5 When People Rebel

1857 and After

Fig. 1 – Sepoys and peasants

gather forces for the revolt that
spread across the plains of north
India in 1857

Policies and the People

In the previous chapters you looked at the policies of
the East India Company and the effect they had on
different people. Kings, queens, peasants, landlords,
tribals, soldiers were all affected in different ways. You
have also seen how people resist policies and actions
that harm their interests or go against their sentiments.

Nawabs lose their power

Since the mid-eighteenth century, nawabs and rajas
had seen their power erode. They had gradually lost
their authority and honour. Residents had been
stationed in many courts, the freedom of the rulers
reduced, their armed forces disbanded, and their
revenues and territories taken away by stages.
Many ruling families tried to negotiate with the
Company to protect their interests. For example, Rani
Lakshmibai of Jhansi wanted the Company to recognise
her adopted son as the heir to the kingdom after the
death of her husband. Nana Saheb, the adopted son of

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 Peshwa Baji Rao II, pleaded that he be given his father’s
pension when the latter died. However, the Company,
confident of its superiority and military powers, turned
down these pleas.
Awadh was one of the last territories to be annexed.
In 1801, a subsidiary alliance was imposed on Awadh,
and in 1856 it was taken over. Governor -General
Dalhousie declared that the territory was being
misgoverned and British rule was needed to ensure
proper administration.
The Company even began to plan how to bring the
Mughal dynasty to an end. The name of the Mughal
king was removed from the coins minted by the
Company. In 1849, Gover nor -General Dalhousie
announced that after the death of Bahadur Shah Zafar,
the family of the king would be shifted out of the Red
Fort and given another place in Delhi to reside in. In
1856, Governor-General Canning decided that Bahadur
Shah Zafar would be the last Mughal king and after
his death none of his descendants would be recognised
as kings – they would just be called princes.

The peasants and the sepoys

In the countryside peasants and zamindars resented
the high taxes and the rigid methods of revenue
collection. Many failed to pay back their loans to the
moneylenders and gradually lost the lands they had
tilled for generations.
The Indian sepoys in the employ of the Company
also had reasons for discontent. They were unhappy
about their pay, allowances and conditions of service.
Some of the new rules, moreover, violated their religious
sensibilities and beliefs. Did you know that in those
days many people in the country believed that if they
crossed the sea they would lose their religion and caste?
So when in 1824 the sepoys were told to go to Burma by
the sea route to fight for the Company, they refused to
follow the order, though they agreed to go by the land
route. They were severely punished, and since the issue
did not die down, in 1856 the Company passed a new
† Activity law which stated that every new person who took up
Imagine you are a sepoy
employment in the Company’s army had to agree to
in the Company army,
serve overseas if required.
advising your nephew
not to take employment Sepoys also reacted to what was happening in the
in the army. What reasons countryside. Many of them were peasants and had
would you give? families living in the villages. So the anger of the
peasants quickly spread among the sepoys.

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Responses to reforms
The British believed that Indian society had to
be reformed. Laws were passed to stop the
practice of sati and to encourage the remarriage
of widows. English-language education was
actively promoted. After 1830, the Company
allowed Christian missionaries to function
freely in its domain and even own land and
property. In 1850, a new law was passed to
make conversion to Christianity easier. This
law allowed an Indian who had converted to
Christianity to inherit the property of his
ancestors. Many Indians began to feel that the
British were destroying their religion, their
social customs and their traditional way of life.
There were of course other Indians who
wanted to change existing social practices. You
will read about these reformers and reform
movements in Chapter 7.

Through the Eyes of the People

Fig. 2 – Sepoys exchange news
To get a glimpse of what people were thinking and rumours in the bazaars of
those days about British rule, study Sources 1 and 2. north India

Source 1

The list of eighty-four rules

Given here are excerpts from the book Majha Pravaas, written by Vishnubhatt
Godse, a Brahman from a village in Maharashtra. He and his uncle had set out
to attend a yajna being organised in Mathura. Vishnubhatt writes that they met
some sepoys on the way who told them that they should not proceed on the
journey because a massive upheaval was going to break out in three days.
The sepoys said:
the English were determined to wipe out the religions of the Hindus and the
Muslims … they had made a list of eighty-four rules and announced these
in a gathering of all big kings and princes in Calcutta. They said that the
kings refused to accept these rules and warned the English of dire
consequences and massive upheaval if these are implemented … that the
kings all returned to their capitals in great anger … all the big people
began making plans. A date was fixed for the war of religion and the secret
plan had been circulated from the cantonment in Meerut by letters sent to
different cantonments.
Vishnubhatt Godse, Majha Pravaas, pp. 23-24.

