History & Civics
Imagine you were present when the rulers of Indian states met at a common place before the Uprising of 1857. Each ruler voiced his grievance against the British. Make a list of the grievances of each of the rulers.
Answer
The grievances of each of the rulers are listed below:
- The Nawab of Awadh was enraged due to the humiliating manner in which he was deposed and Awadh annexed on the pretext of alleged misrule even though he was the first to enter into subsidiary alliance paying the British to defend the kingdom of Awadh.
- Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar and his wife Zeenat Mahal were furious with the British over the announcement that his successors cannot use the Red Fort as their palace and cannot use the imperial titles with their names.
- The rulers of Jhansi, Satara, Jaitpur, Sambalpur, Udaipur and Nagpur were discontent because their kingdoms were annexed by the British using Doctrine of Lapse.
- Nana Saheb the adopted son of Baji Rao II was refused the pension that the British were paying to Baji Rao II. He was forced to live at Kanpur, far away from his family seat at Poona.
- Nawabs of Carnatic and Tanjore were unhappy as their regal titles were taken away.
- The Nizam of Hyderabad, the ruler of Mysore, the Raja of Tanjore, the Sindhia and the Rajput states of Jodhpur, Jaipur, Macheri, Bundi and ruler of Bharatpur have entered into Subsidiary alliance with the British. They were now suspicious of the British and discontent on losing their independence.
Related Questions
Study the picture and answer the following questions:

(a) Who are the persons in the picture? How were they treated by their British counterparts?
(b) State any three grievances they had against the British.
(c) What changes were brought in their status after the Uprising of 1857?
Study the picture and answer the following questions:

(a) Identify the person in the picture. Name the Proclamation made by her in 1858.
(b) Where and by whom was this proclamation made public?
(c) What assurance did this Proclamation give to the Indian people regarding (i) religious freedom and (ii) appointment to public offices?
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.