[#History] How India Changed after 1857 (Part-2)

Today, our government collects lots of data. It uses advance tools to analyze data and then makes policies and legislation. Some very interesting data came out of the Great Indian Rebellion of 1857. And the British took some very far-reaching decisions based on those which changed India forever.  

The rebellion did not happen equally in all parts of India. Some sets of people turned out to be a great threat to the British while some others proved to be friends of the British empire and helped crush the mutiny.  

The Bengal army dominated the British force before 1857. During the rebellion, 54 out of 74 regular Native Infantry Regiments of Bengal Army had revolted. And all 10 of the Bengal Light Cavalry regiments had mutinied. The demographics of Bengal Army was unique. It largely consisted of higher castes like Rajputs and Bhumihar Brahmins, and mostly recruited from the regions of Awadh and Bihar. Based on this data, the British decided to change their army’s composition forever. The Brahmins’ presence in the Bengal Army was reduced because of their large role in the mutiny. On the other hand, Sikhs of Punjab had helped them crush the mutiny and hence were seen as friends who could be recruited more.  

The British had first realized the strength of Sikhs during the Anglo-Sikh wars. There were two major Anglo-Sikh wars: first during 1845-46 and second during 1848-49. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who had expanded the Sikh Empire by winning Peshawar, Multan (now in Pakistan), and Jammu and Kashmir, had maintained a friendly relation with the British. After his death in 1839, his kingdom started falling apart. His two sons who took to the throne after him died under mysterious circumstances. Then there were clashes for the throne. Two major factions emerged in Punjab: Sikh Sindhanwalias and Hindu Dogras. After two Anglo-Sikh wars, Sikh Empire lost and Punjab was annexed under British East India Company rule. During the wars, the British had mainly involved the Bengal Army to fight the Sikhs.  

When the great rebellion of 1857 happened, the Sikhs did not support it. It was due to two major reasons, among others. First because the rebellion of 1857 was seen as a work of the Bengal Army. Due to Bengal Army’s role during Anglo-Sikh wars, the Sikhs did not like it. Second, the mutineers had declared Bahadur Shah Zafar as their symbolic ruler. Sikhs and Mughals had long history of enmity and hence Sikhs did not like it too and ended up helping the British crush the rebellion of 1857.  

The British were thankful to the Sikhs for assisting them against the mutineers of 1857 rebellion. Therefore, post 1857 the British decided to increase recruitment in Punjab. Bengal army was reduced in size and at the same time Rajput and Brahmins were replaced by Sikh recruits from Punjab in Bengal Army. The British liked especially Jat Sikhs; they had well-built bodies due to diet, lifestyle and practicing wrestling and weight-lifting from early days; and martial skills due to Sikhism. Jat Sikhs were seen as “perfect recruits” for the Army.  

The British insisted that only Kesadhari Sikhs could join the army i.e. those who sported the five K's. The 5 Ks are: Kesh (uncut hair), Kara (a steel bracelet), Kanga (a wooden comb), Kaccha (cotton underwear) and Kirpan (steel sword). In Punjab there were Jat Sikhs and other Sikhs. But mainly Jat Sikhs sported the five K's and hence were the biggest beneficiaries. The soldiers were well paid, were given agricultural land and pension. But this policy severely restricted Hindus of other castes who wanted to join the army, particularly Khatris, who had served in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's forces.  

All this can also be seen as part of “divide and rule” policy of the British after 1857. They wanted to make sure than something like 1857 never happened again. And hence in the next decades after 1857, they systematically suppressed those factions which had rebelled and strengthened those which had supported the British in 1857.  

Then around 1900, the British made ‘Punjab Land Alienation Act of 1900’, classifying people as either "agriculturalist" or "non-agriculturalist". The act limited the transfer of land between these two groups. This act was seen as an "anti-Hindu" and “pro-Jat-Sikh” act. Hindus in Punjab, particularly Khatris, were acknowledged as Kshatriyas but were clubbed together with the “trading castes” in the British Census Reports since large number of them were educated and engaged in trade. Hence these Hindus were seldom accepted into the British military service and now this new land alienation act forbade them to even own lands. Under these circumstances, something very interesting trend emerged.  

Since Khatris and other Hindu castes were marked as “non-agricultural” tribe, many families started getting around this artificially imposed caste barrier by raising one or more son as a Sikh; mainly by having them adopt the name Singh and grow hair/beard to match. The children of such Sikhs became Sikhs and so on. Hence, till a couple of generations ago, the same family had two brothers - one Hindu and another Sikh. 

So as an aftermath of 1857, Jat Sikhs gained prominence in the army and till date have retained a major status. They also gained tremendous economic power since they had become the main owners of land in Punjab while other Hindu castes marked as “non-agriculturalists / traders” were restricted from buying farm land. Today, Jat Sikhs own around 80-90% of agriculture land in Punjab. They also gained new members into their faith, because other Hindu families tried to send one son into the sect in order to gain land ownership and other benefits.  

(to be continued)  

- Rahul

Also Read: How India Changed after 1857 (Part-1)

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