(My continuing next in the Series of narration from Dalrymple's "Last Mughal" retold in my own words)
The Sepoy Mutiny or the First War of Indian Independence was a fight between a bunch of disgruntled employees Sepoys who took up arms against their employer, the British East India Company. There was more religious angle to the fight than any kind of nationalism involved in it. It was mostly Indians vs Indians, one led by the British Army ultimately achieving the victory by successfully pitting one set of natives against the other.
British ruled India with the support of the majority of Indians. Their army which defeated the Upper caste Hindu and Muslim dominated PURBAIYAs (Easterners from modern day UP and Bihar) was overwhelmingly dominated by Indians, consisting of Gurkhas, Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims. Sikhs had no qualms about slitting the throats of the captured Hindus Sepoys while they fought along the side of Punjabi Muslims. Both Sikhs and Muslims in British Army had a history of strong hatred against each other. Their Holy warriors, Sikh NIHAANGs and Muslim JIHADI GHAZIs ( suicide squads) were at perpetual loggerheads at each others throat. Yet the British managed to mould them together into a single unit for a common cause to get rid of the Sepoys.
The smart British were impressed by the prowess of the Sikhs who by then were transformed into a battle tested race under the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Nothing motivated the SARDARs (as Sikhs are called) more than the opportunity to take the revenge against the descendants of Mughals, especially Aurangzeb who killed their Gurus. The Englishmen took full advantage of it, though the current occupant of the Mughal throne Bahadur Shah Jaffer was far from Aurangzeb type. Jaffer was secular, far from a JIHADI (hardliner) type. The last Mughal's mother was a Hindu. Celebration of Holi and Diwali was a common event under his tutelage.
Interestingly for the religious minded Indians, the Sepoy Mutiny was fuelled by couple of rumors. The first one we all know and there was some truth in it. It was the British attempt at conversion to Christianity which fermented agitation amongst the religious minded natives for whom losing their religion or caste was tantamount to a total loss of identity. Not to mention the supposedly beef and pork fat laced cartridges which the Sepoys were forced to bite - not biting the vehement denial of the animal fat by their English Officers.
The second rumor was completely baseless. It was the widespread notion of an astrological prediction that the East India Company was destined to rule India no more than 100 years. That fateful year of mutiny was 1857, exactly100 years after Robert Clive's victory over Bengal's Siraj Ud Daula in 1757 to cement the British authority in India.
There was no basis to believe this in this 100 year prediction. But belief in Astrology is well ingrained in Indian mindset. During the 1803 Maratha war against the British, the Peshwa was advised by his astrologers to procrastinate attack on the British positions before until the arrival of an auspicious moment favored by stars. As the Peshwa dilly dallied, the English used that invaluable time to surround the Maratha fort, preventing any communication from outside. This blockage led to a shortage of food inside the fort where the Maratha army was ensconced. The hungry and desperate Maratha soldiers were forced to kill their horse and eat them. British never consulted any astrologer and easily defeated the starving Marathas. Yet our natives believed in the 100 year deadline of English rule set by the soothsayers.
There are many such astrology based rumors ruled the roost during those days of revolt, almost all fortune tellers foresaw the end of British Empire. The Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah, though skeptic of the Sepoys withstanding the British on long run was partly motivated by one his court astrologers predicted a comeback of Mughals at the expense of the British.
(Another instance from history of strong belief in astrology was that of Narayan Apte, the accomplish of Nathuram Godse who killed Mahatma Gandhi. Apte believed that he is destined to live long and his death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment in the last moment. While Nathuram Godse had no such belief and walked nonchalantly to the gallows, Narayan Apte fell twice and has to be helped standing straight before the hangman put the noose around his neck).
There were many elites of Delhi, both from Hindu and Muslim communities who strongly believed in this astrological prediction of the end of the British Empire and stuck to their locations inside the city, even the Company's army was on rampage, indiscriminately killing and ransacking their neighborhoods. Finally when they were caught while trying to flee and were either shot dead or their bodies decorated the hanging podiums, it is not clear if they carried their belief of astrology until their last breath. More later...
