CLICK FOR ANSWERS THEME 11
Revolt of 1857 PRESENTATION
• Rebels and the Raj - The revolt of 1857 and its representation Pattern of Rebellion -People
from different walks of life plunged into the revolt - due to their hatred against the
oppressive policies of the British Centres of the Revolt - Lucknow, Kanpur, Barrelly, Meerut,
Arrah in Bihar.
• Leaders - Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, nana Saheb, Kunwar Singh, Bakt Khan, Begum Hazret
Mehals, Tatya tope.
• Awadh revolt - direct annexation policy of Dalhousie - 1856. Hatred provoked -
dispossessed taluqdars of Awadh, Injustice done to Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh
embittered the people.
Revolt of the sepoys:
1) Policy of social superiority of British
2) Interference in religious matters - greased cartridges issues.
The vision of unity:
1) Hindu Muslim unity
2) Search for alternative powers
3) Rebels established parallel administration, in Delhi, Lucknow,
Kanpur after capturing centres of British power. Later they failed.
British policy of repression.
• Repression - 1857 - North India was brought under strict law to prolonged attacked of
British -one from Calcutta to North India, another from Punjab to recover Delhi, 27000
Muslims hanged.
• Image of the Revolt - Pictorial images produced by British and Indians - posters and
cartoons.
• The performance of terror: 1) Execution of rebel’s Nationalist imageries: 1) Inspiration to
• nationalists Celebration as first war of Independence - leaders depicted as heroic figures.
PATTERN OF THE REBELLION
How the mutinies began
• The sepoys began their action with a signal, firing of the evening gun or the sounding of the
bugle.
• They seized the bell of the arms and plundered the treasury.
• They attacked the government buildings– the jail, treasury, telephone office, record room,
bungalows –burning all records
• Everything and everybody connected with the white man became a target.
• In major towns like Kanpur, Lucknow and Bareilly, money lenders and rich became the
objects of rebel.
Leaders and followers
• To fight the British, leadership and organization were required, for this they turned towards
the Mughal Ruler Bahadur Shah who agreed to be the normal leader of the rebellion.
• In Kanpur, the sepoys and the people of the town agreed to support Nana Sahib.
• In Jansi the rani was forced to assume the leadership of the uprising.
• Kunwar Singh a local Zamindar in Arrah in Bihar.
• The local leaders emerged, urging peasants, zamindars and tribals to revolt eg- Shah Mal
mobilized the villagers of pargene, Baroutin uttar Pradesh, Gonooa tribal cultivator of
Singhbhum in Chotanagpur.
Rumours and prophecies:
• There was the rumour that the British government had hatched a gigantic conspiracy to
destroy the caste and religion of the Hindus and Muslim.
• The Remour said that the British had mixed the bone dust 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 the British wanted to convert Indians to Christianity.
• The sepoy had the fear about bullets coated with the fats of cows and pigs, biting those
bullets would corrupt their caste and religion.
Why did the people believe in the rumours:
• The British adopted policies aimed at reforming Indian society by introducing Western
education, western ideas and western institutions.
• With the cooperation of sections of Indian society, they set up English medium schools,
colleges and universities which taught Western sciences and the liberal arts.
• The British established laws to abolished customs like sati (1629) and to permit the
remarriage of Hindu widows.
• The British introduced their own system of administration, their own laws and their own
methods of land settlements and land revenue collection.
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 “and five years later it was annexed to the British
Empire.
• The Subsidiary Alliance had been imposed on Awadh.
• The terms of this alliance the nawab had to disband his military force of the British to
position their troops within the kingdom and act in accordance with the advice of the
British.
• Deprived of his armed forces the nawab became increasing dependent on the British to
maintain law and order within the kingdom.
• He could no longer assert control over the rebellious chief and taluqdars.
WHAT THE REBELS WANTED
The vision of unity
• The rebellion was seen as a war in which both Hindus and Muslims had equally to lose or
gain.
• The ishtahars harked back to the pre- British Hindu- Muslim past and glorified the
• coexistence of different communities under Mughal Empire.
• In1857 the British spent Rs.50000 /- to incite the Hindu population against the Muslims but
the attempt failed.
Against the symbols of oppression:
• The land revenue settlements had dispossessed landholders, both big and small and 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 cherished.
• The proclamations expressed the widespread fear that the British were bent on des troying
the caste and religions of Hindus and Muslims and converting them to Christianity.
• People urged to come together and fight to save their livelihood, their faith, their honour,
their identity.
IMAGES OF THE REVOLT
• Official accounts of colonial administration and military men left their versions in letters
and diaries, autobiography and official histories.
• The changing British attitudes through the innumerable memos and notes, assessments of
situations.
• The stories of the revolt that were published in British newspapers and magazines narrated
in glory detail the violence of the mutineers
• Pictorial image produced by the British and Indians paintings pencil drawings cartoons
bazaar prints.
Celedrating the saviours
• 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 heroes who saved the English and repressed the
rebels.
• “Relief of Lucknow”, painted by Thomas Jones Barker 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 of helpless children.
• Artist expressed as well as shaped these sentiments through their visual representations of
trauma and suffering.
The performances 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 woven around the revolt.
• It was celebrated as the first war of independence in which all sections of the people of India
came together to fight against imperial rule.
• Art and literature had helped in keeping alive the memories 1857.
