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After the introduction of Western Education in India conservative Hindus thought that Hindu
culture would be seriously affected. Bentinck abolished the practices like Sati and infanticide.
Lord Dalhousie passed the Religious Disability Act. Widow Remarriage was legalised and
Christian converts were allowed to inherit ancestral property.
The conservative Hindus criticised the intervention of the government in their social and
religious affairs. The government also encouraged the Christian missionaries to establish
Christianity. The missionaries bitterly criticised the Hindu religion and religious practices.
(iv) Military Cause:
There was also discontentment among the sepoys. The Indian sepoys were unhappy because
of the rude behaviour of the British Officers. There was absence of fellow feeling between an
Indian sepoy and English army officer. The sepoys were sent to distant places across the sea
against their wishes.
They believed that they would lose their caste. But the general service enlightenment act
provided that no sepoys were to be recruited who would refuse to go abroad.
The Indian Sepoys had no prospects of promotion. Their salary was low. European officers
ill-treated the Indian sepoys. Sepoys of higher castes were not allowed to use Tika in their
forehead.
This caused acute discontentment within the Bengal army. The Indian Sepoys were also
encouraged by their numerical strength. The strength of Indian Sepoys was 233,000 where as
the British troops numbered 45,000.
The immediate cause of the revolt was the introduction of the new Enfield rifle. A rumour
spread among the sepoy's that the cartridges of the new Rifle contain the fats of cows and
pigs.
So both the Hindu and Muslim sepoy us were agitated against the English. The sepoys first
revolted at Barrakpore in Bengal on 10th May 1857 the sepoys revolted at Meerut and soon it
spread to Agra. Kanpur, Delhi and Lucknow.
Effects:
The rule of the East India Company in India ended. The administration of Indian empire
came under the direct control of crown of England. The Government of India act of 1858 was
passed and it was declared that India shall be governed by and in the name of the crown of
England.
Henceforth the Governor General was to be known as the Viceroy. Queen Victoria gave her
famous proclamation in 1858 which the first Viceroy Lord Canning announced before the
people arranging a Durbar at Allahabad.
The Government assured the people that it would not interfere in their social and religious
affairs. After the revolt the Government re-organised the army and the strength of the
European soldiers was increased.