Meera, a history student, is studying the first weeks of the uprising of 1857 for a class project. Her notes show that in May and June 1857 the revolt spread from town to town, and that it followed much the same course in many different places. She has collected three kinds of material: a remark by a British officer on what happened to Company rule in those two months, accounts of how news of the rising reached distant army posts, and a Delhi Urdu Akhbar account of 14 June 1857 on daily life in the city. She now has to judge what each source tells her.
How can the similar course of the revolt in different places, noted by Meera, be partly explained?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → By its planning and coordination, with communication between the sepoy lines of cantonments.
Option (1) By written orders sent out in advance to the stations by the Mughal court at Delhi. — Incorrect. The sepoys went to Bahadur Shah only after they rose, and asked him to lead them. Delhi sent out no orders in advance.
Option (2) By its planning and coordination, with communication between the sepoy lines of cantonments. — Correct. The similar pattern lay partly in planning and coordination. There was communication between the sepoy lines of various cantonments, so the risings looked alike.
Option (3) By a common plan drawn up by the taluqdars of Awadh and passed on to their peasants. — Incorrect. The taluqdars of Awadh joined the revolt and led their peasants. The links between the cantonments came from the sepoys.
Option (4) By new land revenue demands made in many districts at once. — Incorrect. Revenue demands hurt the peasants in the villages. The similar risings in the cantonments came from the sepoys' own links.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.2 Lines of communication |