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The Sepoy Mutiny

We shall now take a look at the situation before the sepoy mutiny broke out.

The Background

For more than 150 years the East India Company (John Company) had raised its own armed forces. The three administrative areas of India, the Presidencies of Bombay, Madras and Bengal each maintained their own army with its own commander-in-chief. The Commander in Chief of Bengal was regarded as the senior officer of the three. These armies were paid for entirely out of the Company's Indian revenues and together were larger than the British Army itself. All the officers were British and trained at the Company's military academy in England. There were a few regiments of European infantry but the vast majority of the Company's soldiers were Indian troops. These sepoys, as they were called, came mostly from Oudh in what is now Uttar Pradesh. They were organised in numbered regiments and drilled British style. These regiments were officered by Europeans, with a stiffening of European NCO's.

Attached to this formidable force were Queen's regiments, actual units of the British Army lent by the Crown to the East India Company. In 1857 the total number of soldiers in India was 34,000 Europeans of all ranks and 257,000 sepoys.

The Causes

There had been a British presence in India for more than 200 years before the rising of 1857 took place. The British had started as merchants and their initial toeholds on the sub-continent had been perilously small. Over the years they had expanded, building larger trading stations and forts to protect them. Eventually, to ensure the stability that an uninterrupted flow of trade required, they had raised forces of their own and become an active power in the politics of 18th century India. Clive, with his victory at Plassey, had ended French pretensions to an Indian empire and firmly established the British as one of the arbiters of India's fate. A generation later, Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) and his galloping guns had crushed the power of the Peshwas and Britain no longer had any serious rivals to its Indian domination. Sometimes by design, sometimes almost by accident the area controlled by the British increased, until by 1857 everything from the borders of Afghanistan in the west to the jungles of Burma in the east, from the Himalayas of Nepal to the beaches of Ceylon were, if not directly under the Company's rule, very definitely in its pocket.

While the British were consolidating their position in India, a sentiment of national awareness along with a feeling of revolt was developing among the Indian people. This was hastened by certain factors. First, was the arrival of missionaries, which caused great unease among the Indian people. Evangelical Christians had little understanding of, or respect for, India's ancient faiths and the attitude of non-interference in religious affairs that was there in the 18th century had disappeared. Secondly, on the political stage, the annexation of the state of Oudh by Lord Dalhousie and the doctrine of lapse, which decreed that the lands of any Indian ruler dying without a male heir would be forfeited to the Company, struck directly at the heart of India's traditional ways of life and were widely condemned and hated throughout the sub-continent. Third, the economic exploitation of the Indian people by the British was slowly becoming evident even to the average Indian.

Against this backdrop of Indian unease, tales of old prophecies began to circulate. There was talk of chappattis being secretly passed from regiment to regiment on the stations of the Grand Trunk Road, which led from Calcutta to Peshawar. People whispered of the old prophecy which stated that 100 years after the battle of Plassey, the rule of 'John Company' would end. The battle of Plassey had been fought in 1757 and in the hundredth year after the battle it seemed everyone was awaiting a spark. When it came, it came in the shape of a new cartridge.

The projectile for the new Enfield rifle was part of a self-contained paper cartridge that contained both ball and powder charge. It required only the end to be bitten off and the cartridge then rammed down the muzzle of the weapon. To facilitate this process the cartridge was heavily greased - with animal fat. The Indian soldiers heard this and soon the news was passed around that the grease was a mixture of cow and pig fat. Biting such a cartridge would hurt the sentiments of the Hindus and the Muslims. The stage was set for a great tragedy to unfold.

The Spark

It began at Barrackpore at the end of March 1857. Mangel Pande, a young sepoy of the 34th Native Infantry, shot at his sergeant-major on the parade ground. When the British adjutant rode over, Pande shot the horse out from under him and as the officer tried to extricate himself Pande severely wounded him with a sword. Drawn by the commotion the commanding officer of the station, General Hearshey, galloped to the scene accompanied by his two sons. The sepoy panicked and instead of shooting at the general, turned his rifle on himself and pulled the trigger. He survived this suicide attempt and was later court-martialled and hanged. As a collective punishment the 34th Native Infantry was disbanded, its shameful fate being publicly proclaimed at every military station in British India. Pande achieved a certain kind of immortality and the 34th Native Infantry were regarded as martyrs.

This event became the signal for a more wide spread movement. Soon, Kanpur, Gwalior, Meerut and Delhi were involved in the uprising. Some of the leading figures in this movement were Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope, and the Rani of Jhansi.

