Class 12 History Chapter 11 Question Answer | Representations of 1857 | English Medium | ASSEB
Welcome to HSLC Guru. This article provides complete question and answer solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 11 — “Representations of 1857” (NCERT Theme 11: Rebels and the Raj — The Revolt of 1857 and its Representations) for English-medium students under the ASSEB (Assam State School Education Board) higher secondary syllabus. The lesson examines the causes, course, leadership and aftermath of the great uprising of 1857, along with how the rebellion was represented in colonial paintings, photographs and nationalist memory.
About the Chapter
Theme 11 of the NCERT Class 12 History textbook (Themes in Indian History — Part III) studies the Revolt of 1857, the most serious challenge to British rule in nineteenth-century India. The chapter analyses the multiple causes of the rebellion — political annexations, economic exploitation, social and religious interference, and military grievances — and traces its course through the major centres of Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi and Awadh. It also explores how the events of 1857 were “represented” — by British artists, photographers and writers on one side, and by Indian nationalist tradition on the other.
Summary (English)
The Revolt of 1857, also called the First War of Indian Independence or the Great Revolt, broke out on 10 May 1857 at Meerut when sepoys of the East India Company’s army refused to use the new Enfield rifle whose greased cartridges were rumoured to contain cow and pig fat. The rebellion spread rapidly across northern and central India and was the result of accumulated political, economic, social, religious and military grievances. Politically, Lord Dalhousie’s Doctrine of Lapse and the annexation of Awadh in 1856 had alienated rulers and taluqdars. Economically, heavy land revenue, ruin of artisans and commercialisation of agriculture had impoverished peasants and weavers. Socially and religiously, reforms such as the abolition of sati, the Widow Remarriage Act and the activities of Christian missionaries created fears of forced conversion. Militarily, sepoys resented low pay, racial discrimination and overseas service. The cartridge controversy was the immediate spark.
From Meerut, the rebels marched to Delhi and proclaimed the aged Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar as the symbolic leader of Hindustan. At Kanpur, Nana Sahib (the adopted son of the last Peshwa Baji Rao II) led the revolt with his commander Tantia Tope. At Jhansi, Rani Lakshmibai fought heroically against the British and was killed in action at Gwalior in June 1858. In Awadh, Begum Hazrat Mahal placed her young son Birjis Qadr on the throne and led the resistance at Lucknow. Other centres included Bareilly under Khan Bahadur, Faizabad under Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah and Bihar under Kunwar Singh. The British recovered Delhi in September 1857; Bahadur Shah was tried, exiled to Rangoon, and the Mughal dynasty was extinguished. By mid-1858 the British had crushed the rebellion through massive military force, mass executions and exemplary punishments.
The events of 1857 produced a vast body of “representations”. British painters such as Joseph Noel Paton (“In Memoriam”), Thomas Jones Barker (“The Relief of Lucknow”), and Edward Armitage produced heroic images of British rescue and revenge that emphasised the suffering of British women and children and demanded retribution. The Italian-British photographer Felice Beato visited Lucknow and Delhi in 1858 and produced some of the earliest photographs of war, including images of the ruined Sikandar Bagh and the Residency, which circulated widely in Europe. British newspapers and popular literature represented the rebels as cruel, treacherous and barbaric. In contrast, Indian nationalist writers and artists from the late nineteenth century onwards represented 1857 as the First War of Independence, with Rani Lakshmibai, Nana Sahib, Tantia Tope and Bahadur Shah Zafar celebrated as patriotic heroes. The aftermath of the revolt brought decisive change: by the Government of India Act 1858 the East India Company was abolished and India came under direct rule of the British Crown. Queen Victoria’s Proclamation of 1 November 1858 promised religious non-interference, respect for treaties with princely states, and equal treatment of Indians, although these promises were rarely honoured in practice.