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Source 2

“There was soon excitement in every regiment”

Another account we have from those days are the memoirs of Subedar Sitaram
Pande. Sitaram Pande was recruited in 1812 as a sepoy in the Bengal Native
Army. He served the English for 48 years and retired in 1860. He helped the
British to suppress the rebellion though his own son was a rebel and was
killed by the British in front of his eyes. On retirement he was persuaded by
his Commanding Officer, Norgate, to write his memoirs. He completed the
writing in 1861 in Awadhi and Norgate translated it into English and had it
published under the title From Sepoy to Subedar.
Here is an excerpt from what Sitaram Pande wrote:
It is my humble opinion that this seizing of Oudh filled the minds of the
Sepoys with distrust and led them to plot against the Government. Agents
of the Nawab of Oudh and also of the King of Delhi were sent all over
India to discover the temper of the army. They worked upon the feelings
of sepoys, telling them how treacherously the foreigners had behaved
towards their king. They invented ten thousand lies and promises to
persuade the soldiers to mutiny and turn against their masters, the English,
with the object of restoring the Emperor of Delhi to the throne. They
maintained that this was wholly within the army’s powers if the soldiers
would only act together and do as they were advised.

Fig. 3 – Rebel sepoys at Meerut attack officers, enter their homes and set fire to buildings

Source 2 contd.

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Source 2 contd.

It chanced that about this time the Sarkar sent † Activity

parties of men from each regiment to different 1 . What were the
garrisons for instructions in the use of the new rifle. important concerns
These men performed the new drill for some time in the minds of the
until a report got about by some means or the other, people according to
that the cartridges used for these new rifles were Sitaram and according
greased with the fat of cows and pigs. The men from to Vishnubhatt?
our regiment wrote to others in the regiment telling
2 . What role did they
them about this, and there was soon excitement in
think the rulers were
every regiment. Some men pointed out that in forty
playing? What role did
years’ service nothing had ever been done by the
the sepoys seem to
Sarkar to insult their religion, but as I have already
mentioned the sepoys’ minds had been inflamed by play?
the seizure of Oudh. Interested parties were quick
to point out that the great aim of the English was to
turn us all into Christians, and they had therefore
introduced the cartridge in order to bring this about,
since both Mahommedans and Hindus would be
defiled by using it.
The Colonel sahib was of the opinion that the
excitement, which even he could not fail to see, would
pass off, as it had done before, and he recommended
me to go to my home.
Sitaram Pande, From Sepoy to Subedar, pp. 162-63.

A Mutiny Becomes a Popular Rebellion

Though struggles between rulers and the ruled are not
unusual, sometimes such struggles become quite
widespread as a popular resistance so that the power of
the state breaks down. A very large number of people
begin to believe that they have a common enemy and Mutiny – When soldiers
rise up against the enemy at the same time. For such as a group disobey their
a situation to develop people have to organise, officers in the army
communicate, take initiative and display the confidence
to turn the situation around.
Such a situation developed in the northern parts of
India in 1857. After a hundred years of conquest and
administration, the English East India Company faced
a massive rebellion that started in May 1857 and
threatened the Company’s very presence in India.
Sepoys mutinied in several places beginning from
Meerut and a large number of people from different
sections of society rose up in rebellion. Some regard it
as the biggest armed resistance to colonialism in the
nineteenth century anywhere in the world.

