5 When People Rebel

1857 and After

Fig. 1 – Sepoys and peasants

gather forces for the revolt that
spread across the plains of north
India in 1857

Policies and the People

In the previous chapters you looked at the policies of
the East India Company and the effect they had on
different people. Kings, queens, peasants, landlords,
tribals, soldiers were all affected in different ways. You
have also seen how people resist policies and actions
that harm their interests or go against their sentiments.

Nawabs lose their power

Since the mid-eighteenth century, nawabs and rajas
had seen their power erode. They had gradually lost
their authority and honour. Residents had been
stationed in many courts, the freedom of the rulers
reduced, their armed forces disbanded, and their
revenues and territories taken away by stages.
Many ruling families tried to negotiate with the
Company to protect their interests. For example, Rani
Lakshmibai of Jhansi wanted the Company to recognise
her adopted son as the heir to the kingdom after the
death of her husband. Nana Saheb, the adopted son of

51
 Peshwa Baji Rao II, pleaded that he be given his father’s
pension when the latter died. However, the Company,
confident of its superiority and military powers, turned
down these pleas.
Awadh was one of the last territories to be annexed.
In 1801, a subsidiary alliance was imposed on Awadh,
and in 1856 it was taken over. Governor-General
Dalhousie declared that the territory was being
misgoverned and British rule was needed to ensure
proper administration.
The Company even began to plan how to bring the
Mughal dynasty to an end. The name of the Mughal
king was removed from the coins minted by the
Company. In 1849, Governor-General Dalhousie
announced that after the death of Bahadur Shah Zafar,
the family of the king would be shifted out of the Red
Fort and given another place in Delhi to reside in. In
1856, Governor-General Canning decided that Bahadur
Shah Zafar would be the last Mughal king and after
his death none of his descendants would be recognised
as kings – they would just be called princes.

The peasants and the sepoys

In the countryside peasants and zamindars resented
the high taxes and the rigid methods of revenue
collection. Many failed to pay back their loans to the
moneylenders and gradually lost the lands they had
tilled for generations.
The Indian sepoys in the employ of the Company
also had reasons for discontent. They were unhappy
about their pay, allowances and conditions of service.
Some of the new rules, moreover, violated their religious
sensibilities and beliefs. Did you know that in those
days many people in the country believed that if they
crossed the sea they would lose their religion and caste?
So when in 1824 the sepoys were told to go to Burma by
the sea route to fight for the Company, they refused to
follow the order, though they agreed to go by the land
route. They were severely punished, and since the issue
 Activity did not die down, in 1856 the Company passed a new
law which stated that every new person who took up
Imagine you are a sepoy
employment in the Company’s army had to agree to
in the Company army,
serve overseas if required.
advising your nephew
not to take employment Sepoys also reacted to what was happening in the
in the army. What reasons countryside. Many of them were peasants and had
would you give? families living in the villages. So the anger of the
peasants quickly spread among the sepoys.

52 OUR PASTS – III

Responses to reforms
The British believed that Indian society had to
be reformed. Laws were passed to stop the
practice of sati and to encourage the remarriage
of widows. English-language education was
actively promoted. After 1830, the Company
allowed Christian missionaries to function
freely in its domain and even own land and
property. In 1850, a new law was passed to
make conversion to Christianity easier. This
law allowed an Indian who had converted to
Christianity to inherit the property of his
ancestors. Many Indians began to feel that the
British were destroying their religion, their
social customs and their traditional way of life.
There were of course other Indians who
wanted to change existing social practices. You
will read about these reformers and reform
movements in Chapter 7.

Through the Eyes of the People

Fig. 2 – Sepoys exchange news
To get a glimpse of what people were thinking and rumours in the bazaars of
those days about British rule, study Sources 1 and 2. north India

Source 1

The list of eighty-four rules

Given here are excerpts from the book Majha Pravaas, written by Vishnubhatt
Godse, a Brahman from a village in Maharashtra. He and his uncle had set out
to attend a yajna being organised in Mathura. Vishnubhatt writes that they met
some sepoys on the way who told them that they should not proceed on the
journey because a massive upheaval was going to break out in three days.
The sepoys said:
the English were determined to wipe out the religions of the Hindus and the
Muslims … they had made a list of eighty-four rules and announced these
in a gathering of all big kings and princes in Calcutta. They said that the
kings refused to accept these rules and warned the English of dire
consequences and massive upheaval if these are implemented … that the
kings all returned to their capitals in great anger … all the big people
began making plans. A date was fixed for the war of religion and the secret
plan had been circulated from the cantonment in Meerut by letters sent to
different cantonments.
Vishnubhatt Godse, Majha Pravaas, pp. 23-24.

