Bangladesh University of Professionals

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Objective of the Paper.................................................................................................................................2
British East India Company.........................................................................................................................2
Mangal Pandey............................................................................................................................................3
The Enfield Rifled.......................................................................................................................................4
Religious Facts............................................................................................................................................4
Sepoy Mutiny 1857.....................................................................................................................................5
Major Incidents of Sepoy Mutiny 1857.......................................................................................................6
Meerut and Delhi:....................................................................................................................................6
Cawnpore:...............................................................................................................................................7
Lucknow:.................................................................................................................................................7
Jhansi:......................................................................................................................................................7
Consequence................................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
Reference.....................................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
Sepoy mutiny is also known as Revolt of 1857 or First War of Independence. The event of 1857
is considered as the first outbreak of independence movement against British rule. It is an
inspiration for the people who fought for freedom, from British East India company. Though the
rebellion was unsuccessful uprising, but it was so much widespread around the whole Indian
sub-continent. The violation occurred between sepoys of Indian Bengal army and their higher
authority (Armed ruler British East India Company) in Meerut and the time of the revolt was
1857 to 1858.  The history of the mutiny delves deep into the colonization and conquest of India
and the cultural and religious oppression imposed on Indians by British rule. In addition, telling
the history of the mutiny is, to this day, a continuing battle between two competing narratives,
the history belonging to the British who won the war, and the history claimed by the defeated
Indians. This report is an attempt to present a history of the Sepoy mutiny that is derived from
various point of views, accounting for the context of the histories related, and the points of view
of the historians relating them. Such kind of revolt creates revolution and is of much importance
as historical learning.

Objective of the Paper

Histories are important as it connect people with their origins. The primary objective of the
report is to develop a brief understanding regarding the multiple phases of sepoy mutiny 1857.
There are some specific objectives of this report which are as follows.

 Deeply understanding of the main reason of the event.

 Determining the reason of being an unsuccessful revolt.
 To Understand the impact and the consequence of the revolt.

British East India Company

The British East India Company was a privately owned company which was established to create
profitable trade with countries in the region of Asia called the "East Indies". Granted a Royal
Charter by Queen Elizabeth in 1600, it became one of the most powerful mercantile
organizations in the world by maintaining a monopoly on the importation of exotic goods
(notably indigo dye, cotton, tea, silk and opium) from India into Britain. The East India
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Company was a massive export company that was the force behind much of the colonization of
India. It also maintained a standing military, which was used in many cases to consolidate and
enforce local authority in Indian territories.

British East India Company rule over Indian sub-continent almost 200 years. They came to
Indian sub-continent for the purpose of trading but at the same time their rules and regulation
was so much harsh for the native people. To control the area and people they had armed force.
There was opportunity for the sub-continent people to join the service, but all the high position
conquered by the British. They captured so many empires with their army when any king or ruler
refused to pay their taxes. They forced farmers to cultivate opium, indigo dye though cultivating
this type of crops reduce the fertilization of the land. There was law of crucial punishment If any
people disobey the rules of company or deny to following their lead. So many farmers killed by
them and also lost their land because of that harsh ruler. Actually, they are not only involved in
the trade but also, they had huge involvement in the politics of Indian subcontinent and other
south Asian countries, as when France and Dutch showed interest over the Indian sun-continent.

By 1848, however, the East India Company’s financial difficulties had reached a point where
expanding revenue required the massive expansion of British territories in South Asia. The
Government began to set aside adoption rights of native princes and began the process of
annexation of more than a dozen independent Raj’s between 1848 and 1854. In order to
consolidate and control these new holdings, a well-established army of 200,000 South Asians
officered by 40,000 British soldiers dominated India by 1857. The last vestiges of independent
Indian states had disappeared, and the East India Company exported tons of gold, silk, cotton,
and a host of other precious materials back to England every year.