The Sepoy Mutiny or the First War of Indian Independence was a fight between a bunch of disgruntled employees Sepoys who took up arms against their employer, the British East India Company. There was more religious angle to the fight than any kind of nationalism involved in it. It was mostly Indians vs Indians, one led by the British Army ultimately achieving the victory by successfully pitting one set of natives against the other.
British ruled India with the support of the majority of Indians. Their army which defeated the Upper caste Hindu and Muslim dominated PURBAIYAs (Easterners from modern day UP and Bihar) was overwhelmingly dominated by Indians, consisting of Gurkhas, Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims. Sikhs had no qualms about slitting the throats of the captured Hindus Sepoys while they fought along the side of Punjabi Muslims. Both Sikhs and Muslims in British Army had a history of strong hatred against each other. Their Holy warriors, Sikh NIHAANGs and Muslim JIHADI GHAZIs ( suicide squads) were at perpetual loggerheads at each others throat. Yet the British managed to mould them together into a single unit for a common cause to get rid of the Sepoys.
The smart British were impressed by the prowess of the Sikhs who by then were transformed into a battle tested race under the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Nothing motivated the SARDARs (as Sikhs are called) more than the opportunity to take the revenge against the descendants of Mughals, especially Aurangzeb who killed their Gurus. The Englishmen took full advantage of it, though the current occupant of the Mughal throne Bahadur Shah Jaffer was far from Aurangzeb type. Jaffer was secular, far from a JIHADI (hardliner) type. The last Mughal's mother was a Hindu. Celebration of Holi and Diwali was a common event under his tutelage.
Interestingly for the religious minded Indians, the Sepoy Mutiny was fuelled by couple of rumors. The first one we all know and there was some truth in it. It was the British attempt at conversion to Christianity which fermented agitation amongst the religious minded natives for whom losing their religion or caste was tantamount to a total loss of identity. Not to mention the supposedly beef and pork fat laced cartridges which the Sepoys were forced to bite - not biting the vehement denial of the animal fat by their English Officers.
The second rumor was completely baseless. It was the widespread notion of an astrological prediction that the East India Company was destined to rule India no more than 100 years. That fateful year of mutiny was 1857, exactly100 years after Robert Clive's victory over Bengal's Siraj Ud Daula in 1757 to cement the British authority in India.
There was no basis to believe this in this 100 year prediction. But belief in Astrology is well ingrained in Indian mindset. During the 1803 Maratha war against the British, the Peshwa was advised by his astrologers to procrastinate attack on the British positions before until the arrival of an auspicious moment favored by stars. As the Peshwa dilly dallied, the English used that invaluable time to surround the Maratha fort, preventing any communication from outside. This blockage led to a shortage of food inside the fort where the Maratha army was ensconced. The hungry and desperate Maratha soldiers were forced to kill their horse and eat them. British never consulted any astrologer and easily defeated the starving Marathas. Yet our natives believed in the 100 year deadline of English rule set by the soothsayers.
There are many such astrology based rumors ruled the roost during those days of revolt, almost all fortune tellers foresaw the end of British Empire. The Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah, though skeptic of the Sepoys withstanding the British on long run was partly motivated by one his court astrologers predicted a comeback of Mughals at the expense of the British.
(Another instance from history of strong belief in astrology was that of Narayan Apte, the accomplish of Nathuram Godse who killed Mahatma Gandhi. Apte believed that he is destined to live long and his death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment in the last moment. While Nathuram Godse had no such belief and walked nonchalantly to the gallows, Narayan Apte fell twice and has to be helped standing straight before the hangman put the noose around his neck).
There were many elites of Delhi, both from Hindu and Muslim communities who strongly believed in this astrological prediction of the end of the British Empire and stuck to their locations inside the city, even the Company's army was on rampage, indiscriminately killing and ransacking their neighborhoods. Finally when they were caught while trying to flee and were either shot dead or their bodies decorated the hanging podiums, it is not clear if they carried their belief of astrology until their last breath. More later...
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