Revolt of 1857 PRESENTATION
• Rebels and the Raj - The revolt of 1857 and its representation Pattern of Rebellion -People
from different walks of life plunged into the revolt - due to their hatred against the
oppressive policies of the British Centres of the Revolt - Lucknow, Kanpur, Barrelly, Meerut,
Arrah in Bihar.
• Leaders - Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, nana Saheb, Kunwar Singh, Bakt Khan, Begum Hazret
Mehals, Tatya tope.
• Awadh revolt - direct annexation policy of Dalhousie - 1856. Hatred provoked -
dispossessed taluqdars of Awadh, Injustice done to Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh
embittered the people.
Revolt of the sepoys:
1) Policy of social superiority of British
2) Interference in religious matters - greased cartridges issues.
The vision of unity:
1) Hindu Muslim unity
2) Search for alternative powers
3) Rebels established parallel administration, in Delhi, Lucknow,
Kanpur after capturing centres of British power. Later they failed.
British policy of repression.
• Repression - 1857 - North India was brought under strict law to prolonged attacked of
British -one from Calcutta to North India, another from Punjab to recover Delhi, 27000
Muslims hanged.
• Image of the Revolt - Pictorial images produced by British and Indians - posters and
cartoons.
• The performance of terror: 1) Execution of rebel’s Nationalist imageries: 1) Inspiration to
• nationalists Celebration as first war of Independence - leaders depicted as heroic figures.
PATTERN OF THE REBELLION
How the mutinies began
• The sepoys began their action with a signal, firing of the evening gun or the sounding of the
bugle.
• They seized the bell of the arms and plundered the treasury.
• They attacked the government buildings– the jail, treasury, telephone office, record room,
bungalows –burning all records
• Everything and everybody connected with the white man became a target.
• In major towns like Kanpur, Lucknow and Bareilly, money lenders and rich became the
objects of rebel.
Leaders and followers
• To fight the British, leadership and organization were required, for this they turned towards
the Mughal Ruler Bahadur Shah who agreed to be the normal leader of the rebellion.
• In Kanpur, the sepoys and the people of the town agreed to support Nana Sahib.
• In Jansi the rani was forced to assume the leadership of the uprising.
• Kunwar Singh a local Zamindar in Arrah in Bihar.
• The local leaders emerged, urging peasants, zamindars and tribals to revolt eg- Shah Mal
mobilized the villagers of pargene, Baroutin uttar Pradesh, Gonooa tribal cultivator of
Singhbhum in Chotanagpur.
Rumours and prophecies:
• There was the rumour that the British government had hatched a gigantic conspiracy to
destroy the caste and religion of the Hindus and Muslim.
• The Remour said that the British had mixed the bone dust 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 the British wanted to convert Indians to Christianity.
• The sepoy had the fear about bullets coated with the fats of cows and pigs, biting those
bullets would corrupt their caste and religion.
Why did the people believe in the rumours:
• The British adopted policies aimed at reforming Indian society by introducing Western
education, western ideas and western institutions.
• With the cooperation of sections of Indian society, they set up English medium schools,
colleges and universities which taught Western sciences and the liberal arts.
• The British established laws to abolished customs like sati (1629) and to permit the
remarriage of Hindu widows.
• The British introduced their own system of administration, their own laws and their own
methods of land settlements and land revenue collection.
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 “and five years later it was annexed to the British
Empire.
• The Subsidiary Alliance had been imposed on Awadh.
• The terms of this alliance the nawab had to disband his military force of the British to
position their troops within the kingdom and act in accordance with the advice of the
British.
• Deprived of his armed forces the nawab became increasing dependent on the British to
maintain law and order within the kingdom.
• He could no longer assert control over the rebellious chief and taluqdars.
WHAT THE REBELS WANTED
The vision of unity
• The rebellion was seen as a war in which both Hindus and Muslims had equally to lose or
gain.
• The ishtahars harked back to the pre- British Hindu- Muslim past and glorified the
• coexistence of different communities under Mughal Empire.
• In1857 the British spent Rs.50000 /- to incite the Hindu population against the Muslims but
the attempt failed.
Against the symbols of oppression:
• The land revenue settlements had dispossessed landholders, both big and small and 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 cherished.
• The proclamations expressed the widespread fear that the British were bent on des troying
the caste and religions of Hindus and Muslims and converting them to Christianity.
• People urged to come together and fight to save their livelihood, their faith, their honour,
their identity.
IMAGES OF THE REVOLT
• Official accounts of colonial administration and military men left their versions in letters
and diaries, autobiography and official histories.
• The changing British attitudes through the innumerable memos and notes, assessments of
situations.
• The stories of the revolt that were published in British newspapers and magazines narrated
in glory detail the violence of the mutineers
• Pictorial image produced by the British and Indians paintings pencil drawings cartoons
bazaar prints.
Celedrating the saviours
• 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 heroes who saved the English and repressed the
rebels.
• “Relief of Lucknow”, painted by Thomas Jones Barker 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 of helpless children.
• Artist expressed as well as shaped these sentiments through their visual representations of
trauma and suffering.
The performances 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 woven around the revolt.
• It was celebrated as the first war of independence in which all sections of the people of India
came together to fight against imperial rule.
• Art and literature had helped in keeping alive the memories 1857.
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