সাৰাংশ (Assamese)
১৮৫৭ চনৰ বিদ্ৰোহ বা মহাবিদ্ৰোহক ভাৰতৰ প্ৰথম স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ বুলিও কোৱা হয়। ১৮৫৭ চনৰ ১০ মে’ তাৰিখে মীৰাটত ইংৰাজ কোম্পানীৰ সিপাহীসকলে নতুন এনফিল্ড ৰাইফলৰ চৰ্বিযুক্ত কাৰ্ত্তুজ ব্যৱহাৰ কৰিবলৈ অস্বীকাৰ কৰাৰ পৰাই বিদ্ৰোহৰ আৰম্ভণি হয়। ৰাজনৈতিক কাৰণসমূহৰ ভিতৰত লৰ্ড ডালহৌচীৰ স্বত্ববিলোপ নীতি (Doctrine of Lapse), ১৮৫৬ চনত অৱধ ৰাজ্যৰ অধিগ্ৰহণ আৰু মোগল সাম্ৰাজ্যৰ অৱসানৰ ঘোষণা প্ৰধান। অৰ্থনৈতিকভাৱে ভূমি ৰাজহ ব্যৱস্থা, কৃষক আৰু শিল্পীৰ দুৰৱস্থা; সামাজিক-ধৰ্মীয়ভাৱে সতীদাহ বিলোপ, বিধৱা বিবাহ আইন, খ্ৰীষ্টান মিছনেৰীসকলৰ কাৰ্যকলাপে জনসাধাৰণৰ মাজত ধৰ্ম পৰিৱৰ্তনৰ আশংকা সৃষ্টি কৰিছিল। সামৰিকভাৱে সিপাহীসকলৰ কম দৰমহা, জাতিগত বৈষম্য আৰু সাগৰ পাৰ হোৱাৰ আদেশে অসন্তোষ বঢ়াই তুলিছিল।
মীৰাটৰ পৰা বিদ্ৰোহীসকলে দিল্লীলৈ আগবাঢ়ি গৈ বৃদ্ধ মোগল সম্ৰাট দ্বিতীয় বাহাদুৰ শ্বাহ জাফৰক হিন্দুস্তানৰ সম্ৰাট হিচাপে ঘোষণা কৰে। কানপুৰত নানা ছাহিব আৰু তাঁতিয়া তোপীয়ে, ঝাঁছীত ৰাণী লক্ষ্মীবাইয়ে, অৱধত বেগম হজৰত মহলে নেতৃত্ব দিয়ে। বিহাৰত কুঁৱৰ সিং, ফৈজাবাদত মৌলৱী আহমদুল্লা শ্বাহ আৰু বেৰেলীত খান বাহাদুৰে বিদ্ৰোহৰ সমৰ্থনত যুঁজ দিয়ে। ১৮৫৭ চনৰ ছেপ্টেম্বৰত ইংৰাজে দিল্লী পুনৰ দখল কৰে; বাহাদুৰ শ্বাহক ৰেংগুনলৈ নিৰ্বাসিত কৰি মোগল ৰাজবংশৰ অৱসান ঘটাই দিয়া হয়। ১৮৫৮ চনৰ মাজভাগলৈ ব্ৰিটিছসকলে কঠোৰ দমন নীতিৰে বিদ্ৰোহ দমন কৰে। ১৮৫৮ চনৰ ১ নৱেম্বৰত ৰাণী ভিক্টোৰিয়াৰ ঘোষণাৰ যোগেদি ইষ্ট ইণ্ডিয়া কোম্পানীৰ শাসন অৱসান ঘটি ভাৰত প্ৰত্যক্ষভাৱে ব্ৰিটিছ ৰাজমুকুটৰ অধীনলৈ যায়। ১৮৫৭ চনৰ ঘটনাৱলী ইউৰোপীয় চিত্ৰশিল্প, ফেলিচ বিটোৰ ফটোগ্ৰাফ আৰু পিছৰ ভাৰতীয় জাতীয়তাবাদী সাহিত্যত বিভিন্ন দৃষ্টিকোণৰ পৰা চিত্ৰিত হৈছে।
NCERT Textbook Questions and Answers
1. Why did the mutinous sepoys in many places turn to erstwhile rulers to provide leadership to the revolt?
Answer: The mutinous sepoys turned to former rulers and taluqdars for several reasons. First, the sepoys themselves came largely from peasant backgrounds in Awadh, Bihar and the North-Western Provinces and shared the grievances of these regions where Indian rulers had been recently dispossessed by the British. Second, the sepoys lacked an alternative political vision or organisation; they needed a recognised authority around whom resistance could be rallied. Third, the legitimacy of pre-British rulers was deeply rooted in popular tradition — the Mughal emperor at Delhi, the Peshwa’s adopted son Nana Sahib at Kanpur, the Nawab’s family in Awadh under Begum Hazrat Mahal, and Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi all commanded enormous symbolic prestige. Fourth, by acting in the name of these rulers the rebels sought to give the uprising the character of a war for restoration of legitimate sovereignty, not mere mutiny. Fifth, deposed rulers had their own grievances against British annexation policies and were ready to lead. Thus the sepoys, peasants and dispossessed elites joined hands under traditional symbols of authority to challenge Company rule.
2. Discuss the evidence that indicates planning and coordination on the part of the rebels.
Answer: Several pieces of evidence point to a degree of planning and coordination among the rebels. (i) The simultaneous outbreak of mutiny in different cantonments along similar lines suggests pre-existing communication networks. (ii) The circulation of chapatis from village to village in northern India in early 1857, although mysterious in purpose, was widely interpreted as a signal. (iii) Religious symbols such as the lotus flower passed from hand to hand among sepoys are also mentioned in contemporary accounts. (iv) Sepoys exchanged emissaries between regiments — the 7th Awadh Irregular Cavalry, for example, communicated with regiments at Lucknow and Meerut. (v) The interrogation of Sitaram Baba in 1858 revealed that for several months emissaries had been moving between Lucknow, Cawnpore and Delhi, and that the date of the uprising was being discussed. (vi) Captain Hearsey’s account of his being saved by his sepoys, while another regiment was about to attack, also testifies to consultation among rebels. (vii) The collective march of the Meerut sepoys to Delhi to seek the Mughal emperor’s blessings shows a pre-existing notion of a centre of authority. While planning was not modern or fully centralised, the speed and form of the revolt indicate it was not entirely spontaneous.
