Question

“Rumours and prophecies played a part in moving the people into action during the revolt of 1857.” Examine the statement with rumours and reasons for its beliefs.

Answer 1

1. During the 1857 revolt, there was an apparent rumour that the Indian sepoys were intentionally given the Enfield rifles, and their bullets were coated with the fat of cows and pigs, and biting those bullets would corrupt their caste and religion.
2. The British tried to explain to the sepoys that this was not the case, but the rumour that the new cartridges were greased with the fat of cows and pigs spread like wildfire across the sepoy lines of North India.
3. This is one rumour whose origin can be traced. Captain Wright, commandant of the Rifle Instruction Depot, reported that in the third week of January 1857, a ‘low-caste’ Khalasi who worked in the magazine in Dum Dum had asked a Brahmin sepoy for a drink of water from his lota. The sepoy had refused, saying that the “lower caste’s” touch would defile the lota. The Khalasi had reportedly retorted, “You will lose your caste, as ere long you will have to bite cartridges covered with the fat of cows and pigs”.
4. The truthfulness of the report had not been identified, but once this rumour started, no amount of assurances from British officers could stop its circulation, and the fear of it spread among the sepoys.
5. There was a rumour that the British government had hatched a gigantic conspiracy to destroy the caste and religion of Hindus and Muslims.
6. These fears stirred men to action. The response to the call for action was reinforced by the prophecy that British rule would come to an end on the centenary of the Battle of Plassey, on 23 June 1857.