Question

Do you agree with the view that the Revolt of 1857 was only a mutiny by the sepoys? Give reasons for your answers.

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Answer 1

The Indian sepoys were victims of discrimination. They were paid low wages and faced constant verbal and physical abuses from their bosses. The annexation of Oudh in 1856 created discontent in the Bengal army. The Indian sepoys were chaffed of the new customs which forbade them putting caste marks on their foreheads, keeping beards and wearing turbans.

Answer 2

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No, I do not agree with the given statement. The revolt of 1857 was the first war of Independence, and it is often termed as just a sepoy mutiny by the Marxists and the British historians. The war of 1857 was much more than just a sepoy mutiny or a peasant revolt.

It is important to revisit what happened during those days. The origin of these fault lines created by the British government, lies in the fact that a concerted attempt was made to curb the cultural nationalism, which formed the core of the first war of Independence.

The colonial school of historians deliberately undermined the significance of this uprising as a national event. It ignored the real factors which led to this nationwide uprising. The historians from the colonial school termed it as a mutiny of the Bharatiya troops in British army while those following Marxist school of history termed it as an outcome of distress among peasants.

However, if we look at the facts, it emerges that it was a national uprising and the prime factor that led to this war was the way East India Company and the British Officials were attacking the cultural ethos of this nation and especially the Hindus.

Noted historian RC Majumdar in his monumental work, 'The sepoy mutiny and the Revolt of 1857', wrote that " there were some special reasons for the bitterness in relation between two communities. Englishmen in general regarded the Indians as barbarians, and the Christian missionaries held in open contempt the idolatrous practices of Hindus."

Majumdar also highlights the role played by Christian missionaries as they went all out for conversions in a planned manner that resulted in strong reaction from the society in time.

It is clear that the first war of Independence was much more than a sepoy mutiny or a peasant revolt, it was an assertion of the sociocultural identity which Bharatiya society had preserved for more than 5000 years and which was under attack from the British.

Source : Article Hindustan Times