The Great Sepoy Rebellion - Essay Example

Topic: The great sepoy rebellion of 1857-1858 is an important event in the history of India. This event marked the resentment of the Indian people against the British rule over India. Although the rebellion began with the Indian sepoys, it gained momentum with the inclusion of the peasants, citizens as well as all Indians of that era. All of these classes of people were discontented with the rule of the British and they wanted to drive the British out of their country. The revolt and hatred of the sepoys was transformed into a national one and this caused a serious jolt to the British rule in India. The role of the Indian sepoys was a central one as without their initial rising, other classes would not have been able to initiate such a high level of revolt. The hatred of sepoys attracted all other classes as well and this in turn resulted in the great sepoy rebellion and one of the major rebellions in the history of India. It is often referred to as the first Indian nationalist uprising. Although people from all over India were involved, the major areas of rebellion included the Northern areas of India and Bengal. The Indian sepoys tried to popularize the event by asking the last Mughal emperor to re-establish the Mughal Empire. Through this, they did gain wider support; however, the emperor did not have much power left. Therefore, the revolt was not successful to be turned into a widespread national revolt as the British were able to control it to some extent. Although the rebellion started as a military cause, it took on hold as majority of Indians joined this to show their resentment against the British. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the British took hold of Bengal and took advantage by introducing reforms and policies against the peasants and traders. Along with this, other major causes including religious, political, social resulted in the great rebellion of 1857. The most important cause of this great rebellion included the growing resentment of the Indian sepoys towards their British masters. These sepoys were basically peasants and therefore, supported the farmer community of India at that time. Therefore, the adverse policies of the British government for the agricultural sector greatly affected the feelings of the sepoys as well as they could relate to the actual feelings of the farmer community. Secondly, these sepoys were greatly dissatisfied with the discriminatory promotion and payment policies. The European soldiers were paid more salary although the majority chunk of the work was done by the Indian sepoys. No matter how much dedicated an Indian sepoy was he would not be promoted above the level of Subedar. This discrimination was also obvious in their treatment by the European officers who often used offensive words while communicating about the Indian sepoys. Along with this, the General Service Enlistment Act of Lord Canning in 1856 made it compulsory for all sepoys to be ready for service, both within and outside India at any time. This was a threat to their religion as the sepoys did not want to leave their own country and serve for the British overseas. The increase of taxation also affected the families of these sepoys and this greatly affected their loyalties as well. All these factors further increased the hatred and dislike of the Indian sepoys for the British government (Amin A, Web). One of the major reasons for the revolt was the introduction of various religious reforms and programmes by the Christian missionaries of the East India Company. Many EIC officers were trying to involve the solders of the Indian army to Christian teachings and methods. This greatly affected the feelings of the Indian sepoys because some of these teachings were in contrast to the Indian religious beliefs and practices. Many Indians started believing that one of the aims of EIC was to convert people to their religion. During the eighteen century, the British was only involved in the economic workings of the Indian economy but at the start of the nineteenth century, they started involving themselves in the religious affairs by allowing Christian missionaries to preach in India. As part of the British government policies, the religious practice of satti was banned along with the provision of opportunities of western education for Indian girls. This greatly affected the traditional beliefs of the Indian population and these feelings were further enhanced by the British support of for widow remarriage, as it was against the Indian practices. Therefore, these religious sentiments played an important role towards the great sepoy rebellion. The introduction of the Doctrine of Lapse by Lord Dalhousie further worsened the Indian resentment and affected the political situation of the country. Under this policy, the EIC was termed as the supreme power of the country and all the other states were placed under this supreme authority. Traditionally, the rulers and nawabs used to pass on their legacy and states to their sons without any restrictions but under this policy, the nawabs had to get permission from the EIC before transferring their legacy to their adopted sons. This greatly infuriated the sentiments of all the rulers as well as the general population who supported these nawabs. The British took control of a number of major states of India including Jhansi, Jaitpur, Satara etc. However, the greatest shock for the Indian community was the overthrow of the State of Oudh which created serious disturbances in the political scenario of the country. The Nawab of Oudh even had friendly relations with the EIC but still