FACULTY IN-CHARGENAMRATA GOGOI

SUBMITTED BY-MANVENDRA SINGH(

SHUBHRATA BORTHAKUR(NUZHAT ISLAM(

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY AND JUDICIAL ACADEMYASSAM

REBELLION OF 1857

TABLE OF CONTENTSCHAPTER 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

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”.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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 14th century AD. As the time progressed there were arrival of other superpowers such as Dutch, French and the English.

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 (18th century-19th 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.

Causes and Uprisings

CAUSES

Economic causesIndian 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

Contd. Political causesLord 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.

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.

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.

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

“The great use of life is to spend it for something that will

outlast it.”

William James

Thank You