Sepoy mutiny

the reasons and backdrop of the Sepoy mutiny
what really happened and what is there to be known

1. FACULTY IN-CHARGE
NAMRATA GOGOI
SUBMITTED BY-
MANVENDRA SINGH(
SHUBHRATA BORTHAKUR(
NUZHAT ISLAM(
NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY AND JUDICIAL ACADEMY
ASSAM

2. REBELLION OF 1857

3. TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH PROBLEM
CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 3: MUGHAL EMPIRE DECLINE
CHAPTER 4: EUROPEANS RISE TO SUPREMACY
CHAPTER 5: ADVENT OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
CHAPTER 6: CAUSES AND OTHER MINOR UPRISINGS
CHAPTER 7: AFTERMATH OF THE REVOLTS
CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 9: BIBLIOGRAPHY

4. INTRODUCTION
•The revolt of 1857-1858 that covers the major chunk of north India which
stood against the British raj has conventionally been regarded as the new
chapter of history in modern India. It found its roots in Meerut where it
all started by the name of “sepoy mutiny” by the local soldiers working
for the east India company. It is also known as the India's first war of
independence, British rule foundation in India was threatened for the very
first time in India. The revolt started with sepoy working in the British
army and soon spread into local uprisings and rebellions which involved
civilians, peasantry, artisans and the whole community of India. Religious
differences can be cited as the prime cause as Indian troops were not
ready to use the greased cartridges which nullify their religious values as
well as forced conversions by Christian missionaries all around India. At
the end of the revolt what started as the war of religion turned into a
“NATIONAL REVOLT”.

5. SCOPE and OBJECTIVE
•The margin of scope is vast and is unbounded. The revolt has many causal
factors and lasted for more than a year which increases the prospect of
research as there were many local uprisings and rebellions which can be
uniquely called as the first war of independence as there were many wars
in the past which has been fought by locales and foreigners but not of this
mass structure which at least started and gave path to the glory and
independence of country. The sepoy mutiny was one of a kind of
incidence where different social, economic, political and religious causes
were cited and this increases the scope of the research.
•The basic objective of the research is to justify the hypothesis with all
relevant data. It also tries to bring out an answer for the research
questions.

6. HYPOTHESIS


The research problem suggests that the “Revolt of 1857 is The First War
Of Independence”. Earlier there were wars preceding the incident like
Battle of Plassey and Battle of Buxar which gave East India Company a
firm hold over various areas in India but latter revolts like Anglo Mysore
wars, Anglo Maratha wars, Vellore Mutiny, Anglo Sind war were earlier
wars for independence. Though they were not at that large scale but they
may form the India’s first war of independence .Therefore, the
researcher assumes and will try to justify that revolt of 1857 was not the
first war of independence. Researcher also tries to find out looking at the
complete chain of events and happenings whether the participants of the
war really fought for independence of India as a whole or for their own
groups or regional causes.

7. LITERATURE REVIEW
•METCALF AND THOMAS METCALF, CONCISE HISTORY OF
INDIA (2008), CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
It’s a modern, updated and fresh approach to the events of the last decade. It has
smartly covered days of Mughals, through the British empire and into
independence
•BISWAMOY PATTI, 1857 REBELLION(2007),OXFORD
UNIVERSITY
The book brings together seminal writings and rare tracts on nature of 1857 rebellion
•ANIMESH MULLICK, MODERN INDIAN HISTORY (2012),
WISDOM PRESS
The book presents the image of new modern India, its main player in groups and as
individuals and contexts that enables one to see the formation of a nation. It
presents new facts relating to social, economic and cultural aspects.

8. RESEARCH PROBLEM
•Revolt of 1857 is popularly called the first war of independence or the
sepoy mutiny and research problem itself clarifies that this was the first
undivided and unified attack on the British sovereignty and its power. But
what can be concluded after a thorough research is that there may be
factors that affected it and wars preceding it can also be related to it as
it’s rightly deduced in the project. The majority of the project tries to
explain what themes and chronological changes took place in Indian war
of independence.

9. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
•Doctrinal research methodology has been used in writing the project.
Numerous books regarding the concerned topic have been consulted as
well as a large number of articles written by several renowned authors
have been consulted. The research paper of various professors of
different schools and universities, around the globe has been extensively
used, for which they have been acknowledged.

10. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Was the revolt of 1857 actually the first war of independence?
What changes took place in the history of modern India?
 Did early wars which were fought by East India Company gave rise to the
Revolt of 1857?
 What were the causes and the aftermath of the revolt?

