discuss the revolt of 1857 and it's impact on Assam
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The Revolt of 1857 is considered as one of the most important chapters in the history of India and her people. The revolt shook the very foundations of British rule. It began with a mutiny of the Indian Sepoys of the Company’s army but soon involved civilians, the peasantry, artisans as well as all sections of the Indian people. With a series of local risings and civil disturbances in different parts of India, the mutiny of troops was not a rare occurrence in the history of British rule in India. The novelty of the ‘Mutiny’ of 1857 lay in the wide extent of the area which it covered and in its military potentiality. There was widespread discontent in the country and practically every class had grievances against the British rulers; but it is unlikely that any dissident group would have actually risen in revolt without a lead from the Company’s Sepoys. The Sepoys had substantial grievances regarding their conditions of service, but it was the threat to their religion which actually provoked them into mutiny. The dread of conversion to Christianity worked as a nightmare upon their minds. At the initial stage at any rate, the sepoys were not intimidated by any patriotic feeling or nationalist sentiment. They were moved by a ‘blind fury’ against the Firingi who threatened their caste and religious faith. The upsurge of the sepoys was so deep and strong that it attracted the nearly the entire population to join them. Ultimately the sepoy mutiny turned into a ‘national revolt’. The hatred of the people towards the Firingi was so bitter and spontaneous that historian W. H. Russell wrote “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 all is disliked.