greased cartridges revolt of 1857

A number of Indians began to suspect that the British intended to convert the Indian population to Christianity. 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. Mason, Philip (1974), page 264 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. Thornhill examined the chapatis in his office. This movement became much more than a military mutiny. Famous For: Revolt of 1857. Though the revolt failed in its objective, even in failure it served a grand purpose. McNamara, Robert. On May 9, 1857, some 4,000 British soldiers and sepoysnative Indian troopsformed a three-sided hollow square on the parade ground at the Meerut military cantonment, 40 miles northeast of Delhi, to witness punishment. [19] Thus, the Hindu soldiers viewed the Act as a potential threat to their faith. Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service. . At other times however, the Company directly or indirectly conceded the legitimacy of the sepoy's demands, such as when troops of the Bengal and Madras armies refused to serve in Sindh without batta after its conquest. @kindle.com emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply. The rapid spread of disorder in 1857when regiment after regiment had mutinied, and revolts against British rule had sprung up throughout most of northern and central Indiamade it almost impossible to believe that the rebellion could have been spontaneous (as most modern historians concede it was), and considerable effort was made to chronicle the movement and trace the spread of the anomalous chapatis. The mysterious appearance of chapatisloaves of an Indian unleavened breadspooked the British administrators of the Raj shortly before the outbreak of rebellion in 1857. It consisted of the distribution of many thousands of chapatisunleavened Indian breadsthat were passed from hand to hand and from village to village throughout the mofussil (interior) of the subcontinent. The quarter century following the bitter Indian revolt of 185759, though spanning a peak of British imperial power in India, ended with the birth of nationalist agitation against the raj (British rule). The British Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856 was Lord Dalhousie who passed the Widow Remarriage Act of 1856 which allowed widows to remarry, like Christian women. [17], Officers of an evangelical persuasion in the company's Army (such as Herbert Edwardes and Colonel S.G. Wheler of the 34th Bengal Infantry) had taken to preaching to their Sepoys in the hope of converting them to Christianity. That rate was particularly disconcerting because it was vastly swifter than the fastest British mails, and urgent inquiries were made as to the source and meaning of the movement. They yielded the information that the breads were being distributed far more widely than anyone in Agra had yet realized, and that the Indians who received them generally took them as some sort of a sign. Cookie Policy Mason, Philip (1974), page 190 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. Later, the attitudes of British officers changed with increased intolerance, lack of involvement and unconcern of the welfare of troops becoming manifest more and more. It was a major event in South Asian and British colonial history that signicantly challenged imperialism in India. And yet its just as possible to see the bloody results of the mutual incomprehension between the British and native communities in India as a potent reminder that mistrust and panic can have serious consequences. 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. During the late eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth century, the armies of the East India Company, in particular those of the Bengal Presidency, were victorious and indomitable the term "high noon of the sepoy army" has been used by a military historian. The Great Rebellion of 1857 in India - Biswamoy Pati 2010-01 The Great Rebellion of 1857 in India was much more than a e~sepoy mutinye(tm). Due to the need for technical specialists, the artillery units generally had a higher proportion of British personnel. They later stood in Chandni Chowk, the main square, and asked the people gathered there, "Brothers, are you with those of the faith? The greased cartridges had to be opened by biting off the top with your teeth. Host of Midian: the chapati circulation and the Indian Revolt of 1857-58. Studies in History 16 (2000);Christopher Hibbert. On the fourth side of the . As early as 1806, concerns that the sepoys' caste may be polluted had led to the Vellore Mutiny, which was brutally suppressed. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. A rumor spread that the cartridges of the new Enfield rifles were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. Mangal Pandey was an Indian soldier who played an important role in incidents prior to the uprising of 1857, known by different names like the 'Indian Rebellion of 1857,' the 'Sepoy Mutiny' and 'India's First War of Independence.'. the Sepoy Mutiny (by British Historians) 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. The uprising was put down, but the methods employed by the British were so harsh that many in the western world were offended. Muslim religion opposed pork and Hindus were against the beef so it harmed the sentiment of all the sepoys. A. The transfer of the number 66th which was taken away from a regular Bengal Sepoy regiment of the line disbanded over refusal to serve without batta, and given to a Gurkha battalion, was considered by the Sepoy as a breach of faith by the company. Privacy Statement The surrender of Kanpur, after a relatively brief siege, was followed by a massacre of virtually all British citizens and loyal Indian soldiers at Kanpur. ), Find out more about saving to your Kindle, Book: The Mutiny Outbreak at Meerut in 1857, Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563386.003. What are the oldest known civilizations of India? (2021, July 31). Increasing numbers of Christian missionaries began arriving in India, and their presence gave credence to rumors of impending conversions. There is reason to believe that this was originated by some intriguers of the old Court of Lucknow. A man had come out of the jungle with them, and given them to the watchman with instructions to make four like them and to take these to the watchman in the next village, who was to be told to do the same.. What are the major holidays and festivals of India? The Revolt ended the rule of the English East India Company. This fascinating collection explores hitherto ignored diversities of the Great Rebellion In the altercation, Pandey was surrounded by British troops and shot himself in the chest. Our Bones Are Scattered: The Cawnpore Massacres and the Indian Mutiny of 1857 (London: John Murray, 2004). The serving high-caste sepoys were fearful that this requirement would be eventually extended to them, violating observance of the kala pani prohibition on sea travel. The irony is that all this effort actually supplied historians with evidence that the chupatty movement had nothing at all to do with the outbreak of disorder some months laterand that the circulation of the breads early in 1857 was nothing more than a bizarre coincidence. [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. "[4] Those European men and women who had previously converted