11. MUGHAL EMPIRE DECLINE
The eighteenth century saw three important political developments in
India, namely the decline and the disintegration of the Mughal empire, the
rise of regional politics and the establishment of British rule.
The Mughal system collapsed because of its inherent internal weaknesses,
external challenges like the invasions of nadir shah and Ahmad Shah
Abdali, and the bid for supremacy by the English.
For some time, the regional powers like the Marathas, the Sikhs and
Mysore tried to fill up the power vacuum. But ultimately the English east
India company succeeded in outwitting all powers, Indian as well as the
European, and emerged as the all-powerful master of India.

12. EUROPEAN SUPREMACY
•India and the western world had a relation dating back to BC with ancient
Greece and Rome. The major source of connection of India and the other
markets was the trade of raw materials produced in India which were of
high value in the foreign markets. But there were as such no commercial
relations.
•The British were the later Europeans as the potential of India as a world
market was first realized by Portuguese with arrival of Vasco De Gama at
the end of 14
th
century AD. As the time progressed there were arrival of
other superpowers such as Dutch, French and the English.

13. ADVENT OF EAST INDIAN
COMPANY
East India Company (1600-1708) formerly known as the Company of
Merchants of London trading into east indies.
It started as a trading body with monopolistic mind-set but soon become
involved in politics and was the major cause of British imperialism in India
(18
th
century-19
th
century)
As time progressed there was some notable success for the company
officials when the company received a dictate exempting from payment of
custom duties in Bengal.

14. Causes and Uprisings

15. CAUSES
Economic causes
Indian goods became so popular in Britain that the British Government actually had
to pass a law in 1720, forbidding the use of Indian textiles in Britain. However, this
pattern of trade underwent a drastic change in the 18th Century.
Socio-religious Causes
Indians suspected that they would be converted to Christianity under the new regime.
It was largely due to activities of some Christian missionaries who openly ridiculed
the customs and the traditions of both Hindus and Muslims. The English also
established Chapels and Churches for propagating Christianity at the expense of
the government

16. Contd.
Political causes
Lord Canning announced in 1856 that with the demise of Bahadur Shah Zafar, his
successor will not be allowed to use the title "king". Annexation of Oudh, taking
away the title from the Mughal emperor shocked the Muslims. The annexation of
Jhansi, Satara and Nagpur shocked the Hindus as they were predominantly Hindu
states.
Military Causes –
Sepoy of the Bengal Army belonged to the high castes of Oudh and the North-
Western Province. Although the Sepoy had fought and won many wars for the
Company with determined devotion in the most difficult and dangerous
circumstances, they didn’t get a fair deal. The emoluments were very low in
comparison with that of the British soldiers and their chances of promotion,
negligible. As a matter of fact, despite their class contradictions the zamindars, the
peasants and artisans joined hands with the sepoy to fight their common enemy –
the English.

17. AFTERMATH OF THE
REVOLTS
The Indian revolt of 1857 lasted until June of 1858. East India company was
abolished and queen Victoria became the empress of India. Bahadur shah Zafar
was sent into exile in Rangoon that is present day Burma for his involvement in
revolt. British also had a drastic change in their policy with choosing soldiers other
than that of Bengali origin especially relying on “martial races” such as GORKHAS
AND SIKHS. Unfortunately the revolt did not result in freedom of India as Britain
reacted by taking firmer control of “crown jewel” of India
Mutiny of 1857 was a turning point in the history of India. Outward changes
seemed dramatic enough. Dalhousie policy of lapse was abolished and the British
took Indian rulers and prince under subordinate partnership. Macaulay vision of
and advancement of India on a path of cooperation of “European improvement” to
ultimate self-government was in all destructed in the alters of fire of hatred based
on race that include Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow.

19. CONCLUSION
•We can conclude from the revolt of 1857 that it is more than a minor
uprising and it can be concluded as the India’s first true war of
independence as there may be many battles between intruders and the
rulers here in India but there has been never a struggle where the whole
of India has unified with a common agenda, but in respect to this we can
also say that this war was divided on issues and Indian independence was
not a direct motive.
•MANGAL PANDEY the rebellious sepoy who was the first and the
foremost to raise his voice against the atrocities among the Indian British
army soldiers become the voice of hearts of millions of Indians who were
demoralized and disorganized and paved the way for the leaders who
would lead India to independence.

20. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Biswamoy pati(2011),The 1857 Rebellion, Oxford India Classics
Animesh Mullick(2012),Modern Indian History, wisdom press
Majumdar, R.C.; Raychaudhuri, H.C.; Datta, kalikinkar (1967), an advanced
history of India (3rd ed.), London: Macmillan
Mukherjee, Rudrangshu (2002), Awadh in revolt 1857–1858: A study of
popular resistance (2nd ed.), London: anthem
Alavi, Seema (Feb. 1993), "the company army and rural society: the
invalid Thana 1780–1830", Modern Asian Studies 27 (1): 147–
178, :10.1017/s0026749x00016097,jstor 312880

21. “The great use of life is to spend it
for something that will outlast it.”
William James

22. Thank You