3. Discuss the extent to which religious beliefs shaped the events of 1857.
Answer: Religious beliefs shaped the revolt powerfully though they were intertwined with material grievances. The immediate spark — the Enfield rifle cartridges greased with the fat of cows and pigs — outraged both Hindu and Muslim sepoys, since the cow is sacred to Hindus and the pig polluting to Muslims. Beyond this, sepoys feared that the British were systematically attempting to undermine their faith. The activities of Christian missionaries, the social reforms abolishing sati (1829) and permitting widow remarriage (1856), the introduction of English education and the use of public revenues for missionary schools all reinforced the rumour that the Company wished to convert Indians. Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah of Faizabad explicitly preached jihad against the British, and proclamations issued in the name of Bahadur Shah called upon Hindus and Muslims to defend their religions together. Hindu and Muslim rebels fought side by side; the rebels banned cow slaughter in many places to maintain Hindu support. However, religion alone does not explain the revolt — political annexations, economic ruin and military discontent were equally important. Religion provided the language and emotional unity that allowed disparate grievances to find common expression.
4. What were the measures taken to ensure unity between the Hindus and Muslims by the rebels of 1857?
Answer: The rebels of 1857 took several deliberate steps to maintain Hindu–Muslim unity. (i) Proclamations and ishtahars issued in the name of Bahadur Shah Zafar appealed to “Hindustanis”, urging both Hindus and Muslims to unite to defend their religions and country from the firangis. (ii) Cow slaughter was banned in Delhi and other rebel-held areas to respect Hindu sentiments, even during the Bakr-Id festival. (iii) Religious symbols of both communities were honoured publicly; processions and prayers were held jointly. (iv) Hindu and Muslim leaders worked together — Bahadur Shah Zafar (Muslim) was accepted as the symbolic head, while Hindu rajas, taluqdars and Nana Sahib accepted his nominal sovereignty. (v) The proclamations stressed that the British were the common enemy of all faiths, who attacked the dharma of Hindus and the iman of Muslims alike. (vi) Religious leaders such as Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah and Hindu sadhus blessed the same cause. These efforts created an atmosphere of unity remarkable for its time, and they were one reason the British struggled to portray the revolt as a purely Muslim or Hindu affair.
5. In what way did the British conceive of the revolt of 1857 as a war for religion and the British nation?
Answer: The British perceived 1857 as both a war of religion and a war for the British nation. They saw the revolt as a Muslim-led “fanatical” uprising aided by Hindu sepoys deluded by superstition, particularly because of the Mughal symbolism at Delhi and the role of Maulvis. British newspapers, sermons and Parliament represented the rebels as treacherous infidels who had attacked Christian women and children at Kanpur and Lucknow, demanding revenge in the name of God and the Queen. Paintings such as Joseph Noel Paton’s In Memoriam showed Englishwomen praying with their children for divine deliverance. Other paintings such as Thomas Jones Barker’s The Relief of Lucknow depicted Generals Havelock, Outram and Campbell as Christian saviours. Religious revivalist movements within Britain and India intensified the language of crusade. At the same time, the suppression of the revolt was projected as a matter of national honour and racial supremacy: the British nation was duty-bound to punish the rebels, restore order, and reassert the moral superiority of European civilisation. This combination of religious and national language helped justify mass executions, exemplary punishments and the eventual transfer of power from Company to Crown in 1858.
6. How did the taluqdars of Awadh come to be involved in the revolt?
Answer: The taluqdars of Awadh were a class of large landlords who controlled extensive estates with their own forts, retainers and peasants under their protection. The British annexation of Awadh in 1856 on grounds of misgovernment was followed by the Summary Settlement of 1856, which dispossessed many taluqdars of their estates and reassessed land directly with the cultivators. Almost half the total villages held by taluqdars were confiscated. Their armed retainers were disbanded, their forts demolished, and their social authority destroyed. When the sepoys revolted in 1857, the taluqdars saw an opportunity to recover lost estates and restore their power. They mobilised their old armies and peasant followers, joined Begum Hazrat Mahal’s resistance at Lucknow, and contributed both money and men to the uprising. Many of them remained in arms even after the fall of Lucknow in March 1858, prolonging the rebellion in the countryside. Their participation gave the revolt in Awadh its prolonged and broad-based character.
7. What did the British do to protect the interests of those who were converted to Christianity or were willing to convert?