Mangal Pandey
The sepoy Mangal Panday performed a key part in the event of 1857 riot and he considered as
the leader of sepoy mutiny 1857. Mangal Pandey was born on 19 July 1827 in a Brahmin family
at Nagwa, a village of upper Ballia district, Ceded and Conquered Provinces (now in Uttar
Pradesh). He had joined the Bengal Army in 1849. In March 1857, Pandey was a private soldier
in the 5th Company of the 34th Bengal Native Infantry. He was very loyal and obedient soldier
of 34 Bengal Native Infantry. At the time of conflict between Britain and Afghanistan empire, he
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saved the life of a British officer named Captain William Gordon and got the reward for bravery.
At the time of mutiny, he was 29 years old. He was hanging by the British ruler on 8 April 1857.

The Enfield Rifled

In the early of 1857, the British East India Company introduced a new weapon for its troops, the
Enfield rifled musket. William Pritchett developed the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled and aim of the
weapon was much better than others weapon of British East India company for that time. This
weapon was the root of the sepoy mutiny in 1857.

The system of loading the rifle requires the soldier to bite down on the cartridge and put the
cartridge into the gun. Hearsay spread among the sepoys that the paper cartridges holding the
powder and ball for the rifle are greased with either pig fat or beef tallow and the soldiers
believed that if they bite down the cartridge, this would cause them to consume pork or beef, but
consuming both was against of religion for Muslim and Hindu sepoys. So, there was disturbance
about using the rifled among the Indian soldiers.

Religious Facts
The origins of the mutiny have been the religious components and beliefs of the soldiers, related
to the newly issued Enfield Rifled. Loading worried biting the cease of the cartridge, which was
greased in pig fat and red meat tallow. This presented a problem for native soldiers, as pig fat is a
haraam or forbidden, substance to Muslims, and beef fat is, likewise, deemed inauspicious for
positive Hindus. Thus, the rebel took place as a response to this intrusion into Hindu and Muslim
culture, and then caught on as a national rebellion. Palmer dramatically relates this discovery, in
accordance with Captain Wright, commanding of the Rifle Instruction Depot:

Somewhere about the end of the third week in January 1857, a khalasi, that is to say a
labourer, accosted a high Brahmin sepoy and asked for a drink of water from his lotah
(water-pot). The Brahmin refused on the score of caste. The khalasi then said, “You will
soon lose your caste, as ere long you will have to bite cartridges covered with the fat of
pigs and cows,” or, it is added, “words to that effect.” (Palmer 15)

Furthermore, historians taking comparable positions argue that British legislation that interfered
with typical Hindu or Muslim non secular practices have been a source of antagonism. In other
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words, the developing intrusion of western lifestyle became an impetus for rebellious soldiers,
frightened that their culture was once being annihilated. The actions of troopers at Meerut had
been the “last straw” for South Asians who had been victims of British cultural and class-based
oppression and antagonism, and discard the thinking that religion performed an overwhelmingly
quintessential role in fomenting revolt. For them, the root causes of the insurgency cannot be
traced to a single, well-defined set of occasions and causes, however as an alternative stemmed
from an ongoing set of conflicts.

Sepoy Mutiny 1857

The Sepoy Mutiny erupted from a controversy surrounding the new Enfield rifles issued to
Indian soldiers in January 1857 at Meerut. To load the rifle, the end of the cartridge containing
the powder had to be bitten off so that the charge would ignite. To allow for easier passage in
India's warm climate, the paper of which the cartridge was composed was heavily greased with
tallow, rather than wax or vegetable oil. Rumors spread among soldiers that the grease used was
derived from pig and cow fat, and therefore offensive to the religious tenets of Muslims and
Hindus, respectively.