to Islam such as Sergeant-Major Gordon, and Abdullah Beg, a former Company soldier, were spared. In 1877, outside Delhi, essentially in the spot where bloody fighting had taken place 20 years earlier, an event called the Imperial Assemblage was held. Throughout May and June 1857 more units of Indian troops mutinied against the British. Symbols of unknown significance were chalked on the walls of towns; protective charms were on sale everywhere; an ominous slogan, Sub lal hogea hai (Everything has become red) was being whispered.. The Bengal army of some 130,000 Indian troops may have contained as many as 40,000 Brahmans as well as many Rajputs. In one sense, this was not surprising; since India had a large and settled British population, there were more women and children around for the rebels to kill. In India, it has been viewed quite differently. [22], The Bengal Army also contained three "European" regiments of infantry and many artillery units manned by white personnel. It was generally believed, in retrospect, that the circulation of the breads had been a warning of trouble ahead, and that the wave of chapatis must have been set in motion by a cunning group of determined conspirators who had begun plotting the rising months, if not years, in advance. The movement that Hadow was describing was a remarkable example of rumor gone wild. It was no secret that the Companys armies had been making preparations for the introduction of a new sort of ammunition for a new model of Enfield rifle. The Siege of Delhi. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 186 and 313 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. 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. Furthermore, the superstitious impulse that still encourages the transmission of chain letters clearly applied in 1857: Although the original specific meaning of the chapattis had been lost early in the distribution, the dire consequences of breaking the chain of transmission remained, and thus ensured their successful circulation over an immense area. A private company which first entered India to trade in the 1600s, the East India Company had eventually transformed into a diplomatic and military operation. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 305-306 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. When Muslim and Hindu troops learned that the tip of the Enfield cartridge had to be bitten off to prepare it for firing, a number of troops refused, for religious reasons, to accept the ammunition. The musketry books also recommended that, "Whenever the grease around the bullet appears to be melted away, or otherwise removed from the cartridge, the sides of the bullet should be wetted in the mouth before putting it into the barrel; the saliva will serve the purpose of grease for the time being" This meant that biting a musket cartridge was second nature to the Sepoys, some of whom had decades of service in the company's army, and who had been doing musket drill for every day of their service. An uprising in several sepoy companies of the Bengal army was sparked by the issue of new gunpowder cartridges for the Enfield rifle in February 1857. The soldiers performed well on the field of battle in exchange for which they were rewarded with symbolic heraldic rewards such as battle honors in addition to the extra pay or "batta" (foreign pay) routinely disbursed for operations committed beyond the established borders of Company rule. With the British recovery of Gwalior (June 20, 1858), the revolt was virtually over. The Company had upgraded to the new Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle, which used greased paper cartridges. Your Privacy Rights 2023 Smithsonian Magazine A small British army was improvised, which held the ridge before Delhi against greatly superior forces until Sir John Lawrence was able to send a siege train under John Nicholson. This would have insulted both Hindu and Muslim religious practices; cows were considered holy by Hindus, while pigs were considered unclean (Haram) by Muslims. Finally, there was the activity of Christian missionaries, by that time widespread. Partly owing to this, Bengal sepoys were not subject to the penalty of flogging as were the European soldiers. Down-country operations centred on the relief of Lucknow. There is no question that atrocities were committed by both sides, and stories of events of 185758 lived on in both Britain and India. From the interrogation of an official at the King of Delhis court: I did hear of the circumstance. Mike Dash is a contributing writer in history for Smithsonian.com. When the mood of the sepoys turned against their masters, they remembered Kabul and that the British were not invincible. is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings The Indian garrison at Delhi joined them, and by the next nightfall they had secured the city and Mughal fort, proclaiming the aged titular Mughal emperor, Bahdur Shah II, as their leader. The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. 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. Seen from a distance of 150 years, the chupatty movement can appear a quaint anomaly, a strange and colorful rumor of interest mostly to historians and psychologists. In fact, it was rather the last effort of traditional India. And the leaders were not united, because they sought to revive former Hindu and Muslim regimes, which in their heyday had bitterly clashed. And the uprising became extremely violent. He ordered his fellow-official to make ten more, and give two to each of the five nearest village Chowkeydars with the same instructions. The chapatis were real, but no one knew for sure what they were for. History of the Sepoy War in India, 1857-58 (London, 3 vols. Mike Dash In Britain and in the West, it was almost always portrayed as a series of unreasonable and bloodthirsty uprisings spurred by falsehoods about religious insensitivity. "useRatesEcommerce": false Some of the more knowledgeable British officials linked the spread of the chapatis to an effort to prevent the outbreak of cholera in central India and added that, since incidence of the disease was associated with the movement of the Companys armies, there was a widespread belief that the British were in fact responsible for the disease. Another official suggested that the chupatty movement had been initiated somewhere in central India by dyers, anxious that their dyes were not clearing properly, or were the product of some spellwork aimed at protecting crops against hail. A Chowkeydar ran up to another village with two chupatties. The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. [6]. He is on the expert panel on weapons for several museums of Rajasthan. The statement, if lacking in precision, may have been true as to the common information or belief in 1857, but at the present time there may probably be few readers of these pages who could explain thus, or with more exactitude, why a cartridge in those times had to be greased, and why or how, if greased, it required to be bitten. This was originated by some intriguers of the Sepoy War in India, it rather... Became much more than a military mutiny each of the Raj shortly the., 2004 ) became much more than a military mutiny the cartridges of the five nearest village Chowkeydars the... 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