History Of Modern India Part 6

At the root of many of these weaknesses lay the problem of finance. The Government was never willing to spend more than a scanty sum on education. As late as 1886, it devoted only about one crore of rupees to education out of its total net revenue of nearly 47 crores.

We must, however, remember that in spite of all the many weaknesses of the official educational policy, the limited spread of modern education led to the propagation of modern ideas in India and thus helped in its modernisation.

EXERCISES.

1. Discuss the basic features of the administrative organisation of India under the East India Company, with special reference to the underlying aims or the administration, the civil service, the army, the police, and the judicial administration.

2. What were the main characteristics of modern thought which influenced British policies in India? Examine the nature and extent of this influence.

3. Examine critically the evolution of modern education and educational policies in the 19th and 20th centuries, with special reference to the factors that Jed to the introduction of modern education

4. Write short notes on:

(a) Indian Civil Service, (b) The Rule of law, (c) Equality before Law, (d) The policy of partial modernisation, (e) The abolition of the practice of Safi, (f) The role of English as medium of instruction, (g) Education of girls, (h) Technical education.

CHAPTER VII.

Social and Cultural Awakening in the First Half of the 19th Century I.

MPACT of modern Western culture soon gave birth to a new awakening in India. Western conquest exposed the weakness and decay of Indian society. Thoughtful Indians began to look for the defects of their society and for ways and means of removing them. While large number of Indians refused to come to terms with the West and still put their faith in traditional Indian ideas and inst.i.tutions, others gradually came to hold that modern Western thought provided the key to the regeneration of their society. They were impressed in particular by modem science and the doctrines of reason and humanism. Moreover, the new social groups-the capitalist cla.s.s, the working cla.s.s, the modern intelligentsia-demanded modernisation since their own interests demanded it.

The central figure in this awakening was Rammohun Roy, who is rightly regarded as the first great leader of modern India. Rammohun Roy was moved by deep love for his people and country and worked hard all his life for their social, religious, intellectual, and political regeneration. He was pained by the stagnation and corruption of contemporary Indian society which was at that time dominated by caste and convention. Popular religion was full of superst.i.tions and was exploited by ignorant and corrupt priests. The upper cla.s.ses weie seljish and often sactificcd social interest to their own nairow interests. Rammohun Roy possessed great love and respect lor the traditional philosophic systems of the East; but, at the same time, he believed that Western culture alone would help regenerate Indian society. In particular, he wanted Ins countrymen to accept the rational and scientific approach and the principle of human djgnjty and social equality of all men and women. He also wanted the introduction of modern capitalism and mdusity in the country.

Rammohun Roy represented a synthesis of the thought of East and West, He was a learned scholar who knew over a dozen languages including Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, English, French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. As a youngman he had studied Sanskrit literature and Hindu philosophy al Varanasi and (he Koran and Persian and Arabic literature at Fatna. He was also we 11-acquainted with Jainism and other religious movements and sects of India. Later he made an intensive study of Western thought and culture. To study the Bible in the original he learnt Greek and Hebrew. In 1809 he wrote in Persian his famous work Gift to Monotheists in which he put forward weighty arguments against belief in many G.o.ds and for the worsnip of a single G.o.d.

He settled jn Calcutta in 1814 and soon attracted a band of youngmen with whose cooperation he started the Atmiya Sabha. From now on he carried on a persistent struggle against the religious and social evils which were widely prevalent among the Hindus in Bengal. In particular he vigorously opposed wors.h.i.+p of idols, rigidity of caste, and prevalence of meaningless religious rituals. He condemned the priestly cla.s.s for encouraging and inculcating these practices. He held that all the princ.i.p.al ancient texts of the Hindus preached monotheism or wors.h.i.+p of one G.o.d. He published the Bengali translation of the Vedas and of five of the princ.i.p.al Upanishads to prove his point. He also wrote a series of tracts and pamphlets in defence of monotheism.

While citing ancient authority for his philosophical views, Rammohun Roy relied ultimately on the power of human reason which was in his view the final touchstone of the truth of any doctrine, Eastern or Western. He believed thaf the philosophy of Vedanta was based on this principle of reason. In any case, one should not hesitate to depart from holy books, scriptures, and inheiited traditions if human reason so dictates and if such traditions are proving harmful to the society, But Rammohun Roy did not confine his application of the rational approach to Indian religions and traditions, alone. In this he disappointed his many missionary friends who liad hoprf that his rational critique of Hinduism . would lead him to embrace Christianity. Rammohun Roy insisted on applying rationalism to Christianity too, particularly to the elements of blind faith in it.. In 1820, he published his Precepts of Jesus in which he tried to separate the moral and philosophic message of the New Testament, which he praised, from its miracle stories. He wanted the high moral message of Christ to be incorporated iu Hinduism. This earned for him the hostility of the missionaries, Thus, as far as Rammohun was concerned thsrg was to be no blind reliance on1 India.s own past or blind aping of the West. On the other hand, he put forward the idea that new India, guided by reason, should acquire and treasure all that was best in the East and the West. Thus he wanted India to learn from the West; but this learning was to bean intellectual and creative process through which Indian culture and thtiught were to be renovated; it was not to be an imposition of Western culture cn India- He, therefore* stood for the reform of Hinduism and opposed its supcrcession by Christianity. He vigorously defended Hindu religion and philosophy from the ignorant attacks of the missionaries. At the same time, he adopted an extremely friendly att.i.tude towards other religions. He believed that basically all religions preach a common message and that their followers are all brothers under the skin.

All his life Rammohun Roy paid heavily for his daring religious outlook. The orthodox condemned him for criticising idolatry and for his philosophic admiration of Christianity and Islam. They organised a social boycott against him in which even his mother joined. He was branded a heretic and an outcaste.