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 53

Source 2

“There was soon excitement in every regiment”

Another account we have from those days are the memoirs of Subedar Sitaram
Pande. Sitaram Pande was recruited in 1812 as a sepoy in the Bengal Native
Army. He served the English for 48 years and retired in 1860. He helped the
British to suppress the rebellion though his own son was a rebel and was
killed by the British in front of his eyes. On retirement he was persuaded by
his Commanding Officer, Norgate, to write his memoirs. He completed the
writing in 1861 in Awadhi and Norgate translated it into English and had it
published under the title From Sepoy to Subedar.
Here is an excerpt from what Sitaram Pande wrote:
It is my humble opinion that this seizing of Oudh filled the minds of the
Sepoys with distrust and led them to plot against the Government. Agents
of the Nawab of Oudh and also of the King of Delhi were sent all over
India to discover the temper of the army. They worked upon the feelings
of sepoys, telling them how treacherously the foreigners had behaved
towards their king. They invented ten thousand lies and promises to
persuade the soldiers to mutiny and turn against their masters, the English,
with the object of restoring the Emperor of Delhi to the throne. They
maintained that this was wholly within the army’s powers if the soldiers
would only act together and do as they were advised.

Fig. 3 – Rebel sepoys at Meerut attack officers, enter their homes and set fire to buildings

Source 2 contd.

54 OUR PASTS – III

Source 2 contd.

It chanced that about this time the Sarkar sent  Activity

parties of men from each regiment to different 1. What were the
garrisons for instructions in the use of the new rifle. important concerns
These men performed the new drill for some time in the minds of the
until a report got about by some means or the other, people according to
that the cartridges used for these new rifles were Sitaram and according
greased with the fat of cows and pigs. The men from to Vishnubhatt?
our regiment wrote to others in the regiment telling
2. What role did they
them about this, and there was soon excitement in
think the rulers were
every regiment. Some men pointed out that in forty
playing? What role did
years’ service nothing had ever been done by the
the sepoys seem to
Sarkar to insult their religion, but as I have already
mentioned the sepoys’ minds had been inflamed by play?
the seizure of Oudh. Interested parties were quick
to point out that the great aim of the English was to
turn us all into Christians, and they had therefore
introduced the cartridge in order to bring this about,
since both Mahommedans and Hindus would be
defiled by using it.
The Colonel sahib was of the opinion that the
excitement, which even he could not fail to see, would
pass off, as it had done before, and he recommended
me to go to my home.
Sitaram Pande, From Sepoy to Subedar, pp. 162-63.

A Mutiny Becomes a Popular Rebellion

Though struggles between rulers and the ruled are not
unusual, sometimes such struggles become quite
widespread as a popular resistance so that the power of
the state breaks down. A very large number of people
begin to believe that they have a common enemy and Mutiny – When soldiers
rise up against the enemy at the same time. For such as a group disobey their
a situation to develop people have to organise, officers in the army
communicate, take initiative and display the confidence
to turn the situation around.
Such a situation developed in the northern parts of
India in 1857. After a hundred years of conquest and
administration, the English East India Company faced
a massive rebellion that started in May 1857 and
threatened the Company’s very presence in India.
Sepoys mutinied in several places beginning from
Meerut and a large number of people from different
sections of society rose up in rebellion. Some regard it
as the biggest armed resistance to colonialism in the
nineteenth century anywhere in the world.

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 55

Fig. 4 – The battle in the From Meerut to Delhi
cavalry lines
On 29 March 1857, a young soldier, Mangal Pandey, was
On the evening of 3 July
1857, over 3,000 rebels came hanged to death for attacking his officers in Barrackpore.
from Bareilly, crossed the Some days later, some sepoys of the regiment at Meerut
river Jamuna, entered Delhi, refused to do the army drill using the new cartridges, which
and attacked the British were suspected of being coated with the fat of cows and
cavalry posts. The battle
continued all through
pigs. Eighty-five sepoys were dismissed from service and
the night. sentenced to ten years in jail for disobeying their officers.
This happened on 9 May 1857.
The response of the other Indian soldiers in Meerut was
quite extraordinary. On 10 May, the soldiers marched to the
jail in Meerut and released the imprisoned sepoys. They
attacked and killed British officers. They captured guns and
ammunition and set fire to the buildings and properties of the
British and declared war on the firangis. The soldiers were
determined to bring an end to their rule in the country. But
who would rule the land instead? The soldiers had an answer
to this question – the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.
The sepoys of Meerut rode all night of 10 May to reach
Delhi in the early hours next morning. As news of their
arrival spread, the regiments stationed in Delhi also rose
up in rebellion. Again british officers were killed, arms
and ammunition seized, buildings set on fire. Triumphant
soldiers gathered around the walls of the Red Fort where
Firangis – Foreigners the Badshah lived, demanding to meet him. The emperor
The term reflects an was not quite willing to challenge the mighty British power
attitude of contempt. but the soldiers persisted. They forced their way into the
palace and proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar as their leader.