Answer: The British government and the East India Company in the years before 1857 took several measures to protect and encourage converts to Christianity, which alarmed Indians of all religions. (i) The Religious Disabilities Act of 1850 modified Hindu inheritance law so that a Hindu who converted to Christianity did not lose the right to inherit ancestral property. (ii) Christian missionaries were given permission, especially after the Charter Act of 1813, to preach freely throughout the Company’s territories. (iii) Government schools and English education promoted Christian morals; missionary schools received public support. (iv) Native officials and sepoys who converted were granted preferential treatment, promotions and protection in service. (v) Soldiers were sometimes pressured to attend Christian sermons. (vi) Indian Christians and converts in princely states were given British protection. These measures were widely resented and convinced many sepoys and ordinary Indians that Christianity was being imposed by the state, sharpening the religious dimension of the uprising.
8. Why was the revolt particularly widespread in Awadh? What prompted the peasants, taluqdars and zamindars to join the revolt?
Answer: The revolt was unusually widespread and prolonged in Awadh because of the convergence of multiple grievances. (i) The annexation of Awadh in February 1856 by Lord Dalhousie under the charge of misgovernment shocked the people, who deeply revered the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. The exile of the Nawab to Calcutta wounded public sentiment. (ii) The dissolution of the Nawab’s court led to unemployment of musicians, dancers, cooks, retainers, artisans and craftsmen who had depended on royal patronage. (iii) The Summary Settlement of 1856 confiscated nearly half the taluqdars’ estates and disbanded their armies, destroying the existing social order. (iv) Peasants who had earlier paid revenue through taluqdars now faced direct British demands, often higher and more rigid than before; in years of poor harvest they could not pay. (v) The taluqdars who had once protected peasants in difficult years could no longer help, breaking the old patron–client bond. (vi) Many sepoys of the Bengal Army were recruited from Awadh and brought home news of British policies, sharpening discontent. Thus peasants, taluqdars, courtiers, sepoys and townspeople of Awadh found common cause against British rule, making the region the heartland of the rebellion under Begum Hazrat Mahal.
9. What did the rebels want? To what extent did the vision of different social groups differ?
Answer: The rebels of 1857 articulated a broadly negative vision — the expulsion of the British — but their positive aspirations differed across social groups. The proclamations issued from Delhi in the name of Bahadur Shah envisaged the restoration of the Mughal emperor and a return to a pre-British order in which Hindus and Muslims would peacefully coexist. The taluqdars and rajas wanted restoration of their estates, ranks and traditional authority. Peasants wanted lower revenue, abolition of moneylenders’ grip, and protection from rural exploitation; the rebel proclamations promised to remove the burden of high revenue and the oppression of urban moneylenders. Sepoys wanted higher pay, end of racial discrimination, withdrawal of the new cartridges and respect for caste rules. Artisans and weavers wanted relief from competition with cheap British manufactures. Religious leaders like Maulvi Ahmadullah wanted defence of Islam; Hindu pundits wanted defence of dharma. Thus while the unifying call was anti-British, the visions of “freedom” varied — restoration of the old order for elites, agrarian justice for peasants, and religious protection for the masses. This diversity gave the revolt mass support but also limited its ability to formulate a single political programme.
10. Examine any two sources presented in this chapter outlining the way they help in the reconstruction of the events of the revolt.
Answer: Two important categories of sources help reconstruct 1857. First, official British documents — letters, dispatches, mutiny reports, the depositions of rebels recorded by British commissioners (such as the deposition of Sitaram Baba), and the accounts of officers like Charles Ball and Kaye and Malleson. These sources provide detailed chronology, troop movements, casualty figures and rebel proclamations seized by the British. They help reconstruct the official British narrative and yield evidence of rebel coordination, religious appeals and the role of leaders. However, they reflect colonial bias and project the rebels as criminals. Second, visual representations — paintings such as Joseph Noel Paton’s In Memoriam and Thomas Jones Barker’s The Relief of Lucknow, and photographs by Felice Beato of the ruins of Lucknow Residency and Sikandar Bagh. These sources reveal how the events were emotionally and politically remembered in Britain, how British heroism and victimhood were dramatised, and how rebel atrocities were exaggerated. Read critically and against rebel proclamations, popular ballads and later Indian nationalist memoirs, these sources together allow historians to reconstruct not only what happened in 1857 but also how it was represented and contested.
Short Answer Type Questions
1. When and where did the revolt of 1857 begin?
Answer: The Revolt of 1857 began on 10 May 1857 at the Meerut cantonment in the North-Western Provinces, when sepoys of the 3rd Native Cavalry mutinied against the use of greased cartridges and marched to Delhi the next day.
2. What was the Doctrine of Lapse?
Answer: The Doctrine of Lapse was a policy introduced by Lord Dalhousie under which an Indian princely state ruled by a sonless ruler could not be inherited by an adopted son and would lapse to the British. Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur, Sambhalpur and Jaitpur were annexed under this doctrine, creating wide resentment.