In 1829 he founded a new religious society, the Brahma Sabha, later known as the Brahmo Samaj, whose purpose was to purify Hinduism and to preach theism or the wors.h.i.+p of one G.o.d, The new society was to be based on the twin pillars of reason and the Vedas and Upanishads. It was also to incorporate the teachings of other religions. The Brahmo Samaj laid emphasis on human dignity, opposed idolatry, and criticised such social evils as the practice of Sati.

Rammohun Roy was a great thinker. He was also a man of action. There was hardly any aspect of nation-building which he left untouched. In fact, just as he began the reform of Hindu religion from within, he also laid the foundations of the reform of Indian society. The best example of his hfe-long crusade against social evils was the historic agitation he organised against the inhuman custom of women becoming Sati. Beginning in 1818 he set out to rouse public opinion on the question. On the one hand he showed by citing the authority of the oldest sacred books that the Hindu religion at its best was opposed to the practice; on the other, he appealed to the reason and humanity and compa.s.sion of the people. He visited the burning ghats at Calcutta to try to pursuade the relatives of widows to give up their plan of self-immolation. He organised groups of like-minded people to keep a strict check on such performances and to prevent any attempt to force the widows to become Sati. When the orthodox Hindus pet.i.tioned to Parliament to withhold its approval of Bentinck.s action of banning the rite of Salt, he organised a counter-pet.i.tion of enlightened Hindus in favour of Bentinck.s action- He was a stout champion of women.s rights. He condemned the subjugation of women and opposed the prevailing idea that women were inferior to men in intellect or in a moral sense* He attacked polygamy and the degraded state to which widows were often reduced. To raise the status of women he demanded that they be given the right of inheritance and property.

Rammohun Roy was one of the earliest propagators of modern education which he looked upon as a major,instrument for the spread of modern ideas in the country. , In 1817, David Hare, who had come out to India in 1800 as a watchmaker but who spent his entire life in the promotion of modern education in the country, founded the famous Hindu College. Rammohun Roy gave most enthusiastic a.s.sistance to Hare in this and his other educational projects. In addition, he maintained at his own cost an English school in Calcutta from 1817 in which, among other subjects, mechanics and the philosophy of Voltaire were taught. In 1825 he established a Vedanta College in which courses both in Indian learning and in Western social and physical sciences were offered.

Rammohun Roy was equally keen on making Bengali the vehicle of intellectual intercourse in Bengal. He compiled a Bengali grammar. Through his translations, pamphlets and journals he helped evolvfc a modem and elegant prose style for that language.

Rammohun represented the first glimmerings of the rise of national consciousness in India. The vision of an independent and resurgent India guided his thoughts and actions. He believed that by trying to weed out corrupt elements from Indian religions and society and by preaching the Vedantic message of wors.h.i.+p of one G.o.d he was laying the foundations for the unity of Indian society which was divided into divergent groups. In particular he opposed the rigidities of the caste system which, he declared, 'has been the source of wajit of unity among us." He believed that the caste system was doubly evil: it created inequality and it divided people and "deprived them of patriotic feeling." Thus, according to him, one of the aims of religious reform was political uplift.

Rammohun Roy was a pioneer of Indian journalism. He brought out journals in Bengali, Persian, Hindi and English to spread scientific, literary, and political knowledge among the people, to educate public opinion on topics of current interest, and to represent popular demands and grievances before the Government.

He was also the initiator of public agitation on political questions in the country. He condemned the oppressive practices of the Bengal zamindars which had reduced the peasants to a miserable condition. He demanded that the maximum rents paid by the actual cultivators of land should be permanently fixed so that they too would enjoy the benefits of the Permanent Settlement of 1793. He also protested against the attempts to impose taxes on tax-free lands. He demanded the abolition of tho Company.s trading rights and the removal of heavy export duties on Indian goods. He also raised the demands for the Indianisation of the superior services, separation of the executive and the judiciary; trial by jury, and judicial equality between Indians and Europeans.

Rammohun was a firm believer in internationalism and in free cooperation between nations. The poet Rabindranath Tagore has rightly remarked: "Rammohun was the only person in his time, in the whole world of man, to realise completely the significance of the Modern Age.

He knew that the ideal of human civilisation does not lie in the isolation of independence, but in the brotherhood of inter-dependence of individuals as well as nations in all spheres of thought and activity." Rammohun Roy took a keen interest in international events and everywhere he supported the cause of liberty, democracy, and nationalism and opposed injustice, oppression, and tyranny in eveiy form, The news of the failure of the Revolution in Naples in 1821 made him so sad that he cancelled all his social engagements. On the other hand, he celebrated the success of the Revolution in Spanish America m 1823 by giving a public dinner. He condemned the miserable condition of Ireland under the oppressive regime of absentee landlordism. He publicly declared that he would emigrate from the British Empire if Parliament failed to pa.s.s the Reform Bill.

Rammohun was fearless as a lion. He did not hesitate to support a just cause.

All his life he fought against social injustice and inequality even at great personal loss and hards.h.i.+p. In his life of service to society he often clashed with his family, with rich zamindars and powerful missionaries, and with high officials and foreign authorities. Yet he never showed fear nor shrank from his chosen course.

Rammohun Roy was the brightest star in the Indian sky during the first half of the 19th century, but he was not a lone star. He had many distinguished a.s.sociates, followers, and successors. In the field of education he was greatly helped by the Dutch watchmaker David Hare and the Scottish missionaiy Alexander Duff. Dwarkanath Tagore was the foremost of his Indian a.s.sociates. His other prominent followers were Prasanna k.u.mar Tagore, Chandrashekhar Deb, and Tarachand Chakra- varti, the first secretary of the Brahma Sabha.

