There is reason to believe that this was originated by some intriguers of the old Court of Lucknow. And where had the chowkidar got them? 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. A chowkidaran Indian village watchman. Then the bullet had to be rammed down the rifled barrel. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. The rani found a soldiers death, and Tantia Topi became a fugitive. 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. Whether the cartridge was unballed or balled, it was necessary, in loading a muzzle-loader, to open the end of the cartridge. British officials were alarmed at the rapid distribution of mysterious Indian breads across much of the Raj, There is a most mysterious affair going on throughout the whole of India at present, Dr. Gilbert Hadow wrote in a letter to his sister in Britain in March 1857. In fact, it was rather the last effort of traditional India. I have the honour to inform you that a signal has passed through numbers of the villages in this district, the purport of which has not yet transpired. Historians have identified diverse political, economic, military, religious and social causes of the Revolt of 1857 (First War of Indian Independence 1857). To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org 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. Thereafter he headed the National Mineral Water Company in Muscat, Oman. 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. A Chowkeydar, on receiving one of these cakes, has had five or six more prepared, and thus they have passed from village to village. An idea has been industriously circulated that the Government has given the order. As time passed, the powers of the commanding officers reduced and the government became more unfeeling or distant from the concerns of the sepoys. He was Amazon.com's first-ever history editor and has bylines in New York, the Chicago Tribune, and other national outlets. 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. A popular American illustrated magazine, "Ballou's Pictorial", published afull-page woodcutillustration showing the preparations for such an execution in its issue of October 3, 1857. 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. Stbere im grten eBookstore der Welt und lies noch heute im Web, auf deinem Tablet, Telefon oder E-Reader. "The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857." Mason, Philip (1974), page 225 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. 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. However, nearly every sepoy was either Muslima religion that forbids eating the fat or any other part of a pig, or Hinduwhere the same rule applies to cows. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Increasing numbers of Christian missionaries began arriving in India, and their presence gave credence to rumors of impending conversions. Our Bones Are Scattered: The Cawnpore Massacres and the Indian Mutiny of 1857 (London: John Murray, 2004). 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. 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. [23], There were also a number of regiments from the British Army (referred to in India as "Queen's troops") stationed in India, but in 1857 several of these had been withdrawn to take part in the Crimean War or the Anglo-Persian War of 1856. A cartridge for the new Enfield rifle. Nationalist historians have seen in it the first Indian war of independence. Yet discreet inquiries soon revealed that many hundreds of chapatis were passing through his district, and through other parts of India as welleverywhere from the Narmada river in the south to the border with Nepal several hundred miles to the north. [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. 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. In an elaborate ceremony, Lord Lytton, the serving viceroy of India, honored a number of Indian princes. It is no surprise, the historian Kim Wagner notes, that, faced with such a plethora of portents, the British regarded with deep suspicion, bordering on paranoia, any type of communication in India which they could not understand. The colonial administration well understood that rumors, however unfounded, could have serious consequences, and there were plenty of notably more dangerous urban legends about. In some cases, they used an execution method of lashing a mutineer to the mouth of a cannon, and then firing the cannon and literally blasting the man to pieces. Some Indians were upset with the draconian rule of the Company who had embarked on a project of territorial expansion and westernization that was imposed without any regard for historical subtleties in Indian society. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive. 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. And, historically, much the same thing had happened before in times of trouble. 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. 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. @free.kindle.com emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. Ferocity led to grave excesses on both sides, distinguishing this war in horror from other wars of the 19th century. 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. The events of 1857 have been considered the first outbreak of an independence movement against British rule. Post this, India was directly ruled by the British government through representatives known as Governor-General. Some time in February 1857, a curious occurrence took place. To begin with, then, some fuller explanation of this matter may be helpful. is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings 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. . Some of these units belonged to states allied to the British or recently absorbed into British-administered territory, and of these, two large contingents from the states of Awadh and Gwalior readily joined the growing rebellion. Eleven of the sepoys were executed and hundreds more sentenced to hard labor. Before the rebellion, there were reports that "holy men" were mysteriously circulating chapatis and lotus flowers among the sepoys. 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. With this information, the sepoys believed that the British deliberately introduced the greased cartridges for defiling their religions. Finally, there was the activity of Christian missionaries, by that time widespread. In a large military camp (called a cantonment) at Meerut, near Delhi, a number of sepoys refused to use the new rifle cartridges in early May 1857 and began to revolt. He is on the expert panel on weapons for several museums of Rajasthan. The dramatic capture of Delhi turned mutiny into full-scale revolt. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 186 and 313 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. At some point the chapattis passed beyond the limits of their meaningful transmission and simply continued through the country as a blank message. 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). [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. The cartridge had to be bitten off before loading it into the gun. However much of this sense of the invincibility of the British was lost in the First Anglo-Afghan War where poor political judgment and inept British leadership led to the massacre of Elphinstone's army (which included three Bengal regiments) while retreating from Kabul. Advertising Notice Revolt Of 1857 India Causes Eects History Facts N Info 1 . The Sepoy Mutinywas a violent and very bloody uprising againstBritish rule in Indiain 1857. Some currents simply ran cold, while others moved in parallel, or paused before continuing. Politically, many princes of India had retired into seclusion after their final defeat in 1818. [6]. Though the revolt failed in its objective, even in failure it served a grand purpose. 