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Modern Indian History Class 03

IMPORTANT BOOKS ON THE REVOLT OF 1857 (5:03 PM)

  • Asabab-e- Bagawat-e-Hind by Saiyyed Ahmed Khan (Causes of Indian Revolt).
  • The First Indian War of Independence (1857-1859) by Karl Marx.
  • The Indian War of Independence by VD Savarkar.
  • The Sepoy Mutiny and the Rebellion of 1857 by R.C Majumdar in 1916.
  • Rebellion, 1857- A symposium by P.C Joshi (1957).
  • Geographical Extent of the Revolt 

  • Leaders

    		 Place

    Bakht Khan

    		 Delhi

    Begum Hazrat Mahal 

    		 Lucknow

    Rani Lakshmi Bai 

    		 Jhansi

    Nana Saheb 

    		 Kanpur

    Kunwar Singh

    		 Bihar

    Tatya Tope 

    		 Kanpur

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE REVOLT OF 1857 (5:30 PM)

  • Politico- Adminisatrative
  • After the Revolt of 1857, the company rule came to an end.
  • Their Indian possessions were taken over under crown rule.
  • The native population of the British provinces directly became a subject under the crown.
  • It was realized that British aggressive territorial expansion resulted in the rebellion of the Pricley states.
  • The Indian princely states were promised against future annexation.
  • The policy of the Doctrine of Lapse came to an end.
  • To look after the affairs of India, the Secretary of State for Indian is created and made responsible.
  • He was the remember of the British cabinet holding office in London and performed duties via the Governor General of India.
  • The sovereignty of the princely state was acknowledged with the British crown as their paramount power.
  • The Governor General of India held the additional office of Viceroy for communication with the Princely States.
  • Economic
  • The British incurred heavy losses both in terms of life and property, the entire expense was put on the shoulders of Indian taxpayers.
  • The British soon realized their mistake in interfering in the social and religious matters of Indians.
  • Socio-Cultural
  • Naturally, much-needed reforms took a backstage, it took nearly 3 decades for the passing of the Age of Consent Act, which revised the marriageable age of men and women in India.
  • Religious
  • The British soon after carefully started working on the idea of divide and rule that impacted polity, society as well as culture.
  • Military
  • Changes were made in the military as well, those who supported the revolt were branded as non-martial races, and those who sided with the English were honored as martial races.
  • Departments such as artillery came to be exclusives handled by European soldiers.
  • Question-
  • Examine the 19th-century Indian Renaissance and the emergence of nationalist identity.
  • Explain how the uprising of 1857 contributed to shaping British Policies towards India.
  • The 1857 uprising was the culmination of recurrent big and small local rebellions that had occurred in the preceding 100 years of British rule.

INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT (6:04 PM)

  • Idea of Nationalism
  • The idea of nationalism is socio-cultural, modern historians argue that the idea of nationalism emerged by the late 18th century with the French Revolution.
  • Boundaries of Europe were being determined on the basis of homogeneity of language and culture.
  • Nationalism however in India took shape by 2nd half of the 19th century, despite differences in language, culture, religion, ethnicity, and race, a sense of togetherness developed within the population of the country.
  • It was triggered by mutual resistance against colonial oppression. 
  • The pain and discomfort of one was mutually felt by all 

CAUSES FOR THE RISE OF INDIAN NATIONALISM (6:35 PM)

  • Role of British Raj
  • European historians often argue that Indian nationalism was the brainchild of the British Raj.
  • It tried to justify itself with the following arguments-
  • 1) The British introduced Western education policies and the english language as a medium of instruction.
  • The very idea of nationalism is a European concept.
  • Indian reformers and educated intelligentsia were exposed to the ideas of nationalism and spread these messages to the wider Indian masses.
  • 2) The British introduced uniform judicial and administrative systems and exposed the natives to modern ideas such as the rule of law and equality before the law laying the foundation of future Indian nationalism.
  • 3) The British also introduced railways, telegraphs, and postal systems.
  • These made physical distances negligible and acted towards national integration.

    Critical Evaluation of the statement-

    • A closer examination of the British initiatives provides clarity on their intention as well.
    • The British introduced Western education policy to create 'Brown Englishmen' designed to safeguard imperial interest in India.
    • Also with Western education consumer behavior was altered contributing to the decline of Indian handicrafts.
    • Also, the use of the english language was for the convenience of colonial masters.
    • Uniformity in judiciary and administration was similar to making British rule convenient in India and not for the benefit of the Indian population.
    • The motive behind railways, postal systems, and telegraphs was military and administrative. Only in the later phase, were they made accessible to the public.
    • From these observations, it is clear that Indian nationalism was not the direct intentional consequence of the British Raj.
    • At best, they can be projected as a by-product of the British Raj.

ROLE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH (7:30 PM)

  • The Vedic literature was deciphered by Max Muller, which gave a deeper understanding of Indian culture.
  • In 1837, James Prinsep deciphered Ashokan Brahmi inscriptions. This successfully helped break the myth that the British created the territory of India.
  • It was argued that during the Mauryas, the Guptas, and later during the Mughals there were rulers who established territorial control throughout the entire subcontinent.
  • The understanding of Gana States successfully broke the myth that Indians only have seen absolute monarchial regimes.
  • These important historical researches help discover the nature of true India.
  • International Developments
  • The French Revolution paved the way for modern nation-states, similarly, the American Revolution promoted the idea of a republic stare and rejected British policies of mercantilism.
  • As the process of unification of Italy and Germany was completed by the 1870s it was truly inspiring for Indians to shape a country of their own.

IMMEDIATE DEVELOPMENTS IN 1870s (7:50 PM)

  • The role of reactionary Lytton contributed to the development of Indian nationalism.
  • An all-India famine between 1876-78, affected almost the entire India, rather than taking interest in the plight of the masses the Viceroy was found celebrating the Delhi Durbar.
  • When the Indian newspapers started criticizing them, he introduced the infamous Vernacular Press Act.
  • He wanted to deprive Indians of their rights to carry arms under the provisions of the Arms Act of 1878.
  • He was also associated with the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War.

THE TOPIC FOR THE NEXT CLASS- FORMATION OF INC