56 OUR PASTS – III

 The ageing emperor had to accept this demand. He wrote
letters to all the chiefs and rulers of the country to come
forward and organise a confederacy of Indian states to
fight the British. This single step taken by Bahadur Shah
had great implications.
The Mughal dynasty had ruled over a very large part of
the country. Most smaller rulers and chieftains controlled
different territories on behalf of the Mughal ruler.
Threatened by the expansion of British rule, many of them
felt that if the Mughal emperor could rule again, they too
would be able to rule their own territories once more, under
Mughal authority.
The British had not expected this to happen. They
thought the disturbance caused by the issue of the
cartridges would die down. But Bahadur Shah Zafar’s
decision to bless the rebellion changed the entire situation
dramatically. Often when people see an alternative
possibility they feel inspired and enthused. It gives them
the courage, hope and confidence to act.
The rebellion spreads
After the British were routed from Delhi, there was no
uprising for almost a week. It took that much time for
news to travel. Then, a spurt of mutinies began.
Regiment after regiment mutinied and took off to join
other troops at nodal points like Delhi, Kanpur and
Lucknow. After them, the people of the towns and villages
also rose up in rebellion and rallied around local leaders,
zamindars and chiefs who were prepared to establish their
authority and fight the British. Nana Saheb, the adopted son
of the late Peshwa Baji Rao who lived near Kanpur, gathered
Fig. 5 – As the mutiny
armed forces and expelled the British garrison from the city. spread, British officers were
He proclaimed himself Peshwa. He declared that he was a killed in the cantonments
governor under Emperor
Bahadur Shah Zafar. In
Lucknow, Birjis Qadr, the
son of the deposed Nawab
Wajid Ali Shah, was
proclaimed the new
Nawab. He too
acknowledged the suzerainty
of Bahadur Shah Zafar. His
mother Begum Hazrat
Mahal took an active part
in organising the uprising
against the British. In
Jhansi, Rani Lakshmibai
joined the rebel sepoys and

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 57

 Activity fought the British along with Tantia Tope, the general of
Nana Saheb. In the Mandla region of Madhya Pradesh, Rani
1. Why did the Mughal
Avantibai Lodhi of Ramgarh raised and led an army of four
emperor agree to
thousand against the British who had taken over the
support the rebels?
administration of her state.
2. Write a paragraph on
the assessment he The British were greatly outnumbered by the rebel forces.
may have made before They were defeated in a number of battles. This convinced
accepting the offer of the people that the rule of the British had collapsed for good
and gave them the confidence to take the plunge and join
the sepoys.
the rebellion. A situation of widespread popular rebellion
developed in the region of Awadh in particular. On 6 August
1857, we find a telegram sent by Lieutenant Colonel Tytler
to his Commander-in-Chief expressing the fear felt by the
British: “Our men are cowed by the numbers opposed to
them and the endless fighting. Every village is held against
us, the zamindars have risen to oppose us.”
Many new leaders came up. For example, Ahmadullah
Shah, a maulvi from Faizabad, prophesied that the rule of
the British would come to an end soon. He caught the
imagination of the people and raised a huge force of
supporters. He came to Lucknow to fight the British. In Delhi,
a large number of ghazis or religious warriors came together
to wipe out the white people. Bakht Khan, a soldier from
Bareilly, took charge of a large force of fighters who came to
Delhi. He became a key military leader of the rebellion. In
Bihar, an old zamindar, Kunwar Singh, joined the rebel
sepoys and battled with the British for many months. Leaders
and fighters from across the land joined the fight.
Fig. 6 – British forces
attack the rebels who had The Company Fights Back
occupied the Red Fort (on
the right) and Salimgarh Unnerved by the scale of the upheaval, the Company decided
Fort in Delhi (on the left) to repress the revolt with all its might. It brought

58 OUR PASTS – III

reinforcements from England, passed new laws so Fig. 7 – The siege train
that the rebels could be convicted with ease, and then reaches Delhi
moved into the storm centres of the revolt. Delhi was The British forces initially
recaptured from the rebel forces in September 1857. The found it difficult to break
last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar was tried in through the heavy fortification
court and sentenced to life imprisonment. He and his in Delhi. On 3 September
1857 reinforcements arrived –
wife Begum Zinat Mahal were sent to prison in Rangoon a 7- mile-long siege train
in October 1858. Bahadur Shah Zafar died in the Rangoon comprising cartloads of
jail in November 1862. canons and ammunition pulled
by elephants.
The recapture of Delhi, however, did not mean that the
rebellion died down after that. People continued to resist
and battle the British. The British had to fight for two
years to suppress the massive forces of popular rebellion.
Lucknow was taken in March 1858. Rani Lakshmibai
was defeated and killed in June 1858. A similar fate
awaited Rani Avantibai, who after initial victory in
Kheri, chose to embrace death when surrounded by the
British on all sides. Tantia Tope escaped to the jungles
of central India and continued to fight a guerrilla war
with the support of many tribal and peasant leaders.
He was captured, tried and killed in April 1859.
Just as victories against the British had earlier
encouraged rebellion, the defeat of rebel forces
encouraged desertions. The British also tried their best
to win back the loyalty of the people. They announced
 Activity
Make a list of places
rewards for loyal landholders would be allowed to where the uprising took
continue to enjoy traditional rights over their lands. place in May, June and
Those who had rebelled were told that if they submitted July 1857.
to the British, and if they had not killed any white people,

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 59

Fig. 8 – British troops blow up they would remain safe and their rights and claims to
Kashmere Gate to enter Delhi land would not be denied. Nevertheless, hundreds of
sepoys, rebels, nawabs and rajas were tried and hanged.

