How India Changed after 1857 (Part-1)

Our PM Modi visited Myanmar recently and paid homage to Bahadur Shah Zafar at his tomb in Rangoon. That generated some media coverage on the Last Mughal Emperor. I was reading one such article in Jagran.

Rebellion of 1857 started on 10th May in Meerut and the revolting soldiers reached Delhi next day, meeting 81 year old Bahadur Shah Zafar requesting him to be their symbolic leader. On 12th of May, he became Emperor again and on 16th of May his green Flag could be seen on Lal Qila (Red Fort). The commissioner of Punjab setup a unit called Delhi Field Forces which reached Delhi's northern border by the end of May. The British forces faced massive resistance to their efforts to recapture Delhi. On 14th of September, they tried to capture the Red Fort again. Due to massive resistance on the streets, the British forces took one week to reach Lal Qila from Kashmiri Gate! On 20th of September 1857, the British forces captured Lal Qila again and arrested Bahadur Shah Zafar. Captain Hodson got 3 sons of Bahadur Shah Zafar killed near Delhi Gate (Shahjahanabad). Most sons of Bahadur Shah were killed and after recapture of Delhi, a lot of buildings, markets, schools and monuments were destroyed by the British forces.

It is estimated that 8 Lakh Indians died during 1857 rebellion while the British lost about 40,000 of their kin. This 'First War of Independence' was hell of a war, if one was taking part in it on either side.

One interesting aspect is how sections of Indians participated during the rebellion; particularly the 'martial class'.

The Sikhs of Punjab sided with the British to crush the mutiny. This comes as very shocking now, given the "patriotic" image Sikhs have. I remember reading how Sikhs had remained neutral and did not help the Maratha Empire when Peshwa forces came travelling 1000 miles from Pune to Delhi to counter the barbarian Ahmedshah Abdali during Third Battle of Panipat. The British definitely benefited by competing Indian forces like the Marathas, Sikhs, Rajputs and Muslims who did not help each other even strategically to counter the British; thanks to their own big ambitions and egos. Next, the Gurjars of UP went completely against the British. All the villages between Meerut and Delhi declared freedom and eliminated the British. Nahar Singh, the Jat king of Ballabhgarh revolted against the British. While Rajputs of rest of India rebelled against the British, e.g. Babu Kunwar Singh of Bihar was a popular force, Rajputana, meaning "Land of the Rajputs" did not join the rebellion in general. The British had given special privileges to the Rajputs, perhaps learning their importance from the Mughals; and it helped. And the Gurkha regiments supported the British too and fought against the mutineers playing an important role in Bengal. Bhumihar Brahmins fought against the British and the mutiny was in fact started by Mangal Pandey who was one of them. A lot of Zamindars who had got their status from the British did not join the mutiny, helping the British.

Btw, apart from Rajputana, the large princely states, of Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore, and Kashmir did not join the rebellion too. In Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Ranbir Singh, son of the great Maharaja Gulab Singh (founder of Dogra dynasty), loyally sided with the British during the 1857 Rebellion.

Muslims played a key role in the mutiny, perhaps inspired by the fact that if the British vanished, Mughal rule would return. Hence they were suppressed severely after the mutiny failed.

What would be our armed forces if not without great sacrifices of Sikhs, Jats, Gurjars, Rajputs, Bhumihars, Gurkhas and Dogras who have a very long martial tradition? But by understanding history of 1857 rebellion, we realize that several of them sided with the British during 1857 which was our first big chance. Who killed those 8 Lakh Indians who died fighting the British?

Before 1857, British forces had around 3 Lakh Indian soldiers and only 50,000 British soldiers. Hence it is most likely that a rebelling Indian during 1857 mutiny was killed by an "Indian" soldier and not by a British.

(to be continued)

- Rahul

Also Read: How India Changed after 1857 (Part-2)

http://rahultiwaryuniverse.blogspot.in/2017/09/how-india-changed-after-1857-part-1.html