Modern History

Question 1

Major Approaches to the

History of Modern India

Answer 1

1. Colonial Approach/ Historiography
2. Nationalist Historiography/ Approach
3. Marxist Historiography/ Approach
4. Subaltern Approach/ Historiography
5. Communalist Approach
6. Cambridge School
7. Liberal and Neo-Liberal Interpretations
8. Feminist Historiography

Question 2

The Revolt of 1857

Answer 2

The cumulative effect of British expansionist policies, economic exploitation and administrative innovations over the years had adversely affected the positions of all— rulers of Indian states, sepoys, zamindars, peasants, traders, artisans, pundits, maulvis, etc. The simmering discontent burst in the form of a violent storm in 1857.

Question 3

Causes of the revolt of 1857

Answer 3

-Economic causes
The colonial policies of the East India Company destroyed the traditional economic fabric of the Indian society. The peasantry were never really to recover from the disabilities imposed by the new and a highly unpopular revenue settlement.
Impoverished by heavy taxation, the peasants resorted to loans from moneylenders/traders at usurious rates, the latter often evicting the former on non-payment of debt dues. These moneylenders and traders emerged as the new landlords.
British rule also meant misery to the artisans and handicraftsmen. The annexation of Indian states by the Company cut off their major source of patronage. British policy discouraged Indian handicrafts and promoted British goods. the destruction of Indian handicrafts was not accompanied by the development of modern industries. In Awadh, the storm center of the revolt, 21,000 taluqdars had their estates confiscated and suddenly found themselves without a source of income. These dispossessed taluqdars seized the opportunity presented by the sepoy
revolt to oppose the British and regain what they had lost.

-Political causes
The East India Company’s greedy policy of aggrandisement
accompanied by broken pledges and promises resulted in contempt for the Company and loss of political prestige, besides causing suspicion in the minds of almost all the
ruling princes in India, through such policies as of ‘Effective
Control’, ‘Subsidiary Alliance’ and ‘Doctrine of Lapse’. The
right of succession was denied to Hindu princes.

-Administrative causes
Rampant corruption in the Company’s administration,
especially among the police, petty officials and lower law
courts, was a major cause of discontent. Also, the character
of British rule imparted a foreign and alien look to it in the
eyes of Indians: a kind of absentee sovereignty.

-socio-religious causes
Racial overtones and a superiority complex characterised the
British administrative attitude towards the native Indian
population. The activities of Christian missionaries who
followed the British flag in India were looked upon with
suspicion by Indians. The attempts at socio-religious reform
such as abolition of sati, support to widow-marriage and
women’s education were seen by a large section of the
population as interference in the social and religious domains
of Indian society by outsiders.

-influence of outside events
The revolt of 1857 coincided with certain outside events in
which the British suffered serious losses—the First Afghan
War (1838-42), Punjab Wars (1845-49), and the Crimean
Wars (1854-56). These had obvious psychological
repercussions. The British were seen to be not so strong and
it was felt that they could be defeated.

-discontent among sepoys
The conditions of service in the Company’s Army and
cantonments increasingly came into conflict with the religious
beliefs and prejudices of the sepoys. Restrictions on wearing
caste and sectarian marks and secret rumours of proselytising
activities of the chaplains were interpreted by Indian sepoys, as interference in their religious affairs. To the religious Hindu of the time, crossing the seas meant loss of caste.The Indian sepoy was equally unhappy with his emoluments compared to his British counterpart. A more immediate cause of the sepoys’ dissatisfaction was the order that they would not be given the foreign service allowance (bhatta) when serving in Sindh or in Punjab. The annexation of Awadh, home of many of the sepoys, further inflamed their feelings.
The Indian sepoy was made to feel a subordinate at every step and was discriminated against racially and in matters of promotion and privileges.
Finally, there had been a long history of revolts in the British Indian Army—in Bengal (1764), Vellore (1806),Barrackpore (1825) and during the Afghan Wars (1838-42).

Question 4

Beginning and Spread of the Revolt

Answer 4

The Spark

The reports about the mixing of bone dust in atta (flour)
and the introduction of the Enfield rifle enhanced the sepoys’
growing disaffection with the government. The greased
wrapping paper of the cartridge of the new rifle had to be
bitten off before loading and the grease was reportedly made
of beef and pig fat. The cow was sacred to the Hindus while
the pig was taboo for the Muslims. The Army administration
did nothing to allay these fears, and the sepoys felt their
religion was in grave danger.
The greased cartridges did not create a new cause of
discontent in the Army, but supplied the occasion for the
simmering discontent to come out in the open.

Starts at Meerut

The revolt began at Meerut, 58 km from Delhi, on May 10,
1857 and then, gathering force rapidly, soon embraced a vast
area from the Punjab in the north and the Narmada in the
south to Bihar in the east and Rajputana in the west.
Even before the Meerut incident, there were rumblings
of resentment in various cantonments. The 19th Native
Infantry at Berhampur, which refused to use the newly
introduced Enfield rifle and broke out in mutiny in February
1857 was disbanded in March 1857. A young sepoy of the 34th Native Infantry, Mangal Pande, went a step further and
fired at the sergeant major of his unit at Barrackpore. He
was overpowered and executed on April 8 while his regiment
was disbanded in May. The 7th Awadh Regiment which defied
its officers on May 3 met with a similar fate.And then came the explosion at Meerut. On April 24,
ninety men of the 3rd Native Cavalry refused to accept the
greased cartridges. On May 9, eighty-five of them were
dismissed, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and put in
fetters. This sparked off a general mutiny among the Indian
soldiers stationed at Meerut. The very next day, on May 10,
they released their imprisoned comrades, killed their officers
and unfurled the banner of revolt. They set off for Delhi after
sunset.

Choice of Bahadur Shah as Symbolic Head

In Delhi, the local infantry joined them, killed their own
European officers including Simon Fraser, the political agent,
and seized the city. Lieutenant Willoughby, the officer-incharge
of the magazine at Delhi, offered some resistance,
but was overcome. The aged and powerless Bahadur Shah
Zafar was proclaimed the Emperor of India.This spontaneous
raising of the last Mughal king to the leadership of the
country was a recognition of the fact that the long reign of
Mughal dynasty had become the traditional symbol of India’s
political unity.

Civilians Join

The revolt of the sepoys was accompanied by a rebellion of
the civil population, particularly in the north-western provinces
and Awadh. Their accumulated grievances found immediate
expression and they rose en masse to give vent to their
opposition to British rule. It is the widespread participation
in the revolt by the peasantry, the artisans, shopkeepers, day
labourers, zamindars, religious mendicants, priests and civil
servants which gave it real strength as well as the character
of a popular revolt.

Storm Centres and Leaders of the Revolt

At Delhi the nominal and symbolic leadership belonged to
the Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, but the real command
lay with a court of soldiers headed by General Bakht Khan
who had led the revolt of Bareilly troops and brought them to Delhi.
At Kanpur, the natural choice was Nana Saheb, the
adopted son of the last peshwa, Baji Rao II. He was refused
the family title and banished from Poona, and was living near
Kanpur. Nana Saheb expelled the English from Kanpur,
proclaimed himself the peshwa, acknowledged Bahadur Shah
as the Emperor of India and declared himself to be his
governor. Sir Hugh Wheeler, commanding the station,
surrendered on June 27, 1857 and was killed on the same
day.