| The
Revolutionary Upheaval of 1857
Although dismissed by some as merely a sepoy's mutiny
or revolt, or as a protest against the violation of religious
rights by the British, the great uprising of 1857 is slowly
gaining recognition as India's first war of independance.
And in it's broad sweep it was the greatest armed challenge
to colonial rule during the entire course of the nineteenth
century. Attracting people from all walks of life - both
Hindus and Muslims, it triggered demands for radical social
and economic reforms, calling for a new society that would
be more democratic and more representative of popular
demands.
Early
Precedents
Neither
was it a bolt out of the blue. Although not very well
known, the period between 1763 and 1856 was not a period
during which Indians accepted alien rule passively.
Numerous uprisings by peasants, tribal communities and
princely states confronted the British. Some were sustained
- others sporadic - a few were isolated acts of revolutionary
resistance - but nevertheless they all challenged colonial
rule. Precipitated by the policy of unchecked colonial
extraction of agricultural and forest wealth from the
region - the period saw tremendous growth in rural poverty,
the masses being reduced to a state of utter deprivation.
Even
as official taxation was back-breaking enough, British
officers routinely used their powers to coerce additional
money, produce, and free services from the Indian peasants
and artisans. And courts routinely dismissed their pleas
for justice. In the first report of the Torture Commission
at Madras presented to the British House of Commons
in 1856, this was acknowledged along with the admission
that officers of the East India Company did not abstain
from torture, nor did they discourage its use. That
this was a practice not confined to the Madras presidency
alone is confirmed by a letter from Lord Dalhousie to
the Court of Directors of the East India Company in
September , 1855 where he admits that the practice of
torture was in use in every British province. Click
for more details
Desperate
communities had often no choice but to resist to the
bitter end. Armed revolts broke out practically every
year - only to be brutally suppressed by the British.
Lacking the fire power of the British arsenal - they
were invariably outgunned. And lacking the means of
communication available to the British - individual
revolts were also unable to trigger sympathetic rebellions
elsewhere. Disadvantageous timing led to crushing defeats.
Yet, some of these struggles raged for many years. Click
for more details
Amongst
the most significant were the Kol Uprising of 1831,
the Santhal Uprising of 1855, and the Kutch Rebellion
which lasted from 1816 until 1832. There was also a
precedence for a soldiers mutiny when Indian soldiers
in Vellore (Tamil Nadu, Southern India) mutinied in
1806. Although unsuccessful, it led to the growth of
unofficial political committees of soldiers who had
several grievances against their British overlords.
Seething
Grievances
For
instance, in the Bengal Army, the 140,000 Indians who
were employed as "Sepoys" were completely
subordinate to the roughly 26,000 British officers.
These sepoys bore the brunt of the First Britsh-Afghan
War (1838-42), the two closely contested Punjab Wars
(1845-6, and 1848-9) and the Second Anglo-Burmese War.
They were shipped across the seas to fight in the Opium
Wars against China (1840-42) and (1856-60) and the Crimean
War against Russia (1854). Although at constant risk
of death, the Indian sepoy faced very limited opportunities
for advancement - since all positions of authority were
monopolized by the Europeans.
Many
of the sepoys in the Bengal Army came from the Hindi
speaking plains of UP where (excluding Oudh) the British
had enforced the "Mahalwari" system of taxation
which involved constantly increasing revenue demands.
In the first half of the 19th century - tax revenues
payable to the British increased 70%. This led to mounting
agricultural debts with land being mortgaged to traders
and moneylenders at a very rapid rate. This inhumane
system of taxation was then extended to Oudh where the
entire nobility was summarily deposed.
As
a result, the dissatisfaction against the British was
not confined to the agricultural communities alone.
By bankrupting the nobility and the urban middle class
- demand for many local goods was almost eliminated.
At the same time local producers were confronted with
unfair competition from British imports. The consequences
of this were summarized by the rebel prince Feroz Shah,
in his August 1857 proclamation: "the Europeans
by the introduction of English articles into India have
thrown the weavers, the cotton dressers, the carpenters,
the blacksmiths and the shoe-makers and others out of
employ and have engrossed their occupations, so that
every description of native artisan has been reduced
to beggary."
Contrast
this turn of events with the arrival of Mughal rule
in India. Babar, in spite of his distaste for the Indian
climate and customs, noted the tremendous diversity
and skill of Indian craftspeople, and saw in that a
great potential for expanding Indian manufacturing.
Quite unlike the British, the Mughals built on the manufacturing
strengths of the Indian artisan - (already well establish
in the earlier Sultanate period) - and took them to
dazzling heights in the later periods. But by the mid-19th
century, this pre-industrial virtuosity in manufacturing
had been virtually choked of by British policies. A
British chronicler of the period, Thomas Lowe noted
how " the native arts and manufactures as used
to raise for India a name and wonder all over the western
world are nearly extinguished in the present day; once
renowned and great cities are merely heaps of ruins..."