On March 29, 1857, on the parade ground at Barrackpore, a sepoy named Mangal Pandey fired
the first shot of the uprising. His unit in the Bengal Army, which had refused to use the new rifle
cartridges, was about to be disarmed and punished. Pandey rebelled with the aid of shooting a
British sergeant-major and a lieutenant, when his adjutant Lt. Baugh came out to investigate the
unrest, Pandey opened fire, hitting his horse. General John Hearsey ordered a Jemadar Ishwari
Prasad to arrest Mangal Pandey, however the Jemadar refused. The total regiment, with the
single exception of a soldier called Shaikh Paltu, drew back from restraining or arresting Mangal
Pandey. Shaikh Paltu restrained Pandey from persevering with his attack. Mangal Pandey, after
failing to incite his comrades into an open and active rebellion, tried to take his own life by
placing his musket to his chest, and pulling the trigger with his toe. He only managed to wound
himself, receiving a court-martial on April 6. British authorities hung him on 8 April 1857,
instead of 18 April 1857.

Fires broke out in Agra, Allahabad, and Ambala in April after that it spread over the whole
Indian subcontinent. At Ambala General Anson, Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army,
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judged that a riot over the cartridges loomed. He allowed the soldiers to tear the cartridges with
their fingers rather than their teeth. Rather than remain at Ambala, Anson then departed for
Shimla, the cool "hill station" where many high officials spent the summer. Later in April, arsons
set on fire barracks and European officers' bungalows.

It created serious tension throughout Bangladesh too. The resistance in Chittagong and Dhaka
and skirmishes at Sylhet, Jessore, Rangpur, Pabna and Dinajpur had left Bangladesh in a state of
alert and excitement. The Native Infantry of Chittagong rise in open rebellion and released all
prisoners from the jail. They seized arms and ammunition, ransacked the treasury, set the
Magazine House on fire, and proceeded towards Tippera. The offensive of the sepoys of
Chittagong had an important bearing upon the company's defensive posture at Dhaka. Being
apprehensive of a further uprising of the sepoys, the authorities sent three companies of the 54th
Regiment and one hundred seamen to Dhaka. Simultaneously a Naval Brigade was sent to
Jessore, Rangpur, Dinajpur and some other districts of Bangladesh to disarm the sepoys stationed
there.

On Sunday, 10 May, during church services, the mutineers struck out in Meerut and killed about
fifty European men, women, and children. Shocked European officers and troops, outnumbered
by their South Asian counterparts, quickly found themselves powerless to stop the movement.
Sufficient warning could not be sent to Delhi or Agra, as the newly laid telegraph lines from
Meerut had been cut.

The Sepoy Mutiny's immediate set off was once the cartridge crisis, however it additionally grew
out of a massive context of quietly mounting fears and grievances directed in opposition to the
political, economic, social, and religious policies and practices of British rule.

Major Incidents of Sepoy Mutiny 1857

Meerut and Delhi: In a large military camp (called a cantonment) at Meerut, near Delhi, a few
numbers of sepoys refused to use the new rifle cartridges in early May 1857. The British stripped
them of their uniforms and put them in chains.

Other sepoys revolted on May 10, 1857, and things quickly became chaotic as mobs attacked
British civilians, including women and children. Mutineers traveled the 40 miles to Delhi and
soon the large city erupted in a violent revolt against the British. Several British civilians in the
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city were able to flee, but many were slaughtered. And Delhi remained in rebel hands for
months.

Cawnpore: A particularly horrific incident known as the Cawnpore Massacre occurred when
British officers and civilians, leaving the city of Cawnpore (present day Kanpur) under a flag of
surrender was attacked.

The British men were killed, and about 210 British women and children were taken prisoner. A
local leader, Nana Sahib, ordered their death. When sepoys, abiding by their military training,
refused to kill the prisoners, butchers were recruited from local bazaars to do the killing. The
women, children, and infants were murdered, and their bodies were thrown into a well. When the
British eventually took back Cawnpore and discovered the site of the massacre, it inflamed the
troops and led to vicious acts of retribution.

Lucknow: At the town of Lucknow about 1,200 British officers and civilians fortified
themselves against 20,000 mutineers in the summer of 1857. By late September British forces
commanded by Sir Henry Havelock succeeded in breaking through.

However, Havelock's forces did not have the strength to evacuate the British at Lucknow and
were forced to join the besieged garrison. Another British column, led by Sir Colin Campbell,
eventually fought through to Lucknow and were able to evacuate the women and children, and
ultimately the entire garrison.