Aftermath
The British had regained control
of the country by the end of 1859,
but they could not carry on ruling
the land with the same policies
any more.
Given below are the important
changes that were introduced by
the British.
1. The British Parliament passed
a new Act in 1858 and transferred
the powers of the East India Company
to the British Crown in order to
ensure a more responsible
management of Indian affairs. A
Fig. 9 – British forces capture the member of the British Cabinet was appointed Secretary of
rebels near Kanpur State for India and made responsible for all matters related
Notice the way the artist shows to the governance of India. He was given a council to advise
the British soldiers valiantly him, called the India Council. The Governor-General of India
advancing on the rebel forces.
was given the title of Viceroy, that is, a personal
representative of the Crown. Through these measures the
British government accepted direct responsibility for
ruling India.

60 OUR PASTS – III

 2. All ruling chiefs of the country were assured that their
territory would never be annexed in future. They were allowed to
pass on their kingdoms to their heirs, including adopted sons.
However, they were made to acknowledge the British Queen as
their Sovereign Paramount. Thus the Indian rulers were to hold
their kingdoms as subordinates of the British Crown.
3. It was decided that the proportion of Indian soldiers in the
army would be reduced and the number of European soldiers would
be increased. It was also decided that instead of recruiting soldiers
from Awadh, Bihar, central India and south India, more soldiers
would be recruited from among the Gurkhas, Sikhs and Pathans.
4. The land and property of Muslims was confiscated on a large
scale and they were treated with suspicion and hostility. The British
believed that they were responsible for the rebellion in a big way.
5. The British decided to respect the customary religious and
social practices of the people in India.
6. Policies were made to protect landlords and zamindars
and give them security of rights over their lands.
Thus a new phase of history began after 1857.

• Main centres of the Revolt

• Other centres of the Revolt Fig. 10 – Some
important centres of
the Revolt in North
India

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 61

 ELSEWHERE
For a Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace
While the revolt was spreading in India
in 1857, a massive popular uprising
was raging in the southern parts of
China. It had started in 1850 and could
be suppressed only by the mid-1860s.
Thousands of labouring, poor people
were led by Hong Xiuquan to fight for
the establishment of the Heavenly
Kingdom of Great Peace. This was known
as the Taiping Rebellion.
Hong Xiuquan was a convert to
Christianity and was against the traditional
Fig. 11 – Taiping army meeting their leader religions practised in China such as
Confucianism and Buddhism. The rebels of
Taiping wanted to establish a kingdom where a form of Christianity was practised, where no
one held any private property, where there was no difference between social classes and between
men and women, where consumption of opium, tobacco, alcohol, and activities like gambling,
prostitution, slavery, were prohibited.
The British and French armed forces operating in China helped the emperor of the Qing
dynasty to put down the Taiping Rebellion.

Let’s imagine
Imagine you are a
British officer in
Awadh during the
rebellion. What would
you do to keep your
plans of fighting the
rebels a top secret. Let’s recall
1. What was the demand of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi
that was refused by the British?
2. What did the British do to protect the interests of
those who converted to Christianity?
3. What objections did the sepoys have to the new
cartridges that they were asked to use?
4. How did the last Mughal emperor live the last years
of his life?

62 OUR PASTS – III

Fig. 12 – Ruins of the Residency
in Lucknow
In June 1857, the rebel forces
began the siege of the Residency.
A large number of British women,
men and children had taken
shelter in the buildings there.
The rebels surrounded the
compound and bombarded the
building with shells. Hit by a
shell, Henry Lawrence, the Chief
Commissioner of Awadh, died in
one of the rooms that you see in
the picture. Notice how buildings
carry the marks of past events.

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL 63

 6 Colonialism and the City
The Story of an Imperial Capital

What Happened to Cities Under Colonial

Rule?
You have seen how life in the countryside changed after the
establishment of British power. What happened to the cities
during the same period? The answer will depend on the
kind of town or city we are discussing. The history of a temple
town like Madurai will not be the same as that of a
manufacturing town like Dacca, or a port like Surat, or towns
that simultaneously served many different functions.
In most parts of the Western world modern cities emerged
with industrialisation. In Britain, industrial cities like Leeds
and Manchester grew rapidly in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, as more and more people sought jobs, housing and
other facilities in these places. However, unlike Western
Europe, Indian cities did not expand as rapidly in the
nineteenth century. Why was this so?

Fig. 1 – A view of
Machlipatnam, 1672
Machlipatnam
developed as an
important port town
in the seventeenth
century. Its importance
declined by the late
eighteenth century as
trade shifted to the
new British ports of
Bombay, Madras and
Calcutta.

