topics: |  history | india | mutiny | british-raj

The book is divided into five parts, which reflect differing views of the
1857 uprising, from a mutiny, to a freedom struggle to a popular protest. 

Early historians - almost all British, focused on the disaffection in the
military, particularly with the beef-greased cartridges for the Enfield
bullets, which had to be bitten to be used. 1857 was labelled as a "sepoy
mutiny" - essentially a military revolt, and not a widespread freedom
movement. 

This view was vehemently opposed by Indian nationalists, who argued for it as
a "war of independence", but many of the claims made by writers such as
Savarkar may have been outright fabrication.  The germs of this argument
however, were refined and presented by a group of historians, who are
presented in the second section.  In fact, my impetus to buy this book came
because I wanted to read some of S.B. Chaudhuri's writings on
the mutiny, which was one of the more forceful articulations of the 
role of the civil population in the mutiny, opposing earlier colonial views
of the mutiny as a disaffection primarily within the military service. 

His essay is included in the second section of the book, which reviews the
wide popular participation among the peasants, and argues for 1857 being
much more than a revolt by the sepoys. 

Indeed, the work of Chaudhuri and others, writing around the centenary year
of 1957, explored the causes of the revolt among the peasantry, a theme
that was picked up by a number of British historians like Eric Stokes, who
agreed with the need to look at the peasant population as whole, but took
issue with the nature and extent of this role: 

    many of the studies of the 1857 uprising in the countryside were directed
    to criticising and amending S. B. Chaudhuri's straightforward thesis that
    the rural areas rose as one man and that the principal cause was the loss
    of land rights to the urban moneylender and trader under the pressure of
    the British land revenue system. Instead my researches suggested that
    violence and rebellion were often fiercest and most protracted where land
    transfers were low and the hold of the moneylender weakest. Later studies
    acknowledge, however, that the mere transfer of proprietary title tells
    us little about its political, social and economic effects, which could
    vary enormously according to the strength and homogeneity of the
    political and lineage organisation of the peasantry. 
     - Eric Stokes, The Peasant and the Raj, Introduction

What is interesting however is the apparent animosity generated by the
attempt to consider it as a "freedom struggle".  Stokes rightly holds
proto-nationalist writers like Savarkar in very low esteem - 
	The political mythologising that has gone on since Savarkar's day has
	been generally so crude as to reinforce academic scepticism on the
	proto-nationalist character of 1857...
but S.B. Chaudhuri is merely seen as "an attempt to lend professional
respectability to the concept of a first freedom struggle", and Stokes
rejoices in its refutation by nationalist historian RC Majumdar. (p. 129)  

Indeed, Stokes' view of Chaudhuri's work is so dim that he does not cite
him until halfway through chapter 5, though mentioning him in the preface
as one of the authors he seeks to refute.

The popular aspects of the revolt found its culmination in the work of the
subaltern group of Indian historians, fueled by Ranajit Guha's subtle
explorations of more than a hundred localized revolts preceding 1857.

While the organization of the revolt was very opportunistic and de-focused,
clearly there was a vehement dislike for British rule, a groundswell of
feeling that the firanghis (Britishers) should chhoD re hamar deswa
(leave our country), as Badri Narayan's folklore studies reveal.  But does
this make 1857 a "freedom struggle"?  Like any term used in language,
there is no clear definition, and the debate can rage on.

Today, no historian, British or Indian, limits the causes of the rebellion
to the ranks of the indian troops (neither did Kaye).  This book collects a
series of articles tracing the debate.  While some of these, like the
writings of Kaye or Stokes or Tapti Roy are well known, some others, such as
Chaudhuri or Badri Narayan - were new to me and breathed a new perspective. 

Beef-greased cartridges - just a "rumour"?

I would also like to take issue with Pati on his presentation of the matter
of the beef-greased cartridges. 

Earlier British historians had established a long tradition in the
mutiny narrative that underscored that the greased bullet
was only "rumoured", and Pati echoes this ambiguity in his introduction: 
    [the bullet] required to be bitten before loading.  Rumours that the
    grease used on the bullets was from the fat of cattle or pigs... created
    strong animosities.

This had not till then been issued to the Indian troops, but it is clear
that beef-greased bullets were since August 1856 being manufactured at Fort
William.   It is also clear that no supply chain had been built for
alternate grease, though there were orders issued (in May) for sepoys to find
their own grease.  

But perhaps after 150 years during which details have been available (ever
since Kaye) re: the manufacture of beef-greased cartridges in Calcutta, and
the silence on sheep or goat fat suppliers, one should perhaps be able to
say that these were more than just rumours.