A radical trend arose among the Bengali intellectuals during the late 1820.s and the 1830.s. This trend was more modern than even Rammohun Roy.s and is known as the Young Bengal Movement. Its leader and inspirer was the young Anglo-Indian Henry Vivian Derozio, who was born jn 1809 and who taught at Hindu College from 1826 to 183L Derozio possessed a dazzling intellect and followed Hie most radical views of the time drawing his inspiiatlon from the great French Revolution. He was a brilliant teacher who, in spite of his youth, attached to himself a, host of bright and adoring students. He inspired these students to think rationally and freely, to question all authority, to love liberty, equality and freedom, and to wors.h.i.+p truth. Derozio and his famous followers, known as the Derozians and Young Bengal, were fiery patriots. Derozio was perhaps the first nationalist poet of modern India. For example, he wroie in 1827: My country I in the days of glory past A beauteous halo circled round,thy brow.

and wors.h.i.+pped as a deity thou wast, Where is that glory, where that reverence now?

Thy eagle pinion is chained down at last, And grovelling in the lowly dust art thou, Thy minstrel hath no wreath to weave for thee save the sad story of thy misery I And one of his pupils, Kas.h.i.+ Prasad Ghosh, wrote: Land of the G.o.ds and lofty name; Land of the fair and beauty's spell; Land of the bards of mighty fame, My native land! for e.er farewell! (1830) But woe me! I never shall live to behold, That day of thy triumph, when firmly and bold, Thou shalt mount on the wings of an eagle on high.

To the region of knowledge and blest liberty, (1861).

Derozio was removed from the Hindu College in 1831 because of his radicalism and died of cholera soon afler at the young age of 22. The Derozians attacked old and decadent customs, rites, and traditions. They were pa.s.sionate advocates of women.s rights and demanded education for them. They did not, however, succeed in creating a movement because social conditions were not yet ripe for their ideas to flourish. They did not take up the peasant.s cause and there was no other Gla.s.s or group in Indian society at the time which could support their advanced ideas. Moreover, they forgot to maintain their links with the people. In fact, their radicalism was bookish; they failed to come to grips with the Indian reality. Even so, the Derozians carried forward Rammohun.s tradition of educating the people in social, economic, and political questions through newspapers, pamphlets, and public a.s.sociations. They carried on public agitation on public questions such as the revision of the Company.s Charter, the freedom of the Press, better treatment for Indian labour in British colonies abroad, trial by jury, protection of the ryots from oppressive zamindars, and employment of Indians in the higher grades of government services. Surendranath Banerjea, the famous leader of the nationalist movement, described the Derozians as "the pioneers of the modern civilization of Bengal, the conscript fathers of our race whose virtues will excite veneration and whose failings will be treated with gentlest consideration."

The Brahmo Samaj had in the meanwhile continued to exist but without much life till Debendranath. Tagore, father of Rabindranath Tagore, revitalised it. Debendranath was a product of the best in the traditional Indian learning and the new thought of the West. In 1839 he founded the Tatvabodhini Sabha to propagate Rammohun Roy.s ideas. In time it came to include most of the prominent followers of Rammohun and Derozio and other independent thinkers like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Akshay k.u.mar Dutt. The Tatvabodhini Sabha and its organ the Tatvabodhini Patrika promoted a systematic study of India.s past in the Bengali language. It also helped spread a rational outlook among the intellectuals of Bengal. In 1843 Debendranath Tagore reorganised the Brahmo Samaj and put new life into it. The Samaj actively supported the movement for widow remarriage, abolition of polygamy, women.s education, improvement of the ryot.s condition, and temperance.

The next towering personality to appear on the Indian scene was Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the great scholar and reformer. Vidyasagar dedicated his entire life to the cause of social reform Born in 1820 in a very poor family, he struggled through hards.h.i.+p to educate himself and in the end rose m 1851 to the position of the princ.i.p.als.h.i.+p of the Sanskrit College. Though he was a great Sanskrit scholar, his mind was open to the best in Western thought, and he came to represent a happy blend of Indian and Western culture. His greatness lay above all in his sterling character and s.h.i.+ning intellect. Possessed of immense courage and a fearless mind he practised what he believed. There was no lag between his beliefs and his action, between his thought and his practice. He was simple in dress and habits and direct in his manner. He was a great humanist who possessed immense sympathy for the poor, the unfortunate and the oppressed.

In Bengal, innumerable stories regarding his high character, moral qualities, and deep humanism are related till this day. He resigned from government service for he would not tolerate undue official interference. His generosity to the poor was fabulous. He seldom possessed a warm coat for he invariably gave it to the first naked beggar he met on the street.

Vidyasagar.s contribution to the making of modern India is many- sided. He evolved a new technique of teaching Sanskrit. He wrote a Bengali primer which is used till this day. By his writings he helped in the evolution of a modern prose style in Bengali. He opened the gates of the Sanskrit college to non-Brahmin students for he was opposed to the monopoly of Sanskrit studies that the priestly caste was enjoying at the time. To free Sanskrit studies from the harmful effects of self-imposed isolation, he introduced the study, of Western thought in the Sanskrit College. He also helped found a college which is now named after him.

