·
EARLY REVOLTS OR MINOR
REVOLTS
The British rule angered people in
every part of the country. In the process of conquest, the British not only
enraged the rulers whose kingdoms were annexed and their nobles, but also a
large number of other people. There were a number of revolts between 1765 and
1856 in different parts of the country. Many of these were revolts by peasants
and tribals and also by soldiers. There were others led by dispossessed rulers
and zamindars and chiefs.
·
Some Minor Revolts before
the Revolt of 1857:
(i)
The first major revolt in
Bengal was led by sanyasis and fakirs and spread to many areas of eastern
India. Most of these rebels were peasants who formed their armies.
(ii)
There were a number of
tribal revolts during this period; the revolts of the Bhils in Madhya Pradesh
and Maharashtra, Kols in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, Gonds and Khonds in Odisha,
Kolis in Maharashtra, Mers in Rajasthan.
(iii) From 1795 to 1805, an
anti-British rebellion broke out in southern parts of the country. The
rebellion was led by the zamindars, Poligars.
(iv) There were mutinies by the sepoys of the company's army. Vellore
Mutiny in 1806 and the
Barrackpore Mutinty in 1824.
(v)
The mutiny was brutally
suppressed and hundreds of sepoys were sentenced to death.
·
CAUSES OF THE REVOLT OF
1857
·
Political Causes:
The causes of discontent
among the Indian rulers were as follows:
(a) The policy of conquest pursued by
the British had created unrest among many rulers and chiefs (b) The
strict enforcement of the policies of subsidiary alliance and doctrine of lapse
made people angry (c)
The annexation of Oudh and the Carnatic Kingdom, on grounds of misgovernment,
was greatly resented.
(d) The Mughal Emperor himself was told
that his successors would not be recognised as kings and he had to leave the
historic Red Fort. These actions of British created unrest among the ruling
families who had lost their power and put fear in others that a similar fate
awaited them.
·
Social and Economic Causes
(a) British started
interfering in social and religious customs like the abolition of the practice
of Sati widow remarriage, conversion of Hindu into Christians and the promotion
of western education were considered to be damaging the fabric of the
traditional Indian society.
·
Economic exploitation
(a) The country's village economy and self-sufficiency had been
shattered by the Britishers.
(b) In cities, artisans, musicians, writers, poets and others had lost
their livelihood.
(c) The revenue policy was discriminatory and disastrous. At some
places, the peasants were being cruelly exploited by the zamindars.
(d) Their industrial policy destroyed
the basic industries of India.
·
Religious Causes
(a)The division of society along the
caste and communal lines had greatly disturbed Nationalist people. (b) The sentiments of the people
were hurt when the government levied tax even on the land which belonged to
temples and mosques.
(c) People got angry when they were
forcibly converted into Christians.
·
Military Causes
The Indian sepoys under the British troops had many grievances.
(a) Soldiers were subjected to all kinds of humiliation by their British
officers
(b) They were paid minimum amount as
salary.
(c) They were never rewarded for courage
or meritorious performance in the battles.
(d) At every stage, their religious
sentiments were hurt. For example, they were not allowed to wear marks which
showed their caste and sect.
(e) Under
the Central Service Enlistment Act in 1856, the Indian soldiers were required
to serve anywhere even outside India. Indian soldiers considered it a taboo,
Le.. Kalapani.
·
Immediate Causes
The immediate and major cause of the revolt
was the Incident of Greased Cartridge" At this time, new Enfield Rules
were introduced in which cartridges were greased with the fat of pigs and cows.
And it was a sin for both the Hindu and the Muslim soldiers to use their teeth
to tear off one end of those cartridges before use. However. this offended the
religious sentiments of Muslims and Hindus alike. It was one 23rd January,
1857, an Indian sepoy, Mangal Pandey, refused to use the new cartridges. This
resulted into the final show of the revolt that broke out on 10th May, 1857.
