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q The land revenue was unbearably high, so
revolt much earlier. Hence, the revolt could not
peasants and landlords were very dissatisfied. achieve the desired result.
q The British prospered at the cost of Indians The immediate cause of the revolt was minor in
while the Indians famished in starvation and nature. In 1856, a new type of rifle, Enfield , was
poverty.
introduced. Its cartridges were covered with a
q Growing poverty of the Indians resulted in greased paper. This paper had to be bitten off by
famines, which claimed a lot of lives. mouth before loading it into the rifle. It was
believed that this paper was
q Only the British could occupy high seats in greased with the fats of cow
different government departments, and the
and pig. It offended the
Indians were not allowed to be promoted religious sentiments of the
above the middle posts. For example, in sepoys, both Hindus and
judicial services, an Indian was not allowed to
Muslims. So, the sepoys
rise above the post of a munsif, or above the resented to use this rifle,
rank of an inspector in police. Similar was the
but the British pressurised
case in all other departments. Enfield rifle in 1856
them to use it.
Military Causes
This piece of news spread among the Indian
The above causes affected the Indian sepoys sepoys like a wildfire. It was believed that this was
directly or indirectly as they belonged to the very being done to destroy their religions.
society on which British exploitation was aimed
at. OCCURRENCE OF THE REVOLT, 1857
q The Indian sepoys formed a large part of the The first spark to the revolt was provided by a
British army, but they were discriminated young soldier, named Mangal Pandey . He was
against. They were given less salary as posted in the 34th Infantry, stationed at
compared to the British soldiers. Also, they Barrackpore (now in district 24 Parganas, West
could not become officers. At the most, they Bengal). On 29 March, 1857, he refused to use
could be promoted to the rank of a subedar. the cartridges. When he was forced to do so, he
q The Indian sepoys were not allowed to wear attacked a British officer and killed him. For this,
their religious marks. he was hanged to death. This news travelled
among the sepoys all over India and added
q The sepoys were made to serve overseas. The
stimulus to the dissatisfaction already present
Hindus, in fact, feared that they would lose among them.
their caste if they travelled overseas. Also, the
British had discontinued the foreign service A bigger spark was provided by some soldiers
allowance, called batta. stationed at Meerut (now in Uttar Pradesh). On 24
April, 1857, 90 soldiers, both Hindus and
q The British officers treated the Indians badly. Muslims, refused to use the cartridges. They were
The Indian sepoys were often punished in full
arrested and sentenced for a term of ten years
public view for even minor faults, while the rigorous imprisonment.
British soldiers were allowed to go scot-free for
the same offence. On 9 May, 1857, these soldiers were being
punished at the time of morning parade before
Immediate Cause
other sepoys, in order to teach them a lesson. The
Due to the brewing discontentment against the Indian sepoys felt offended at this. Their
British, it was planned that the Indians would sentiments became uncontrollable at this.
break out in a revolt on 31 May, 1857. However, On 10 May, 1857, the fellow Indian sepoys rose
this was not to be so, because the sepoys rose in
in revolt. They started to kill the British officers
Revolt of 1857-58
43