Jhansi: When war broke out, Jhansi quickly became a center of the rebellion. A small group of
British officials and their families took refuge in Jhansi's fort, and the Rani Lakshmi Bai
negotiated their evacuation. When they left the fort, the rebels broke faith massacring them. By
the end of June 1857, the British had lost control of much of Bundelkhand and eastern Rajasthan.
The Bengal Army units in the area, having rebelled, marched to take part in the battles for Delhi
and Cawnpore. The many Princely States making up this area began warring amongst
themselves. In September and October 1857, the ruler, Rani, led the successful defense of Jhansi
against the invading armies of the neighboring rajas of Datia and Orchha. In March 1858, the
Central India Field Force, led by Sir Hugh Rose, advanced on, and laid siege to Jhansi. The
British captured the city, Rani fleeing in disguise. After being driven from Jhansi and Kalpi, on
June 1, 1858 Rani Lakshmi Bai and a group of Maratha rebels captured the fortress city of
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Gwalior from the Scindia rulers, British allies. That might have reinvigorated the rebellion, but
the Central India Field Force very quickly advanced against the city. The Rani Lakshmi Bai died
on June 17 during the fighting. The British recaptured Gwalior within the next three days.

Consequence
The immediate result of the mutiny was a general housecleaning of the Indian administration.
The East India Company was abolished in favor of the direct rule of India by the British
government. The financial crisis caused by the mutiny led to a reorganization of the Indian
administration’s finances on a modern basis. The Indian army was also extensively reorganized.
Another significant result of the mutiny was the beginning of the policy of consultation with
Indians.

The Mutiny was countered with brutal vengeance. British forces and rebel militias had fought for
nearly two years over several thousand square miles. Villages were captured and torched, while
rebels were tied to cannons and blown to bits to teach Indians a lesson in power. Delhi fell to the
British in September 1857; Lucknow in March 1858.

The 1857 rebellion exposed the fundamental inadequacies of the information colonial authorities,
evangelicals, and reformers had thus far relied upon. Enthusiastic modernizers now began to
address with renewed urgency the demands for relevant and reliable local information.
Traditional India and caste took on greater importance for colonialists as a way of understanding
their Indian. This renewed need for practical knowledge was abetted by the rapid expansion of
the communications network, the establishment of educational institutions, printing presses, and
libraries by an English-educated elite. Yet these changes also promoted the development of
indigenous forms of information that would help give rise to India's political independence
movement.

Conclusion
Though the Sepoy mutiny has been dismissed as a chaotic, disorganized peasant uprising, the
“unorganized peasants” of India fought one of the most powerful empires in the world and
defeated then with limited resources and training. Nevertheless, the lesson of the Sepoy mutiny is
not one of victory or justice, but failure. Though the exact cause of the Sepoy mutiny has yet to
be agreed upon, and it is likely that there were many complex causes rather than one, it is clear
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that British interference government and the oppression of the Indian people, religious and
economic, created a bloody revolution.

Reference
George Bruce Malleson (2019). Indian Mutiny Of 1857. S.L.: Blurb.

Omissi, D. (2004). BookReview: The Indian Mutiny: 1857. War in History, 11(4), pp.450–452.

Tracy, L. (2015). RED YEAR: a story of the Indian mutiny (classic reprint).

Wagner, K.A. (2011). The Marginal Mutiny: The New Historiography of the Indian Uprising of
1857. History Compass, 9(10), pp.760–766.

Gautam Chakravarty (2004). The Indian Mutiny and the British imagination. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

David, S. (2003). Indian mutiny - 1857. Penguin Books Ltd.

Stokes, E. and Christopher Alan Bayley (1986). The peasant armed: the Indian revolt of 1857.
Oxford: Clarendon.

www.encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). Indian Mutiny | Encyclopedia.com. [online] Available at:

https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/asia-and-africa/south-asian-history/indian-mutiny?
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