THE 1857 REVOLT

CAUSES

• Dalhousie’s annexation of states through Doctrine of Lapse.
• Abolition of titles and suspension of pensions: Dalhousie abolished the titles of the Nawab of Camatic and the Raja of Tanjore, and refused to grant the pension to the adopted son [1]of the last Peshwa (Baji Rao II). Similarly Canning announced in 1856 that the successors of Bahadur Shah were to be known only as princes and not as kings.
• Religious objections of the high caste Hindu sepoys to Lord Canning’s General Service Enlistment Act (1856) ordering all recruits to be ready for service both within and outside India (i.e. across the seas); encouragement given to the Christian missionaries by the British army officers.
• Resentment of the conservative and orthodox elements against the social reforms and humanitarian measures introduced by the government, e.g. abolition of sati (1829) , legalization of widow remarriage (1856), protection of the civil rights of converts from Hinduism (by the Religious Disabilities Act of 1856), spread of western education, etc.: 
• Jolts given to the British armed strength by certain events like the First Afghan War, Anglo-Sikh War, Crimean War and the Santhal Uprising. Combined with these, the disproportionate ratio of the sepoys to the Europeans in the British Indian Army (6:1) and the faulty disposition of the troops on the eve of the revolt gave sepoys some confidence.
• Introduction of the new Enfield Rifle[2] (January, 1857) with greased (supposedly with the fat of cows and pigs) cartridge, whose end had to be bitten off before loading it into the rifle.

COURSE OF THE REVOLT

• On 10^th May, 1857, the Sepoys of the Third Cavalry at Meerut openly revolted by swarming the prisons and releasing their comrades.
• They were immediately joined by the men of the 11^th and 20^th Native Infantries, and together they murdered some English officers and then marched to Delhi.
• Failure of General Hewitt, the C.O. of Meerut to pursue the mutineers; arrival of the Meerut sepoys at Delhi (where not a single European regiment was stationed at that time) on 11^th May and declaration of Bahadur Shah II as the Emperor of India;
• massacre of British civil and military officers; blowing up of the Delhi magazine by Lt. Willoughby, the officer-in-charge of it, after defending it just for a few days, etc. where the other initial development of the outback of the Revolt.
• Mutinies too place at a few places in Punjab (Naushera and Hoti Mardan), but they were easily put down by Sir John Lawrence, Chief Commissioner of Punjab.
• More important were the like mutinies at other places Matura and Lucknow, Bareilly and Shahjahanpur, Kanpur and Banaras. Jhansi and Allahabad, and at many other places in north India.

Important centres and their leaders

Suppression

Causes for the failure

• Unsympathetic attitude and even hostility of many native rulers and their ministers – Sindhia and his minister Sir Dinkar Rai, the Nizam and his minister Sir Salar Jung, Holkar, Gulab Singh of Kashmir, Begam of Bhopal, Sir Jung Bahadur (Prime Minister of Nepal), Raja of Jodhpur and other rulers of Rajputana and many others.
• Non-participation of Bengal, Bombay, Madras western Punjab and Rajputana. Of modern educated Indians.
• Hostility of moneylenders, merchants, a significant number of traditional zamindars, and the whole new class of urban based absentee landlords.
• Weaknesses of the rebels – Lack of organization, discipline, common plan of action, centralized leadership, modern weapons and other materials of war. Selfishness and cliquishness of the leaders etc.
• Strong points of British – Immense resources; superior military weapons and techniques, able leadership, end of the Crimean war enabling them to get large reinforcements.

Nature of the 1857 Revolt

Divergent options

Mutiny of sepoys

• British historians insisted that the rising was nothing more than a sepoy mutiny. The main pillars of this belief were that Sikhs remained loyal and that the native states which had escaped annexation were mostly neutral.

First war of Indian independence

For

• V.D. Savarkar called it the First War of Indian Independence.
• The sudden and unexpected way in which the mutiny spread across the country has always excited the suspicion that it must have been planned in advance. The wide circulation of chapattis is regarded by many as an importance evidence.
• It was definitely something more than a sepoy mutiny but not a national revolt. The sepoys were undoubtedly the mainstay of the rebellion. But millions of ordinary citizens also participated in the rebellion. There are many indications testifying the insurrection to be not just a mutiny but a wide-spread uprising.

Significance of the Revolt

• The revolt was a glorious landmark in our history in as much as Hindus and Muslims fought shoulder to shoulder against a common enemy. It left an indelible impression on the minds of the Indian people and thus paved the way for the rise of a strong movement.
• After the revolt, the British rule underwent a major transformation in its policy. It started protecting and fostering the princes as its puppets. Reactionary social and religious practices were jealously guarded and preserved against the demands of progressive Indian opinion for their reform. After the initial harsh treatment of Muslims, rulers began having a more favorable attitude towards Muslim subjects.
• The direct result of the revolt was the end of the Company’s rule and the passing of the responsibility of Indian administration into the hands of the British Queen.

Aftermath of 1857 Revolt

• Company promised that it had no intension of improving `our convictions on any of our subjects’.
• It distanced itself further from the Christian missionaries.
• A stop was put to the disposing of princes, and greater care was shown to the rights of landlords.
• The major part of the army was in future, to be down from so-called `marital races’.
• The huge parades, or durbars, at which the new empress of India received the allegiance of the hierarchies of traditional India through her viceroy, seemed to symbolize the new conservatism of the regime.
• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is a Government of India organization responsible for archaeological research, conservation and preservation of cultural monuments in the country. It was founded during British Raj in 1861 by Sir Alexander Cunningham who also became its first Director-General.