3. Who was Bahadur Shah Zafar?
Answer: Bahadur Shah Zafar II was the last Mughal emperor of India. The Meerut sepoys proclaimed him symbolic leader of the 1857 revolt at Delhi. After the British recaptured Delhi in September 1857, he was tried, his sons were executed, and he was exiled to Rangoon (Burma) where he died in 1862.
4. Who was Rani Lakshmibai?
Answer: Rani Lakshmibai was the queen of Jhansi who led the resistance against the British in central India during 1857. After Jhansi fell, she joined Tantia Tope, captured Gwalior and died fighting on horseback at Kotah-ki-Serai near Gwalior on 17 June 1858.
5. Who was Begum Hazrat Mahal?
Answer: Begum Hazrat Mahal was the queen of the deposed Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah. She placed her young son Birjis Qadr on the throne of Awadh in 1857 and led the rebellion at Lucknow. After the British recapture of Lucknow she escaped to Nepal, where she died in 1879.
6. Who were Nana Sahib and Tantia Tope?
Answer: Nana Sahib (Dhondu Pant) was the adopted son of the last Peshwa Baji Rao II. The British refused to recognise his claim to the Peshwa’s pension and he led the revolt at Kanpur. Tantia Tope was his loyal commander and one of the most able military leaders of 1857; he was captured and hanged in April 1859.
7. Who was Felice Beato?
Answer: Felice Beato was an Italian-British photographer who travelled to India in 1858 and photographed the ruins of Lucknow Residency, Sikandar Bagh and Delhi after the suppression of the revolt. His photographs are among the earliest war photographs and shaped European perceptions of 1857.
8. What was the immediate cause of the revolt of 1857?
Answer: The immediate cause was the introduction of the new Enfield rifle whose greased cartridges were rumoured to contain the fat of cows (sacred to Hindus) and pigs (forbidden to Muslims). Sepoys had to bite the cartridges before loading, which was felt to defile their religion.
9. What was the Queen’s Proclamation of 1858?
Answer: Queen Victoria’s Proclamation of 1 November 1858 announced the transfer of administration from the East India Company to the British Crown. It promised non-interference in religion, recognition of treaties with princely states, equal opportunity for Indians in government service, and a general amnesty to rebels except those guilty of murder of Europeans.
10. Who was Mangal Pandey?
Answer: Mangal Pandey was a sepoy of the 34th Native Infantry at Barrackpore who attacked his British officers on 29 March 1857 in protest against the greased cartridges. He was hanged on 8 April 1857. His act is regarded as one of the symbolic openings of the revolt.
11. What was the role of the chapati in the revolt?
Answer: Chapatis circulated mysteriously from village to village in northern India in early 1857, with chowkidars passing them on. The British believed they were a coded signal for the coming uprising. Their exact purpose remains debated, but they came to symbolise the secret communication networks that preceded the revolt.
12. Who was Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah?
Answer: Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah of Faizabad was an Islamic scholar who preached jihad against the British and led the revolt in Faizabad and Awadh. He was killed in June 1858 by the Raja of Powayan who claimed a British reward.
13. What is meant by “Subsidiary Alliance”?
Answer: Subsidiary Alliance was a system devised by Lord Wellesley (1798) under which an Indian state had to maintain a British force on its territory and pay for it, accept a British Resident, and conduct foreign relations only through the British. It was used to bring states like Hyderabad, Awadh and Mysore under indirect British control.
14. Why is 1857 called the “First War of Indian Independence”?
Answer: Indian nationalist writers, especially V.D. Savarkar in his 1909 book The Indian War of Independence, 1857, argued that the rebellion was the first organised, mass attempt across regions and communities to overthrow British rule and re-establish Indian sovereignty. They saw it as a war for swaraj and swadharma, hence “First War of Independence”.
15. Who was Kunwar Singh?
Answer: Kunwar Singh was a 75-year-old zamindar of Jagdishpur in Bihar who led the revolt in his region with great courage. He fought several engagements against the British and died of wounds in April 1858 shortly after a victorious skirmish.
Long Answer Type Questions
1. Discuss the political, economic, social, religious and military causes of the Revolt of 1857.
Answer: The Revolt of 1857 was the product of a hundred years of accumulating grievances against British rule.
Political causes: Lord Wellesley’s Subsidiary Alliance and Lord Dalhousie’s Doctrine of Lapse annexed numerous Indian states. Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur, Sambalpur and Jaitpur lapsed for want of natural heirs. Awadh was annexed in 1856 on the charge of misgovernment, deeply offending the people. The Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was told that his successors would not retain the title or reside in the Red Fort. Nana Sahib was denied his adoptive father’s pension. Such policies alienated rulers, courtiers and the populace.
