When People Rebel 1857 And After.

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By- Ms. Chhaya Pattan

Causes of the Revolt of 1857.

• Political Causes

• Economic Causes

• Social Causes

• Military Causes

• Religious Causes

• Immediate Cause.

Political Causes.

• Policy of expansion by imposing subsidiary alliance.

Residents were placed in many courts, freedom of rulers were reduced and Indian armies disbanded and their revenues and territories taken away.

Annexation of Awadh.

Introduction of Doctrine of Lapse .

Illtreatment of Indian rulers and Nawabs-

Deposing Bahadur Shah Zafar from the Red Fort and declaring him as the last Mughal Emperor.

Economic Causes.

• Drain of wealth from India.-The company started using the revenue collected from Indian to buy Indian goods.

• Rigid Methods of revenue collections. The revenue was so high that the peasants had to take loans from moneylenders and found it difficult to repay.

• Growing unemployment due to the decay of textile and handicraft industries.

• Illtreatment of indigo cultivators.

Social Causes

• Interference with social customs-laws were passed to stop the practice of Sati and encourage widow remarriage.

• Policy of racial discrimination- The Indian were not allowed in places wherever the whites went.

• Corruptions in administrations- Indians were never given any higher positions in offices other than clerks.

Military Causes

• Poor service conditions of Indian soldiers. The Indian soldiers were never paid higher than the British soldiers and were not given any allowances.

• Larger proportions of Indian soldiers in the army.

• Indian soldiers were forced to travel by sea which was against their caste.

Introduction of General Service Enlistment Act- According to this Act any Indian soldier who enrolls his name in the army should agree to travel by sea whenever required.

Indian soldiers were also not allowed to wear their religious symbols.

Religious causes

• Activities of Missionaries.- The missionaries were encouraged to spread Christianity in India.

• Fear regarding western education. English language education was promoted.

• Taxes on religious places. If any Indian wished to visit a place of worship or built any temples or mosques , had to pay tax.

• Change in the Hindu Property Act- According to the change if a person who is a Hindu , converts himself to Christianity, he can still inherit his father’s property.

Immediate cause of the revolt.

• An introduction of the new Enfield Rifle sparked the rebellion of 1857.

• The cartridge of this rifle was greased with cow’s and pig’s fat which had to be bitten before loading the bullets in the rifle.This was against the Hindu and Muslim religion.

• On March 29,1857 Mangal Pandey refused to bite the cartridge and led the first attack at Barracpore .

• He was hanged for this reason . His execution angered other Indian soldiers from different parts of the country and sparked the revolt to spread.