Few Important Facts

Doctrine of Lapse:

• Satara in 1848,
• Jaipur (UP) and Sambalpur (Orissa) in 1849,
• Baghat (a hill state south of the Sutlej) in 1850, Udaipur (the state in Central Provinces and not the one in Rajputana) in 1852[3],
• Jhansi in 1853, and Nagpur in 1854.
• Dalhousie’s annexation of Awadh on the ground of misrule in 1856. Sir James Outram, who had been the British Resident there since 1854, was appointed as the first Chief Commissioner in 1856, but he was also replaced within matter of months by Sir Henry Lawrence (he was the chief Commissioner when Revolt broke out).

Mutinies before 1857

• Mutiny of the sepoys in Bengal in 1764, Vellore Mutiny in 1806, Mutiny of the sepoys of the 47^th Regiment at Barrackpurin 1824.
• Mutinies of the 34^th Native Infantry (N.I.), the 22^nd N.I., the 66^th N.I. and the 37^th N.I. in 1844, 1849, 1850 and 1852 respectively.

Central India Facts

• Tantia tope, after losing Gwalior, escaped to Central India and carried on guerrilla war for 10 months.
• Finally he was betrayed by Man Singh (a feudatory of Sindhia) and was executed by the British on 18^th April 1859.
• Nana Saheb, Begam of Awadh, and Khan Bahadur escaped to Nepal in December 1858 and died there.
• General Bakht Khan went to Awadh after the fall of Delhi, and died fighting the British on 13^th May, 1859.
• Maulavi Ahmadullah was treacherously murdered by Raja of Puwain in June, 1858.

Growth of National Consciousness and Political Association

• The first attempt at a national revolt against the British in 1857 failed because the whole country did not participate in the revolt. So it was only after the failure of this revolt that several factors or causes contributed to the rise and growth of freedom struggle or of nationalist movement in India.

Grievances of Different Sections of the Indian Society  

• The economic policies of the British (trade, industrial and revenue policies) adversely affected the interests of almost all sections of Indian society such as the peasants, workers, middle classes particularly the educated section, industrialists, etc.
• Even among those classes with vested interest in the continuance of British rule such as the native rulers, landlords, zamindars, village moneylenders, etc., there was some amount of resentment due to the British racial superiority and discrimination.

Administrative and Economic Unification of India  

• A uniform and modern system of government throughout the country and thus unified it administratively.
• The destruction of the rural and local self-sufficient economy and the introduction of modern trade and industries on all-India scale had increasingly made India’s economic life a single whole and interlined the economic fate of people living in different part of the country.
• Besides, introduction of the new means of transport and communications (Railways, Telegraph and Postal system) had brought the different parts of the country together and promoted mutual contact among the people, especially among the leaders.

Spread of Western Education and Thought

• English language, which was made the medium of instruction in schools and colleges in 1835, became the language of the educated people of India, irrespective of their region.
• Indians came into contact with the Western ideas and thought (Liberty, Equality, Democracy, Socialism, etc.)
• It is these English educated Indians who developed, organized and led the nationalist movement.

Introduction of Printing Press

• Press became the chief instrument through which the nationalist Indians spread the message of patriotism and modern liberal ideas, and thus created an all-India consciousness.
• Asked the people to unite and work for national welfare, besides popularizing modern ideas of self-government, democracy, etc. Nationalist literature in the form of novels, essays, and patriotic poetry also played an important role in arousing national consciousness.

Socio-religious Reform Movements –

• Reformers like Raja Rammohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, etc. by pointing to the rich cultural heritage of India, created among the Indians self confidence in themselves and respect for their own religious and culture.
• Swami Dayananda, for instance, was the first to use the word, swaraj.
• Many Arya Samajis were in the fore-front of the national movement, and were primarily responsible for the rise of extremism in the Indian National Congress.
• The work of the Theosophical Society was also responsible for restoring self-confidence and self-respect among the Indians.

Reactionary Regime of Lord Lytton (1876-80)

• This gave Indian Nationalism a visible form. Lord Lyton’s regime is notorious for the Vernacular Press Act (1878) which curbed the liberty of the Indian press, the Arms Act which disarmed the Indians on a large scale, Second Afghan War (1878-80) which affected the economy of India badly, holding of the Imperial Durbar in Delhi at a time of terrible famine in India, the abolition of import duties on British textile, reduction in the maximum age limit for the ICS examination.
• All these events fed the smoldering discontent against British rule, while the Ilbert Bill controversy provides the necessary spark.

Ilbert Bill (1884)

• Officially called the Criminal Procedure Amendment Code Bill, the Ilbert Bill [4]. Its aim was to give Indian district magistrates and sessions judges the right to try European and British offenders.
• Further, it also aimed at authorizing the local governments to appoint Justices of the Peace from among the Indian civil servants on the basis of merit alone.
• The success of the European organized protest against the original bill hastened the development, of Indian national consciousness, resulting soon enough in the foundation of the Indian National Congress.

Formation Of Associations Prior To Congress