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

51
 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. Gover nor-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
 Activity did not die down, in 1856 the Company passed a new
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.

52 OUR PASTS – III

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.

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 53

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.

54 OUR PASTS – III

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
Sarkar to insult their religion, but as I have already
the sepoys seem to
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.

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 55

Fig. 6 – The battle in the From Meerut to Delhi
cavalry lines
On 29 March 1857, a young soldier, Mangal Pandey, was
On the evening of 3 July
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 were suspected of being coated with the fat of cows and
cavalry posts. The battle
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
arrival spread, the regiments stationed in Delhi also rose
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.

56 OUR PASTS – III

 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
different 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
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
authority and fight the British. Nana Saheb, the adopted
son of the late Peshwa Baji Rao who lived near Kanpur,
Fig. 5 – As the mutiny
gathered armed forces and expelled the British garrison spread, British officers were
from the city. He proclaimed himself Peshwa. He declared killed in the cantonments
that he was a 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

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 57

 Activity fought the British along with Tantia Tope, the general of
Nana Saheb.
1. Why did the Mughal
emperor agree to The British were greatly outnumbered by the rebel forces.
support the rebels? They were defeated in a number of battles. This convinced
2. Write a paragraph on the people that the rule of the British had collapsed for
the assessment he good and gave them the confidence to take the plunge and
may have made before join the rebellion. A situation of widespread popular rebellion
accepting the offer of developed in the region of Awadh in particular. On 6 August
the sepoys. 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
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.
Fig. 7 – British forces
attack the rebels who had
occupied the Red Fort (on
The Company Fights Back
the right ) and Salimgarh Unnerved by the scale of the upheaval, the Company
Fort in Delhi (on the left ) decided to repress the revolt with all its might. It brought

58 OUR PASTS – III

reinforcements from England, passed new laws so Fig. 4 – The siege train
that the rebels could be convicted with ease, and then reaches Delhi
moved into the storm centres of the revolt. Delhi was The British forces initially
recaptured from the rebel forces in September 1857. found it difficult to break
through the heavy fortification
The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar was tried
in Delhi. On 3 September
in court and sentenced to life imprisonment. His sons 1857 reinforcements arrived –
were shot dead before his eyes. He and his wife Begum a 7- mile-long siege train
Zinat Mahal were sent to prison in Rangoon in October comprising cartloads of
1858. Bahadur Shah Zafar died in the Rangoon jail in canons and ammunition pulled
by elephants.
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. 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. 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,

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 59

Fig. 8 – 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. 9 – British forces capture the member of the British Cabinet was appointed Secretary of
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.

60 OUR PASTS – III

 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. 10 – Some
important centres of
the Revolt in North
India

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 61

 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
Christianity and was against the traditional
Fig. 11 – Taiping army meeting their leader 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.

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

62 OUR PASTS – III

 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?

Let’s do
9. Find out stories and songs remembered by people
in your area or your family about San Sattavan ki
Ladaai. What memories do people cherish about
the great uprising?
10. Find out more about Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi.
In what ways would she have been an unusual
woman for her times?

Fig. 12 – Ruins of the Residency

in Lucknow
In June 1857, the rebel forces
began the siege of the Residency.
A large number of British women,
men and children had taken
shelter in the buildings there.
The rebels surrounded the
compound and bombarded the
building with shells. Hit by a
shell, Henry Lawrence, the Chief
Commissioner of Awadh, died in
one of the rooms that you see in
the picture. Notice how buildings
carry the marks of past events.

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 63