he was dismissed. A number of sepoys of the Indian army had joined it because of the Nawab of Oudh and this bitter treatment of the Nawab on part of the British, greatly affected the sentiments of the sepoys. Similarly, the British also proposed the removal of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II from his ancestral home in Delhi and this greatly affected the sentiments of the Indian population. Furthermore, a number of titles of the rulers of the princely states were removed along with the elimination of pensions to great rulers including Nana Sahib who was a renowned Nawab and had support of people from all over India (Biswamoy Pati, Web). Along with these causes, the new economic policies and reforms also played an important towards the great rebellion against the British. These new policies greatly exploited the Indians as well as their property and lands. Due to the free trade policy, the precious villages, handicrafts and other properties of the Indians were confiscated or destroyed for the economic benefit of the EIC. The introduction of new land revenue mechanisms were a means of increasing the revenue for the EIC at the cost of the Indian population. A number of other policies resulted in the transfer of property rights from their true owners, farmers, to the zamindars and other officials. These zamindars also lost their lands to the urban landlords due to the new reforms under the land revenue system. This Ryotwari system of land holdings greatly affected the sentiments of the farmers as well as the sepoys and other classes of the Indian community. During this period, the farmers also had to face a number of famines which further worsened the conditions of these farmers. The increasing level of corruption in the administration of India had the most gruesome affects on the farmer community and they could not even take help from the legal system due to spread of corruption in all respective departments. The event which broke off the level of patience of the Indian sepoys was the introduction of grease cartridges known as Enfield rifle. The grease used on the cartridges was made from the fat of pigs and cows which held religious significance for both the Indian as well as the Muslim soldiers. Before the use of these rifles, the cartridges had to be bitten off and the sepoys were not ready to bear this oppression at the hands of the British. Although the British denied this fact, the sepoys were aware of the Dum Dum factory in Kolkata where these cartridges were being manufactured. The sepoys were sure that this was an attempt by the British to destroy their religious beliefs and practices. The mutiny increased so much that an Indian sepoy, Mangal Pandey, who severely wounded his senior officer and this event marked the beginning of the great rebellion. It officially started on 10th May 1857 with the revolt of the sepoys in Meerut but soon the intensity of the revolt was increased by the inclusion of peasants, feudal lords and other classes of the Indians population. Different renowned nawabs and rulers led the revolt in their respective regions. This revolt lasted for only a few months as the British were able to capture a number of states back by July 1857 including Delhi, Jhansi, Bengal, Bombay and other major and minor states as well. The revolt was unsuccessful due to a number of reasons. Firstly, revolt was being fought by different classes of the Indian population due to different reasons. Although the causes were interconnected, there was a lack of a universal cause and a central leadership for this revolt. The EIC had a central leadership but the Indians did not have anyone to rely upon and follow their order for a common mission. This resulted in lower unity and a lower sense of responsibility. There was no coordination between the Indian people and the entire revolt was disorganized. As stated earlier, the revolt was concentrated in the northern part of India and people living in other part of India did not know about the happenings of the rebellion in other parts. Another major reason was that the British had access to modern weaponry and new technology including railway, postal as well as communication systems. The British Empire and EIC had greater authority and power against the disorganized Indian community. Therefore, they were able to control the situation and capture the states. However, after the great rebellion, the British realized that the Indian people were unhappy with their rule and there was a need for an introduction of a new political and legislative system. At the end of this revolt, the British parliament passed the Government of India Act of 1858 under which the government of India was transferred under the rule of her Majesty Queen of England. The Queen had the power to appoint the Viceroy of India along with the Secretary of State who would rule India along with a council of 15 people. This laid the foundations of a new system in India by opening up the eyes of the British. The rebellion made them realize that they could not rule over India without the approval of the Indian population, in general (Introduction to revolt of 1857, Web). Works Cited: Kkhsou.in (1857) KKHSOU. [online] Available at: http://www.kkhsou.in/kkhsou/main/history/revolt1857.html.html [Accessed: 5 May 2013]. Pati, (2007) the 1857 Rebellion: Debates in Indian History and Society Series. Oxford University Press. Amin, A. (2012) Sepoy Rebellion of 1857-59 Reinterpreted. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. Mead, H. (1857) The Sepoy revolt: its causes and its consequences. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. Read More