64 OUR PASTS – III

 In the late eighteenth century, Calcutta, Bombay
Presidency – For
and Madras rose in importance as Presidency cities.
administrative purposes,
They became the centres of British power in the different
colonial India was
regions of India. At the same time, a host of smaller
divided into three
cities declined. Many towns manufacturing specialised
“Presidencies” (Bombay,
goods declined due to a drop in the demand for what
Madras and Bengal),
they produced. Old trading centres and ports could not
which developed from the
survive when the flow of trade moved to new centres.
East India Company’s
Similarly, earlier centres of regional power collapsed
“factories” (trading posts)
when local rulers were defeated by the British and
at Surat, Madras and
new centres of administration emerged. This process is
Calcutta.
often described as de-urbanisation. Cities such as
Machlipatnam, Surat and Seringapatam were de-
urbanised during the nineteenth century. By the early
twentieth century, only 11 per cent of Indians were
living in cities.

The historic imperial city of Delhi became a dusty Fig. 2 – Bombay port in the
provincial town in the nineteenth century before it was eighteenth century
rebuilt as the capital of British India after 1912. Let us The city of Bombay began to
grow when the East India
look at the story of Delhi to see what happened to it
Company started using Bombay
under colonial rule. as its main port in western
India.
How many ‘Delhis’ before New Delhi?
You know Delhi as the capital of modern India. Did you
also know that it has been a capital for more than a
Urbanisation – The
1,000 years, although with some gaps? As many as 14
process by which more
capital cities were founded in a small area of about 60
and more people begin
square miles on the left bank of the river Jamuna. The
to reside in towns and
remains of all other capitals may be seen on a visit to
cities
the modern city-state of Delhi. Of these, the most

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY 65

Fig. 3 – Image of Shahjahanabad in the mid-nineteenth century, The Illustrated London News,16 January 1858
You can see the Red Fort on the left. Notice the walls that surround the city. Through the centre runs
the main road of Chandni Chowk. Note also the river Jamuna is flowing near the Red Fort. Today it has
shifted course. The place where the boat is about to embank is now known as Daryaganj ( darya means
river, ganj means market)

important are the capital cities built between the twelfth

and seventeenth centuries.
Dargah – The tomb of a The most splendid capital of all was built by Shah
Sufi saint Jahan. Shahjahanabad was begun in 1639 and consisted
of a fort-palace complex and the city adjoining it. Lal
Khanqah – A sufi lodge, Qila or the Red Fort, made of red sandstone, contained
often used as a rest the palace complex. To its west lay the Walled City with
house for travellers and 14 gates. The main streets of Chandni Chowk and Faiz
a place where people Bazaar were broad enough for royal processions to pass.
come to discuss A canal ran down the centre of Chandni Chowk.
spiritual matters, get
Set amidst densely packed mohallas and several
the blessings of saints,
dozen bazaars, the Jama Masjid was among the largest
and hear sufi music
and grandest mosques in India. There was no place higher
Idgah – An open prayer than this mosque within the city then.
place of Muslims primarily Delhi during Shah Jahan’s time was also an important
meant for id prayers centre of Sufi culture. It had several dargahs, khanqahs
Cul-de-sac – Street with and idgahs. Open squares, winding lanes, quiet cul-de-
a dead end sacs and water channels were the pride of Delhi’s
residents. No wonder the poet Mir Taqi Mir said, “The

66 OUR PASTS – III

streets of Delhi aren’t mere
streets; they are like the album
of a painter.”
Yet, even this was no ideal
city, and its delights were enjoyed
only by some. There were sharp
divisions between rich and
poor. Havelis or mansions were
interspersed with the far more
numerous mud houses of the
poor. The colourful world of poetry
and dance was usually enjoyed
only by men. Furthermore,
celebrations and processions
often led to serious conflicts.

Fig. 4 – The eastern gate of the

Jama Masjid in Delhi, by Thomas
Daniell, 1795
This is also the first mosque in
India with minarets and full
domes.

Source 1

“Dilli jo ek shahr tha

alam mein intikhab...”
Fig. 5 – The shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi By 1739, Delhi had been
sacked by Nadir Shah and
plundered many times.
Expressing the sorrow of
The Making of New Delhi those who witnessed the
In 1803, the British gained control of Delhi after decline of the city, the
defeating the Marathas. Since the capital of British eighteenth-century Urdu
India was Calcutta, the Mughal emperor was allowed poet Mir Taqi Mir, said:
to continue living in the palace complex in the Red Dilli jo ek shahr tha alam
Fort. The modern city as we know it today developed mein intikhab,
only after 1911 when Delhi became the capital of ...
British India. Ham rahne wale hain usi
ujre dayar ke
Demolishing a past (I belong to the same
Before 1857, developments in Delhi were somewhat ruined territory of
different from those in other colonial cities. In Madras, Delhi, which was once
Bombay or Calcutta, the living spaces of Indians and a supreme city in the
world)
the British were sharply separated. Indians lived in

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY 67

 the “black” areas, while the British lived in well-laid-
Gulfaroshan – A festival out “white” areas. In Delhi, especially in the first half
of flowers of the nineteenth century, the British lived along with
Renaissance – Literally, the wealthier Indians in the Walled City. The British
rebirth of art and learned to enjoy Urdu/Persian culture and poetry and
learning. It is a term participated in local festivals.
often used to describe a The establishment of the Delhi College in 1792 led
time when there is great to a great intellectual flowering in the sciences as well
creative activity. as the humanities, largely in the Urdu language. Many
refer to the period from 1830 to 1857 as a period of the
Delhi renaissance.
All this changed after 1857. During the Revolt that
year, as you have seen, the rebels gathered in the city,
and persuaded Bahadur Shah to become the leader of
the uprising. Delhi remained under rebel control for
four months.