Above all Vidyasagar is remembered gratefully by his countrymen for hir 'rmt.ribution to the uplift of India.s down-trodden womanhood. Here he proved a worthy successor to Rammohan Roy. He waged a long struggle in favoui of widow remarriage. His humanism was aroused to the full by the sufferings of the Hindu widows. To improve their lot he gavehis all and virtually ruined himself. He raised his powerful voice, backed by the weight of immense traditional learning, in favour of widow remarriage in 1855. Soon a powerful movement in favour of widow remarriages was started which continues till this day. Later in the year 1855, a large number of pet.i.tions from Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Nagpur and other citics of India were presented to the Government asking it to pa.s.s an act legalising the remarriage of widows. This agitation was successful and such a law was enacted. The first lawful Hindu widow remarriage among the upper castes in our country was celebrated in Calcutta on 7 December 1856 under the inspiration and supervision of Vidyasagar. Widows of many other castcs in different parts of the country already enjoyed this right under customary law. An observer has described the ceremony in the following words: 1 shall never forget the day. When Pandit Vidyasagar came with his friend, the bridegroom, at the head of a large procession, the crowd of spectators was so great that there was not an inch of moving s.p.a.ce, and many fell into the big drains which were to be seen by the sides of Calcutta streets in those days. After the ceremony, It became the subject of discussion everywhere; in the Bazars and the shops, in the streets, in the public squares, in students. lodging-houses, in gentle-men's drawing-rooms, in .offices and in distant village homes, where even V'omen earnestly discussed it among themselves. The weavers of Santipore issued a peculiar kind of woman.s sari which contained woven along its borders the first line of a newly composed song which went on to say "May Vidyasagar live long."

For his advocacy of widow remarriage, Vidyasagar had to face the bitter enmity of the orthodox Hindus, At times even his life was threatened. But he fearlessly pursued his chosen course. Through his efforts, which included the grant of monetary help to needy couples, twenty five widow remarriages were performed between 1855 and 1860.

In 1850, Vidyasagar protested against cliiid-marriage. All his life he campaigned against polygamy. He was also deeply interested in the education of women. As a Government Inspector of Schools, he organised thirty five girls. schools, many of which he ran at hia own expense. As Secretary to the Bethune School, he was one of the pioneers of higher education for women.

The Bethune School, founded in Calcutta in 1849, was the first fruit of the powerful movement for women.s education that arose in the 184G.s and 1850.s. While the education of women was not unknown in India, a great deal of prejudice against it existed. Some even believed that educated women would lose their husbands! The first steps in giving a modern education to girls were taken by the missionaries in 1821, but these efforts were marred by the emphasis on Christian religious education. The Bethune School had great difficulty in securing students. The young students were shouted at and abused and sometimes even their parents were subjected to social boycott. Many believed that girls who had received western education would make slaves of their husbands.

The impact of Western ideas was felt much earlier in Bengal than in 'Western India which was brought under effective British control as late as ISIS. In 1849 the Paramahansa Mandali was founded in Maharashtra. Its founders believed in one G.o.d and were primarily interested in breaking caste rules. At its meetings, members took food cooked by low caste people. In 1848, several educated youngmen formed the Students. Literary and Scientific Society, which had two branches, the Gujarati and the Marathi Dnyan Prasarak Mandlis. The Society organised lectures on popular science and social questions. One of the aims of the Society was to start schools for the education of women. In 1851, Jotiba Phule and his wife started a girls. school at Poona and soon many other schools came up. Among active promoters of these schools were Jagan- nath Shankar Seth and Bhau Daji. Phule was also a pioneer of the widow remarriage movement ia Maharashtra. VJshnu Shastri Pundit founded the Widow Remarriage a.s.sociation in the 1850.s. Another prominent worker in this field was Karsondas Mulji who started the Satya Prakash in Gujarati in 1852 to advocate widow remarriage.

An outstanding champion of new learning and social reform in Maharashtra was Gopal Hari Deshmukh, who became famous by the pen. name of Lokahilawadi.. He advocated the reorganization of Indian society on rational principles and modern humanistic and secular values. Jotiba Phule, bom in a low caste Mali family, was also acutely aware of the socially degraded position of non-Brahmins and untouchables in Maharashtra. AH his life he carried on a campaign against upper caste domination and Brahmanical supremacy.

Dadabhai Naoroji was another leading social reformer of Bombay. He was one of the founders of an a.s.sociation to reform the Zoroasttian religion and the Parsi Law a.s.sociation which agitated for the grant of a legal status to women and for uniform laws of inheritance and marriage for the Parsis.

EXERCISES.

1. Bring out the contribution of Raja Rammohun Roy to the social and cultural awakening in the 19th century.

2. In what ways did Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar contribute to the making of modern India?

3. Write short notes on:

(a) Henry Vivian Derozio (b) Young Bengal, (c) Debendranath Tagore; (d) The Bethune School, (e) Religious reform in WratMTi TnHia

CHAPTER VIII.

The Revolt of 1857 A.

MIGHTY popular Revolt broke out in Northern and Central India in 1857 and nearly swept away British rule. It began with a mutiny of the sepoys, or the Indian soldiers of the Company.s army, but soon engulfed wide regions and people. Millions of peasants, artisans, and soldiers fought heroically for over a year and by their courage and sacrifice wrote a glorious chapter in the history of the Indian people.

The Revolt of 1857 was much more than a mere pfoduct of sepoy discontent. It was in reality a product of the acc.u.mulated grievances of the people against the Company.s administration and of their dislike for the foreign regime. For over a century, as the British had been conquering the country bit by bit, popular discontent and hatred against foreign rule had been gaining strength among the different sections of Indian society. It was this discontent that burst forth into a mighty popular revolt.

