1857 – The Revolt

1498 Vasco Gama arrives at Calicut. 1608 William Hawkins arrives at Surat and gains trade rights from Akbar. 1612 English set up a trading post at Surat.1615 Sir Thomas Roe ambassador from the court

of James-I met Jahangir. 1640 company set up its establishment at Fort St.George at Madras. Bombay was an item of dowry when Catherine of Braganza married Charles-II in 1661. 1690 company set up its establishment in Calcutta at Fort William. Company had to face a series of war: 1757 (Plassey), 1764 Buxar, Mysore (1760-69,80-84,90-

92,99). During the 17th century the company officials were called as "Nabobs". Warren Hastings first arrived in India in 1750 (Clerk) as a writer for the company. In 1769 he

returned to India in capacity of second member of the Madras council. In 1772 he was appointed as the governor general of Bengal.

Lord Clive earned repute for his victory at Arcot and for that he was sent to solve the problem of Bengal in which he attained success by defeating Siraj ud daula with the help of Mir Jafar. Though he had a failed youth and had attempted for suicide Clive earned honours for his role in India.

In 1765 company gains diwani rights for Bihar, Bengal & Orissa. Hasting & Clive maintained good cordial relations with locals and events like Ram Lila were

promoted. Lord Cornwallis played a decisive role in consolidating the administrative structures of the

company and Indians were mostly kept out of the administration a policy reversal from Hastings era which also was to become one of the causes of the revolt in 1857.He was known for bringing the famous 'British rule of Law'.

Lord Wellesley (1798-1805) won decisive battles against the French and Tipu Sultan. He set up Fort William College in Calcutta in 1802.He went back to become duke of wellington and also defeated Napoleon.

By 1790's EIC was providing 500,000 pounds to the British exchequer and 60 % of it was from Bengal.

Opium a major commodity for trade with China accounted for 15% of total revenues of government of India by 1830.

Thomas Babington Macaulay introduced English education in India and had also drawn up the IPC (Indian Penal Code) which is in use till date in India.

By 1850's Britain was in control of the land from Khyber to Irrawaddy. It was said that the life of an Englishman was limited to two monsoons and the major cause

of this were malaria and cholera. The disconnect of the Englishman from the native started from the nineteenth century the

'Nabobs' became 'Sahibs' and started living in their well defined areas. Native Sepoys got poor pays and their professional growth became very limited to a situation of no professional growth. While the Nabobs of 18th Century heartily adopted native dress and food, the sahibs in nineteenth century refused to have anything native about them.

From 1835 (Akbar shah II father of Bahadur Shah) onwards the company stopped using the Mughal emperor's name on the coins issued by it.

Events leading to Mutiny: Discontent among the native sepoys regarding their pay and profession. Dalhousie's doctrine

of lapse: Nana sahib (Dhondu Pant) of Bithur Kanpur (adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II),Damodar Rao (Adopted son of Gangadhar Rao of Jhansi).Issue of greased cartridges: Loss of caste and faith.Limiting of powers : Kunwar singh of Jagdishpur.

Mutiny 1857: (Lord Canning: Governor General of India) (Commander-in-Chief George Anson till May-1857, Patrick Grant, Colin Campbell from

August 1857) Sepoy number 1446, 5th Company,14th regiment, Native Infantry Mangal Pandey (26 years

old) on 29th March,1857 openly revolted on the issue of cartridges at Barrackpore. He was hanged on 8th April 1857.This many believed ignited the discontent.

On 10th May mutiny at Meerut took place and on 13th May Zafar was proclaimed as the Mughal emperor of India. On 30th May mutiny at Lucknow took place and on 20-23rd May at Agra.

The magistrate of Patna William Taylor arrested all maulvis as a precaution. Zafar wasn't quite aware of the situation (consulted Douglas) and took the throne because

of pressure from the mutineers and Mirza Mogul,Abu Bakr & Bakht Khan were acting as commanders.

Mirza Mogul, Khizr Sultan & Abu Bakr were the prominent sons of Zafar. The mutineers plundered Delhi, Meerut and Agra and put to death many Europeans. John Nicolson and William Hodson (Hodson's Horse) played prominent role in getting back

Delhi in September 1857.Hodson had shot the sons of Zafar at what was called the Khooni Darwaza. After Delhi was recaptured by British extensive massacre took place for which Ghalib commented that it was difficult to find even 1000 Muslims.

James Neill massacred Benares and Allahabad. At Satichaura Ghat Europeans are massacred after wheeler was defeated by Nana Sahib.

Wazir Ali a relative of Zafar leads the mutiny at Patna but was later caught and hanged. Henry Havelock defeats Nana Sahib near Kanpur in July. In November Tope (Ramchandra Pandurang) defeats Windham at Kanpur but was defeated

by Campbell in December. In June 1858 Rani Lakshmi bai killed by Hugh Rose.

Bahadur Shah Zafar's trial began on 27 January 1858 at Diwan-i-Khas and went on for 21 days . Lt. col Dawes tried Zafar and the prosecutor for government was F J Hariot on the charges:

Rebellion against state

For proclaiming himself as the king Wage war against the state Murder of 49 persons of European origin. On 7th October Zafar left Delhi for his exile at Yangoon with Zeenat Mahal. Bahadur Shah Zafar died in Yangoon in 1862.Zeenat Mahal died in Yangoon in 1882.

Nana Sahib escaped to Nepal and was never caught. Tatya Tope was betrayed by Raja Man Singh of Narwar. Begum Hazrat mahal escaped to Nepal. Ahmedullah Shah Maulvi of Faizabad died at Pawayan. Ahsanullah khan persuaded Zafar not to lead the final assault. Nawab of Farukkhabad and Kunwar singh were other prominent figures on the side of the mutineers.