27.3.4: The Great Uprising of 1857

Causes of 1857 Rebellion

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 (known also as the Great Uprising of 1857) resulted from an accumulation of factors over time rather than from any single event.

In 1772, Warren Hastings was appointed India’s first Governor-General, and one of his first undertakings was the rapid expansion of the East India Company’s army. New sepoys (local soldiers, usually of Hindu or Muslim background) were recruited and to forestall any social friction, the Company took action to adapt its military practices to the requirements of their religious rituals. Over time, however, sepoys developed a number of grievances. After the annexation of Oudh (Awadh) by the EIC in 1856, many sepoys were disquieted both from losing their perquisites as landed gentry and from the anticipation of any increased land-revenue payments that the annexation might bring about. Furthermore, by 1857, some Indian soldiers, interpreting the presence of missionaries as a sign of official intent, were convinced that the Company was masterminding mass conversions of Hindus and Muslims to Christianity. Finally, changes in the terms of professional service also created resentment. As the extent of the EIC’s jurisdiction expanded with victories in wars or annexation, the soldiers were now expected not only to serve in less familiar regions but also without the “foreign service” remuneration that had previously been their due. Moreover, the new recruits of the Bengal Army, who until 1856 had been exempted from overseas service in observance of certain caste rituals, were now required a commitment for general service. There were also grievances over the issue of promotions based on seniority. This as well as the increasing number of European officers in the battalions made promotion slow, and many Indian officers did not reach commissioned rank until they were too old to be effective.

The final spark was provided by the ammunition for the new Enfield P-53 rifle. These used paper cartridges that came pre-greased. To load the rifle, sepoys had to bite the cartridges open to release the powder. The grease used was rumored to include tallow derived from beef, offensive to Hindus, and pork, offensive to Muslims. There were rumors that the British sought to destroy the religions of the Indian people and forcing the native soldiers to break their sacred code certainly increased this concern. The Company was quick to reverse the effects of the policy in hopes that the unrest would be quelled. Colonel Richard Birch, the Military Secretary, ordered that all cartridges issued from depots were to be free from grease and that sepoys could grease them themselves using whatever mixture “they may prefer.” A modification was also made to the drill for loading so that the cartridge was torn with the hands and not bitten. This, however, convinced many sepoys that the rumors were true and that their fears were justified.

Civilians developed their own grievances against the Company. The nobility, many of whom lost titles and domains under the Doctrine of Lapse which refused to recognize the adopted children of princes as legal heirs, felt that the Company had interfered with a traditional system of inheritance. In the areas of central India where such loss of privilege had not occurred, the princes remained loyal to the Company, even in areas where the sepoys had rebelled. Rural landlords called taluqdars lost half their landed estates to peasant farmers as a result of the land reforms that came in the wake of annexation of Oudh. Some historians have also suggested that heavy land-revenue assessment in some areas resulted in many landowning families either losing their land or going into great debt (money lenders, in addition to the Company, were particular objects of the rebels’ animosity). Eventually, the civilian rebellion was highly uneven in its geographic distribution and historians still attempt to explain why some areas rebelled while others remained calm.

“The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut,” Illustrated London News, 1857.

At Meerut, a large military cantonment, 2,357 Indian sepoys and 2,038 British soldiers were stationed along with 12 British-manned guns. The station held one of the largest concentrations of British troops in India and this was later cited as evidence that the original rising was a spontaneous outbreak rather than a pre-planned plot.

Rebellion of 1857

The rebellion began as a mutiny of sepoys on May 10, 1857, in the cantonment of the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions, largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to present-day Uttar Pradesh, western Bihar, northern Madhya Pradesh, and the Delhi region. The rebellion posed a considerable threat to EIC’s power in that region. Other regions of Company-controlled India, the Bombay Presidency and the Madras Presidency, remained largely calm. The large princely states of Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore, and Kashmir, as well as the smaller ones of Rajputana, did not join the rebellion. In some regions such as Oudh, the rebellion took on the attributes of a patriotic revolt against European presence. Some rebel leaders, such as Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, became folk heroes in the nationalist movement in India half a century later. In the Bengal Presidency, the revolt was entirely centered on Bihar, which experienced multiple disturbances in the Shahabad region where the revolt was led by Kunwar Singh. In Punjab, the Sikh princes backed the Company by providing soldiers and support. In general, the rebels were disorganized, had differing goals, were poorly equipped, led, and trained, and had no outside support or funding. The rebellion was contained only with the Indian defeat in Gwalior on June 18, 1858, during which Rani of Jhansi was killed. By 1859, rebel leaders Bakht Khan and Nana Sahib had either been slain or had fled.

Aftermath

The rebellion and its aftermath resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 Indians. The alleged killings of women and children by the rebels as well as wounded British soldiers left many British soldiers seeking revenge. The mutineers were hung or blown from cannon,  an old Mughal punishment where sentenced rebels were tied over the mouths of cannons and blown to pieces when the cannons were fired. Most of the British press, outraged by the stories of alleged rape and the killings of civilians and wounded British soldiers, did not advocate clemency of any kind. When Governor-General Canning ordered moderation in dealing with native sensibilities, he earned the scornful sobriquet “Clemency Canning” from the press and later parts of the British public.

Sepoy execution by blowing from a cannon

Incidents of rape allegedly committed by Indian rebels against European women and girls appalled the British public. These atrocities were often used to justify the British reaction to the rebellion. A series of exhaustive investigations were carried out by British police and intelligence officials into reports that British women prisoners had been “dishonored” at the Bibighar and elsewhere. The consensus was that there was no convincing evidence of such crimes having been committed, although numbers of European women and children had been killed outright.

The rebellion saw the end of the East India Company’s rule in India. In August, by the Government of India Act 1858, the company was formally dissolved and its ruling powers over India were transferred to the British Crown. A new British government department, the India Office, was created to handle the governance of India, and its head, the Secretary of State for India, was entrusted with formulating Indian policy. The Governor-General of India gained a new title, Viceroy of India, and implemented the policies devised by the India Office. On a political level, the British assumed that the previous lack of consultation between rulers and ruled was a significant factor in contributing to the uprising. In consequence, Indians were drawn into government at a local level, although on a limited scale. Nonetheless, a new white-collar Indian elite comprised of a professional middle class was starting to arise, in no way bound by the values of the past.

The Bengal army dominated the Indian army before 1857 and a direct result after the rebellion was the scaling back of the size of the Bengali contingent. The Brahmin presence in the Bengal Army was reduced because of their perceived primary role as mutineers. The rebellion transformed both the native and European armies of British India. The old Bengal Army almost completely vanished from the order of battle. These troops were replaced by new units recruited from castes hitherto underutilized by the British and from the minority so-called “martial races,” such as the Sikhs and the Gurkhas. There were also fewer European officers, but they associated themselves far more closely with their soldiers. More responsibility was given to the Indian officers.

Attributions

• The Great Uprising of 1857
  • “Government of India Act 1858.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_India_Act_1858. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “East India Company.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Sepoy.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepoy. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Indian Rebellion of 1857.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Causes of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Indian_Rebellion_of_1857. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “History of India.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_India. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • “Sepoy_Mutiny_Execution.jpg.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857#/media/File:Sepoy_Mutiny_Execution.jpg. Wikipedia Public domain.
  • “The_Sepoy_revolt_at_Meerut.jpg.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857#/media/File:The_Sepoy_revolt_at_Meerut.jpg. Wikipedia Public domain.