Economic causes: Heavy and rigid land revenue assessments under the Permanent Settlement in Bengal and the Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems elsewhere ruined peasants. The Inam Commission in the Bombay Presidency confiscated estates. Indian artisans and weavers lost their livelihoods to cheap British factory goods imported through Free Trade after 1813. India was reduced to a supplier of raw materials and a market for British manufactures. Famine, indebtedness and the rise of moneylenders devastated rural society.
Social and religious causes: Reforms such as the abolition of sati (1829), the legalisation of widow remarriage (1856), the Religious Disabilities Act (1850), the introduction of English education and the activities of Christian missionaries created the fear that the British were destroying Indian religions and customs. The freedom granted to converts to inherit ancestral property reinforced this anxiety.
Military causes: Indian sepoys received much lower pay than British soldiers and were denied promotion above the rank of subedar. The General Service Enlistment Act of 1856 required sepoys to serve overseas, which violated caste rules. Sepoys had to wear leather belts and use cartridges that they believed were polluted. The withdrawal of the foreign service allowance (bhatta) for sepoys in Awadh after annexation added economic injury.
Immediate cause: The greased Enfield cartridges with cow and pig fat finally lit the fire on 10 May 1857. Together these political, economic, social, religious and military forces produced the great rebellion.
2. Describe the major centres of the Revolt of 1857 and their leaders.
Answer: The Revolt of 1857 spread across northern and central India through several major centres.
(i) Meerut — Where the revolt began on 10 May 1857. Sepoys of the 3rd Native Cavalry refused the cartridges, broke open the prison, killed British officers and marched to Delhi.
(ii) Delhi — The Meerut sepoys reached Delhi on 11 May and proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar emperor of Hindustan. General Bakht Khan and other commanders organised resistance. The British recaptured Delhi after a long siege on 20 September 1857; Bahadur Shah was tried and exiled.
(iii) Kanpur — Nana Sahib was proclaimed Peshwa on 5 June 1857. With Tantia Tope as his commander, he besieged the British garrison and after their surrender executed many. The British under Sir Hugh Wheeler and later General Havelock recaptured Kanpur in July 1857.
(iv) Lucknow — Begum Hazrat Mahal placed her son Birjis Qadr on the throne. The siege of the British Residency lasted from June to November 1857 and the city was finally retaken by Sir Colin Campbell in March 1858.
(v) Jhansi — Rani Lakshmibai led the resistance from June 1857. She defended Jhansi heroically against Sir Hugh Rose, escaped to Kalpi and Gwalior, and died fighting on 17 June 1858.
(vi) Bihar (Jagdishpur) — Kunwar Singh led the revolt at the age of 75 with great skill, dying of wounds in April 1858.
(vii) Faizabad and Bareilly — Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah at Faizabad and Khan Bahadur Khan at Bareilly led local revolts. (viii) Allahabad and Banaras — saw mutinies suppressed by Colonel Neill with great brutality. By mid-1858 the British had recovered control everywhere.
3. Explain how the events of 1857 were represented in British paintings, photographs and writings.
Answer: The Revolt of 1857 produced a vast body of representations in Britain, designed to mobilise public opinion in favour of brutal suppression and continued imperial rule.
(i) Paintings: Joseph Noel Paton’s painting In Memoriam (1858) showed Englishwomen and children huddled together in fear of the rebels at Kanpur, evoking sympathy for the supposed innocent victims. Later versions of the painting replaced the rebels with Highland soldiers arriving as rescuers, suggesting redemption. Thomas Jones Barker’s The Relief of Lucknow (1859) showed Generals Henry Havelock, James Outram and Colin Campbell as triumphant Christian heroes liberating the British garrison. Edward Armitage’s Retribution (1858) depicted Britannia as a powerful female figure punishing a tiger (representing rebellion). These paintings glorified British heroism and demonised the rebels.
(ii) Photographs: Felice Beato photographed the ruins of the Lucknow Residency, Sikandar Bagh and Delhi soon after the suppression. His images, including bodies of executed sepoys at Sikandar Bagh, gave Europeans their first photographic record of war and reinforced the image of “fanatical” rebels and “civilised” British retribution.
(iii) Newspapers and Literature: British newspapers like The Times and the Illustrated London News published lurid accounts of rebel atrocities, especially the killing of women at Bibighar in Kanpur. Charles Ball, J.W. Kaye and G.B. Malleson wrote multi-volume histories that justified British rule. Charles Dickens spoke of the need for retribution; Tennyson wrote a poem on the defence of Lucknow.
(iv) Cartoons and prints: Punch magazine and other illustrated journals carried satirical images presenting Indian rebels as treacherous and the British as heroic protectors of women and Christianity. These representations served not as neutral records but as propaganda that legitimised colonial revenge and the transfer of Indian governance to the British Crown.
4. What were the consequences of the Revolt of 1857?
Answer: The Revolt of 1857 was suppressed by mid-1858, but its consequences transformed British rule in India.
