Sepoy Mutiny
The Sepoy rebellion took place in 1857. Shri V D Sawarkar referred to the Sepoy Mutiny as the First War of Independence. The 1857 uprising was the initial event of its kind in contemporary India. This uprising spread throughout different areas of North India in opposition to the British. To grasp the reason behind the rebellion, we must be aware of the political and socio-economic conditions in India during that period.
India has been celebrated as a remarkable place since ancient times. India was respected as the realm of Devotion. And served as an important center of education. The lands of India were rich in fertility. Indians possess the skills to create the world’s finest textiles and are specialists in diamond polishing. Naturally, individuals from around the globe arrived in India by land and sea. Sakas, Pahlavas, Kushans, Greeks, Chinese, Arabs, Turks, Mongolians (Mughals), Burmese, Sinhalas, Parsis, and numerous other groups arrived in India across various eras and established it as their home.
However, some might have also come to loot and take India’s riches. No ethnic group or community returned to their homeland after reaching India, except for the Europeans. The British, Portuguese, and French could not integrate into Indian society for various reasons. They remained foreign traders for their whole duration in India. Naturally, Indians must confront this kind of individuals to remove them.
The difference between other immigrants and Europeans is that Europeans exploited India’s natural and human resources, siphoning off wealth from the country, though some advantages existed for Indians as they exported their manufactured goods from India. Conversely, communities like Sakas, Parsis, Turks, and Mongols (Moghuls), among others, have made their home in India, assimilated into society, and enhanced both its cultural and material richness. This contrast must be the likely reason for Indians had to oppose the British and drive them out.
Champions of Hindus
It is important to note that until 1885, after their arrival in 1600, the British served as allies of Hindus and avoided any actions that might upset the religious and cultural sentiments of Indians. They established friendships with both the Hindu and Muslim communities, alongside Hindu Rajahs and Muslim Nawabs.
Moghul Emperors
Every British colony, such as Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay, was founded after obtaining land concessions from the Nawabs and Mughal Emperors. And to fortify their settlement and shield against Dutch or French invasions, they needed to secure approval from the Nawabs or the Mughal Emperor
(I am happy to tell you that I have another website named: Hindu Religion its cultural heritage which have articles on Sanatana Dharma, Hindu culture, Veda Suktas, Devi devata stuti path, Vedas, etc. Make a visit to this website also and read the articles and express your opinion.)
1857 Rebellion
Nevertheless, after Aurangzeb passed away in 1707, the situation changed. (During Aurangzeb’s rule, his four sons died in battles against their father’s generals.) The British started to pay attention to the disputes between regional kingdoms. And started providing military support to the Rajahs and Nawabs. They established subsidiary agreements with local Rajahs and Nawabs, necessitating the respective Rajahs or Nawabs to pay for the maintenance of the British Armies utilized for their service. The payment was occasionally made by Rajahs and Nawabs through granting them the authority to collect taxes in particular regions.
The British had firearms including guns, rifles, and pistols, and subsequently gained the authority to levy taxes. The Rajahs or Nawabs were unaware of the level of taxation the British were demanding from the farmers. As a result, the community would perceive them as leaders. The main aim of the British was not to rule India but to take advantage of it by preventing the French, Portuguese, and Dutch from doing so. The Rajahs and Nawabs were prevented from exploring other options by engaging with traders like the Portuguese, Dutch, or French. Should anyone try it, he would be defeated. For example, in 1799, Tipu Sultan of Mysore was vanquished while getting help from the French in artillery manufacturing.
(Watch my Videos on River Saraswati, सरस्वती नदी, Birth place of Hanuman, Location of Brahmavarta, ब्रह्मावर्त and of course truth about Aryanism, आर्याजाती वाद in my YouTube Channel. )
1857 Rebellion
The rebellion of 1857 occurred, where numerous Rajas and Nawabs, along with Sepoys, revolted against the British East India Company. The main reason is the growing animosity towards the enforcement of the Doctrine of Lapse. Consequently, if a Rajah dies without an heir, his Kingdom will be seized by the British. This principle contradicts the tradition of having a child adopted to preserve their ancestry and lineage among Hindu Indians.
Sepoy Mutiny
Another cause of the rebellion was that the Indian Sepoys hired by the British discovered the Enfield cartridges were coated with pork fat and beef tallow. For Hindu sepoys, contact with beef tallow was not allowed, whereas lard derived from pork was banned for Muslims. This has ignited the revolt against the British by the sepoys. It is interesting to note the rebels freely used the cartridges greesed with beef tallow and pork fat during their revolt.
Mangal Pandey
The spark for the rebellion was lit in Barrackpore near Calcutta on 29 March 1857 when Sepoy Mangal Pandey audaciously declared his revolt against the British commander and fired at him. Ultimately, he tried to end his life but did not succeed. Later, he was captured and put to death by hanging by the British. As a result, the sepoy uprising gained momentum by May 1857.
The rebel sepoys, consisting of Hindu and Muslim troops, advanced to Delhi and proclaimed the ailing Bahadur Shah as the Emperor of India. Many Rajahs and Nawabs took part in the fight against the British. While some did, others did not. This was followed by British retaliation and the extermination of the Moghul lineage, which included the killing of infants.
The struggle between Indians and the British lasted for 18 months, ending in September 1858. Around 6,000 British troops and civilians perished. About 50,000 rebel sepoys were killed by the British. About 100,000 Indian civilians were killed as a result of the British.
Nonetheless, we must exercise caution when determining each participant’s identity in the conflict. When we claim that the British killed 50,000 rebel sepoys, we must acknowledge that, although the British were accountable for the deaths, they were carried out by Indian sepoys who stayed loyal to them. Consequently, the British succeeded in pitting Indians against one another and prevailed in the struggle against them. (At that moment, the sepoys and Indian leaders lacked a Hindu-Muslim division.)
After the Sepoy Mutiny, the British avoided annexing any Indian kingdoms under the Doctrine of Lapse post-1858. In September 1858, the British Crown took over the East India Company. It is significant that in 1877, the United Kingdom’s Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India.
That means the Queen of England was named Empress of India, but not Empress of the UK or England. There are rumors that she was imagining the idea of being Empress like the Russian Empress, a notion that was dismissed by everyone in England. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister of England, Benjamin Disraeli (who was of Jewish descent), satisfied her by designating her as Empress of India. Therefore, the title of Empress was simply a symbolic designation confined to Indian geographical area.
The ailing Moghul Emperor Bahadur Shah was exiled to Rangoon in 1857, where he died in 1862. In 1857, the British wiped out all persons associated with the Moghul emperor, even infants. Consequently, the Mughal dynasty ended in 1862 with the passing of Bahadur Shah. Yet, the British lacked the bravery to relocate their Headquarters from Calcutta to Delhi until 1911.