Home
Looking for Previous Year IAS Papers? Download now free!
You will be auto-sent a link to download the IAS Past Papers & Model Papers when you join the IAS Free Training Group

Home | Downloads | Careers | Books |IAS Online TutorialsIAS online Tutorials | Advertise Advertise| Contact Us | About Us | ForumForum| Link to usLink to us
Login Thursday, March 28, 2024

IAS Resources
About IAS
IAS Preparation
IAS Careers
IAS Syllabus
IAS Online Tutorials
IAS Free Online Exam
Indian Forest Service
Indian Engineering Service
Indian Foreign Service
Indian Police Service
Record and Opinion
Books and Links
Free Downloads
Miscellaneous


 Home » Tutorials » History » The Revolt of 1857

The Revolt of 1857



A D V E R T I S E M E N T
>


Awadh in Revolt



In 1851 Governor General Lord Dalhousie described the kingdom of Awadh as �a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day�. Five years later, in 1856, the kingdom was formally annexed to the British Empire. The conquest happened in stages. The Subsidiary Alliance had been imposed on Awadh in 1801. By the terms of this alliance the Nawab had to disband his military force, allow the British to position their troops within the kingdom, and act in accordance with the advice of the British Resident who was now to be attached to the court. Deprived of his armed forces, the Nawab became increasingly dependent on the British to maintain law and order within the kingdom. He could no longer assert control over the rebellious chiefs and taluqdars.

(more content follows the advertisement below)
A D V E R T I S E M E N T


In the meantime the British became increasingly interested in acquiring the territory of Awadh. They felt that the soil there was good for producing indigo and cotton, and the region was ideally located to be developed into the principal market of Upper India. By the early 1850s, moreover, all the major areas of India had been conquered: the Maratha lands, the Doab, the Carnatic, the Punjab and Bengal. The takeover of Awadh in 1856 was expected to complete a process of territorial annexation that had begun with the conquest of Bengal almost a century earlier. Lord Dalhousie�s annexations created disaffection in all the areas and principalities that were annexed but nowhere more so than in the kingdom of Awadh in the heart of North India. Here, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled to Calcutta on the plea that the region was being misgoverned. The British government also wrongly assumed that Wajid Ali Shah was an unpopular ruler. On the contrary, he was widely loved, and when he left his beloved Lucknow, there were many who followed him all the way to Kanpur singing songs of lament.

The widespread sense of grief and loss at the Nawab�s exile was recorded by many contemporary observers. One of them wrote: �The life was gone out of the body, and the body of this town had been left lifeless � there was no street or market and house which did not wail out the cry of agony in separation of Jan-i-Alam.� One folk song bemoaned that �the honourable English came and took the country�� (Angrez Bahadur ain, mulk lai linho ). This emotional upheaval was aggravated by immediate material losses. The removal of the Nawab led to the dissolution of the court and its culture. Thus a whole range of people � musicians, dancers, poets, artisans, cooks, retainers, administrative officials and so on � lost their livelihood.

Firangi raj and the end of a world

A chain of grievances in Awadh linked prince, taluqdar, peasant and sepoy. In different ways they came to identify firangi raj with the end of their world � the breakdown of things they valued, respected and held dear. A whole complex of emotions and issues, traditions and loyalties worked themselves out in the revolt of 1857. In Awadh, more than anywhere else, the revolt became an expression of popular resistance to an alien order.

The annexation displaced not just the Nawab. It also dispossessed the taluqdars of the region. The countryside of Awadh was dotted with the estates and forts of taluqdars who for many generations had controlled land and power in the countryside. Before the coming of the British, taluqdars maintained armed retainers, built forts, and enjoyed a degree of autonomy, as long as they accepted the suzerainty of the Nawab and paid the revenue of their taluqs. Some of the bigger taluqdars had as many as 12,000 footsoldiers and even the smaller ones had about 200.

The British were unwilling to tolerate the power of the taluqdars. Immediately after the annexation, the taluqdars were disarmed and their forts destroyed. The British land revenue policy further undermined the position and authority of the taluqdars. After annexation, the first British revenue settlement, known as the Summary Settlement of 1856, was based on the assumption that the taluqdars were interlopers with no permanent stakes in land: they had established their hold over land through force and fraud. The Summary Settlement proceeded to remove the taluqdars wherever possible. Figures show that in pre-British times, taluqdars had held 67 per cent of the total number of villages in Awadh; by the Summary Settlement this number had come down to 38 per cent. The taluqdars of southern Awadh were the hardest hit and some lost more than half of the total number of villages they had previously held. British land revenue officers believed that by removing taluqdars they would be able to settle the land with the actual owners of the soil and thus reduce the level of exploitation of peasants while increasing revenue returns for the state. But this did not happen in practice: revenue flows for the state increased but the burden of demand on the peasants did not decline. Officials soon found that large areas of Awadh were actually heavily overassessed: the increase of revenue demand in some places was from 30 to 70 per cent. Thus neither taluqdars nor peasants had any reasons to be happy with the annexation.

The dispossession of taluqdars meant the breakdown of an entire social order. The ties of loyalty and patronage that had bound the peasant to the taluqdar were disrupted. In pre-British times, the taluqdars were oppressors but many of them also appeared to be generous father figures: they exacted a variety of dues from the peasant but were often considerate in times of need. Now, under the British, the peasant was directly exposed to overassessment of revenue and inflexible methods of collection. There was no longer any guarantee that in times of hardship or crop failure the revenue demand of the state would be reduced or collection postponed; or that in times of festivities the peasant would get the loan and support that the taluqdar had earlier provided. In areas like Awadh where resistance during 1857 was intense and long lasting, the fighting was carried out by taluqdars and their peasants. Many of these taluqdars were loyal to the Nawab of Awadh, and they joined Begum Hazrat Mahal (the wife of the Nawab) in Lucknow to fight the British; some even remained with her in defeat.







