Causes of the War
The causes of the outbreak of the war in 1857,were manifold, These were political, economic, social, religious and military. The unrest was much more intense among the Muslims than among the Hindus. The Muslims had serious grievances against the British rulers, who had deprived them ot their empire. They could not reconcile themselves to the loss of their privileged position in the subcontinent. To this was added the British policy of distrust towards the Muslims.
Political Causes:
Dalhousie's policy inflamed the Muslims. After losing all territories and power, the Mughul Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was receiving pension from the British and his authority was confined only to Red Fort of Delhi. Dalhousie proposed that the imperial title would be discontinued after the death of Bahadur Shah and that his successor would have to vacate the palaces in the Red Fort of Delhi and move to the Qutub Sahib near Delhi. The Mughul Emperor was a symbol of the Muslim glory in the subcontinent. The proposal hurt the sentiments of the Muslims in particular. The feelings of frustration and disaffection were aggravated by the annexation of Awadh, the premier Muslim state. That is why the rebellion assumed a popular character and became an uprising of the princes, landlords, religious leaders and peasants. Likewise, Dalhousie discontinued the pension of Nana Sahib Peshwa's son. This annoyed him a lot and he turned out to be the bitterest enemy of the British.
Economic Causes:
The economic policies of the Company were so designed as to crush local industries, particulerly, silk and cotton textiles. The increase in imported British goods ruined the Indian industries and created unemployment. The peasants also suffered a lot by the imposition of heavy agriculture taxes. Those who could not pay the rent in time, their lands were sold, which was harmful to the landlords as well as the peasants. The result was great poverty.
An important feature of the financial side of the Company's policy was that the Indian tax payer had to pay not only for the administration of its territories and its costly wars of conquest and aggression but also to finance for the handsome dividends to the share-holders of the company. As the money sent from India was not sufficient for this purpose, "there was an increasing debt-called the Public Debt of India-adding to the burdens of the tax-payers who had to pay the interest on these. This is the saddest episode of the financial history of India".
In 1848, Karl Marx had written his Communist Manifesto, and the ideas of European liberalism and radicalism had begun to trickle through the leaders of the subcontinent. Thus there was an atmosphere of fear and distrust and situation became explosive.
Social Causes:
Gross inequalities between Europeans and Indians were a marked feature of social life in the decades preceding the war of independence. The inequality and the imperious attitude of British officers in their dealings with the Indians were the significant element causing disaffectlon which was growing in the various sectors of the population. The British lived apart from the local population in cantonments and civil lines in luxury and comfort. They had numerous servants and attendants. In summer they retired to the cool comtorts of hill stations and sent their children to England for education. The British had no social contact with the local inhabitants. They did not care for their feelings. Tne local population in such an atmosphere regarded the British with dislike and suspicion.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan has rightly laid great emphasis on this racial discrimination. According to him the government and the people governed were like two blocks of stone, one being white and the other black. There was nothing common between them; they belonged to different races, believed in different faiths and had different social customs and practices. Obviously it was dilficult for the native people to be sincere in their loyalty to a foreign government.
Religious Causes:
Another cause of disaffection was the expansion of the activities of the Christian missionaries. In the beginning the Company's government did not encourage them but they were patronized by its religious-minded officers. Subsequently the government changed its policy and appointed chaplains, bishops and arch-bishops. Laws were made to protect the rights of a convert to Christianity to his ançestral property besides being induced to many other temptations of wealth and prestige in the society. Besides opening schools and colleges the missionaries went to Hindu and Muslim fairs to preach Christianity. In addition to missionary schools and colleges the government had also adopted the policy of encouraging western education. The introduction of the English language and education made Indians seared and they feared that they might be converted to Christianity by force or fraud. This naturally produced resentment. The people began to suspect even the beneficial social measures adopted by the government.
Moreover, a common mess was introduced in jail in 1845 for prisoners of all religions, which hurt the feelings of all Indians, belonging to different religious sects.
A certain priest, Father Edmond wrote letters to all Government servants, inviting them to embrace Christianity."
The English permanently interfered in the religious activities of the Hindus and Muslims. Their religious processions were disallowed due to fear of breach of peace. In this connection, a murderous attempt was made on the life of Colonel Colin Mackenzie near Hyderabad Deccan by some Muslim horsemen because he had banned the Muharram procession.
Some of the efforts of the English at the reformation of Indian society were misunderstood by Indian and they rose in revolt. For example, in 1829, Lord William Bentinck abolished sati and declared it as capital offence and passed a law allowing the re-marriage of the Hindu widows. The Hindus suspected this socio-religious reform as trap for the conversion of Hindus to Christianity.
In the same way, the Hindu-widow Re-marriage Bill, passed in 1856 by Lord Dalhousie, was mistaken by the Hindus as an interfercnce in their religion.
Military Causes:
To these were added the grievances of the soldiers serving in the army. There were many unsatisfactory features in the army administration. The salary of an English soldier was far higher than that of a native one. Morale was also low because of the system of promotion by seniority and because able military officers were moved to civilian posts. The local soldiers resented discrimination. The British officers retired at the age of 70 whereas the Indian retired at 55. Their discontentment increased at their involvement in many wars as the constant extension of frontiers required their services in strange and distant lands without extra allowance. This discontentment was greatly intensified when the General Service Enlistment Act, passed in 1856, imposed on them the obligation to serve wherever required. In the wars against Burma and Afghanistan they were required to serve in far away places. Majority of the soldiers were Brahmins and Rajputs. The former were unwilling to croşs the sea and serve outside the subcontinent for fear of losing their caste.
All these factors combined to produce a spirit of general unrest and revolt. A few dispossessed chiefs and religious leaders had secretly prepared the ground for a rising. The cartridge incident spreaded the flame of discontent and activated the revolt. A new kind of rifle, named-Enfield, was introduced in the army in January 1857. Its cartridges were smeared with grease and had to be bItten at one end by the user. It came to be known that this grease was made of fats of cows and pigs.One of them was sacred to the Hindus, the other was forbidden to the Muslims. The high-caste Hindus who were recruited in large numbers to the Company's army were particularly disturbed. By the time the mistake in the cartridges was discovered and orders were issued that the new cartridges should not be used by the Indian regiments, it was too late. Soon it manifested itself in the decisive outhrough Meerut where troops refused to use the cartridges. They were cried and publicly sentenced for a 10 years rigorous imprisonment on 9 May 1857. To add insult to injury they were pubiicly disgraced.
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