Fig. 6 – British forces wreaking

vengeance on the streets of Delhi,
massacring the rebels.

Source 2

“There was once a

city of this name”
Ghalib lamented the
changes that were
occurring and wrote sadly
about the past that was
lost. He wrote:
What can I write?
The life of Delhi
depends on the Fort, When the British regained the city, they embarked
Chandni Chowk, the on a campaign of revenge and plunder. The famous poet
daily gatherings at Ghalib witnessed the events of the time. This is how
the Jamuna Bridge he described the ransacking of Delhi in 1857: “When
and the Annual the angry lions (the British) entered the town, they
Gulfaroshan. When all
killed the helpless … and burned houses. Hordes of men
these … things are no
and women, commoners and noblemen, poured out of
longer there, how can
Delhi from the three gates and took shelter in small
Delhi live? Yes, there
communities, and tombs outside the city.” To prevent
was once a city of this
name in the dominions another rebellion, the British exiled Bahadur Shah to
of India. Burma (now Myanmar), dismantled his court, razed
several of the palaces, closed down gardens and built
barracks for troops in their place.

68 OUR PASTS – III

 The British wanted Delhi to forget its Mughal past. Fig. 7 – Looking out from Jama
The area around the Fort was completely cleared of Masjid, photograph by Felice
Beato, 1858-59
gardens, pavilions and mosques (though temples were
Notice the buildings all around
left intact). The British wanted a clear ground for the Masjid. They were cleared
security reasons. Mosques in particular were either after the Revolt of 1857.
destroyed, or put to other uses. For instance, the Zinat-
al-Masjid was converted into a bakery. No worship was
allowed in the Jama Masjid for five years. One-third of
the city was demolished, and its canals were filled up.
In the 1870s, the western walls of Shahjahanabad
were broken to establish the railway and to allow the
city to expand beyond the walls. The British now began
living in the sprawling Civil Lines area that came up in
the north, away from the Indians in the Walled City.
The Delhi College was turned into a school, and shut
down in 1877.

Fig. 8 – View from the Jama

Masjid after the surrounding
buildings were demolished

 Activity
Compare the view in
Fig. 8 with that in Fig. 7.
Write a paragraph on
what the changes
depicted in the pictures
might have meant to
people living in the area.

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY 69

 Planning a new capital
The British were fully aware of the symbolic importance
of Delhi. After the Revolt of 1857, many spectacular
events were held there. In 1877, Viceroy Lytton organised
a Durbar to acknowledge Queen
Victoria as the Empress of India.
Remember that Calcutta was still
the capital of British India, but
the grand Durbar was being held
in Delhi. Why was this so?
During the Revolt, the British
had realised that the Mughal
emperor was still important to
the people and they saw him
as their leader. It was therefore
important to celebrate British
power with pomp and show in
Fig. 9 – The Coronation Durbar of the city the Mughal emperors
King George V, 12 December, 1911 had earlier ruled, and the place which had turned into a
Over 100,000 Indian princes and rebel stronghold in 1857.
British officers and soldiers
gathered at the Durbar.
In 1911, when King George V was crowned in England,
a Durbar was held in Delhi to celebrate the occasion.
The decision to shift the capital of India from Calcutta
to Delhi was announced at this Durbar.
New Delhi was constructed as a 10 -square-mile city
. on Raisina Hill, south of the existing city. Two architects,
Fig. 10 – The Viceregal Palace
Edward Lutyens and Herbert Baker, were called on to
(Rashtrapati Bhavan) atop design New Delhi and its buildings. The government
Raisina Hill complex in New Delhi consisted of a two-mile avenue,

70 OUR PASTS – III

Kingsway (now Rajpath), that led to the Viceroy’s Palace
(now Rashtrapati Bhavan), with the Secretariat buildings
 Activity
Imagine yourself
on either sides of the avenue. The features of these
walking up Raisina
government buildings were borrowed from different periods
Hill, looking towards
of India’s imperial history, but the overall look was Classical
Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Greece (fifth century BCE). For instance, the central dome of
Do you think Baker
the Viceroy’s Palace was copied from the Buddhist stupa at
was right in thinking
Sanchi, and the red sandstone and carved screens or jalis
that looking up to
were borrowed from Mughal architecture. But the new
the building would
buildings had to assert British importance: that is why the
create a sense of
architect made sure that the Viceroy’s Palace was higher
awe and emphasise
than Shah Jahan’s Jama Masjid!
the power of the
How was this to be done? British?
New Delhi took nearly 20 years to build. The idea was
to build a city that was a stark contrast to Shahjahanabad.
There were to be no crowded mohallas, no mazes of narrow
bylanes. In New Delhi, there were to be broad, straight
streets lined with sprawling mansions set in the middle
of large compounds. The architects wanted New Delhi to
represent a sense of law and order, in contrast to the
chaos of Old Delhi. The new city also had to be a clean
and healthy space. The British saw overcrowded spaces
as unhygienic and unhealthy, the source of disease. This
meant that New Delhi had to have better water supply,
sewage disposal and drainage facilities than the Old City.
It had to be green, with trees and parks ensuring fresh air
and adequate supply of oxygen.

