History & Civics
Study the picture and answer the following questions:
(a) Identify the person in the picture. State briefly his role in the uprising of 1857.
(b) State any three political causes which led to the uprising of 1857.
(c) State two positive and two negative consequences of the uprising of 1857.
Answer
(a) The person in this picture is Mangal Pandey, a Brahmin soldier.
After the introduction of Enfield rifles, when the sepoys refused to accept and use the greased cartridges, the 19th Native Infantry at Berhanpur in Bengal was disbanded as a warning to other regiments.
As a result, Mangal Pandey led an attack on the Adjutant of the 34th Native Infantry at Barrackpore on March 29, 1857. He was executed after a court-martial. For his fellow sepoys, he became a martyr.
(b) Three political causes which led to the uprising of 1857 are-
- Policy of Expansion — The British tried to expand their political power in India by four ways- by outright wars, by the system of Subsidiary Alliance and by adopting the Doctrine of Lapse.
- Disrespect shown to Bahadur Shah — In 1849, Lord Dalhousie announced that successors of Bahadur Shah would not be permitted to use the Red Fort as their palace and later, Lord Canning announced that his successors would not be allowed to use the imperial titles with their names.
- Absentee Sovereignty of the British — India was being ruled by the British government from England, at a distance of thousands of miles. This was resented by the Indians because they felt that they were being ruled from England and India's wealth was being drained to England and not utilised for their welfare.
(c) Two positive consequences of the uprising of 1857
- The East India Company's rule came to an end and India came directly under the governance of the Crown.
- Queen Victoria's proclamation promised to follow the policy of non-intervention in social and religious matters of Indians.
Two negative consequences of the uprising of 1857
- The British started following the policy of 'Divide and Rule' which encouraged the feelings of hatred and ill-will among the Hindus and the Muslims.
- The British dubbed all Indians as unworthy of trust and subjected them to insults and humiliation.
Related Questions
Imagine you were a Subedar in the army hailing from a landed family from Awadh. State the grievances your father had against the British.
There were uprisings against the British in every corner of the country in the nineteenth century. Make a list of the uprisings in your locality and manner in which the imperialists dealt with them.
Suppose the Uprising of 1857 had not taken place when it did. What would have happened then? Do you think India would still have gained Independence later. Why or why not?
India gained independence from the British rule 90 years after the First War of Independence. Why, do you think, it took so long for us to become an independent nation?