In Meerut, a few weeks later 85 troopers of the 3rd Light Cavalry refused to obey orders to handle the new cartridges. They were arrested, court-martialled and sentenced to 10 years hard labour each. At an appalling ceremony in front of the whole Meerut garrison, they were publicly humiliated: their uniforms were stripped from them, they were shackled with leg and arm irons and led off to imprisonment. The following day was a Sunday and as Britons prepared for church parade, Meerut exploded. Enraged sepoys broke open the town gaol and released their comrades. The cantonment was put to the torch and the sepoys moved down the main road to Delhi and the Palace of Bahadur Shah, the last of the Moghuls. Although initially the mutiny was spontaneous, it quickly became more organized and the sepoys even took over the cities of Delhi and Kanpur.

However, by the winter of 1857 and the first six months of 1858, the British slowly retook everything they had lost; soon there were no large pockets of British lives to be saved and no serious possibility of British defeat. Massively reinforced from Britain, the armies, which spread out over the north of India were vengeful and cruel, with a distinct taste for looting. They saw themselves as dispensors of divine justice and given the frenzy of murder that had accompanied the start of the mutiny felt their cruelties to be simply repayment in kind. There was little room for mercy in the hearts of the British troops. The Times newspaper called for the execution of every mutineer in India and in a debate at the Oxford Union, one speaker roused his audience by declaring,"When every gibbet is red with blood, when the ground in front of every cannon is strewn with rags and flesh and shattered bone, then talk of mercy. Then you may find some to listen."

In the early months of the British recovery, few sepoys were left alive after their positions were overrun. The British soldiers seemed to have made a collective decision not to take prisoners and most actions ended with a frenzied use of the bayonet. On the line of march whole villages were sometimes hanged for some real or imagined sympathy for the mutineers. Looting was endemic and neither the sanctity of holy places nor the rank of Indian aristocrats could prevent the wholesale theft of their possessions. Many a British family saw its fortune made during the pacification of northern India. Later, when prisoners started to be taken and trials held, those convicted of mutiny were lashed to the muzzles of cannon and had a roundshot fired through their body. It was a particularly cruel punishment with a religious dimension in that by blowing the body to pieces the victim lost all hope of entering paradise. Ultimately the mutiny was severely crushed by the British. On September 20, 1857, the British recaptured Delhi, and in the following months, the British recaptured Kanpur and withstood a Sepoy siege of Lucknow. The British victories were accompanied by widespread recrimination, and in many cases, unarmed sepoys were bayonetted, sown up in the carcasses of pigs or cows, or fired from cannons. For more than a year the people of northern India trembled with fear as the British sated their thirst for revenge. It was called 'the Devil's Wind'.

And finally, in one of those ironical twists that the forces of history seem to revel in, the prophecy that had said, "a hundred years after the Battle of Plassey the rule of John Company will end" actually came true. When the British desire for punishment and revenge was spent, they started to think about how future mutinies could be prevented. They realised that it was inappropriate for a land the size of India to be governed by a private company and instead introduced direct rule through the India Office, a British department of state. A hundred years after Plassey the rule of the Honourable East India Company finally did come to an end.

Some of the important names that figured in the revolt were: Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope and Rani of Jhansi.

NANA SAHEB fought in Kanpur for 10 days and nights; he performed prodigies of valour but ultimately failed.

TATYA TOPE (1814-1859) was another great figure of the revolution. After Nana Saheb had been defeated by the British at Kanpur, Tatya Tope tried, but failed, to recapture Kanpur. He took Gwalior fort, encouraged Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi. and called on the Marathas from all over the Deccan to rally against the British. He and his small army used guerilla tactics against superior British forces, avoiding direct combat and evading pursuit. He was eventually captured, tried, and hanged in April 1859.

Rani of Jhansi

The uprising of 1857 was the first serious challenge to British rule in India. It shook the foreign Raj to its foundations. Since the establishment of British ascendancy in India, no prince, big or small, felt himself secure on his gadi. The Governor-general played a decisive part in regulating the relations of the British Raj with the princely and feudal states.

Gangadhar Rao alias Baba Saheb Nawelkar, the Raja of Jhansi died in 1854 without a male issue. According to the treaty signed in 1817, the British had guaranteed succession to the Raja's family. However, on the death of Baba Saheb, the British annexed it by force. The widow of Baba Saheb, Rani Laxmibai protested against this as an injustice to her family and herself. Also three years of British rule in Jhansi had convinced her that no nation could be happy or prosperous under foreign rule, even if the fetters were made of gold. She decided to overthrow it and bided her time.