Source 3

The vision of New Delhi

This is how Viceroy Hardinge explained the choice of Delhi
as capital:
The change would strike the imagination of the people of
India … and would be accepted by all as the assertion of an
unfaltering determination to maintain British rule in India.
 Activity
The architect Herbert Baker believed: Can you find at
The New Capital must be the sculptural monument of the least two
good government and unity which India, for the first time instances from
in its history, has enjoyed under British rule. British rule in this chapter that
India is not a mere veneer of government and culture. It is suggest that there
a new civilisation in growth, a blend of the best elements of were other ways
East and West … It is to this great fact that the architecture of thinking about
of Delhi should bear testimony. (2 October 1912) the image of the
capital city?

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY 71

 Life in the time of Partition
The Partition of India in 1947 led to a massive transfer
of populations on both sides of the new border. As a
result, the population of Delhi swelled, the kinds of
jobs people did changed, and the culture of the city
became different.
Days after Indian Independence and Partition, fierce
rioting began. Thousands of people in Delhi were killed
and their homes looted and burned. As streams of
Muslims left Delhi for Pakistan, their place was taken
by equally large numbers of Sikh and Hindu refugees
from Pakistan. Refugees roamed the streets of
Shahjahanabad, searching for empty homes to occupy.
At times they forced Muslims to leave or sell their
properties. Over two-thirds of the Delhi Muslims
migrated, almost 44,000 homes were abandoned.
Terrorised Muslims lived in makeshift camps till they
could leave for Pakistan.
At the same time, Delhi became a city of refugees.
Nearly 500,000 people were added to Delhi’s population
(which had a little over 800,000 people in 1951). Most
of these migrants were from Punjab. They stayed in
camps, schools, military barracks and gardens, hoping
to build new homes. Some got the opportunity to occupy
residences that had been vacated; others were housed
in refugee colonies. New colonies such as Lajpat Nagar
and Tilak Nagar came up at this time. Shops and stalls
were set up to cater to the demands of the migrants;
schools and colleges were also opened.
The skills and occupations of the refugees were
Fig. 11 – Thousands stayed in quite different from those of the people they replaced.
the refugee camps set up in Delhi
after Partition. Many of the Muslims who went to Pakistan were
artisans, petty traders and labourers.
The new migrants coming to Delhi
were rural landlords, lawyers, teachers,
traders and small shopkeepers.
Partition changed their lives, and their
occupations. They had to take up new
jobs as hawkers, vendors, carpenters
and ironsmiths. Many, however,
prospered in their new businesses.
The large migration from Punjab
changed the social milieu of Delhi.
An urban culture largely based on Urdu
was overshadowed by new tastes and
sensibilities, in food, dress and the arts.

72 OUR PASTS – III

Inside the Old City
Meanwhile, what happened to the old city, that had
been Shahjahanabad? In the past, Mughal Delhi’s famed
canals had brought not only fresh drinking water to
homes, but also water for other domestic uses. This
excellent system of water supply and drainage was
neglected in the nineteenth century. The system of wells
(or baolis ) also broke down,
and channels to remove
household waste (called
effluents) were damaged.
This was at a time when the
population of the city was
continuously growing.
The broken-down canals
could not serve the needs
of this rapidly increasing
population. At the end of
the nineteenth century, the
Shahjahani drains were
closed and a new system of
open surface drains was
Fig. 12 – A famous baoli near the
introduced. This system too was soon overburdened, shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya in
and many of the wealthier inhabitants complained Delhi
about the stench from roadside privies and overflowing
open drains. The Delhi Municipal Committee was
unwilling to spend money on a good drainage system.
At the same time, though, millions of rupees were
being spent on drainage systems in the New Delhi area.
Fig. 13 – Chandni Chowk in
Delhi in the late nineteenth century