Perhaps the most important cause of the popular discontent was the economic exploitation of the country by the British and the complete destruction of its traditional economic fabric; both impoverished the vast ma.s.s of peasants, artisans, and handicraftsmen as also a large number of traditional zamindars and chiefs. We have traced the disastrous economic impact of early British rule in another chapter. Other general causes were the British land and land revenue policies and the systems of law and administration. In particular, a large number of peasant proprietors lost their lands to traders and money-lenders and found themselves hopelessly involved in debt. In addition, common people were hard hit by the prevalence of corruption at tbe lo wer levels of administration. The police, petty officials, and lower law-courts were notoriously corrupt, William Edwards, a British official, wrote in 1859 while discussing the causes of the Revolt that the police were "a scourge to the people" and that "their oppressions and exactions form one of the chief grounds of dissatisfaction with our government.. . The petty officials lost no opportunity of enriching themselves at the cost of the ryots and the zamindars.

The complex judicial system enabled the rich to oppress the poor. Thus . .

the growing poverty of the people made them desperate and led them to join a general revolt in the hope of improving their lot.

The middle and upper cla.s.ses of Indian society, particularly in the North, Were hard hit by their exclusion from the well-paid higher posts in the administration. The gradual disappearance of Indian states deprived those Indians, who were employe.d in them in high administrative and judicial posts, of any visible means of livelihood. British supremacy also led to the ruin of persons who made a living by following cultural pursuits. The Indian rulers had been patrons of arts and utera- lure and had supported religious preachers and divines. Displacement of these rulers by the East India Company meant the sudden withdrawal of this patronage and the impoverishment of those who had depended upon it. Religious preachers, pandits and maulavls, who felt that their entire future was threatened, were to play an important role in spreading hatred against the foreign rule.

Another basic cause of the unpopularity of British rule was its very foreign ness. The British remained perpetual foreigners in the country. For one, there was no social link or communication between them and the Indians. Unlike foreign conquerors before them, they did not mix socially even with the uppsr cla.s.ses of Indians; instead, they had a feeling of racial superiority and treated Indians with contempt and arrogance. As Sayyid Ahmad Khan wrote later: "Even natives of the highest lank never came into the presence of officials but with an inward fear and trembling." Most of all, the British, did not come to settle in India and to make it their home. Their main aim was to enrich themselves and then go back to Britain along with their wealth. The people of India were aware of this basically foreign character of the new rulers. They refused to recognise the British as their benefactors and looked with suspicion upon every act of theirs. They had thus a vague sort of anti- British feeling which had found expression even earlier than the Revolt in numerous popular uprisings against the British. Muns.h.i.+ Mohanlal of Delhi, who remained loyal to the British during the Revolt, wrote later that even "those who had grown, rich under British rule showed hidden delight at British reverses." Another loyalist, Muinuddin Hasan Khan, pointed out that the people looked upon the British as "foreign trespa.s.sers."

The period of the growth of discontent among the people coincided with certain events which shattered the general belief in the invincibility of British arms and encouraged the people to believe that the days of the British regime were numbered. The British army suffered major reverses in the First Afghan War (1838-42) and the Punjab Wars (1845-49), and the Crimean War (1854-56). In 1855-56 the Santhal tribesmen of Bihat and Bengal rose up armed with axes and bows and arrows and revealed the potentialities of a popular uprising by temporarily sweeping away British rule from their area. Though the British ultimately won these wars and suppressed the Santhal uprising, the disasters they suffered in major baftles revealed that the British array could be defeated by determined fighting, even by an Asian army. In fret, the Indians made here a serious error of political judgment by underestimating British strength. This error was to cost the rebels of 1857 dear. At the same time the historical significance of this factor should not be missed. People do not revolt simply because they have the desire to overthrow their rulers; they must in addition possess the confidence that they can do so successfully.

The annexation of Avadh by Lord Dalhousie in 1856 was widely resented in India in general and in Avadh in particular. More specifically, it created an atoosphere of rebellion in Avadh and in the Company.s army. Dalhousie.a action angered the Company.s sepoys, most of whom came from Avadh. Lacking an all-India feeling, these sepoys had helped the British conquer the rest of I^dia. But they did possess regional and local patriotism and did not like that their home-Iands should come under the foreigner.s sway. Moreover, the annexation of Avadh adversely affected the sepoy.s purse. He had to pay higher taxes on the land his family held ir Avadh.

The excuse Dalhousie had advanced fqr annexing -Avadh was that he wanted to free the people from the Nawab.s and taluqdars. oppression, but, in practice, the people got no relief. Indeed, the common man had now to pay higher land revenue and additional taxes on articles of food, houses, ferries, opium, and justice. Moreover, as in the rest of India, peasants and old zamindars began to lose their land to new zamindars and money-lenders. The dissolution of the Nawab.s administration and army threw out of jobs thousands of n.o.bles, gentlemen, and officials together with their retainers and officers and soldiers and created unem-ployment in almost every peasant.s home. Similarly, merchants, shopkeepers, and handicraftsmen who had catered to the Avadh Court and n.o.bles lost their livelihood. The British provided no alterative employment to these people. Moreover, the British confiscated the estates of a majority of the taluqdars or zamindars. These dispossessed taluqdars became the most dangerous opponents of British rule.

The annexation of Avadh, along with the other annexations of Dalhousie, created panic among rulers of the native states. They now discovered that their most grovelling loyalty to the British had failed to . satisfy the British greed for territory. What is of even greater importance, , the political prestige of the British suffered a great deal because of tie manner in which they had repeatedly broken their written and oral pledges and treaties with the Indian powers and reduced them to subbrdination while pretending and claiming to be their friends and protectors. This policy of annexation was, for example, directly responsible for making Nana Sahib, the Rani of Jhansi, and Bahadur Shah their staunch enemies. Nana Sahtb was the adopted son of Baji Rao II, the last Peshwa. The British refused to grant Nana Sahib the pension they were paying to Baji Rao II, who died in 1851. Similarly, the British insistence on the annexation of Ihansi incensed the proud Rani Lakshmibai who wanted her adopted son to succeed her deceased husband. The house oF the Mughuls was humbled when Dalhousie announced in 1849 that the successor to Bahadur Shah would have to abandon the historic Red Fort and move to a humbler residence at the Qutab on the outskirts of Delhi. And, in 1856, Canning announced that after Bahadur Shah.s death the Mughuls would lose the t.i.tle of kings and would be known as mere princes.

