Revolt of 1857 Deep seated causes for the revolt Immediate cause for the revolt Failure of the revolt Results of the revolt

Deep seated causes for the revolt of 1857 POLITICAL CAUSES ECONOMIC CAUSES SOCIAL & RELIGIOUS CAUSES MILITARY CAUSES

POLITICAL CAUSES OF THE REVOLT OF 1857 BRITISH POLICIES OF ANNEXATION – DOCTRINE OF LAPSE & SUBSIDIARY ALLIANCE NANA SAHEB’S PENSION ISSUE ILL TREATMENT OF THE MUGHAL EMPEROR ANNEXATION OF AWADH UNPOPULAR ADMINISTRATION INSECURITY OF INDIAN RULERS

DOCTRINE OF LAPSE POLICY INTRODUCED BY LORD DALHOUSIE [ D- FOR DOCTRINE, D FOR DALHOUSIE] ACCORDING TO THIS POLICY- If an Indian ruler did not have a biological heir to the throne, the territory of that ruler would be annexed by the British East India Company. Eg. – Rani of Jhansi, Rani Laxmibai fought against this policy to restore Jhansi to its rightful heir who was an adopted son of her husband. Indian rulers had a practice of adopting a son from the family or a royal lineage if they did not have a natural son to take over the throne after the ruler’s death.

Subsidiary alliance LORD WELLESLEY INTRODUCED THIS POLICY. ACCORDING TO THIS POLICY – The Indian rulers were forced to sign an alliance with the English East India Company, under which they should allow the company to post British troops in the territory that could be used for protection against external invasion from other rulers. The British troops were to be maintained with the expenses of the ruler. If the ruler could not any longer do so, the territory would be annexed by the Company. Furthermore, a British Resident – an officer of the Company would be posted in the royal durbar, to report very detail of the administration of the ruler to the Company. If the report reflected that the ruler was incapable or inefficient, then again the territory would be annexed.

Nana saheb’s pension issue Nana Saheb was an adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao. The adopted son, though not allowed to rule the territory, was given a certain amount of money as regular pension for his maintenance. After the death of Peshwa Baji Rao, Nana Saheb was denied this pension by the British. This angered him and he joined forces to revolt against the English East India Company.

Annexation of awadh The nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah, though a good administrator, was reported by the British Resident in his court, to be inefficient because he used to give away a lot of money to artists and spent a lot of his time playing chess [shatranj – the Persian name for chess] The English East India Company therefore forcefully annexed his territory as he had signed the Subsidiary Alliance with them. The people of Awadh revolted because of this as they loved their nawab a lot.

Insecurity among the indian rulers & UNPOPULAR ADMINISTRATION The British did not hesitate in breaking treaties with the Indian rulers. They kept annexing territory after territory in India. This created fear and insecurity in the minds of the Indian rulers and they were prepared to revolt against the English East India Company to safeguard their territories. Racial discrimination, ruin of Indian handicrafts, loss of jobs...

Ill treatment of the Mughal emperor The last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II had become the leader of the revolt of 1857 and was readily supporting the revolt in several ways. The British reacted to this by killing Bahadur Shah’s two sons and deprting him to Rangoon. In spite of repeated pleadings of the emperor to at least die in his motherland, the British refused to release him and let him come back to India. This greatly angered the subjects of the emperor.

Economic causes for the revolt of 1857 The British exploited the Indian peasants very badly through heavy taxation. Inability to pay the land revenue led to confiscation of the land from the peasants and land owners [ zamindars]. There was no exemption of land revenue even during famines or epidemics. No mercy was shown to the peasants. The British destroyed the traditional handicraft industries by exploiting the weavers and craftsmen with minimum wages and maximum work. Large number of people thus became unemployed and participated in the revolt in anger. India reduced to an agrarian colony of the British.

Social & religious causes for the revolt Christian missionaries tempted Indians with favours to convert to Christianity. This created a fear among the Indians as they would be ostracised from their communities if they converted to a different religion. To be ostracised meant that they would not be eligible to inherit their ancestral property, will not be allowed to marry within the community, will not be invited to family functions, etc.

British interference in religion The British passed several laws like the abolition of sati, widow re-marriage, etc., that was looked upon by Indians as an interference in their religious customs. Introduction of transport and communication systems was also looked upon with suspicion by Indians because you would have to sit together with people of all castes while travelling in a train. The telegraph poles were believed to be used for black magic to find out who is going against the British.

Social & religious causes continued Introduction of western education was looked upon as another attempt to destroy Indian culture by bringing in western culture. Abolition of Sati system by William Bentinck, Widow Remarriage Act by Lord Canning, Sikh and Muslim soldiers forced to shave off beards, trim hair, the Religious Disabilities Act, General Services Enlistment Act.

Military causes for the revolt of 1857 Indian sepoys [soldiers] were not rewarded, were not given high official posts which were reserved for the British sepoys, were paid very low salary compared to the British soldiers, were not given extra allowance for travelling to distant areas for battles.

Religious interference in the military Sikh soldiers were earlier told that they would not be told to remove their traditional beards or long hair. Later, however, orders were passed on this and it angered the Sikh soldiers. They looked upon this as an attempt to hurt their religious sentiments. According to Hindu customs, it was not auspicious to cross the seas. When the Indian soldiers were forced to go overseas for battles, they resented it.[General Services Enlistment Act] Many Indian soldiers were from Awadh and due to the annexation of Awadh they felt very angry with the British.

Immediate cause of the revolt THE EPISODE OF THE GREASED CARTRIDGES – A new type of rifle called the Enfield rifle was introduced in the British Indian military. While loading this rifle, the greased covering of the cartridge had to be bitten off. It was rumoured that the cartridges were greased with cow fat and pig lard. This hurt the sentiments of both the Hindu and Muslim sepoys.

Why did the greased cartridge issue become so serious? Hindus believe eating beef [ cow’s meat] a sacrilege to their religion. Likewise Muslims believe eating pig’s meat to be a sacrilage to their religion. Thus both the Hindu and Muslim sepoys were enraged when certain evidences pointed out that the greasing of the cartridges was a fact. The British refused to comment on the issue and punished those who refused to use the Enfield rifle.

The role of mangal pandey At a place called Barrackpore, Mangal Pandey an Indian sepoy fired at his major when forced to bite the greased cartridge of the Enfield rifle. He incited his omrades to and took the form of the first war of Indian independence.revolt against the Bbritish in defence of their caste and religion. Thus a sepoy mutiny broke out which steadily was joined in by people from other walks of life like rulers, peasants, weavers, etc., and took the form of what was claimed as the first war of Indian independence.

Failure of the revolt of 1857 The revolt turned out to be a failure because lack of support from many native rulers and educated Indians who were loyal to the British for various reasons. The revolt managed to spread only to a limited area in India and was not organised properly. The weapons used by the Indians in the revolt were outdated. Different groups of people participating in the revolt had different reasons and demands.

Results of the revolt of 1857 The British queen realized that the East India Company had earned a bad name in the Indian colony and came up with a Queen’s Proclamation. This proclamation was intended to pacify the Indians restore faith in the British empire among the Indians who were angry and annoyed with the British.

The queen’s proclamation Power of the East India Company to rule India would be transferred to the British crown. East India Company would only deal with trade in India. The policy of annexation of Indian territories was put to an end and the British agreed to the system of adoption of an heir to the throne / appeasement with native rulers. An Indian Council and a Secretary of state for India were to take care of the administration in India on behalf of the Queen. Re-organisation of the army was done in a way that all sepoys in a regiment did not belong to a particular territory.