Loading the Enfield often required tearing open the greased cartridge with one's teeth, and many sepoys believed that the cartridges were greased with cow and pig fat. Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. There has been much controversy over its nature and causes. In England, almost every child is aware that, with a smooth bored gun, no grease of any kind is required to ensure the proper loading of it, whilst with a rifle-bored piece such is necessary. So writes Mrs Peile, one of those who escaped from Delhi on 11 May 1857. [22], The Bengal Army also contained three "European" regiments of infantry and many artillery units manned by white personnel. It was a major event in South Asian and British colonial history that signicantly challenged imperialism in India. Famous For: Revolt of 1857. 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. Although the armies of many Rajas or states which rebelled contained large numbers of guns, the British superiority in artillery was to be decisive in the siege of Delhi after the arrival of a siege train of thirty-two howitzers and mortars. The signal spread in all directions with wonderful celerity. In contrast to their Indian predecessors, the British considered such refusals at times to be outright "mutinies" and therefore to be suppressed brutally. As early as 1806, concerns that the sepoys' caste may be polluted had led to the Vellore Mutiny, which was brutally suppressed. With the British recovery of Gwalior (June 20, 1858), the revolt was virtually over. Most Indians thought they were the work of the British, whothrough the East India Companyhad ruled over large portions of the country for almost a century (and were, according to one well-known prophecy, due to be unseated at that centurys end). We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. ThoughtCo. Map: Wikicommons. 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. The officers continued to be British, but they were more closely linked with their men. No, it is not by any means a custom; I am 50 years old, and never heard of such a thing before. The restoration of peace was hindered by British cries for vengeance, often leading to indiscriminate reprisals. Numerous explanations were considered. It began on a point of caste pollution; its leaders were traditionalists who looked to reviving the past, while the small new Westernized class actively supported the British. But the spark was interestingly not so much of religious clashes, but the grease used in the new Enfield rifle. This book is essentially about the heroes - Tatya Tope, Nana. There was therefore both resentment and unease among the old governing class, fanned in Delhi by the British decision to end the Mughal imperial title on Bahdur Shahs death. [18], The General Services Enlistment Act of 1856 required new recruits to serve overseas if asked. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/sepoy-mutiny-of-1857-1774014. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine His unit in the Bengal Army, which had refused to use the new rifle cartridges, was about to be disarmed and punished. Mason, Philip (1974), page 263 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, Last edited on 28 September 2022, at 04:39, Details of the rifle issued as a result of the mutiny, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Causes_of_the_Indian_Rebellion_of_1857&oldid=1112793629, This page was last edited on 28 September 2022, at 04:39. is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings [13] In 1851-2 sepoys who were required to serve in the Second Anglo-Burmese War also refused to embark, but were merely sent to serve elsewhere. B. [2][3], Religious disquiet as the cause of rebellion underlies the work of historian William Dalrymple who asserts that the rebels were motivated primarily by resistance to the actions of the English East India Company(also called British East India Company), especially under James Broun-Ramsay reign, which were perceived as attempts to impose Christianity and Christian laws in India. [8], Unlike the Madras and Bombay Armies of the BEIC, which were far more diverse, the Bengal Army recruited its regular soldiers almost exclusively amongst the landowning Bhumihars and Rajputs of the Ganges Valley. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. Privacy Statement The Sepoy Mutinywas a violent and very bloody uprising againstBritish rule in Indiain 1857. He is on the expert panel on weapons for several museums of Rajasthan. Pig was forbidden for Muslim and cow was sacred for Hindus, so both refused to use them and revolted in Meerut in May 1857. Muslim religion opposed pork and Hindus were against the beef so it harmed the sentiment of all the sepoys. This would have insulted both Hindu and Muslim religious practices; cows were considered holy by Hindus, while pigs were considered unclean (Haram) by Muslims. Many Animals, Including the Platypus, Lost Their Stomachs. The greased cartridges thus posed precisely the same threat to observant sepoys as would flour adulterated with the blood of pigs and cows, and though the British recognized the problem early on, and never issued a single greased cartridge to any Indian troops, fear that the Company was plotting to defile them took hold among the men of many Indian regiments and resulted in the outbreak of rebellion in the cantonment of Meerut in April 1857. 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Partly owing to this, Bengal sepoys were not subject to the penalty of flogging as were the European soldiers. Mason, Philip (1974), page 190 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. All in all, the British were extremely spooked by the spread of the chapatis. Indian soldiers had to blow the cartridge which was made of pork and beef. Wild stories circulated freely in the panic-stricken atmosphere of 1857, and there were enough real massacres and murders to make almost anything seem possible. A hardcore corporate, he initially worked for Hindustan Unilever and was later Director of Brooke Bond, India. "The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857." One popular story, widely believed, suggested that the British were attempting the mass conversion of their subjects to Christianity by adulterating their flour with bone meal from cows and pigs, which was forbidden to Hindus and Moslems, respectively. In the altercation, Pandey was surrounded by British troops and shot himself in the chest. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. A cartridge for the new Enfield rifle. ThoughtCo, Jul. Its cartridges consisted of a .577 inch ball projectile and a charge of gun powder propellant wrapped in waterproofed cartridge paper. The East India Company had been active in India for nearly 250 years, but the violence of the 1857 uprising led to the British government dissolving the company and taking direct control of India. Click to view in higher resolution. Since the batta made the difference between active service being considered munificent or burdensome, the sepoys repeatedly resented and actively opposed inconsiderate unilateral changes in pay and batta ordered by the Military Audit department. 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. It is also known by other names: the Indian Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indian Revolt of 1857. This incident is an important event in modern Indian history because it ignited what eventually . The system was subject to abuse, and the company used it to annex territories in a questionable manner. [14], The pay of the sepoy was relatively low and after Awadh and the Punjab were annexed, the soldiers no longer received extra pay (batta or bhatta) if posted there, because this was no longer considered "foreign service". 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. Mopping-up operations followed, lasting until the British capture of rebel leader Tantia Topi in April 1859. His name has become synonymous with the revolt of 1857. 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 greased cartridges had to be opened by biting off the top with your teeth. Increasing numbers of Christian missionaries began arriving in India, and their presence gave credence to rumors of impending conversions. The British military commander Sir James Outram thought it was a Muslim conspiracy, exploiting Hindu grievances. It is not known who first projected the plan. On 29 March 1857, Mangal Pandey, a sepoy of the 34 th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) mutinied against his commanding officers of the East India Company. 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. The greased cartridge - what was it all about? The revolt was sparked by a number of reasons, including economic exploitation, cultural repression, and mistreatment of Indian soldiers. 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. 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.. Saul, David (2003), page 294 "The Indian Mutiny", Penguin Books. A rumour spread that the cartridges of the new enfield rifles . Some of these units belonged to states allied to the British or recently absorbed into British-administered territory, and of these, two large contingents from the states of Awadh and Gwalior readily joined the growing rebellion. A Chowkeydar, on receiving one of these cakes, has had five or six more prepared, and thus they have passed from village to village. An idea has been industriously circulated that the Government has given the order. One common punishment was to tie mutineers to the mouth of a cannon and then fire the cannon, completely obliterating the victim. Though the revolt was suppressed later, it shook the foundation of British rule in India. 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. He first defeated the Gwalior contingent and then, when the rebels Tantia Topi and Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi had seized Gwalior, broke up their forces in two more battles. The chupatty movement first came to British attention early in February 1857. Robert J. McNamara is a history expert and former magazine journalist. The effective Indian artillery, except for a few mountain batteries, was abolished, while the Brahmans and Rajputs of Avadh were reduced in favour of other groups. [11] If the caste of high-caste sepoys was considered to be "polluted", they would have to expend considerable sums of money on ritual purification before being accepted back into society. The Lucknow garrison held out in the residency from July 1, in spite of the death of Sir Henry Lawrence on July 4. The moment at which the sepoys' grievances led them openly to defy British authority also happened to be the most favorable opportunity to do so.[24]. Yet discreet inquiries soon revealed that many hundreds of chapatis were passing through his district, and through other parts of India as welleverywhere from the Narmada river in the south to the border with Nepal several hundred miles to the north. Throughout May and June 1857 more units of Indian troops mutinied against the British. Dalhousie had also appointed Inam Commission with powers to confiscate land. The revolt is known by several names. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 226-228 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. Loading the Enfield often required tearing open the greased cartridge with one's teeth, and many sepoys believed that the cartridges were greased with cow and pig fat. This war of Independence marked the end of rule by the British East India company. The Revolt ended the rule of the English East India Company. At some point the chapattis passed beyond the limits of their meaningful transmission and simply continued through the country as a blank message. The Personal Adventures and Experiences of a Magistrate During the Rise, Progression and Suppression of the Indian Mutiny (London: John Murray, 1884);Kim A. Wagner. Mason, Philip (1974), page 264 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. Mike Dash But in the 1830s and 1840s, tensions began to emerge. 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