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Fig. 4 – The battle in the
cavalry lines
From Meerut to Delhi
On the evening of 3 July On 29 March 1857, a young soldier, Mangal Pandey, was
1857, over 3,000 rebels came hanged to death for attacking his officers in Barrackpore.
from Bareilly, crossed the Some days later, some sepoys of the regiment at Meerut
river Jamuna, entered Delhi,
refused to do the army drill using the new cartridges, which
and attacked the British
cavalry posts. The battle were suspected of being coated with the fat of cows and
continued all through pigs. Eighty-five sepoys were dismissed from service and
the night. sentenced to ten years in jail for disobeying their officers.
This happened on 9 May 1857.
The response of the other Indian soldiers in Meerut was
quite extraordinary. On 10 May, the soldiers marched to the
jail in Meerut and released the imprisoned sepoys. They
attacked and killed British officers. They captured guns and
ammunition and set fire to the buildings and properties of the
British and declared war on the firangis. The soldiers were
determined to bring an end to their rule in the country. But
who would rule the land instead? The soldiers had an answer
to this question – the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.
The sepoys of Meerut rode all night of 10 May to reach
Delhi in the early hours next morning. As news of their
Fig. 5 – Postal stamp issued in arrival spread, the regiments stationed in Delhi also rose
commemoration of Mangal Pandey
up in rebellion. Again british officers were killed, arms
and ammunition seized, buildings set on fire. Triumphant
soldiers gathered around the walls of the Red Fort where
Firangis – Foreigners the Badshah lived, demanding to meet him. The emperor
The term reflects an was not quite willing to challenge the mighty British power
attitude of contempt. but the soldiers persisted. They forced their way into the
palace and proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar as their leader.

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 The ageing emperor had to accept this demand. He wrote
letters to all the chiefs and rulers of the country to come
forward and organise a confederacy of Indian states to
fight the British. This single step taken by Bahadur Shah
had great implications.
The Mughal dynasty had ruled over a very large part of
the country. Most smaller rulers and chieftains controlled
dif ferent territories on behalf of the Mughal ruler.
Threatened by the expansion of British rule, many of them
felt that if the Mughal emperor could rule again, they too
would be able to rule their own territories once more, under
Mughal authority.
The British had not expected this to happen. They
thought the disturbance caused by the issue of the
Fig. 6 – Bahadur Shah Zafar
cartridges would die down. But Bahadur Shah Zafar’s
decision to bless the rebellion changed the entire situation
dramatically. Often when people see an alternative
possibility they feel inspired and enthused. It gives them
the courage, hope and confidence to act.
The rebellion spreads
After the British were routed from Delhi, there was no
uprising for almost a week. It took that much time for
news to travel. Then, a spurt of mutinies began.
Regiment after regiment mutinied and took off to join
other troops at nodal points like Delhi, Kanpur and
Lucknow. After them, the people of the towns and villages
also rose up in rebellion and rallied around local leaders,
zamindars and chiefs who were prepared to establish their Fig. 7 – Rani Laxmibai
authority and fight the British. Nana Saheb, the adopted son
of the late Peshwa Baji Rao who lived near Kanpur, gathered
Fig. 8 – As the mutiny
armed forces and expelled the British garrison from the city. spread, British officers were
He proclaimed himself Peshwa. He declared that he was a killed in the cantonments
governor under Emperor
Bahadur Shah Zafar. In
Lucknow, Birjis Qadr, the
son of the deposed Nawab
Wajid Ali Shah, was
proclaimed the new
Nawab. He too
acknowledged the suzerainty
of Bahadur Shah Zafar. His
mother Begum Hazrat
Mahal took an active part
in organising the uprising
against the British. In
Jhansi, Rani Lakshmibai
joined the rebel sepoys and

