1857-Revolt or The feudal reaction

The nation is celebrating 150 years of Gadar and on this occasion it is befitting to ask whether this revolution had support of masses or was staged by disgruntled soldiers and angry royal houses of erstwhile India. Well, it is a very difficult question to answer because most of the account related to this revolution is based on writings of westerners.Some writers dispute whether Dalits were involved in this uprising or only upper caste Hindus and Muslims formed the disenchanted lot.

This blog presents my views on this issue.As far as the base of this revolt is concerned I believe
most of Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar was part of this uprising and this can be corroborated by following facts:

1:People supported only those kings or zamindars who raised the banner of revolt against British.The support given to Rani of Jhansi and others while disdain for Scindia family is proof for this.

2:The revolt was started by soldiers but gained widespread acceptance in farmers .The hanging of whole village in suspicion of being supportive of rebels and numerous such instances show how much support the revolt had.

3:In places like Azamgarh(Uttar Pradesh) rebels of Bihar, Kunwar Singh and Amar Singh were given support instead of local landlords some of whom were loyal to Company.

4:The heroes of 1857 find mention in folklores like "khoob ladi mardani..." and several others and this goes on to show the respect they have had in masses.

5: Some of the reasons for revolt were religious and religion is and has been a big thing in India for most people.

However, I am still not sure about participation at large scale by dalits in the uprising.There is a photograph of Gangoo Mehter who was tried for killing Britishers in Kanpur.But that does not mean whole Dalit community was involved in the revolt.

So, even though this revolt was limited to two states only but in these regions the support was
overwhelming except for some sections of society .

Note: This account is my perception of the Revolt.