NATURE OF THE REVOLT OF 1857
(a)Infact, from the point of view of its
extent and the nature of its participation, the revolt is considered as the
first struggle for Indian Independence.
(b) Large number of common people laid
down their lives in the struggle than the British officials & sepoy. (c) It was also for the first
time that so many Indian rulers came together to oust foreign power from the
country (d) Despite these facts the British
administrators of the time chose to call it a 'sepoy mutiny .
(e) However, there is no denying the
fact that the revolt was an organised movement. It possessed a national philosophy
and represented a national outlook.
(f) In
principle, it was directed against the foreigners and represented a desire for
independence.
MAIN CENTRES OF THE REVOLT &
IMPORTANT LEADERS
The areas where the
uprising was most widespread were Delhi, Oudh, Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, the
areas around Allahabad, Agra, and Meerut and Western Bihar. Large masses of
civilian population participated in the revolt from these regions and most
ferocious battles were fought.
The
Revolt of 1857 was quite deep. Emperor Bahadur Shah, Nana Sahib of Kanpur, Rani
Laxmi Bai of Thansi, Begum Harrat Mahal of Oudh and Kunwar Singh of Bihar were
some important leaders of the revolt. Lets check the important roles played by
them.
(a) Bahadur
Shah: He was undoubtedly a weak link in the Revolt of 1857. Even then he was a
significant part of the Revolt and till the end, he stood as a symbol of
Hindu-Muslim unity.
(b) Nana
Sahib of Kanpur: He proclaimed himself as Peshwa and led the revolt at Kanpur.
He expelled the British troops from Kanpur and executed all Britishpersons
including women and childre.
(c)Begum
Hazrat Mahal of Oudh: The revolt in Lucknow was led by Begum Hazrat Mahal of
Oudh who was acting as the regent for her son. She defeated the English in
Lucknow with the help of the rebel soldiers. (d) Rani Laxmi Bai
of Jhansi: She was the greatest leader of the revolt, she bravely fought the
British forces under Sir Huge Rose. She held on to her fortress and defended
each house and each street.
(e) Kunwar
Singh of Bihar: He was the chief organiser of the revolt. He was an eighty-year
old chieftain. He defeated the British forces at many places. Later on, he
joined Nana Sahib and died fighting.
·
SUPPRESSION OF THE REVOLT The British made efforts
to divide Hindus and Muslims.
·
(a) Bahadur Shah was prisoned. He was
tried and exiled to Rangoon in Burma where he died in 1862. (b) Begum Hazrat Mahal, refusing to
surrender, escaped.
·
(c) Rani Laxmi Bai, who has become famous as the Rani of Jhansi, was
driven out of Jhansi. With the help of Tantia Tope, she captured Gwalior and
was killed there fighting in June 1858.
·
(d) Kunwar Singh
died in April 1858 after sustaining a fatal wound
·
(e) Nana Sahib escaped into Nepal.
·
(f) Tantia Tope kept the British troops engaged for two years in central
India and Rajputana.
·
(g) He was betrayed by a friend to the British and was hanged.
·
CONCLUSION The Revolt was
crushed by the end of 1858 though it took
the British many more years to restore peace.
Results
OF THE REVOLT OF 1857
(a)Transfer of Poweri As an immediate
fallout of the Revolt, the power of ruling over India was transferred from
British East India Company to the Crown in 1858 and the intention of a new
regime was declared in Queen's proclamation
(b) Hindu-Muslim Unitys in the Revolt. Hindu-Muslim unity gave
strength to the movement. Actually this was the first major event where the
British failed in their policy of Divide and Rale.
(c) Religious freedom: After the Revolt,
complete religious freedom was assured to the people .
(d) Right of adoption: After the revolt,
Indian rulers were given the right of adoption.
(e) Sowed
the seeds of nationalism Above all, the Revolt of 1857 actually sowed the seeds
of nationalism in the minds of Indian people and left an impression of bravery
sacrifice and patriotism among them.