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 fought the British along with Tantia Tope, the general of
† Activity Nana Saheb. In the Mandla region of Madhya Pradesh, Rani
1 . Why did the Mughal
Avantibai Lodhi of Ramgarh raised and led an army of four
emperor agree to
thousand against the British who had taken over the
support the rebels?
administration of her state.
2 . Write a paragraph on
the assessment he The British were greatly outnumbered by the rebel forces.
may have made before They were defeated in a number of battles. This convinced
accepting the offer of the people that the rule of the British had collapsed for good
and gave them the confidence to take the plunge and join
the sepoys.
the rebellion. A situation of widespread popular rebellion
developed in the region of Awadh in particular. On 6 August
1857, we find a telegram sent by Lieutenant Colonel Tytler
to his Commander-in-Chief expressing the fear felt by the
British: “Our men are cowed by the numbers opposed to
them and the endless fighting. Every village is held against
us, the zamindars have risen to oppose us.”
Many new leaders came up. For example, Ahmadullah
Shah, a maulvi from Faizabad, prophesied that the rule of
the British would come to an end soon. He caught the
imagination of the people and raised a huge force of
supporters. He came to Lucknow to fight the British. In Delhi,
a large number of ghazis or religious warriors came together
Fig. 9 – A portrait of Nana Saheb
to wipe out the white people. Bakht Khan, a soldier from
Bareilly, took charge of a large force of fighters who came to
Delhi. He became a key military leader of the rebellion. In
Bihar, an old zamindar, Kunwar Singh, joined the rebel
sepoys and battled with the British for many months. Leaders
and fighters from across the land joined the fight.

The Company Fights Back

Unnerved by the scale of the upheaval, the Company decided
to repress the revolt with all its might. It brought

Fig. 10 –
A portrait of Vir Kunwar Singh

Fig. 11 – British forces attack

the rebels who had occupied the
Red Fort (on the right ) and
Salimgarh Fort in Delhi (on the
left )

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reinforcements from England, passed new laws so Fig. 12– The siege train reaches
Delhi
that the rebels could be convicted with ease, and then
The British forces initially found it
moved into the storm centres of the revolt. Delhi was
difficult to break through the
recaptured from the rebel forces in September 1857. The heavy fortification in Delhi. On 3
last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar was tried in September 1857 reinforcements
court and sentenced to life imprisonment. He and his arrived – a 7- mile-long siege train
wife Begum Zinat Mahal were sent to prison in Rangoon comprising cartloads of canons
and ammunition pulled by
in October 1858. Bahadur Shah Zafar died in the Rangoon elephants.
jail in November 1862.
The recapture of Delhi, however, did not mean that the
rebellion died down after that. People continued to resist
and battle the British. The British had to fight for two
years to suppress the massive forces of popular rebellion.
Lucknow was taken in March 1858. Rani Lakshmibai
was defeated and killed in June 1858. A similar fate
awaited Rani Avantibai, who after initial victory in
Kheri, chose to embrace death when surrounded by the
British on all sides. Tantia Tope escaped to the jungles
of central India and continued to fight a guerrilla war
with the support of many tribal and peasant leaders. Fig. 13 – Postal stamp Essued in
commemoration of Tantia Tope
He was captured, tried and killed in April 1859.
Just as victories against the British had earlier
encouraged rebellion, the defeat of rebel forces
encouraged desertions. The British also tried their best
to win back the loyalty of the people. They announced
 Activity
Make a list of places
rewards for loyal landholders would be allowed to where the uprising took
continue to enjoy traditional rights over their lands. place in May, June and
Those who had rebelled were told that if they submitted July 1857.
to the British, and if they had not killed any white people,

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Fig. 14 – British troops blow up they would remain safe and their rights and claims to
Kashmere Gate to enter Delhi land would not be denied. Nevertheless, hundreds of
sepoys, rebels, nawabs and rajas were tried and hanged.

Aftermath
The British had regained control
of the country by the end of 1859,
but they could not carry on ruling
the land with the same policies
any more.
Given below are the important
changes that were introduced by
the British.
1. The British Parliament passed
a new Act in 1858 and transferred
the powers of the East India Company
to the British Crown in order to
ensure a more responsible
management of Indian affairs. A
Fig. 15 – British forces capture member of the British Cabinet was appointed Secretary of
the rebels near Kanpur State for India and made responsible for all matters related
Notice the way the artist shows to the governance of India. He was given a council to advise
the British soldiers valiantly him, called the India Council. The Governor-General of India
advancing on the rebel forces.
was given the title of Viceroy, that is, a personal
representative of the Crown. Through these measures the
British government accepted direct responsibility for
ruling India.