An important role in turning the people against British rule was played by their fear that it endangered their religion. This fear was largely due to the activities of the Christian missionaries who were "to be seen everywhere-in the schools, in the hospitals, in the prisons and at the market places." These missionaries tried to convert people and made violent and vulgar public attacks on Hinduism and Islam. They openly ridiculed and denounced the long cherished customs and traditions of the people. They were, moreover, provided police protection. Tbe actual conversions made by them appeared to the people as living proofs of the threat to their religion. Popular suspicion that the alien Government supported ihe activities of the missionaries was strengthened by certain acts of the Government and the actions of some of its officials. In 1850, the Government enacted a law which enabled a convert to Christianity to inherit his anccstrai property. Moreover, the Government maintained at its cost chaplains or Christian priests in the army. Many officials, civil as well as military, considered it their religious duty to encourage missionary propaganda and to provide instruction in Christianity in government schools and even in jails. The activities of such officials filled the people with fear, and this fesr seemed to find confirmation when they read in 1857 that R.D. Mangles had told the House of Commons: Providcnce has an trusted the extensive empire of Hindustan to England, in order that tlie banner of Chnst should wae It lumphaut fiom one end of India to the other. Everyone must exert all his strength in ..cntinuuvg in Iho country the grand work of making India Christian.

The conservative religious sentiments of many people were also aroused by some of the humanitarian measures which the Government had under- taken on the advice of Indian reformers! They believed that an alien Christian government had no right to interfere in, or reform, their religion and customs. Abolition of the custom of Sati, legalisation of widows. remarriage, and the opening of Western education to girls appeared to them as examples of such undue interference. Religious sentiments were also hurt by the official policy of taxing lands belonging to temples and mosques and to their priests or the charitable inst.i.tutions which had been exempted from taxation by previous Indian rulers. Moreover, the many Brahmin and Muslim families dependent on these lands were aroused to fury, and they began to propagate that the British were trying to undermine the religions of India.

The Revolt of 1857 started with the mutiny of Company.s sepoys. We have therefore to examine why the sepoys, who had by their devoted service enabled the Company to conquer India, suddenly became rebellious. Here the first fact to be kept in view is that the sepoys were after all a part of Indian society and, therefore, felt and suffered to some extent what other Indians did. The Hopes, desires, and despairs of the other sections of society were reflected in them. If their near and dear ones suffered / from the destructive economic consequences of British rule, they ia (urn felt this suffering. They were also duly affected by the general belief that the British were interfering in their religions and were determined to convert Indians to Christianity. Their own experience predisposed them to such a belief. They knew that the army was. maintaining chaplains at state cost. Moreover, some of the British officers in their religious ardour carried on Christian propaganda among the sepoys. The sepoys also had religious or caste grievances of their own. The Indians of those days were very strict in observing caste rules, etc, The military authorities forbade the sepoys to wear caste and sectarian marks, beards, or turbans. In 1856 an Act was pa.s.sed under which every new recruit undertook to serve even overseas, if required. This hurt the sepoys. sentiments as, according to the current religious beliefs of the Hindus, travel across the sea was forbidden and led to loss of caste.

The sepoys also had numerous other grievances against their employers. They were treated with contempt by their British officers. A contempo- lary English observer noted that "the officers and men have not been friends hut strangers to one another. The sepoy is esteemed an inferior creature. He is sworn at. He is treated roughly. He is spoken of as a n.i.g.g.e.r.. He is addressed as a suar. or pig-The younger men ... treat him as an inferior animal." Even though a sepoy was as good a soldier as his British counterpart, he was paid much les'J and lodged and fed in a far worse manner than the latter. Moreover, he had little prospect of a rise; no Indian could rise higher than a subedar drawing. 60 to 70 rupees a month. In fact, the sepoy's life Was quite hard. Naturally, the sepoy resented this artificial1 and enforced position of inferiority. As the British historian T,R. Holmes has put it: jl Though he might give signs of the military genius of a Hyder, he knew that he could never attain the pay of an English subaltern and that the rank to which he might attain, after some 30 years of faithful service, would not protect him from the Insolent dictation of an ensign freuh from England.

A more immediate cause of the sepoys. dissatisfaction was the recent order that they would not be given the foreign service allowance (bat/a) when serving in Sindh or in the Punjab. This order resulted in a big cut in the salaries of a large .number of them. The annexation of Avadh, the home of many sepoys, further inflamed their feelings.

The dissatisfaction of the sepoys had in fact a long history, A sepoy mutiny had broken out in Bengal as early as 1764. The authorities had suppressed it by blowing away 30 sepoys from the mouths of guns. In 1806 the sepoys at Vellore mutinied but were crushed with terrible violence. In 1824, the 47th Regiment of sepoys at Barrackpore refused to go to Burma by the sea-route. The Regiment was disbanded, its unarmed men were fired upon by artillery, and the leaders of the sepoys were hanged. In 1844, seven battalions revolted on the question of salaries and batta. Similarly, the sepoys in Afghanistan were on the verge of revolt during the Afghan War. Two subedars, a Muslim and a Hindu, were shot dead for giving expression to the discontent in the army. Dissatisfaction was so widespread among the sepoys that Fredrick Halliday, Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal in 1858, was led to remark that the Bengal Army was "more or less mutinous, always on the verge of revolt and certain to have mutinied at one time or another as soon as provocation might combine with opportunity."