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY 73

 Activity The decline of havelis
Think of the life of two The Mughal aristocracy in the seventeenth and
young people – one eighteenth centuries lived in grand mansions called
growing up in a haveli havelis. A map of the mid-nineteenth century showed
and the other in a at least a hundred such havelis, which were large walled
colonial bungalow. compounds with mansions, courtyards and fountains.
What would be the A haveli housed many families. On entering the
difference in their haveli through a beautiful gateway, you reached an
relationship with the open courtyard, surrounded by public rooms meant for
family? Which would visitors and business, used exclusively by males. The
you prefer to live in? inner courtyard with its pavilions and rooms was meant
Discuss your views with for the women of the household. Rooms in the havelis
your classmates, and had multiple uses, and very little by way of furniture.
give reasons for your Even in the mid-nineteenth century Qamr-al-din
choice. Khan’s haveli had several structures within it, and
included housing for the cart drivers, tent pitchers,
torchbearers, as well as for accountants, clerks and
household servants.
Many of the Mughal amirs were unable to maintain
these large establishments under conditions of British
rule. Havelis therefore began to be subdivided and
sold. Often the street front of the havelis became shops
Amir – A nobleman or warehouses. Some havelis were taken over by the
upcoming mercantile class, but many fell into decay
and disuse.
The colonial bungalow was quite different from the
haveli. Meant for one nuclear family, it was a large single-
storeyed structure with a pitched roof, and usually set
in one or two acres of open ground. It had separate living
and dining rooms and bedrooms, and a wide veranda

Fig. 14 – A colonial bungalow in

New Delhi

74 OUR PASTS – III

running in the front, and sometimes
on three sides. Kitchens, stables and
servants’ quarters were in a separate
space from the main house. The house
was run by dozens of servants. The
women of the household often sat on
the verandas to supervise tailors or
other tradesmen.

The Municipality begins to plan

The census of 1931 revealed that the
walled city area was horribly crowded
with as many as 90 persons per
acre, while New Delhi had only about
3 persons per acre.
The poor conditions in the Walled
City, however, did not stop it from
expanding. In 1888 an extension
scheme called the Lahore Gate
Improvement Scheme was planned
by Robert Clarke for the Walled City
residents. The idea was to draw
residents away from the Old City to a
new type of market square, around
which shops would be built. Streets
in this redevelopment strictly followed
the grid pattern, and were of identical Fig. 15 – A street in Old Delhi
width, size and character. Land was divided into
regular areas for the construction of neighbourhoods.
Clarkegunj, as the development was called, remained
incomplete and did not help to decongest the Old City.
Even in 1912, water supply and drainage in these new
localities was very poor.
The Delhi Improvement Trust was set up 1936, and
it built areas like Daryaganj South for wealthy Indians.
Houses were grouped around parks. Within the houses,
space was divided according to new rules of privacy.
Instead of spaces being shared by many families or
groups, now different members of the same family had
their own private spaces within the home.

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY 75

 ELSEWHERE
Herbert Baker in South Africa
If you look at
Fig.16 and Fig.17
you will find a
startling similarity
between the
buildings. But these
buildings are
continents apart.
What does this
show?
Fig. 16

In the early 1890s, a young English architect named Herbert

Baker went to South Africa in search of work. It was in Fig. 17
South Africa that Baker came in touch with Cecil Rhodes,
the Governor of Cape Town, who inspired in Baker a love for the British empire and an
admiration for the architectural heritage of ancient Rome and Greece.
Fig. 17 shows the Union Building that Baker designed in the city of Pretoria in South Africa.
It used some of the elements of ancient classical architecture that Baker later included in his
plans of the Secretariat building in New Delhi. The Union Building was also located on a steep
hill as is the Secretariat Building in New Delhi (Fig. 16). Have you not noticed that people in
positions of power want to look down on others from above rather than up towards them
from below? The Union Building and the Secretariat were both built to house imperial offices.

Let’s imagine Let’s recall

Imagine that you are 1. State whether true or false:
a young man living
in Shahjahanabad (a) In the Western world, modern cities grew with
in 1700. Based on industrialisation.
the description of the
area in this chapter, (b) Surat and Machlipatnam developed in the
write an account of nineteenth century.
your activities during
(c) In the twentieth century, the majority of Indians
one day of your life.
lived in cities.
(d) After 1857 no worship was allowed in the Jama
Masjid for five years.
(e) More money was spent on cleaning Old Delhi
than New Delhi.

76 OUR PASTS – III

 2. Fill in the blanks:
(a) The first structure to successfully use the
dome was called the _____________.
(b) The two architects who designed New Delhi
and Shahjahanabad were _____________ and
_____________.
(c) The British saw overcrowded spaces as
_____________.
(d) In 1888 an extension scheme called the
_____________ was devised.
3. Identify three differences in the city design of
New Delhi and Shahjahanabad.
4. Who lived in the “white” areas in cities such as
Madras?

Let’s discuss
5. What is meant by de-urbanisation?
6. Why did the British choose to hold a grand Durbar
in Delhi although it was not the capital?
7. How did the Old City of Delhi change under British
rule?
8. How did the Partition affect life in Delhi?

Let’s do
9. Find out the history of the town you live in or of
any town nearby. Check when and how it grew,
and how it has changed over the years. You could
look at the history of the bazaars, the buildings,
cultural institutions, and settlements.
10. Make a list of at least ten occupations in the city,
town or village to which you belong, and find out
how long they have existed. What does this tell you
about the changes within this area?

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY 77

Notes