With reference to The Revolt of 1857, answer the following:
I. The end of Company's Rule
II. British policy towards the native states
III. Contribution of Nana Sahib
IV. Religious causes of the Revolt.
V. Economic exploitation of Indian leading to the Revolt
Answers
Answer:
I Though the struggle of 1857 failed, it created a long lasting effect. As a consequence of these revolts the rule of East India Company ended and the Queen of Britain took over the reign of India. In 1858 queen Victoria of Britain made a proclamation that there would be no more interference into the religious freedom of Indians. The struggles of 1857-58 further lead to the rise of Modern National Movement. It proved to be an eternal inspiration for the future wars of independence.
iv
(a) The Indian soldiers were unhappy because of their low salary and poor prospects of promotion. All the high ranks in the army were reserved for the British only. The troops were not properly distributed. The key lace like Delhi and Allahabad had no British armies.
(b) The last Mughal Emperor was Bahadur Shah. Lord Canning announced that Bahadur Shah's successor would not be allowed to use the imperial title. Such a discourtesy to the Mughal Emperor hurt Muslim sentiments considerably. Dalhousie's refusal of pension to Nana Saheb, that adopted son of the ex-Peshwa was resented by the Hindus in general and Nana Saheb in particular.
(c) The British rulers deliberately crippled Indians art and crafts by imposing duties on Indian silk and cotton textile in Britain. On the other hand, British goods were imported into India at a nominal duty. Millions of artisans and craftsmen lost their jobs and had no alternative source of income.
i ) Company rule in India was the rule or dominion of the British East India Company over parts of the Indian subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey which saw the Company conquest of Mughal Bengal. Later, the Company was granted the diwani, or the right to collect revenue, in Bengal and Bihar; or in 1773, when the Company established a capital in Calcutta, appointed its first Governor-General, Warren Hastings, and became directly involved in governance. By 1818, with the defeat of Marathas followed by the pensioning of the Peshwa and the annexation of his territories, British supremacy in India was complete.
ii) Before 1857, British had availed themselves of every opportunity to annex princely states. The Revolt of 1857 led the British to reverse their policy towards the Indian States.
Most of the Indian princes had not only remained loyal to the British but had actively assisted in suppressing the Revolt.
Canning declared in 1862 that “the Crown of England stood forward, the unquestioned Ruler and Paramount Power in all India.” Princes were made to acknowledge Britain as the paramount power.
iii) Nana Saheb Peshwa II (19 May 1824 –24 September 1859), born as Dhondu Pant, was an Indian Peshwa of the Maratha empire, aristocrat and fighter, who led the rebellion in Cawnpore (Kanpur) during the 1857 uprising. As the adopted son of the exiled Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II, Nana Saheb believed that he was entitled to a pension from the East India Company, but the underlying contractual issues are rather murky. The Company's refusal to continue the pension after his father's death, as well as what he perceived as high-handed policies, compelled him to revolt and seek independence from company rule in India. He forced the British garrison in Cawnpore to surrender, then executed the survivors, gaining control of Cawnpore for a few days. He later disappeared, after his forces were defeated by a British force that recaptured Cawnpore. He went to the Nepal Hills in 1859, where he is thought to have died.
iv) Socio-Religious Causes of 1857 Revolt
One of the major reasons for the revolt was socio-religious policies of the British which included racial superiority and discrimination, missionary activities and deliberate efforts to subvert the religious beliefs of the people in India.
This created a kind of discontentment and distrust among the people against the British rule. It seemed to the people that their socio-religious customs that they cherished and held sacred were being destroyed by the British. This created a kind of discontentment and distrust among the people against the British rule.
v) Some of the Economic exploitation of Indian leading to the Revolt were -
(a) The ruin of trade and handicrafts: Heavy duties on Indians silk and cotton textile in Britain destroyed Indian industries. On the other hand, British goods were imported into India at a nominal duty. By the middle of the 19th century, export of cotton and silk goods from India practically ceased. The art of spinning and weaving, which for ages had given employment to thousands of artisans, became extinct.
(b) The impoverishment of the cultivators: Indigo trade was highly profitable to the British but the conditions under which the peasants had to work were inhuman. The peasants were forced to cultivate only indigo in the field chosen by the British planters.If they planted anything else, their crops were destroyed and their cattle were carried off as punishment.
(c) Subordination of Indian economy to British interests (Making India an Agricultural Colony of British capitalism): Agricultural India was made an economic colony to serve the interests of industrial England. India was forced to export, at cheaper rates, raw materials like raw cotton and raw silk that the British industries needed urgently; plantation products and food grains which were in short in Britain.
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