Thus widespread and intense dislike and even hatred of the foreign rule prevailed among large numbers of Indian people and soldiers of the Company.s army. This feeling was later summed up by Saiyid Ahmad Khan in his Causes of the Indian Mutiny as follows; At length, the Indians fell into the habit of thinking that all laws were pa.s.sed with a view to degrade and ruin them and to deprive them and their compatriots of their religion... , At last came the time when all men looked upon the English government as slow poison, a rope of sand, a treacherous flame of fire. They began to believe that if today they escaped from the clutches of the government, tomorrow they would fall into them or that even if they escaped the morrow, the third day would see their ruin... The people wished for a change in the Government, and rcjoicedheartlly at the idea of British rule being superceded byano ther, Similarly, a proclamation issued by the rebels in Delhi complained: Firstly, in Hindustan they have exacted as revenue Rupees 300 where only 200 were due, and Rupees 500 where but 400 were demandable, and still they ait solicitous to raise their demands, The people must therefore be-ruined and beggared. Secondly, they have-doubled and quadrupled and raised tenfold the Chowkeodaree Tax and have wished to ruin the people. Thirdly, the occupation of all respectable and learned men is gone, and million* ue dest.i.tute of the necessaries of life. When any one in search of employment determines on proceeding from one Zillaii to another, every soul is charged six pie aa toll on roads, and has to pay from 4 to 8 aonas for each cart. Those only who pay are permitted to travel on the public roads. How far can we detail tbe oppression, of (he Tyrants! Gradually matters arrived Pt such a pitch that the Government had determined to subvert everyone.s religion.

The Revolt of 1857 came as the culmination of popular discontent with British policies and imperialist exploitation. But it was no sudden occurrence; the discontent had been acc.u.mulating for a long time. Many shrewd British officials had taken note of it and issued stem warnings. Surer and clearer indications of the gathering storm were a series of rebellions and revolts against British authority ever since its establishment in India in 1757. Hundreds of such uprisings have been recorded by historians. Perhaps the most famous of these are the Kutch Rebellion, the Kol Uprising of 1831 and the Santhal Uprising of 1855. The Kutch Rebellion, led by its chiefs, lasted in one form or another from 1816 to 1832. The Kol tribesmen of Chota Nagpur rebelled against the British for imposing on them outsiders as money-lenders and landlords. Thousands of Kols perished before British authority could be reimposed. The causes of the Santhal Uprising were primarily economic and it was directed against the money-lenders and their protectors, the British authorities. The Santhals arose in their thousands and proclaimed a government of their own in the area between Bhagalpur and Rajmahal. They were ultimately suppressed in 1856.

The Immediate Cause By 185?, the material for a ma.s.s upheaval was ready, only a spark was needed to set it afire. The pent up discontent of the people needed a focus, an immediate issue, on which it could be concentrated. The episode of the greased cartridges provided this spark for the sepoys and their mutiny provided the general populace the occasion to revolt.

The new Enfield rifle had been &st introduced in the army. Its cartridges had a greased paper cover whose end had to be bitten off before the cartridge was loaded into the rifle. The grease was in some instances composed of beef and pig fat. The sepoys, Hindu as well as Muslim, were enraged. The use of the greased cartridges would endanger their religion. Many of them beheved that the Government was deliberately trying to destroy their religion. The time to rebel had come.

Tbe Beginning of Revolt It is not yet clear whether the Revolt of 1857 was spontaneous and unplanned or the result of a careful and secret organisation. A peculiar aspect of the study of the history of the Revolt of 1857 is that it has to be based almost entirely on British records, The rebels have left behind no records. As they worked illegally, they perhaps kept no records. Moreover, they were defeated and suppressed and their version of events died with them.: Lastly, for years afterwards, the British suppressed any favourable mention of the Revolt, and took strong action against anyone who tried to present their side of the story.

One group of historians and writers has a.s.serted that the Revolt was the result of a widespread and well-organised conspiracy. They point to the circulation of chappattis and red lotuses, propaganda by wandering sanyasis, faqirs and madaris. They say that many of the Indian regiments were carefully linked in a secret organisation which had fixed 31 May 1857 as the day when all of them were to revolt. It is also said that Nana Sahib and Maulavi Ahmad Shah of Faizabad were playing leading roles in this conspiracy. Other writers equally forcefully deny that any careful planning went into the making of the Revolt. They point out that not a sc.r.a.p of paper was discovered before or after the Revolt indicating an organised conspiracy, nor did a single witness come forward to make such a claim. The truth perhaps lies somewhere between these two extreme views. It seems likely that there was an organised conspiracy to revolt but that the organisation had not progressed sufficiently when the Revolt broke out accidentally.

The Revolt began at Meerut, 36 miles from Delhi, on 10 May 1857 and then gathering force rapidly It cut across Northern India like a sword. It soon embraced a vast area from the Punjab in tha North and the Narmada in the South to Bihar in the East and Rajputana in the West.

