The Revolt 1857 - The First War of Independence - IAS

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You are here: Home / GS / The Revolt 1857: the First War of Independence
The Revolt 1857: the First War of

Independence
June 3, 2016 by Prafull 2 Comments
On the graph of popularity, The Revolt of 1857 stands at the top because a vast variety of people from
almost all classes within the nation (of course in the making- perhaps a process still going on) nd some
elements to emphasize with. This Revolt, by its sheer nature and density, has acquired its place in peoples
history that represents the rational analysis of the storehouse of memory. Peoples history includes in itself
the history of anelite as well as folk, constructing arecord of events that is handed over from one
generation to another.
The Revolt 1857, the rst major challenge to the might of the British power, did not begin abruptly. The
sense of dissension among sepoys and to some extend among general people against designs of their
colonial masters was taking root much before the real Revolt had broken out. The immediate cause of the
Revolt was ofcially made public by a proclamation issued at Delhi by the band of sepoys from Meerut who
reached Delhi on 11 May 1857 and appealed Bahadur Shah II to become their leader. These sepoys had,
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just the previous day (10 May1857) deed and killed the European ofcers, and marched straight away to
Delhi the symbol of power. The proclamation issued by them read: it is well known that in these days all
the English have entertained the evil designs-rst, to destroy the religion of the whole Hindustani Army and
then to make the people by compulsion Christians. Therefore, we solely on account of our religion, have
combined with the people, and have not spared alive one indel, and have re-established the Delhi dynasty
on these terms.
Read Also:Mangal Pandey
Although the Revolt stated with the Bengal Army Sepoys and the unhappiness of the sepoys rst came to
the fore in 1824 when the sepoys of 47th regiment was ordered to go to Burma because to the religious
Hindu, crossing the sea meant forfeiture of caste, the section of general population also revolted in towns
and villages which were near the cantonments which were strewed from Bengal to the North West Frontier,
Rajasthan, and Central India.
These uprisings intensied into terse mass wars of national freedom in 1857-58, particularly in the
kingdom of Awadh which had been, in the recent past, annexed by the ofcers of the East India Company,
and also in some areas like Jhansi and Bhojpur.
Reach of the Revolt of 1857

The Revolt at Meerut and the proclamation of Bahadur Shah II as the Shahenshah-e-Hindustan proved to be
the precursor to a widespread rebellion almost all over North India as well as Central and Western India.
Within a month of the event of thecapture of Delhi the Revolt expanded to different parts of the country; the
major centres of the rebellion were: Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Benaras, Bareilly, Jagdishpur, and Jhansi.
The view that the Revolt of 1857 represents an entire range of legends in Indian national subconsciousness
takes strength from the fact that the revolt was explicitly recorded. Authenticating the view K.M. Pannikar
and Bipin Chandra pen down (in their Book: Indias Struggle for Independence), The rebel activity was
marked by intense anti-British feelings, and the administration was invariably toppled.
The rebels as they did not have leaders, turned to the territorial aristocrats and feudal chiefs who had bitter
experience of suffering at the hands of the British because, according to the understanding of the rebel
sepoys, they were the traditional leaders of Indian society.
At Kanpur, Nana Saheb became the natural choice to lead the rebellion-Adopted son of the last Peshwa Baji
Rao II, Nana Saheb, after refusing the family title and abandoning Poona, was living near Kanpur.

At Lucknow Begam Hazrat Mahal took over the reign as in Lucknow popular sympathy was immensely in
favour of the deposed Nawab. A regular administration was organized in which important ofces were
shared equally by Hindus and Muslims.
Must Read:Impact of Religious Policy of Aurangzeb on Mughal Empire
At Bareilly, Khan Bahadur was chosen to take command. Khan Bahadur, though in the beginning was
reluctant to take this responsibility, took the charge of administration, once the Revolt broke up and spread,
and organized an army of 40,000 soldiers and gave a tough ght to the British.
It was Kanwar Singh, the zamindar of Jagdishpur, at the age of 70 who took the charge of leading the
Revolt in Bihar. He had a personal grudge against the British because they had deprived him of his estates.
Jhansis Rani Lakshmibai, the most outstanding leader of the Revolt and who took the leadership of
sepoys, also had thepersonal grudge against the British as they had declined to allow her adopted son to
succeed to the throne after the demise of her husband and annexed her state by using the Doctrine of
Lapse. The emerged as one of the most formidable enemies the British had to confront.
All these events created enemies for Lord Dalhousies successor Lord Canning. The policies, which the
British implemented, of modernization and progress at the cost of tradition created the fuel that was ignited
by the cartridge controversy. The slogan emerged customs and religion in danger. Muslims and Hindus
both felt threatened and endangered. Working people such as Muslim artisans and weavers, Hindu archers,
popularly known as Pasis, who were traditionally village guards also participated, must more actively than it
could have been anticipated at that time, in the Revolt, giving the Revolt a pan-Indian Character in which, in
fact, all listened to the call of dharma of deen.
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Why the Revolt of 1857 failed

InN
the sense of bringing theimmediate result of obtaining liberation from the British the Revolt, of course,
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failed. However, the Revolt boosted the condence of India as a whole in the sense that they had realized
their power to resist and ght for the greater cause.

It can be easily come to the conclusion that the Indian side cracked into countless fractured interests as the

Indian
aspect of the Revolt showed thelack of unity whereas colonialism presented a United front.

Signicance of the Revolt of 1857

The real signicance of the Revolt lies in highlighting ways in which colonialism had contracted different
Indian regions since the battle of Plessey. The Revolt extended the heritage of resistance to British
arrogance that was demonstrated by the Sikh Khalsa and Talpur Mirs of Sindh in the 1840s, by the Afghans,
the Burmese, and the Marathas in the previous 50 years, and by Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali in Mysore and
the Policers in further South.
Also, Read:
The Gandhara Art
Zoroastrianism-Introduction to Persian Religion
Literature of Ancient India: Sanskrit Drama
Filed Under: GS, History
Tagged With: Lord Canning, Peshwa, Revolt of Bihar, Revolt of Meerut
Comments
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ANIL KUMAR SAHOO says

June 4, 2016 at 5:39 am
Thanx a lot..
Reply
Anjana kkh says

June 6, 2016 at 3:24 pm
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