Explain the causes of the revolt of 1857 in 250 words
Answers
The sepoys, a generic term used for native Indian soldiers of the Bengal Army derived from the Persian word sepāhī (سپاهی) meaning "infantry soldier", had their own list of grievances against the British East Indian Company (BEIC) administration, caused mainly by the ethnic gulf between the European officers and their Indian troops. The spark that led to a mutiny in several sepoy companies was the issue of new gunpowder cartridges for the Enfield rifle in February, 1857. A rumour was spread that the cartridges were made from cow and pig fat. Loading the Enfield required tearing open the greased cartridge with one's teeth. This would have insulted both Hindu and Muslim religious practices; cows were considered holy by Hindus while pigs were considered unclean by Muslims.[1] Underlying grievances over British taxation and recent land annexations by the BEIC were ignited by the sepoy mutineers and within weeks dozens of units of the Indian army joined peasant armies in widespread rebellion. The old aristocracy, both Muslim and Hindu, who were seeing their power steadily eroded by the East India Company, also rebelled against British rule.
The most important reason for the revolt of 1857 was the initiation of the new gunpowder. The British government in February 1857 supplied the sepoys (Indian warriors of Bengal infantry) with new explo-sive cartridges for the Enfield rifle. At the time when the Indian soldiers were provided with the rifles, a rumour spread around that the cartridges were manufactured from cow and pig fat. Therefore in order to load the Enfield required one to open the greased cartridge with the mouth. Which violated the ritu-als of both Hindus and the Muslim; therefore, the sepoys began the revolt in the year 1857 under the leadership of Mangal Pandey.
The second most important cause of this revolt was the British strategy of Annexation. The British government under the rule of its various Governors introduced many policies such as the
"Doctrine of Lapse" and the "policy of Annexation" through which they merged many of the kingdoms of Indian under the colonial territory. For this many of the leaders such as Rani Lakshmi Bai and Begum Hazrat Mahal fought to save their territories from the occupation of the British.
The revolt got the support of common people as the Colonial government made attempts to change the existing social systems for instance, through various acts they abolished the prevalent system of Sati and introduced the Widow Remarriage act.