Q7. Give an account of the spread of the Rebellion of 1857.
Answers
On reaching Delhi the Sepoys declared Bahadur Shah II as the Emperor of Hindustan. Both at Meerut and Delhi the sepoys killed the Europeans wherever they came across. ... In Oudh and modern Uttar Pradesh the revolt took a serious turn, it became extremely wide-spread.
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Answer and Explanation:
(i) Among the political causes Dalhousie’s occupation of Satara, Sambalpur, Nagpur, Jhansi and stoppage of the payment of allowance to the ruling houses of Tanjore, Carnatic as well as of Nana Sahib, annexation of Oudh on the plea of maladministration were not only immoral but also shocking to the Indian conscience for they revealed the utter selfishness of the British and the total disregard of immemorial Hindu customs.
The barbarous conduct on the part of the British in carrying away not only treasures of the Nagpur palace but also the cows, horses and elephants and the furniture of the royal palace and selling them at nominal price showed the lack of minimum decency and courtesy that a royal house could reasonably expect from the British and tarnished the name of the British race as a whole.
Similar conduct was repeated towards Oudh where the near relation of the Nawab were all turned out into the streets and the royal treasury was broken open and looted. Such selfish, barbarous conduct came as a shock to the rulers of the native states all over India. “The rulers of native states all over India, must have asked themselves the question ‘who could be safe, if the British thus treated one who had ever been their faithfully”. That the British promise had no value became apparent from the abolition of the pensions to Nana Sahib, rulers of Tanjore and Carnatic.
On the Nawab family of Oudh a large number of their relations both male and female were dependent for their sustenance. This was nothing special with regard to Oudh, but in almost every native state all over India a host of people used to be dependent on the ruling house. When Oudh was occupied by the British a large number of families dependent on the Nawab had to sell out their ornaments and furniture to stave off starvation. “Families which had never before been outside the zenana used to go out at night and beg their bread”. Ultimately, however, the British government made arrangements for payment of pension to these families, but long before that was done many families had been reduced to beggary. It is needless to say that people’s resentment to all this was extremely great.
The British government introduced a new revenue policy in Oudh which dispossessed many of the Taluqdars. The fortresses of the Taluqdars were demolished and their retainers were disbanded. In place of the former judicial system of Oudh a new judicial system was introduced which made justice more time taking and expensive. These measures all the more increased the anti-British feelings of the people of Oudh. The highhanded policy of the British servants and particularly of Coverly Jackson and Gubbins made the people very much resentful towards the British
(ii) Social cause was also responsible for preparing the ground for the Revolt of 1857. For half a century prior to the outbreak of the Revolt of 1857 the hatred of the British servants towards the Indians and their exclusiveness to avoid touch with the Indians had become manifest. This attitude of the British servants has been dealt at length in Siyar Ul Mutaqherin. In the letters of Warren Hastings also this is borne out.
This exclusiveness between the rulers and the ruled was not conducive to the growth of habitual obedience of the subjects to the rulers. British rule was first established in Bengal. But even after a hundred years an educated Bengalee remarked that there had not developed any feeling of mutual respect and friendliness between the English and the Hindus. Some of the liberal minded Englishmen also did not approve of this attitude of the English men towards the Indians.
In the writings of Lt. Verney it has been clearly stated that there was no social contacts between the British servants and the Indians. If any Indian would happen to come to any British for any reason, his hatred for the British would increase all the more after the meeting.
Spread of English and construction of railways and telegraph system, abolition of the Suttee etc. were reasonable and beneficent reforms no doubt, but as the Indians doubted the bonafides of the British these well-meaning reforms were looked upon with suspicion and regarded as having some ulterior motive behind.