Question

"The link between sepoys and the rural peasant folk had important implications in the course of the Revolt of 1857." Elucidate the statement with suitable examples.

Answer 1

During the 1857 revolt, there were close ties between the sepoys and the peasants. This is demonstrated by the following examples:

1. The large majority of the sepoys of the Bengal Army were recruited from the villages of Awadh and eastern Uttar Pradesh.
2. . Many of them were Brahmins or from the “upper” castes. Awadh was, in fact, called the “nursery of the Bengal Army’’.
3. The sepoys and their families communicated frequently, and both parties shared information about what was going on in society.
4. The fears of the sepoys about the new cartridge, their grievances about leave, their grouse about the increasing misbehaviour and racial abuse on the part of their white officers were communicated back to the villages.
5. This link between the sepoys and the rural world had important implications in the course of the uprising. When the sepoys defied their superior officers and took up arms they were joined very swiftly by their brethren in the villages.
6. Everywhere, peasants poured into towns and joined the soldiers and the ordinary people of the towns in collective acts of rebellion.