QUEEN
VICTORIA'S PROCLAMATION OF 1858
Queen Victoria’s Proclamation was the declaration in which the intention
of the new regime was pronounced on 1 November, 1858. The proclamation held out
many promises to the princes and the people. (a) The
proclamation expressed the willingness on the part of the British Government to
harbour no more intention to extend territories and to respect rights, dignity
and honour of the Indian princes
(b) It also declared its earnest desire
to help the people of India in general, especially in the material and moral
progress of the people.
(c) According to this proclamation, the
educated Indians were given the chance to associate themselves with the
administration of the country.
(d) The
proclamation also granted general pardon to all except those found guilty of
murdering the British (e)Governor-General was now called the Viceroy and
Lord Canning was the first Vicerory of India But in reality, much of the
assurances contained in the Queen's Proclamation were only loud promises. The
actual gulf between the alien government and the Indians could never be bridged.
REASONS FOR THE FAILURE OF THE REVOLT OF
1857
(a) Spread in limited area: The Revolt did not spread to all the parts of country it was not
even supported by all groups and sections of the Indian society.South and West
India remained largely unaffected.
(b) Lack of support by common leader: Large number of rulers, the middle class, upper class and the
modern educated Indians did not support the Revolt. Besides, the Revolt lacked
a common leader so the rebels could not put a common effort.
(c) Absence of common ideology and
programmer: The revolt was not well-organised and
had no common ideals or programmes which could be implemented in the captured
areas.
(d) The system of railways and other
communications: These helped the British to
suppress the Revolt
(e) The Revolt started long before the
fixed date. Le, on 10 May, 1857 instead of 31 May, which resulted in disturbing
the whole plan.
(f) Lack of arms and ammunitions: The Revolt of 1857 also failed due to the lack of equipment.(weapons).
Practice Questions.
1. The main centre of Revolt, first recaptured by the British was: (a) Delhi (b) Lucknow (c) Awadh (d) Jhansi
2. Who was the leader of the Revolt of 1857 in Assam?
(a) Diwan Maniram Dutta (b) Kandarpesvar
(c) Purender Singh (d) Pidli Barma
3. The first serious mutiny of the Indian soldiers in the British Army took place at: (a) Patna (c) Vellore (b) Delhi (d) Meerut
4. The first signs of unrest appeared early in 1857 at:
a) Awadh (b) Bengal (c) Meerut (d) Upper Provinces
5. Which of the following was not one of the storm centres of the Revolt of 1857? (a) Barielly (b) Jhansi (c) Madras (d) Arrah (Bihar)
6. Who of the following did not participate in the Revolt of 1857? (a) Rani Lakshmi (c) Tantiya Tope
(b) Bhagat Singh (d) Nana Sahib
7. The
mutineers proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar as:
(a) the ruler of Delhi
(b) the monarch of India
(c) the leader of mutineers
(d) the governor council of India
8. With the
capture of which rebel in April 1858, could the Revolt be said to be suspended?
(a) Kunwar Singh (b) Nana
Sahib
(c) Tantiya Tope (d) Begum Hazrat Mahal
9. The Bhils
revolted in:
(a) UP, Bihar and West Bengal
(b)Maharashtra, MP and Rajasthan
(c) Madras, Kerala, and Mysore
(d) Mathura, Bayarra, Tonk
(c) Death of British Priest (d) Death of the Ruler of Tonk
11. The ruler of princely states to support the revolutionaries of the Revolt of 1857 in Rajasthan was:
(a) Kushal Singh (b) Swarup Singh
(c) Jagat
Singh (d) Ram Singh
12. The hero
to provide momentum to struggle of 1857 in South India was:
(a) Kunwar Singh (b) Tantiya Tope
(c) Ranga Bapuri Gupta (d)
Bahadur Shah Zafar
Answers.
|
1. (d) |
2.(c) |
3.(d) |
4.(b) |
5. (c) |
6. (b) |
|
7.(b) |
8.(c) |
9.(b) |
10.(b) |
11.(c) |
12.(c) |