The mutiny in the north of India was therefore a godsend to her. She flung herself into the movement with all the ardour of a youthful patriot. How could she, a proud woman, so passionately devoted to her motherland remain idle when the British Raj was being shaken in its very foundations?

The 12th Native Infantry was guarding the fort of Jhansi and the administration was in the hands of Captain Alexander Skene. With consummate skill she succeeded in winning the loyalty of the Indian troops; she kept it carefully concealed from the British officers and men who knew nothing about this. On June 1857, the fort was recaptured by the troops and the standard of Swaraj proudly fluttered on the ramparts of the historic fortress. Amidst great rejoicing and thanksgiving the people of Jhansi coronated the Rani; for indeed the Rani was pious, gentle, generous, wise and brave, in short an extraordinary woman.

The Rani however realised that her victory was only temporary and that her security lay in consolidating her gains. She opened a mint, cast canon, raised fresh troops and threw herself into the government with energy and resoluteness of character. She mingled with the people and gained great influence over the hearts of the people.

In March 1858, the British army commanded by Sir Hugh Rose attacked the fort of Jhansi which was garrisoned by 11000 men. The heroism with which men, women and children defended the fort constitutes a landmark in the history of India chivalry. With indefatigable energy, the Rani supervised everything and cheered up the defenders infusing into them her own indomitable courage and determination. The garrison held on doggedly and its hopes rose high when Tantia Tope marched with a large army to its relief. However, the Tantia was defeated and it became evident to the Rani that the fort would fall into the hands of the enemy. Her very life was in danger and though she preferred to dies with her brave comrades, she was pressed by her people to leave the fort and wage the war of independence from outside.

On the night of April 4, 1858, the Rani donning the robes of a trooper, boldly sallied out of the fortress. Accompanied by a select band of soldiers, she rode to Kalpi, where she was joined by the redoubtable Tantia Tope and his supporters. Sir Hugh Rose would have given anything to capture the Rani, but the discovery of her escape was made too late for her successful pursuit. The revolutionaries decided to give battle to the enemy at Kalpi; in this battle the Rani distinguished herself by her great valour, but the odds were against the revolutionaries.

The defeat was a blow to the liberation movement, but the intrepid Rani raised the hopes of the leaders by mooting new plans of adventure. She urged them to capture the renowned fort of Gwalior which was being garrisoned by troops in sympathy with the revolutionaries. Soon the fort of Gwalior fell into the hands of the revolutionaries. Thus Gwalior became at once the rallying point for the revolutionaries in the country to make a last desperate bid to wrest power from the hands of the British.

The fate of India now depended on the outcome of the battle which was fought on the hilly ground between Kotah-ki- Sarai and Gwalior. The Rani of Jhansi decided not to return from the battlefield except as a victor. "I am ready", she declared, "with all my heart and soul to do my duty. As the battle began, the Rani went over the field and made a firm stand against the array of Sir Hugh Rose. She led the troops to repeated and fierce attacks and, though her ranks were pierced through and were gradually becoming thinner and thinner, the Rani was seen in the foremost rank, rallying her scattered troops and performing prodigies of valour. But it was of no avail. The camel corps, pushed up by Sir Hugh Rose in person, broke her last line. Still the dauntless and heroic Rani held her own.

The battle was lost, but Laxmibai was still in the thick of it. Her horse sensing danger to its mistress's life carried her away from the stricken field in spite of her best efforts. It fled like a winged bird, but before it could reach a place of safety, it stumbled while fording a stream. The Rani was overtaken by a Hussar, who ignorant of her sex, cut her down. Thus on June 18, 1858, perished Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, the great heroine of India, whose memory is kept alive in history, song and ballad, so that the generations of her countrymen may draw inspiration as much from her exploits as from her sufferings and sacrifice.

The uprising failed and the British consolidated their rule. But they realised that a sea change had taken place and it would be difficult to keep the people of India under their control for long. The British had won the physical war, but the moral victory was with the revolutionaries. They had sown an idea that was to set the nation on fire.

“The idea creates its martyrs. And in martyrdom there is an incalculable spiritual magnetism which works miracles. A whole nation, a whole world catches the fire which burned in a few hearts; the soil which has drunk the blood of the martyr imbibes with it a sort of divine madness which it breathes into the heart of all its children, until there is but one overmastering idea, one imperishable resolution in the minds of all besides which all other hopes and interests fade into insignificance and until it is fulfilled, there can be no peace or rest for the land or its rulers”.

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