Storm Centres and Leaders of the Revolt

At a Glance

• What it is The places where the revolt was strongest and the leaders who headed it
• Delhi Bahadur Shah (symbolic), Bakht Khan (real command)
• Others Nana Saheb, Hazrat Mahal, Khan Bahadur, Kunwar Singh, Ahmadullah, Laxmibai, Shah Mal
• Pattern Leaders were mostly dispossessed rulers and landholders
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: The Revolt of 1857

Where Does It Fit?

This is the fourth topic of the category on the Revolt of 1857. The previous topic told how the revolt began and spread. This topic names the centres and leaders. The next topic tells how the British suppressed the revolt. Previous topic: Beginning and Spread of the Revolt: Meerut and Delhi.

Who Led the Revolt at Delhi?

At Delhi the nominal and symbolic leadership belonged to the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah, but the real command lay with a court of soldiers headed by General Bakht Khan, who had led the revolt of the Bareilly troops and brought them to Delhi. The court had ten members, six from the army and four from the civilian departments, and conducted the affairs of the state in the name of the emperor.

The chapter judges Bahadur Shah to have been perhaps the weakest link in the chain of leadership. His weak personality, old age and lack of leadership qualities created political weakness at the nerve centre of the revolt and did incalculable damage to it.

Who Led the Revolt at Kanpur and Lucknow?

Kanpur: The natural choice was Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Baji Rao II, the last Peshwa. He had been refused the family title and banished from Poona, and was living near Kanpur. He expelled the English from Kanpur, proclaimed himself the Peshwa, acknowledged Bahadur Shah as Emperor of India and declared himself his governor. Sir Hugh Wheeler, commanding the station, surrendered on 27 June 1857, and the chapter says he was killed the same day. The end of the Peshwaship is told in Third Anglo-Maratha War, 1817-19, and the End of the Peshwaship.

Lucknow: Begum Hazrat Mahal took over the reins at Lucknow, where the troops rose at the end of May 1857 and popular sympathy was overwhelmingly in favour of the deposed Nawab. The chapter dates the outbreak to 4 June; the troops in Lucknow itself rose on 30 May. Her son Birjis Qadr was proclaimed Nawab, and a regular administration was organised with important offices shared equally by Muslims and Hindus. Henry Lawrence, the British Resident, the European inhabitants and a few hundred loyal sepoys took shelter in the Residency, which the rebels besieged. Sir Henry was killed during the siege and command devolved on Brigadier Inglis, who held out against heavy odds. The deposition of the Nawab is told in Annexation of Awadh.

Who Led the Revolt in Bareilly, Bihar and Faizabad?

Who Was Rani Laxmibai?

The most outstanding leader of the revolt was Rani Laxmibai, who assumed the leadership of the sepoys at Jhansi. Lord Dalhousie had refused to allow her adopted son to succeed to the throne after her husband Raja Gangadhar Rao died, and had annexed the state by applying the Doctrine of Lapse, described in Doctrine of Lapse. Driven out of Jhansi by British forces, she gave the battle cry “main apni Jhansi nahin doongi” (I shall not give away my Jhansi).

She was joined by Tantia Tope, a close associate of Nana Saheb, after the loss of Kanpur. The Rani and Tantia Tope marched towards Gwalior, where they were hailed by the Indian soldiers. The Sindhia, the local ruler, decided to side with the English and took shelter at Agra. Nana Saheb was proclaimed Peshwa, and plans were chalked out for a march into the south. Gwalior was recaptured by the English in June 1858. The Rani died in battle in June 1858, and Hugh Rose, who defeated her, in his report called her the best and bravest of the rebels.

Who Was Shah Mal?

The sacrifices of the common masses were immense and innumerable. The name of Shah Mal, a local villager in Pargana Baraut (Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh), is the most notable. He organised the headmen and peasants of 84 villages, called the chaurasi desh, marching at night from village to village and urging people to rebel. The people attacked government buildings, destroyed the bridges over the rivers and dug up metalled roads, partly to stop government forces and partly because bridges and roads were viewed as symbols of British rule.

Shah Mal sent supplies to the mutineers in Delhi and prevented official communication between British headquarters and Meerut. He made the bungalow of an irrigation department on the Yamuna his headquarters and turned it into a hall of justice. He also organised an effective network of intelligence. For a short time the people felt that British rule was over and their own rule had come. In July 1857 an English officer, Dunlap, killed Shah Mal, and it is alleged that his body was cut into pieces and his head displayed on 21 July 1857 to terrify the public. For more than a year, however, the rebels carried on their struggle against heavy odds.

What Do the Leaders Show?

The leaders by centre and their British opponents, as listed in the chapter, are given below.

As an analytical point, the leaders were mostly men and women who had lost something to British policy: a title (Nana Saheb), a state (Laxmibai, Hazrat Mahal), a pension (Khan Bahadur), estates (Kunwar Singh). This matches the political and economic causes described in Causes of the Revolt of 1857: Economic, Political and Administrative. The exception, Shah Mal, shows the revolt at village level.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Match the following Centres, leaders and British opponents are a regular Prelims format
• Mains examples Laxmibai, Hazrat Mahal and Kunwar Singh show the role of dispossessed elites
• Foundation for the next topics The suppression and the reasons for failure refer to these centres

What Came Next?

The next topic describes how the British suppressed the revolt. Next topic: Suppression of the Revolt.

Key People and Terms

• Storm centre A place where the revolt was strongest
• Nana Saheb Adopted son of the last Peshwa, leader at Kanpur
• Begum Hazrat Mahal Leader at Lucknow, mother of Birjis Qadr
• Tantia Tope Close associate of Nana Saheb
• Chaurasi desh The 84 villages organised by Shah Mal
• Residency The British compound at Lucknow that was besieged

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask for the leaders of 1857 and their motives. These points add depth.

• Personal grievances Most leaders had lost titles, states, pensions or estates
• Weak centre Bahadur Shah’s weakness harmed the revolt
• Popular role Shah Mal and the villagers shaped the revolt at the base