![]() When ordered to load their weapons for firing drills, the sepoys refused. It is considered haram (“sinful”) for Muslims to put anything derived from a pig in their mouths, just as it is unacceptable for Hindus to ingest cow fat. When rumors spread among the Indian troops at Meerut that the cartridges and bullets were greased with pork and beef fat, they were outraged. Whenever the grease round the bullet appears to be melted away or otherwise removed from the cartridge, the sides of the bullet should be wetted in the mouth before putting it into the barrel the saliva will serve the purpose of grease for the time being. ![]() The adjutant-general’s official 1856 Instruction of Musketry specified: The rifleman was required to bite off the cartridge’s paper end, pour the powder down the barrel, seat and ram home the bullet, add a percussion cap, bring the hammer to full cock and fire.ĭuring manufacture the cartridges were coated with beeswax and tallow to protect the powder from the elements, and the bullets were greased to ensure a proper seal in the barrel. Each of the weapon’s paper cartridges contained a precise amount of powder and a. The offense for which they had been court-martialed was disobedience-they had refused to load their rifles.įor more than 150 years historians have maintained that India’s first revolt against British rule broke out at least in part over a gun-to be precise, the muzzle-loading Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle-musket. The disgraced soldiers, weeping and begging for mercy, were then marched away to imprisonment at hard labor. On the fourth side of the square 85 sepoys of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry-Muslims and Hindus, many of them veterans with long years of service-stood at attention as their uniform jackets were stripped from them. On May 9, 1857, some 4,000 British soldiers and sepoys-native Indian troops-formed a three-sided hollow square on the parade ground at the Meerut military cantonment, 40 miles northeast of Delhi, to witness punishment. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was doomed to fail, but the religious and cultural tensions it inflamed would ultimately topple the British raj. British-imposed social measures that had antagonized Hindu society (e.g., a proposed bill that would remove legal obstacles to the remarriage of Hindu women) were also halted.Dodging a Bullet: The Indian Rebellion Close The immediate result was that the East India Company was abolished in favour of direct rule of India by the British government in addition, the British government began a policy of consultation with Indians. The ensuing fighting was ferocious on both sides and ended in defeat for the Indian troops. The soldiers were shackled and imprisoned, but their outraged comrades shot their British officers and marched on Delhi. The rebellion began when sepoys refused to use new rifle cartridges, which were thought to be lubricated with grease containing a mixture of pigs’ and cows’ lard and thus religiously impure for Muslims and Hindus. Indian Mutiny, or Sepoy Mutiny or Indian Rebellion of 1857, (1857–58) Widespread rebellion against British rule in India begun by Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the English East India Company. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today. ![]()
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