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 2. All ruling chiefs of the country were assured that their
territory would never be annexed in future. They were allowed to
pass on their kingdoms to their heirs, including adopted sons.
However, they were made to acknowledge the British Queen as
their Sovereign Paramount. Thus the Indian rulers were to hold
their kingdoms as subordinates of the British Crown.
3. It was decided that the proportion of Indian soldiers in the
army would be reduced and the number of European soldiers would
be increased. It was also decided that instead of recruiting soldiers
from Awadh, Bihar, central India and south India, more soldiers
would be recruited from among the Gurkhas, Sikhs and Pathans.
4. The land and property of Muslims was confiscated on a large
scale and they were treated with suspicion and hostility. The British
believed that they were responsible for the rebellion in a big way.
5. The British decided to respect the customary religious and
social practices of the people in India.
6. Policies were made to protect landlords and zamindars
and give them security of rights over their lands.
Thus a new phase of history began after 1857.

• Main centres of the Revolt

• Other centres of the Revolt Fig. 16 – Some
important centres of
the Revolt in North
India

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 The Khurda Uprising – A Case Study
Much before the event of 1857, there had taken place another event of a similar nature at
a place called Khurda in 1817. Here, it would be instructive for us to study that event and
reflect on how resentment against the colonial policies of the British had been building up
since the beginning of the 19th century in different parts of the country.
Khurda, a small kingdom built up in the late 16th century in the south-eastern part of
Odisha, was a populous and well-cultivated territory consisting of 105 garhs, 60 large and
1109 small villages at the beginning of the 19th century. Its king, Raja Birakishore Dev had
to earlier give up the possession of four parganas, the superintendence of the Jagannath
Temple and the administration of fourteen garjats (Princely States) to the Marathas under
compulsion. His son and successor, Mukunda Dev II was greatly disturbed with this loss of
fortune. Therefore, sensing an opportunity in the Anglo-Maratha conflict, he had entered
into negotiations with the British to get back his lost territories and the rights over the
Jagannath Temple. But after the occupation of Odisha in 1803, the British showed no
inclination to oblige him on either score. Consequently, in alliance with other feudatory
chiefs of Odisha and secret support of the Marathas, he tried to assert his rights by force.
This led to his deposition and annexation of his territories by the British. As a matter of
consolation, he was only given the rights of management of the Jagannath Temple with a
grant amounting to a mere one-tenth of the revenue of his former estate and his residence
was fixed at Puri. This unfair settlement commenced an era of oppressive foreign rule in
Odisha, which paved the way for a serious armed uprising in 1817.
Soon after taking over Khurda, the British followed a policy of resuming service tenures.
It bitterly affected the lives of the ex-militia of the state, the Paiks. The severity of the
measure was compounded on account of an unreasonable increase in the demand of revenue
and also the oppressive ways of its collection. Consequently, there was large scale desertion
of people from Khurda between 1805 and 1817. Yet, the British went for a series of short-
term settlements, each time increasing the demands, not recognising either the productive
capacity of the land or the paying capacity of the ryots. No leniency was shown even in case
of natural calamities, which Odisha was frequently prone to. Rather, lands of defaulters
were sold off to scheming revenue officials or speculators from Bengal.
The hereditary Military Commander of the deposed king, Jagabandhu Bidyadhar
Mahapatra Bhramarabar Rai or Buxi Jagabandhu as he was popularly known, was one
among the dispossessed land-holders. He had in effect become a beggar, and for nearly two
years survived on voluntary contributions from the people of Khurda before deciding to
fight for their grievances as well as his own. Over the years, what had added to these
grievances were (a) the introduction of sicca rupee (silver currency) in the region, (b) the
insistence on payment of revenue in the new currency, (c) an unprecedented rise in the
prices of food-stuff and salt, which had become far-fetched following the introduction of
salt monopoly because of which the traditional salt makers of Odisha were deprived of
making salt, and (d) the auction of local estates in Calcutta, which brought in absentee
landlords from Bengal to Odisha. Besides, the insensitive and corrupt police system also
made the situation worse for the armed uprising to take a sinister shape.
The uprising was set off on 29 March 1817 as the Paiks attacked the police station and
other government establishments at Banpur killing more than a hundred men and took
away a large amount of government money. Soon its ripples spread in different directions
with Khurda becoming its epicenter. The zamindars and ryots alike joined the Paiks with
enthusiasm. Those who did not, were taken to task. A ‘no-rent campaign’ was also started.
The British tried to dislodge the Paiks from their entrenched position but failed. On 14