All
this inevitably prepared the ground for the far more
widespread revolt of 1857. Although concentrated in
what is now UP in modern India - the 1857 revolt spread
from Dacca and Chittagong (now Bangladesh) in the East
to Delhi in the West. Major urban centres in Bengal,
Orissa, and Bihar including Cuttack, Sambhalpur, Patna
and Ranchi participated. In Central India - the revolt
spread to Indore, Jabalpur, Jhansi and Gwalior. Uprisings
also took place in Nasirabad in Rajasthan, Aurangabad
and Kolhapur in Maharashtra and in Peshawar on the Afghan
border. But the main battleground was in the plains
of UP - with every major town providing valiant resistance
to the British invaders.
Starting
out as a revolt of the Sepoys - it was soon accompanied
by a rebellion of the civil population, particularly
in the North Western Provinces and Oudh. The masses
gave vent to their opposition to British rule by attacking
government buildings and prisons. They raided the "treasury",
charged on barracks and court houses, and threw open
the prison gates. The civil rebellion had a broad social
base, embracing all sections of society - the territorial
magnates, peasants, artisans, religious mendicants and
priests, civil servants, shopkeepers and boatmen.
For
several months after the uprising began in Meerut on
May 10, 1857 - British rule ceased to exist in the northern
plains of India. Muslim and Hindu rulers alike joined
the rebelling soldiers and militant peasants, and other
nationalist fighters. Among the most prominent leaders
of the uprising were Nana Sahib, Tantia Tope, Bakht
Khan, Azimullah Khan, Rani Laksmi Bai, Begum Hazrat
Mahal, Kunwar Singh, Maulvi Ahmadullah, Bahadur Khan
and Rao Tula Ram. Former rulers had their own grievances
against the British, including the notorious law on
succession which gave the British the right to annexe
any princely state if it lacked "legitimate male
heirs".
Expressions
of Popular Will
The
rebels established a Court of Administration consisting
of ten members - six from the army and four civilians
with equal representation of Hindus and Muslims. The
rebel government abolished taxes on articles of common
consumption, and penalized hoarding. Amongst the provisions
of it's charter was the liquidation of the hated 'Zamindari'
system imposed by the British and a call for land to
the tiller.
Although
the former princes who joined with the rebels did not
go quite as far, several aspects of the proclamations
issued by the former rulers are noteworthy. All proclamations
were issued in popular languages. Hindi and Urdu texts
were provided simultaneously. Proclamations were issued
jointly in the name of both Hindus and Muslims. Feroz
Shah - in his August 1857 proclamation included some
significant points. All trade was to be reserved for
Indian merchants only, with free use of Government steam
vessels and steam carriages. All public offices were
to be given to Indians only and wages of the sepoys
were to be revised upwards.
Overpowered
by British Might, Betrayed by the Princes
Threatened
by such a radical turn of events, the British rulers
poured in immense resources in arms and men to suppress
the struggle. Although the rebels fought back heroically
- the betrayal by a number of rulers such as the Sikh
princes, the Rajasthani princes and Maratha rulers like
Scindia allowed the British to prevail. Lord Canning
(then Governor General) noted that " If Scindia
joins the rebels, I will pack off tomorrow". Later
he was to comment: " The Princes acted as the breakwaters
to the storm which otherwise would have swept us in
one great wave". Such was the crucial importance
of the betrayal of the princes. The British were also
helped by the conservatism of the trading communities
who were unwilling to put up with the uncertanties of
a long drawn out rebellion.
But
equally important was the superior weaponry and brutality
of the British in defending their empire. British barbarity
in supressing the uprising was unprecedented. After
the fall of Lucknow on May 8, 1858 Frederick Engels
commented: " The fact is, there is no army in Europe
or America with so much brutality as the British. Plundering,
violence, massacre - things that everywhere else are
strictly and completely banished - are a time honoured
privilege, a vested right of the British soldier ..".
In Awadh alone 150,000 people were killed - of which
100,000 were civilians. The great Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib
wrote from Delhi, " In front of me, I see today
rivers of blood". He went on to describe how the
victorious army went on a killing spree - killing every
one in sight - looting peoples property as they advanced.
Bahadur
Shah's three sons were publicly executed at "Khooni
Darwaaza" in Delhi and Bahadur Shah himself was
blinded and exiled to Rangoon where he died in 1862.
Refusing to plead for mercy from the British, he courageously
retorted: " The power of India will one day shake
London if the glory of self-respect remains undimmed
in the hearts of the rebels". Thomas Lowe wrote:
"To live in India now was like standing on the
verge of a volcanic crater, the sides of which were
fast crumbling away from our feet, while the boiling
lava was ready to erupt and consume us"
The
1857 revolt which had forged an unshakable unity amongst
Hindus and Muslims alike, was an important milestone
in our freedom struggle - providing hope and inspiration
for future generations of freedom lovers. However, the
aftermath of the 1857 revolt also brought about dramatic
changes in colonial rule. After the defeat of the 1857
national revolt - the British embarked on a furious
policy of "Divide and Rule", fomenting religious
hatred as never before. Resorting to rumors and falsehoods,
they deliberately recast Indian history in highly communal
colors and practised pernicious communal politics to
divide the Indian masses. That legacy continues to plague
the sub-continent today. However, if more people become
aware of the colonial roots of this divisive communal
gulf - it is possible that some of the damage done to
Hindu-Muslim unity could be reversed. If Hindus and
Muslims could rejoin and collaborate in the spirit of
1857, the sub-continent may yet be able to unshackle
itself from it's colonial past.
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