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. The Revolt ended the rule of the English East India Company. In a few hours the whole country was in a stir, from Chowkeydars flying around with these cakes. Large numbers of native soldiers, known as sepoys, were employed by the company to maintain order and defend trading centers. There followed the relief of the residency (November) and the capture of Lucknow by the new commander in chief, Sir Colin Campbell (March 1858). [27][28], After the rebellion, there was rumour in Britain that Russia was responsible.[28]. 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. 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. [22], The Bengal Army also contained three "European" regiments of infantry and many artillery units manned by white personnel. } The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. With the British recovery of Gwalior (June 20, 1858), the revolt was virtually over. 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]. Singhs coalitionits brief rise and fall, Congress government of P.V. In the 1870s the British government formalized its role as an imperial power. A few suggested that the chapatis might conceal seditious letters that were forwarded from village to village, read by the village chief, again crusted over with flour, and sent on in the shape of a chupatty, to be broken by the next recipient, but examination of the breads revealed no hidden messages. The sepoys were generally under the command of British officers. Pig was forbidden for Muslim and cow was sacred for Hindus, so both refused to use them and revolted in Meerut in May 1857. 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. To load both the old musket and the new rifle, soldiers had to bite the cartridge open and pour the gunpowder it contained into the rifle's muzzle, then stuff the paper cartridge (overlaid with a thin mixture of beeswax and mutton tallow for waterproofing) into the musket as wadding, the ball being secured to the top of the cartridge and guided into place for ramming down the muzzle. Illustrations of events tended to reinforce Victorian notions of honor and bravery. In addition, the General Service Enlistment Act of 1856 required recruits to serve overseas if ordered, a challenge to the castes who composed so much of the Bengal army. This allowed different meanings an interpretations to be attributed to them, and the chapattis became an index of peoples thoughts and worries. Mike Dash His name has become synonymous with the revolt of 1857. Further, the British were becoming increasingly hostile toward traditional survivals and contemptuous of most things Indian. Find out more about saving to your Kindle. Hostname: page-component-7f44ffd566-7cttp 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. Map: Wikicommons. The mutiny and great revolt of 1857-59. Is the sending of such articles about the country a custom among the Hindoos or Mussulmans; and would the meaning be at once understood without any accompanying explanation? The East India Company had been active in India for nearly 250 years, but the violence of the 1857 uprising led to the British government dissolving the company and taking direct control of India. By the time the British came to examine the causes of the rebellion, therefore, the chupatty movement had assumed a fresh significance. When the mood of the sepoys turned against their masters, they remembered Kabul and that the British were not invincible. The mutineers, on the other hand, lacked good leadership until nearly the end, and they had no confidence in themselves and suffered the guilt feelings of rebels without a cause, making them frantic and fearful by turns. British and Indian military drills of the time required soldiers to bite off the end of the Beeswax paper cartridge, pour the gunpowder contained within down the barrel, stuff the remaining paper cartridge into the barrel, ram the paper cartridge (which included the ball wrapped and tied in place) down the barrel, remove the ram-rod, return the ram-rod, bring the rifle to the ready, set the sights, add a percussion cap, present the rifle, and fire. Proceedings of the Trial of Badahur Shah. In Accounts and Papers, East Indies, Session 3 February-19 April 1859, Parliamentary Papers XVIII of 1859;William Wotherspoon Ireland. 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. Published online by Cambridge University Press: The officers continued to be British, but they were more closely linked with their men. The British officer Richard Barter wrote: Lotus flowers and bits of goats flesh, so it was rumoured, were being passed from hand to hand, as well as chupatties. 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. 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. When soldiers of the Bengal army mutinied in Meerut on May 10, 1857, tension had been growing for some time. the Indian Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indian Revolt of 1857. Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. https://www.thoughtco.com/sepoy-mutiny-of-1857-1774014 (accessed March 1, 2023). Did an Ancient Magnetic Field Reversal Cause Chaos for Life on Earth 42,000 Years Ago? The British military commander Sir James Outram thought it was a Muslim conspiracy, exploiting Hindu grievances. on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Victoria added the title "Empress of India" to her royal title. He also resumed the practice of tax-free lands in some areas. A. The traditional story of the Sepoy Mutiny is that the introduction of a new cartridge for the Enfield rifle provoked much of the trouble. 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. The rifling inside the musket barrel ensured accuracy at much greater distances than was possible with old muskets. A rumour spread that the cartridges of the new Enfield rifles were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 203-204 A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. This book is essentially about the heroes - Tatya Tope, Nana. There was also a general feeling that English officers were losing touch with the Indian troops under them. Greased Cartridges: It is believed to be one of the major causes behind the 1857 uprising. The grease used was tallow, probably containing both cow and pig fat. The uprising was put down, but the methods employed by the British were so harsh that many in the western world were offended. The Siege of Delhi. It was against this backdrop of uneasiness in which the mutiny erupted in 1857. There was thus a suppressed tension in the countryside, ready to break out whenever governmental pressure might be reduced. No, it is not by any means a custom; I am 50 years old, and never heard of such a thing before. Host of Midian: the chapati circulation and the Indian Revolt of 1857-58. Studies in History 16 (2000);Christopher Hibbert. The treatment of the aged Bahdur Shah, who was sent into exile, was a disgrace to a civilized country; also, the whole population of Delhi was driven out into the open, and thousands were killed after perfunctory trials or no trials at all. [5], Dalrymple further points out that as late as 6 September, when calling the inhabitants of Delhi to rally against the upcoming Company assault, Zafar issued a proclamation stating that this was a religious war being prosecuted on behalf of 'the faith', and that all Muslim and Hindu residents of the imperial city, or of the countryside were encouraged to stay true to their faith and creeds. The introduction of a new cartridge for the Enfield rifle provoked much of the rebellion, were! February-19 April 1859, Parliamentary Papers XVIII of 1859 ; William Wotherspoon Ireland: //www.thoughtco.com/sepoy-mutiny-of-1857-1774014 ( accessed March,! 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