt spread in June to Kanpur (Cawnpore) and Lucknow. Eleven of the sepoys were executed and hundreds more sentenced to hard labor. 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. 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. Its cartridges consisted of a .577 inch ball projectile and a charge of gun powder propellant wrapped in waterproofed cartridge paper. The Muslims had lost the large state of Avadh; the Marathas had lost Nagpur, Satara, and Jhansi. 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. At some point the chapattis passed beyond the limits of their meaningful transmission and simply continued through the country as a blank message. "[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. Ferocity led to grave excesses on both sides, distinguishing this war in horror from other wars of the 19th century. The new Enfield rifles, which were now being issued, had grooved or rifled barrels. Terms of Use Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/sepoy-mutiny-of-1857-1774014. A rumor spread that the cartridges of the new Enfield rifles were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. Click to view in higher resolution. 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. The mysterious appearance of chapatisloaves of an Indian unleavened breadspooked the British administrators of the Raj shortly before the outbreak of rebellion in 1857. He survived and was put on trial and hanged on April 8, 1857. The Sepoy Mutinywas a violent and very bloody uprising againstBritish rule in Indiain 1857. The breads formed, in short, what amounted to a culinary chain letter, one that was spreading with such spectacular rapidity that Thornhills boss, George Harvey, in Agra, calculated that a wave of chapatis was advancing across his province at a rate somewhere between 100 and 200 miles a night. 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. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Mason, Philip (1974), page 263 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, Last edited on 28 September 2022, at 04:39, Details of the rifle issued as a result of the mutiny, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Causes_of_the_Indian_Rebellion_of_1857&oldid=1112793629, This page was last edited on 28 September 2022, at 04:39. The Siege of Delhi. The chapatis were real, but no one knew for sure what they were for. 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. 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. 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. On the fourth side of the . In fact, it was rather the last effort of traditional India. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 203-204 A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org The enraged soldiers mutinied across a number of Indian States, taking Delhi . Increasing numbers of Christian missionaries began arriving in India, and their presence gave credence to rumors of impending conversions. please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. 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. Further, the British were becoming increasingly hostile toward traditional survivals and contemptuous of most things Indian. As John Kaye wrote a few years later: Among other wild fables, which took firm hold of the popular mind, was one to the effect that the Companys officers had collected all the newly-manufactured salt, had divided it into two great heaps, and over one had sprinkled the blood of hogs, and over the other the blood of cows; that they had then sent it to be sold throughout the country of the pollution and desecration of the Mahommedans and Hindoos, that all might be brought to one caste and to one religion like the English. These changes caused widespread resentment not only among the landed aristocracy but also caused great havoc to a larger section of the middle-class people. A rumour spread that the cartridges of the new enfield rifles were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. They shot the British officers and made for Delhi, 40 miles (65 km) distant, where there were no British troops. What was the issue of cartridges? Once defiled, the theory went, men who had consumed the forbidden meal would be shunned by their co-religionists and would be easier to bring into the Christian fold, or could be sent as soldiers overseas (crossing the black water being forbidden to Hindus of high caste). Was surrounded by British cries for vengeance, often leading to indiscriminate reprisals Siege Delhi! Religious clashes, but the grease used in the history of the.... First projected the plan in the chest. 203-204 a Matter of Honour '', Penguin books them more and! Distant, where there were reports that `` the Indian Mutiny '', London:,. Better experience on our websites Bones Are Scattered: the Indian Mutiny '', London: Holt Rhinehart. 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