(i) End of Company rule: By the Government of India Act 1858, the East India Company was abolished and the administration of India was transferred to the British Crown. The President of the Board of Control was replaced by the Secretary of State for India.
(ii) Queen’s Proclamation: Queen Victoria’s Proclamation of 1 November 1858, read at Allahabad by Lord Canning, promised non-interference in religion, respect for the rights and dignity of Indian princes, equal employment opportunity, and a general amnesty.
(iii) End of Mughal dynasty: Bahadur Shah Zafar was tried, his sons were shot, and he was exiled to Rangoon, ending the 332-year Mughal dynasty.
(iv) Reorganisation of the army: The proportion of European to Indian troops was raised. Recruitment shifted to “martial races” of Punjab, Nepal and the North-West and away from Awadh and Bihar. Artillery was kept in British hands. The Bengal Army was virtually rebuilt.
(v) Policy towards princes: Annexation through the Doctrine of Lapse was abandoned and Indian rulers were assured of their right to adopt heirs, in return for loyalty.
(vi) Religious and social policy: The British became cautious about reform and avoided open interference with religion, fearing another revolt.
(vii) Racial divide: Distrust between British and Indians deepened. Racial segregation grew in social and official life.
(viii) Birth of nationalism: Despite suppression, the revolt gave Indians a memory of united resistance that inspired the later national movement; leaders like Bahadur Shah Zafar, Rani Lakshmibai and Tantia Tope became symbols of patriotic struggle.
5. Discuss the importance of Awadh in the Revolt of 1857.
Answer: Awadh was the heartland of the Revolt of 1857. Annexed by Lord Dalhousie in February 1856 on grounds of misgovernment, Awadh provided the bulk of sepoys to the Bengal Army and possessed a powerful taluqdari class with armed retainers. Three layers of society had simultaneous grievances. The royal court was destroyed when Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was exiled to Calcutta; the dissolution of the court ruined a wide range of dependents — musicians, dancers, cooks, retainers, weavers, courtesans and craftsmen. The Summary Settlement of 1856 stripped taluqdars of nearly half their estates and disbanded their forces. Peasants, who had once depended on the taluqdars for protection in lean years, now faced the cold mechanism of British revenue collectors and moneylenders. When sepoys raised the standard of revolt, the taluqdars and peasants joined together. Begum Hazrat Mahal placed her son Birjis Qadr on the throne and led the resistance; Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah preached jihad. The siege of the British Residency at Lucknow lasted nearly half a year. Even after the city fell to Sir Colin Campbell in March 1858, taluqdars carried on guerrilla resistance for many months, making Awadh the most prolonged and broad-based theatre of the rebellion.
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
1. The Revolt of 1857 began on:
(a) 29 March 1857
(b) 10 May 1857
(c) 11 May 1857
(d) 1 November 1858
Answer: (b) 10 May 1857
2. The revolt began at:
(a) Delhi
(b) Lucknow
(c) Meerut
(d) Kanpur
Answer: (c) Meerut
3. The Doctrine of Lapse was introduced by:
(a) Lord Wellesley
(b) Lord Dalhousie
(c) Lord Canning
(d) Lord Cornwallis
Answer: (b) Lord Dalhousie
4. Awadh was annexed by the British in:
(a) 1853
(b) 1854
(c) 1855
(d) 1856
Answer: (d) 1856
5. The last Mughal emperor was:
(a) Akbar Shah II
(b) Bahadur Shah Zafar
(c) Shah Alam II
(d) Aurangzeb
Answer: (b) Bahadur Shah Zafar
6. Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled to:
(a) Andaman
(b) Singapore
(c) Rangoon
(d) London
Answer: (c) Rangoon
7. The leader of the revolt at Kanpur was:
(a) Tantia Tope
(b) Nana Sahib
(c) Rani Lakshmibai
(d) Kunwar Singh
Answer: (b) Nana Sahib
8. Rani Lakshmibai was the queen of:
(a) Gwalior
(b) Awadh
(c) Jhansi
(d) Bareilly
Answer: (c) Jhansi
9. Begum Hazrat Mahal led the revolt at:
(a) Delhi
(b) Kanpur
(c) Bareilly
(d) Lucknow
Answer: (d) Lucknow
10. The leader of the revolt in Bihar was:
(a) Tantia Tope
(b) Kunwar Singh
(c) Maulvi Ahmadullah
(d) Bakht Khan
Answer: (b) Kunwar Singh
11. Mangal Pandey was a sepoy at:
(a) Meerut
(b) Barrackpore
(c) Kanpur
(d) Lucknow
Answer: (b) Barrackpore
12. The greased cartridges were used in the:
(a) Brown Bess musket
(b) Enfield rifle
(c) Lee-Enfield rifle
(d) Snider rifle
Answer: (b) Enfield rifle
