Class 12 NCERT History chapter -11

                Rebels and the Raj 

           The Revolt of 1857 and its Representation

Pattern of the Rebellion 

• The dates of these mutinies in chronological order, it would appear that as the news of the mutiny in one town travelled to the next the Sepoy there took up arms 
• The sequence of events in every cantonment followed a similar pattern  

How the mutinies began 

• They first seized the bell of arms and plundered the treasury 
• They attacked government building - the jail , treasury , telegraph office , record boom , bungalows - burning all records 
• In majors town like Lucknow , Kanpur and Bareilly , moneylenders and the rich also become the objects of rebel wrath .
• The mutiny in the Sepoy ranks quickly become a rebellion 

Lines of Communication 

• There was communication between the Sepoy lines of various cantonments
• After the 7th irregular cavalry had refused to accept the new cartridges in early may the wrote to the 48th native infantry that they had acted for the faith and awaited the 48th's order.
• The 41st native infantry which was stationed in some place, insisted that since they had killed all their while officers.
• The military police should also kill hearsay or deliver him as prisoner to the 41st.
• It was decided that the matter would be settled by a panchayat.

Leaders and followers.

• To fight the British, leadership and organisation were required, for this they turned towards the old mughal ruler bahadur shad who agree to the normal leader of the rebellion.
• In Kanpur , the sepoys and the people of the town gave nana sahib , the successor to peshwa Baji Rao no choice 
• In jhansi the rani was forced by the  popular pressure around her to assume the leadership , of the Uprising 
• In Lucknow , after the annexation of awadh there were many religious leaders and self styled prophets who preached the destruction of British rule 

 

Rumours and prophecies 

• There was the rumour that the british government had batched a gigantic conspiracy to destroy the caste and religion of cows and pigs into the flour that was sold in the market 
• These sepoy and the common people refused to touch the atta 
• There was a fear and suspicious that british wanted to convert Indians to Christianity

Why did people believe in the rumors

• The british adopted policies amid at reforming India society by introducing western education western ideas and western institution
• The British established laws to abolish customs like sati (1829) and to permit the remarriage of Hindu widows 

Awadh in revolt 

A cherry that will drop into our mouth one day 

• In 1851 governor general lord dalhousie described the kingdom of Awadh as "a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day 
• Five year later in 1856 the kingdom was formally annexed to the british Empire 
• The subsidiary alliance had been important on Awadh in 1801 
• Deprived if his armed forces , the nawals became increasingly depended on the british to maintain law and order within the kingdom 
• He could no longer assert control over rebellious chiefs and taluqdars    
• By the early 1850 more over all major areas India had been conquered the Maratha lands the doab , the carnatic , the Punjab and bengal 

The life gone out of the body 

• lord Dalhousie 's annexations created disaffection in all the areas and principalities that the kingdom o awadh in the heart of north India
• The removal of the nawab led to the dissolution of the court and culture 

Firangi raj and the end of a world 

• A chain of grievances in awadh linked prince taluqdar peasant and sepoy 
• The annexation displaced not just the Nawab
• It also dispossessed the taluqdars of the region 
• The british were unwilling to tolerate the power of the taluqdars , immediately after the annexation the taluqdars were disarmed and their forts destroy
• The first british revenue settlement , known as the summary settlement of 1856 was based on the assumption that the taluqdars were interlopers with no permanent stakes in land
• In 1820 white officers made it a point to maintain friendly relations with the sepoys 
• In the 1840 , the began to change . the officers developed a sense of superiority and started treating the sepoys as their racial inferiors , riding roughshod over their sensibilities

What the rebels wanted 

The vision of unity 

• The rebel proclamations in 1857 repeatedly appealed to all sections of the population , irrespective of their caste and creed 
• The ishhahars harked back to the pre- british Hindu - Muslim past and glorified the coexistence of different communities under the mughal Empire 

Againt the symbols of oppression  

• The land revenue settlements had disposed landholders , both and small foreign commerce had driven artisans and weavers to ruin 
• Every aspect of the british rule was attacked and the firangi accused of destroying a way of life that was familiar and cherlshed 
• People urged to come together and fight to save their livelihood their faith , Their honour their identity 

Repression

• The british passed a services of laws to help them quell the insurgency 
• The ordinary processes of law and trial were suspended and it was put out that rebellion would have only one punishment death 
• The british used military power on a gigantic scale

 .

Images of the revolt 

• Officials accounts , of course , abound ;colonial administrators and military men left their versions in letters and diaries , autobigraphies and official histories 
• British attitudes through the innumerable memos and notes ,assessments of situations and reports that were produced . 
• One important record of the muting is the pictorial images produced by the british and Indians paintings . pencil drawing , pester cartoons etc.

Celebrating the saviors 

• British pictures offer a variety of images that were meant to provoke a range of different emotions and reactions 
• Some of them commemorate the british hero who saved the English and reptesteed the rebels
• Relief of Lucknow painted by thomos Jones barken in 1859

 

English women and the honour of Britain

• The british government was asked to protect the honour of innocent women and ensure the safety the helpless children 
• Artist expressed as well as shaped these sentiments Truman and suffering 

Vengeance and retribution 

• As waves of anger and stock spread in Britain demands for retribution  grew lander 

The Performance of terror 

• The urge for vengeance and retribution was expressed in the brutal way in which the rebels were executed 
• They were blown from guns , or hanged from the gallows 
• Images of these executions were widely circulated through popular journals 

Nationalist imageries

• The nationalist movement drew its inspiration from the events of 1857 
• A whole world of nationalist imagination was women around the revolt 
• Art and literature helped in keeping alive the memories 1857 .