NCERT Class 12 History Rebels And the Raj The Revolt of 1857 And Its Representations

Late in the afternoon of 10 May 1857, the sepoys in the cantonment of Meerut broke out in mutiny. It began in the lines of the native infantry, spread very swiftly to the cavalry and then to the city. The ordinary people of the town and surrounding villages joined the sepoys. The sepoys captured the bell of arms where the arms and ammunition were kept and proceeded to attack white people, and to ransack and burn their bungalows and property. Government buildings – the record office, jail, court, post office, treasury, etc. – were destroyed and plundered. The telegraph line to Delhi was cut. As darkness descended, a group of sepoys rode off towards Delhi. he sepoys arrived at the gates of the Red  Fort early in the morning on 11 May. It was the month of Ramzan, the Muslim holy month of prayer and fasting. The old Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, had just finished his prayers nd meal before the sun rose and the fast  began. He heard the commotion at the gates. The sepoys who had gathered under his window told him: “We have come from Meerut after killing all the Englishmen there, because they  asked us to bite bullets that were coated with the fat of cows and pigs with our teeth. This has corrupted the faith of Hindus and Muslims alike.’’ Another group of sepoys also entered Delhi, and the ordinary people of the city joined them. Europeans were killed in large numbers; the rich of Delhi were attacked and looted. It was clear that Delhi had gone out of British control. Some sepoys rode into  the Red Fort, without observing the elaborate court etiquette expected of them. They demanded that the emperor give them his blessings. Surrounded by the sepoys, Bahadur Shah had no other option but to comply. The revolt thus acquired  a kind of legitimacy because it could now be carried on in the name of the Mughal emperor.Through 12 and 13 May, North India remained quiet. Once word spread that Delhi had fallen to the rebels and Bahadur Shah had blessed the rebellion, events moved swiftly. Cantonment after cantonment in the Gangetic valley and some to the west of Delhi rose in mutiny.

1. Pattern of the Rebellion
If one were to place 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 sepoys there took up arms. The sequence of events in every cantonment followed a similar pattern.

1.1 How the mutinies began

The sepoys began their action with a signal: in many places it was the firing of the evening gun or the sounding of the bugle. They first seized the bellof arms and plundered the treasury. They then attacked government buildings – the jail, treasury, telegraph office, record room, bungalows – burning all records. Everything and everybody connected with the white man became a target. Proclamations in Hindi, Urdu and Persian were put up in the cities calling upon the population, both Hindus and Muslims, to unite, rise and exterminate the firangis. When ordinary people began joining the revolt, the targets of attack widened. In major towns like Lucknow, Kanpur and Bareilly, moneylenders and the rich also became the objects of rebel wrath. Peasants not only saw them as oppressors but also as allies of the British. In most places their houses were looted and destroyed. The mutiny n the sepoy ranks quickly  became a rebellion. There was a general defiance of all kinds of authority and hierarchy.In the months of May and June, the British had no answer to the actions of the rebels. Individual Britons ried to save their own lives and the lives of their amilies. British rule, as one British officer noted,  “collapsed like a house made of cards’’.

Excercise
1. Why did the mutinous sepoys in many places turn to erstwhile rulers to provide leadership to the revolt?

2. Discuss the evidence that indicates planning and coordination on the part of the rebels.
3. Discuss the extent to which religious beliefs shaped the events of 1857.
4. What were the measures taken to ensure unity among the rebels?
5. What steps did the British take to quell the uprising?

6. Why was the revolt particularly widespread in Awadh? What prompted the peasants, taluqdars and zamindars to join the revolt?
7. What did the rebels want? To what extent did the vision of different social groups differ?

8. What do visual representations tell us about the revolt of 1857? How do historians analyse these representations?
9. Examine any two sources presented in the chapter, choosing one visual and one text, and discuss how these represent the point of view of the victor and the vanquished.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 12 History Rebels And the Raj(The Revolt of 1857 And Its Representations)