13. Queen Victoria’s Proclamation was issued on:
(a) 10 May 1857
(b) 1 November 1858
(c) 20 September 1857
(d) 18 March 1858
Answer: (b) 1 November 1858
14. Felice Beato is famous for:
(a) Paintings of Lucknow
(b) Photographs of 1857
(c) Histories of the Mughals
(d) Maps of India
15. The painting “In Memoriam” was made by:
(a) Thomas Jones Barker
(b) Joseph Noel Paton
(c) Edward Armitage
(d) Charles Ball
Answer: (b) Joseph Noel Paton
16. The painting “The Relief of Lucknow” was made by:
(a) Thomas Jones Barker
(b) Joseph Noel Paton
(c) Edward Armitage
(d) Felice Beato
Answer: (a) Thomas Jones Barker
17. The book The Indian War of Independence, 1857 was written by:
(a) Surendranath Banerjee
(b) V.D. Savarkar
(c) Bipan Chandra
(d) R.C. Majumdar
Answer: (b) V.D. Savarkar
18. The British recovered Delhi in:
(a) July 1857
(b) September 1857
(c) March 1858
(d) June 1858
Answer: (b) September 1857
19. The Government of India Act, 1858 transferred Indian administration to:
(a) The East India Company
(b) The British Crown
(c) The Indian princes
(d) Parliament
Answer: (b) The British Crown
20. Lord Canning read the Queen’s Proclamation at:
(a) Delhi
(b) Calcutta
(c) Allahabad
(d) Lucknow
Answer: (c) Allahabad
21. The Nawab of Awadh deposed in 1856 was:
(a) Asaf-ud-Daula
(b) Saadat Ali Khan
(c) Wajid Ali Shah
(d) Birjis Qadr
Answer: (c) Wajid Ali Shah
22. The General Service Enlistment Act, which required overseas service, was passed in:
(a) 1813
(b) 1833
(c) 1856
(d) 1858
Answer: (c) 1856
23. The British general who relieved Lucknow was:
(a) Henry Havelock
(b) Colin Campbell
(c) Hugh Rose
(d) James Neill
Answer: (b) Colin Campbell
24. Tantia Tope was captured and hanged in:
(a) 1857
(b) 1858
(c) 1859
(d) 1860
Answer: (c) 1859
25. The Subsidiary Alliance was introduced by:
(a) Lord Cornwallis
(b) Lord Wellesley
(c) Lord Dalhousie
(d) Lord Bentinck
Answer: (b) Lord Wellesley
Major Centres of the Revolt of 1857 and their Leaders
| Centre | Leader(s) | British Suppressor | Date of Recapture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi | Bahadur Shah Zafar; General Bakht Khan | John Nicholson; Archdale Wilson | 20 September 1857 |
| Kanpur | Nana Sahib; Tantia Tope | Sir Hugh Wheeler; Henry Havelock | July – December 1857 |
| Lucknow | Begum Hazrat Mahal; Birjis Qadr | Henry Havelock; Colin Campbell | March 1858 |
| Jhansi | Rani Lakshmibai | Sir Hugh Rose | April 1858 (Gwalior June 1858) |
| Bareilly | Khan Bahadur Khan | Sir Colin Campbell | May 1858 |
| Faizabad | Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah | Brigadier Hope Grant | June 1858 |
| Bihar (Jagdishpur) | Kunwar Singh; Amar Singh | Sir Edward Lugard | April – October 1858 |
| Allahabad / Banaras | Local sepoys | Colonel James Neill | June 1857 |
Key Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sepoy | An Indian soldier in the service of the East India Company. |
| Subsidiary Alliance | A system devised by Lord Wellesley in 1798 under which an Indian state had to maintain a British military force at its expense and accept a British Resident. |
| Doctrine of Lapse | Lord Dalhousie’s policy under which an Indian state without a natural male heir would lapse to the British, ignoring adopted heirs. |
| Taluqdar | A landed magnate of Awadh who collected revenue from villages on behalf of the Nawab and maintained his own armed retainers. |
| Mahal | A revenue estate or village under the Mahalwari settlement. |
| Bibighar | The house in Kanpur where British women and children were killed in July 1857; site of British retribution. |
| Sikandar Bagh | A walled garden in Lucknow where British forces killed about 2,000 sepoys in November 1857; later photographed by Felice Beato. |
| Ishtahar | A proclamation issued by rebel leaders during 1857 calling on Hindus and Muslims to unite against the British. |
| Firangi | A term used by Indians of the time to refer to Europeans, especially the British. |
| Bhatta | The foreign service allowance given to sepoys for service outside their native region; its withdrawal in Awadh caused resentment. |
| Queen’s Proclamation | The proclamation of 1 November 1858 announcing the transfer of Indian administration from the East India Company to the British Crown. |
| Representations | The various ways — paintings, photographs, writings, ballads — in which the events of 1857 were portrayed and remembered. |
This article is part of HSLC Guru’s complete English-medium ASSEB Class 12 History question-answer series. For more chapters, visit hslcguru.com.