Even before the outbreak aLMeerut, Manga! Pande had become a martyr at Barrackpore. Mangal Pande, a young soldier, was hanged on 29 MarclHI.857 for revolting single-handed and attacking his superior officers. This and many similar incidents were a sign that discontent and rebellion were brewing among the sepoy. And then came the explosion at Meerut- On 24 April ninety men of the 3rd Native Cavalry refused to accept the greased cartridges. On 9 May eighty five of them were dismissed, sentenced to 10 years. imprisonment and put into fetters. This sparked off a general mutiny among the Indian soldiers stationed at Meerut. The very next day, on 10 May, they released their imprisoned comrades, killed their officers, and unfurled the banner of revolt. As if drawn by a magnet they set off for Delhi after s Onset. When the Meerut soldiers appeared m Delhi the next morning, the local infantry joined them, killed their own European officers, and seized the city. The rebellious soldiers now proclaimed the aged and powerless Bahadur Shah the Emperor of India, Delhi was soon to become the centre of the Great Revolt and Bahadur Shah its great symbol. This spontaneous raising of the last Mughal king to the leaders.h.i.+p of the country was recognition of the fact that the long reign of the Mughal dynasty had made it the traditional symbol of India.s political unity. With this single act, the sepoys had transformed a mutiny of soldiers into a revolutionary war. This is why rebellious sepoys from all over the country automatically turned their steps towards Delhi and all Indian chiefs who took part in the Revolt hastened to proclaim their loyalty to the Mughal Emperor. Bahadur Shah, in turn, under the instigation and perhaps the pressure of the sepoys, soon wrote letters to all the chiefs and rulers of India urging them to organise a confederacy of Indian states to fight and replace the British regime.

The entire Bengal Army soon rose in revolt which spread quickly. Avadh, Rohilkhand, the Doab, the Bundelkhand, Central India, large parts of Bihar, and the East Punjab-all shook off British authority. In many of the princely states, rulers remained loyal to their British oveilord but the soldiers revolted or remained on the brink of revolt. Many of Indore.s troops rebelled and joined the sepoys. Similarly over 20,000 of Gwalior's troops went over to Tantia Tope and the Rani of Jhansi. Many small chiefs of Rajasthan and Maharashtra revolted with the support of the people who were quite hostile to the British. Local rebellions also occurred in Hyderabad and Bengal.

The tremendous sweep and breadth of the Revolt was matched by its depth. Everywhere in Northern and Central India, the mutiny of the sepoys was followed by popular revolts of the civilian population. After the sepoys had destroyed British authority, the common people rose up in arms often fighting with spears and axes, bows and arrows, lathis and scythes, and crude muskets. In many places, however, the people revolted even before the sepoys did or even when no sepoy regiments were present. It is the wide partic.i.p.ation in the Revolt by the peasantry and the artisans which gave it real strength as well as the character of a popular revolt, especially in the areas at present included in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Here the peasants and zamindars gave free expression to their grievances "by attacking the money-lenders and new zamindars who had displaced them from the land. They took advantage of the Revolt to destroy the money-lenders. account books and records of debts. They also attacked the British^established law courts, revenue offices (tehsils) and revenue records, and thanas. It is of some importance to note that in many of the battles commoners far surpa.s.sed the sepoys in numbers. According to one estimate, of the total number of about 150,000 m$n who died fighting (he English in Avadh, over 100,000 were civilians.

It should also be noted that even where people did not rise up in revolt, they showed strong sympathy for the rebels. They rejoiced in the successes of the rebels and organised social boycott of those sepoys who remained loyal to the British. They showed active hostility to British forces, tfefused lo give them help or information, and even misled them with wrong information. W.H. Russel, who toured India in 1858 and 1859 as the correspondent of the London Times, wrote that: In no instance is a friendly glance directed to the white man.s carriage. . ,Oh! that language of the eye! Who can doubt? Who can misinterpret it? It is by it alone that I have learnt our race is not even feared at times by many and that by ali it is disliked.

The popular character of the Revolt of 1857 also became evident when the British tried to crush it. They had to wage a vigorous and ruthless war not only against the rebellious sepoys but also against the people of Delhi, Avadh, North-Western. Provinces and Agra, Central India, and Western Bihar, burning entire villages and ma.s.sacring villagers and urban people. They had to cow. down people with public hangings and executions without trial, thus revealing how deep the revolt was in these parts. The sepoys and the people fought staunchly and valiantly up to the very end. They were defeated but their spirit remained unbroken. As Rey. Duff remarked: "It was not a military revolt but a rebellion or revolution which alone oan account for the little progress. .h.i.therto made in extinguis.h.i.+ng it.. . Similarly, the correspondent of the London Times noted at the time that the British had virtually to reconquer. India.

Much of the strength of the Revolt of 1857 lay in Hindu-Muslim unity. Among the soldiers and the people as well as among the leaders there was complete cooperation as between Hindus and Muslims. All the rebels recognised Bahadur Shah, a Muslim, as their Emperor. Also the first thoughts of tKe Hindu sepoys at Meerut was to march straight to Delhi. The Hindu aud Muslim rebels and sepoys respected each, other.s sentiments. For example, wherever the Revolt was successful, orders were immediately issued banning cow-slaughter out of respect for .Hindu sentiments. Moreover, Hindus and Muslims were equally well represented at all levels of the leaders.h.i.+p. The rple of Hindu-Muslim unity in the Revolt was indirectly acknowledged later by Aitchisin, a senior Britih official, when he bitterly complained: "In this instance we could not. play off the Mohammedans .against the Hindus". In fact the events of 1857 clearly bring out that the people and politics of India were not basically communal in medieval times and before 1858.

The storm-centres of the Revolt of 1857* we re at Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly, Jhansi, and Arrah in Bihar. At Delhi the nominal and symbolio leaders.h.i.+p belonged to the Emperor Bahadur Shah, but the real command lay with a Court of Soldiers headed by General B^kht Khan who had led the revolt of the Bareilly troops and brought them to Delhi. In the British army he had been an ordinary subedar of artillery. Bakht Khan represented the popular and plebian element at the headquarters of the Revolt. After the British occupation of Delhi in September 1857,