The Revolt of 1857: Causes, Course, Nature and Consequences — Part 2: 2. Causes of the Revolt

2. Causes of the Revolt

2.1 Political Causes

Two British policies were central to the political grievances of Indian rulers and their subjects.

The Subsidiary Alliance (devised by Lord Wellesley in 1798) required an Indian ruler who accepted it to: (a) accept British protection from external and internal threats; (b) station a British armed contingent in their territory; (c) pay for that contingent; and (d) conduct foreign policy only with British permission. By accepting the Subsidiary Alliance, a ruler became progressively dependent on the British and surrendered real sovereignty. Awadh accepted the Subsidiary Alliance in 1801 and was gradually stripped of its autonomy — its Nawab could no longer assert control over rebellious chiefs and taluqdars.

The Doctrine of Lapse (associated with Lord Dalhousie, Governor-General 1848–1856) held that if an Indian ruler died without a natural male heir, his state would be annexed to British India — adopted heirs would not be recognized. Under this doctrine, Satara was annexed in 1848, and Jhansi and Nagpur in 1854. The annexation of Awadh in 1856 — justified on the pretext of misgovernance — proved to be the most explosive. In 1851, Dalhousie had described Awadh as "a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day"; by 1856, the popular Nawab Wajid Ali Shah had been exiled to Calcutta.

The British refusal to pay a pension to Nana Sahib, the adopted son of the last Peshwa Baji Rao II, further embittered a powerful figure who became the revolt's leader at Kanpur. The annexations displaced not only rulers but also vast networks of officials, retainers, musicians, artisans, and soldiers who depended on royal courts for their livelihood.

2.2 Economic Causes

British economic policies had a devastating effect on Indian agrarian and commercial society.

Land Revenue Systems: The Permanent Settlement in Bengal and parts of North India reduced peasants to mere tenants, concentrating proprietary rights in newly created landlords who were required to pay 10/11th of collected rent to the Company. The Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems imposed equally heavy burdens elsewhere. Revenue demands often exceeded cultivators' capacity; adverse natural conditions drove them into debt to money-lenders who charged exorbitant interest and ultimately seized their land. This nexus between lower officials, law courts, and money-lenders created a vicious circle of exploitation.

Dispossession of Taluqdars in Awadh: After the Summary Settlement of 1856, taluqdars who had held 67 per cent of Awadh's villages saw their share fall to 38 per cent. Revenue demand in some areas increased by 30 to 70 per cent. The dispossession of taluqdars meant the breakdown of an entire social order — the ties of loyalty and patronage that had bound peasant to taluqdar were disrupted, exposing the cultivator directly to over-assessment and inflexible collection.

Ruin of Artisans and Weavers: The introduction of British manufactured goods destroyed Indian handicraft industries. As the Azamgarh Proclamation of 25 August 1857 declared: "the Europeans, by the introduction of English articles into India, have thrown the weavers, the cotton dressers, the carpenters, the blacksmiths, and the shoemakers… out of employ." The destruction of indigenous industry also led to large-scale migration of workers from industry to agriculture, increasing pressure on land.

Drain of Wealth: The systematic transfer of resources from India to Britain — through trade profits, salaries of officials, and tribute — steadily impoverished the Indian economy and provided a constant irritant to the educated Indian consciousness.

2.3 Social and Religious Causes

The British, particularly from the late 1820s under Lord William Bentinck, pursued social reforms that many Indians experienced as an assault on their way of life. The abolition of sati (1829), legislation permitting widow remarriage, and the spread of English-medium education were accompanied by Christian missionary activity that the colonial state supported financially — maintaining chaplains at government expense and providing police protection to missionaries.

The sepoys were forbidden to wear their caste marks, and in 1856 an Act required all new recruits to give an undertaking to serve overseas — a violation of the religious beliefs of high-caste Hindus for whom crossing "the black water" (kala pani) meant the loss of caste. By the early 1850s it seemed to many Indians that all they valued — from kings and religious customs to patterns of landholding — was being destroyed and replaced by an alien, impersonal order.