Discussion Center

Discuss

Query

Feedback/ Suggestion

Yahoo Groups

Sirfdosti Groups

Contact Us




Members Login Here!
EmailId:
Password:


Forgot Password?
New User? Register!
Toppers View



INTERVIEW EBOOK
Get 9,000+ Interview Questions & Answers in an eBook. Interview Question & Answer Guide
  • 9,000+ Interview Questions
  • All Questions Answered
  • 5 FREE Bonuses
  • Free Upgrades

IAS PREPARATION EBOOKS

IAS Exam, IAS 2024, IAS 2025 Training, IAS 2023 Papers and Solutions, IAS Preparation & Related Pages


IAS Forum | Civil Services | IAS Overview | How to Prepare for IAS | IAS Eligibility Criteria | IAS Exam Pattern | IAS Exam Syllabus | IAS Application Form Centers | Sections Under IAS Examinations | Postings of an IAS Officer | Method of Making Notes | Style of Answering Questions | Time Management | IAS Regulations | Cut off Marks in IAS | Training Institutes for IAS | IAS Tips | Time Table for IAS 2024 Exam | Calendar for IAS 2024 Exam | Top Scorers in IAS Exam | Post Offices for IAS Exam Form | Sample IAS Exam Paper | IAS Current Affairs | Career in IAS | Jobs Offered in IAS | Nature of Work | Interview Tips for IAS | Interview Techniques for IAS | IAS Syllabus | IAS Preparation Strategy | IAS Model Notification | Daily / Periodicals for IAS | Art and Craft | IAS Tutorials | IAS Tutorials for Agriculture | IAS Tutorials for Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science | IAS Tutorials for Botany | IAS Tutorials for Chemistry | IAS Tutorials for Economics | IAS Tutorials for Essay | IAS Tutorials for Geography | IAS Tutorials for Geology | IAS Tutorials for Indian History | IAS Tutorials for Physics | IAS Tutorials for Psychology | IAS Tutorials for Sociology | IAS Tutorials for Zoology | Previous Years Test Papers for IAS | IAS Mock Exam | Current Affairs for IAS | IFS - Indian Forest Services | IFS - Indian Forest Services Examination Plan | IFS - Indian Forest Services General Instructions | IFS - Indian Forest Services - List of Head Post Offices | IFS - Indian Forest Services Special Instructions | IES - Indian Engineering Service | IES - Indian Engineering Service Model Notification | IES - Indian Engineering Service General Instructions | IES - Indian Engineering Service Examination Plan | IFS - Indian Foreign Service | IFS - Indian Foreign Service - Selection & Training | Career in IFS - Indian Foreign Service | IPS - Indian Police Service - Modern Ranks and Rank Badges | IPS - Indian Police Service in History | IPS - Indian Police Service - External Resources | Reward of Brilliance | Deputation | Civil Lines | IAS Toppers Opinion | Renumeration in IAS | AKHAND PRATAP SINGH - IAS Topper | Anay Dwivedi - IAS Topper | Anupama - IAS Topper | D DIVYA - IAS Topper | Divyadharshini - IAS Topper | Divyadharshini Shanmugam - IAS Topper | Dr Sumit Seth - IAS Topper | GAGAN - IAS Topper | Garima Mittal - IAS Topper | GARIMA MITTAL - IAS Topper | Iqbal Dhalibal - IAS Topper | Iva Sahay - IAS Topper | JAI PRAKASH MAURYA - IAS Topper | Karthik Adapa - IAS Topper | Mangesh Kumar - IAS Topper | Manish Ranjan - IAS Topper | Muthyala Raju Revu - IAS Topper | Nila Mohan - IAS Topper | Pankaj Dwivedi - IAS Topper | PC Vinoj Kumar - IAS Topper | Prasad Praladh Akkanouru - IAS Topper | Prince Dhawan - IAS Topper | R V Varun Kumar - IAS Topper | RAVI DHAWAN - IAS Topper | Roopa Mishra - IAS Topper | Rukmani Riar - IAS Topper | Saswati Dey - IAS Topper | SASWATI DEY - IAS Topper | Shah faesal - IAS Topper | Shena Agrawal - IAS Topper | Sorabh Babu Maheshwari - IAS Topper | Sweta Mohanty - IAS Topper | TANVI SUNDRIYAL - IAS Topper | Vijayalakshmi Bidari - IAS Topper | IAS Books | SSC Exam Pattern | CDSC Exam Pattern | NDA Exam Pattern | GA - General Awareness Exam Pattern | PG - Post Graduate Exam Pattern |
Copyright © 2024. One Stop IAS.com. All rights reserved Privacy Policies | Terms and Conditions | About Us
Our Portals : Free eBooks | Interview Questions | IndiaJobForum | Free Classifieds | Vyoms | One Stop FAQs | One Stop GATE | One Stop GRE | One Stop IAS | One Stop MBA | Free SAP Training | One Stop Testing | Web Hosting | Sirf Dosti | Your Project Code | Cook Book Global | Tests World | Clean Jokes | Vyom | Vyom eBooks | Vyom Links | Vyom World | Shayari | C Interview Questions | C++ Interview Questions | Send Free SMS | Placement Papers | SMS Jokes | CAT 2024 Notification