A researcher in Delhi is reading reports sent by British officers in 1857. She notices that the call to rise was spread by more people than ranis, rajas or nawabs. One report, from a large sepoy station in north India, speaks of a holy man who arrived riding a great animal and whom the sepoys visited again and again. Another report, from the capital of a kingdom the Company had taken over only a year before, describes many preachers who claimed to speak with divine authority and called for an end to Company rule.
The second report most likely comes from which city?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Lucknow
Option (1) Delhi — Incorrect. Delhi was the seat of the old Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, who became the nominal leader of the rebellion there.
Option (2) Arrah — Incorrect. Arrah was a local town in Bihar, where the zamindar Kunwar Singh led the rising.
Option (3) Kanpur — Incorrect. Kanpur was the town where Nana Sahib, the successor to the Peshwa, was pressed to lead the rising.
Option (4) Lucknow — Correct. Awadh was annexed in 1856, and Lucknow was its capital. There, religious leaders and self-styled prophets preached the destruction of British rule.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.3 Leaders and followers … |