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 April 1817, Buxi Jagabandhu, leading five to ten thousand Paiks and men of the Kandh
tribe seized Puri and declared the hesitant king, Mukunda Dev II as their ruler. The
priests of the Jagannath Temple also extended the Paiks their full support.
Seeing the situation going out of hand, the British clamped Martial Law. The King was
quickly captured and sent to prison in Cuttack with his son. The Buxi with his close associate,
Krushna Chandra Bhramarabar Rai, tried to cut off all communications between Cuttack
and Khurda as the uprising spread to the southern and the north-western parts of Odisha.
Consequently, the British sent Major-General Martindell to clear off the area from the
clutches of the Paiks while at the same time announcing rewards for the arrest of Buxi
jagabandhu and his associates. In the ensuing operation hundreds of Paiks were killed,
many fled to deep jungles and some returned home under a scheme of amnesty. Thus by
May 1817 the uprising was mostly contained.
However, outside Khurda it was sustained by Buxi Jagabandhu with the help of supporters
like the Raja of Kujung and the unflinching loyalty of the Paiks until his surrender in May
1825. On their part, the British henceforth adopted a policy of ‘leniency, indulgence and
forbearance’ towards the people of Khurda. The price of salt was reduced and necessary
reforms were made in the police and the justice systems. Revenue officials found to be
corrupt were dismissed from service and former land-holders were restored to their lands.
The son of the king of Khurda, Ram Chandra Dev III was allowed to move to Puri and
take charge of the affairs of the Jagannath Temple with a grant of rupees twenty-four
thousand.
In sum, it was the first such popular anti-British armed uprising in Odisha, which had
far reaching effect on the future of British administration in that part of the country. To
merely call it a ‘Paik Rebellion’ will thus be an understatement.

ELSEWHERE
For a Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace
While the revolt was spreading in India
in 1857, a massive popular uprising
was raging in the southern parts of
China. It had started in 1850 and could
be suppressed only by the mid-1860s.
Thousands of labouring, poor people
were led by Hong Xiuquan to fight for
the establishment of the Heavenly
Kingdom of Great Peace. This was known
as the Taiping Rebellion.
Hong Xiuquan was a convert to
Fig. 11 – Taiping army meeting their leader
Christianity and was against the
traditional religions practised in China such as Confucianism and Buddhism. The rebels of
Taiping wanted to establish a kingdom where a form of Christianity was practised, where no
one held any private property, where there was no difference between social classes and between
men and women, where consumption of opium, tobacco, alcohol, and activities like gambling,
prostitution, slavery, were prohibited.
The British and French armed forces operating in China helped the emperor of the Qing
dynasty to put down the Taiping Rebellion.

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 Let’s imagine Let’s recall
Imagine you are a 1. What was the demand of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi
British officer in that was refused by the British?
Awadh during the
rebellion. What would 2. What did the British do to protect the interests of
you do to keep your those who converted to Christianity?
plans of fighting the
3. What objections did the sepoys have to the new
rebels a top secret.
cartridges that they were asked to use?
4. How did the last Mughal emperor live the last years
of his life?

Let’s discuss
5. What could be the reasons for the
confidence of the British rulers about
their position in India before May
1857?
6. What impact did Bahadur Shah
Zafar’s support to the rebellion have
on the people and the ruling families?
7. How did the British succeed in
securing the submission of the rebel
landowners of Awadh?
8. In what ways did the British change
their policies as a result of the
rebellion of 1857?
Fig. 17 – Ruins of the Residency
in Lucknow
In June 1857, the rebel forces
began the siege of the Residency.
A large number of British women, Let’s do
men and children had taken
shelter in the buildings there.
The rebels surrounded the 9. Find out stories and songs remembered by people
compound and bombarded the in your area or your family about San Sattavan ki
building with shells. Hit by a
shell, Henry Lawrence, the Chief
Ladaai. What memories do people cherish about
Commissioner of Awadh, died in the great uprising?
one of the rooms that you see in
the picture. Notice how buildings 10. Find out more about Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi.
carry the marks of past events. In what ways would she have been an unusual
woman for her times?

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