Awadh in Revolt : Rudrangshu Mukherjee

Mukherjee marshalls considerable evidence that a large majority of the
landholders joined the rebels.  Each of them was able to gather men in
excess of their retainer strength.  Quotes British administrators trying to
assess the number of rebel peasantry: 
   Probably three-fourths of the adult male population of Oudh, had been in
   rebellion.   - p. 228, secret memo by Forsyth, 27 Jun 1858
suggests that
   the revolt was so intense because the people of Awadh thought they were
   fighting a just and legitimate war.  In Awadh the opposition to the
   British was truly universal, a people's resistance.  It represented not
   a revolutionary challenge but a popular rejection of an alien order. 231

Popular Culture and 1857: Memory Against Forgetting: Badri Narayan

Study of 1857 in the folklore - stories and songs about the gadar of
1857, from languages such as Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Bundeli, and Bagheli. 
Mostly focuses on Bihar, and the Kunwar Singh-led rebellion. 

suggests the following characteristics of the word "firangi":
   a. fair-skinned (gorA)
   b. a looter
   c. oppressed our mulk
   d. ruled over us and enjoyed the  power accruing from it
   e. who corrupts our religion and caste 

A bhojpuri song: 
  	   ah chhoD re firangiya! hamar deswa
	   luTpAt kaile tuhun, majwa uDAile
	   kailas, des par julum jor. 
	   sahar gaon luTi, phunki, dihiat firangiya. 
	   Suni suni kunwar ke hridaya me lagal agiya
  	   Ah chhoD re firangiya hamar deswa
[British, now quit our country.  You loot us, enjoy the lusuries of our
country, and oppose our countrymen (in return).  Cities and villages you have
looted and destroyed.  Kunwar's heart burns to know all this.  O British! 
quit our country now. ]

Another Bhojpuri dhobi geet: 
		tohafa debo, inam debo,
		tah ke raja banalb re!
		firangiya re!
		mose na chali tor chaturai

[o Firangis! you can give awards and felicitations, you can call me a king,
but your tricks don't fool me one bit. ]

Panwara songs praising the chivalry of lower caste and Muslim heroes are
quite common.  Bhojpuri panegyrics to Zulfikar Khan, Ibrahim Khan, Rajab
Khan, Umed Ali.  Even today, songs praising Khudabaksh and Ghaus Khan
(supporters of Lakshmi bai) are sung with respect.  The list of heroes who
appear prominently in the Bhojpuri folk literature are:

1. Amar Singh (younger bro       10. Bansuriyan Baba (inspired  
   	of Kunwar Singh)	     	Kunwar Singh)	       
2. Hare Krishna			 11. Lakhiya (lower caste woman)
3. Nishan Singh			 12. Madho Singh	  	       
4. Ranjit Yadav			 13. Pargat Singh  	       
5. Zulfikar			 14. Beni Madho	  	       
6. Maiku Mallah			 15. Rajab Ali	  	       
7. Dharman bi (woman)		 16. Miyan Khan    	       
8. Karman bi (woman)
9. Ibrahim Khan

peeThA is a dish made from ground rice and pulses, eaten on the occasion of
Godhan in Bhojpuri culture.  In nearby Jagdishpur and Sabar, it is called
amarpeeThA.  The legend is that on the day of Gudhay, Amar Singh went for
the war without eating it and was defeated.

A paTia form on the 1857 gadar is addressed to the womenfolk: 

	ba jan ganwai ke nevta
	churl forwai ke nevta
	sindoor pochhwai ke nevta
	jei ho hamar te math del
	jei ho hamar te sath del!
[Be prepared to break your bangles, and to wipe the vermillion from your
forehead.  we have to sacrifice our lives for victory.]

Sohar: song sung during the ceremony after childbirth.  A popular song has
the lines: 
		bhAdo mAs andheria, bAdariyA gagan ghere ji
		Tahl rAte challe, kunwar singh lare laraiya ji
	it was the month of bhAdon. the night was clouded over. Kunwar
	Singh went to war, at the end of the night. 

a water drain (nAlA) near shivpur in balia district is called the mudkatwa
nAlA.  The legend is that a group of soldiers under Siddha Singh, one of
the reliable warriors of Kunwar Singh, killed one hundred british soldiers
here and dumped their corpses in this drain. 

Thus in folk culture 1857 is not described as a struggle of caste,
religion, or specific class.  In the popular perception, it is imprinted as
a war of liberation.

Contents

I. Sepoy Mutiny

  1. The History of the Indian Mutiny, Charles Ball
  2. A History of the Sepoy War in India, J. W. Kaye;

II. Nationalist Uprising

  3. The Character of the Outbreak of 1857, R.C. Majumdar
  4. Theories on the Indian Mutiny, S.B. Chaudhuri
  5. 1857: A Review, S.N. Sen
  6. Reflections on the Mutiny, K.K. Datta;

III. Restorative Movement

  7 The Great Rebellion, Talmiz Khaldun
  8 _The Struggle for Succession: Rebels and Loyalists in the Indian Mutiny
    of 1857_, E.I. Brodkin; 

IV. Conspiracy versus Organized Movement

  9 Muslim Revivalists and the Revolt of 1857, K.M. Ashraf
 10 _The Gwalior Contingent in 1857-8: A Study of the Organization and
    Ideology of the Sepoy Rebels_, I.A. Khan; 

V. Popular Protest

 11 Traditional Elites in the Great Rebellion of 1857: Some Aspects of 
    Rural Revolt in the Upper and Central Doab, Eric Stokes
 12 Eric Stokes and the Uprising of 1857, C. A. Bayly
 13 Awadh in Revolt, Rudrangshu Mukherjee
 14 The Politics of a Popular Uprising: Bundelkhand in 1857, Tapti Roy
 15 Four Rebels of Eighteen Fifty-Seven, Gautam Bhadra
 16 The "Tribals" and the 1857 Uprising, K.S. Singh
 17 Popular Culture and 1857: Memory Against Forgetting, Badri Narayan
 18 The Mentality of the Mutiny: Conceptions of the Alternative Order
    _in 1857', Rajat K. Ray