Names of the Indian Rebellion of 1857

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The Indian Rebellion of 1857 has been variously termed as a war of independence, a rebellion, and a mutiny. Several Indian writers, who consider it as a part of the Indian independence movement that ultimately led to the country's independence in 1947, have termed it as "The First War of Independence", the "great revolution", the "great rebellion", and the "Indian freedom struggle". Several British writers, who view it as a military disturbance, have termed it as "sepoy revolt", "sepoy war", "Indian rebellion", and the "great revolt". Since the 19th century, a section of British writers have challenged the choice of the word "mutiny" to describe the events. [1]

Contents

British nomenclature

The British and colonial press, along with contemporary Europeans, referred to the events under a number of titles, the most common being the Sepoy Mutiny and the Indian Mutiny. [2] [3] [4] Contemporary anti-imperialists viewed those terms as propaganda and pushed to characterise the uprising as more than just the actions of mutinous native soldiers. At the time, they used the term Indian Insurrection in the British and colonial press. [5] Karl Marx was the first Western scholar to call the events of 1857 a "national revolt", [6] [7] although he used the term Sepoy Revolt to describe them. [8]

Indian nomenclature

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar first used the term War of Independence to describe the 1857 uprising in his 1909 book The History of the War of Indian Independence , which was originally written in Marathi. [8] However, Savarkar did not use the word "first" in his original book. The word "first" appeared first in an edition of Savarkar's book that was published in 1945 in Kuala Lumpur during the Japanese occupation. The edition, titled The Volcano, or The First War of Indian Independence, was published by the Indian National Army (INA) and the Japanese Ministry of Propaganda. Although Karl Marx never used the term "war of independence" to describe the events of 1857–1859, a volume containing Karl Marx's New York Tribune articles on the topic was published in 1959 in Moscow under the title The First Indian War of Independence 1857–1859. This English-language volume was based on a Russian-language edition, whose title does not include the word "first" either. It is possible that the title of the Russian edition was inspired by Savarkar's book, although some later writers wrongly state that the term was coined by Karl Marx. [9]

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, insisted on using the term First War of Independence to refer to the events of 1857–1859, and the terminology was adopted by the Government of India. [10]

Some South Indian historians have opposed the use of the term First War of Independence by the Government to describe the 1857 uprising, and have unsuccessfully taken the issue to the court. [11] These historians insist that several other anti-British uprisings in South India, such as the Vellore Mutiny in 1806, had preceded the 1857 revolt and should be called the First War of Indian Independence. In 2006, when the Indian postal department issued a postal stamp to commemorate the Vellore Mutiny of 1806, M. Karunanidhi, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, said that the move had given "due recognition" to India's "first war of independence". [12]

Some Sikh groups have also opposed the use of the term. They insist that the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845–46)should be called the First War of Independence instead, although other localised wars against the British had taken place previously, such as the First Anglo-Maratha War and the First Anglo-Mysore War. Nonetheless, in May 2007, the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal and three other MPs from Punjab protested against the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the 1857 revolt over this issue. [13]

Some Indian writers also insist that none of the armed uprisings against the British in India, including the 1857 uprising, should be termed as a "war of independence" since they were neither national in nature nor motivated mainly by nationalist sentiment and in fact involved only a minority of people or soldiers. [11] [14]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutiny</span> Disobeying of superiors

Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, but it can also sometimes mean any type of rebellion against any force. Mutiny does not necessarily need to refer to a military force and can describe a political, economic, or power structure in which subordinates defy superiors.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vinayak Damodar Savarkar</span> Indian political activist and writer (1883–1966)

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was an Indian politician, activist and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while confined at Ratnagiri in 1922. He was a leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha. The prefix "Veer" has been applied to his name by his followers.

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Events in the year 1857 in India.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bakht Khan</span> Indian military officer

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Historians have identified diverse political, economic, military, religious and social causes of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

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<i>The Indian War of Independence</i> (book) 1909 history book by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

The Indian War of Independence is an Indian nationalist history of the 1857 revolt by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar that was first published in 1909.

Abhinav Bharat Society (Young India Society) was an Indian Independence secret society founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother Ganesh Damodar Savarkar in 1904. Initially founded at Nasik as "Mitra Mela", the society grew to include several hundred revolutionaries and political activists with branches in various parts of India, extending to London after Savarkar went to study law. It carried out a few assassinations of British officials, after which the Savarkar brothers were convicted and imprisoned. The society was formally disbanded in 1952.

The Indian War of Independence may refer to

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vellore Mutiny</span> 1806 revolt against the East India Company

The Vellore mutiny, or Vellore Revolution, occurred on 10 July 1806 and was the first instance of a large-scale and violent mutiny by Indian sepoys against the East India Company, predating the Indian Rebellion of 1857 by half a century. The revolt, which took place in the Indian city of Vellore, lasted one full day, during which mutineers seized the Vellore Fort and killed or wounded 200 British troops. The mutiny was subdued by cavalry and artillery from Arcot. Total deaths amongst the mutineers were approximately 350; with summary executions of about 100 during the suppression of the outbreak, followed by the formal court-martial of smaller numbers.

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a significant uprising against British colonial rule in India from 1857 to 1858. It was directed against the authority of the British East India Company, which acted as a self-governing autonomous entity on behalf of the British Crown. Indian Muslim soldiers, known as sepoys, were instrumental in igniting the rebellion, driven by rumors that the cartridges for their rifles were greased with Pork fat, which offended their islamic religious beliefs. In regions such as Awadh, Delhi, Bihar, and Bengal, Muslim leaders emerged as key figures in the uprising. Prominent Indian muslim figures like Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor, and Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah led significant uprisings against the British, symbolizing a desire for the restoration of Muslim political power.

References

  1. ↑ Frith, Nicola (2014). The French Colonial Imagination: Writing the Indian Uprisings, 1857–1858, from Second Empire to Third Republic. Lexington Books. pp. 28–29. ISBN   978-0-7391-8001-3.
  2. ↑ "Indian History – British Period – First war of Independence".
  3. ↑ "Il y a cent cinquante ans, la révolte des cipayes". 1 August 2007.
  4. ↑ German National Geographic article Archived 2005-05-03 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ The Empire, Sydney, Australia, dated 11 July 1857, and the Taranaki Herald, New Zealand, 29 August 1857
  6. ↑ Marx, Karl; Friedrich Engels (1959). The first Indian war of independence, 1857–1859. Moscow: Foreign Languages Pub. House. OCLC   9234264.
  7. ↑ Prakash Karat, 1857: In The Hearts And Minds Of People Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
  8. 1 2 K. Natwar Singh (2004-08-23). "Marx, Nehru and on 1857". Asian Age . Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  9. ↑ Vinayak Chaturvedi (2022). Hindutva and Violence: V. D. Savarkar and the Politics of History. SUNY Press. pp. 29–31. ISBN   9781438488776.
  10. ↑ Inder Malhotra. "The First War of Independence". Asian Age. Archived from the original on 2009-08-16. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  11. 1 2 S. Muthiah (2007-03-25). "The First War of Independence?". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 2007-12-06. Retrieved 2011-08-21.
  12. ↑ LR Jagadheesan (11 July 2006). "Tamils dispute India mutiny date". BBC News . Retrieved 2008-05-10.
  13. ↑ "1857 anniversary: Dy speaker creates flutter". The Hindu . 2004-05-10. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  14. ↑ Ganda Singh. "The Truth About the Indian Mutiny of 1857" Archived 2012-02-18 at the Wayback Machine . Issue No. 17, August 2004. (originally published in The Sikh Review, August, 1972, pp. 32–44.)

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