Read the passage and answer the questions:
Rumours and prophecies played a part in moving people to action. As we saw, the sepoys who had arrived in Delhi from Meerut had told Bahadur Shah about bullets coated with the fat of cows and pigs and biting these bullets would corrupt their caste and religion. They were referring to the cartridges of the Enfield rifles which had just been given to them. The British tried to explain to the sepoys that this was not the case but the rumour that the new cartridges were greased with fat of cows and pigs spread like wildfire across the sepoy lines of North India.
Match List I with List II:
| LIST I | LIST II | ||
| A. | Rumours and prophecies | I. | Greased cartridge |
| B. | Biting the bullets | II. | Corruption of caste and religion |
| C. | Enfield rifles | III. | Moved people into action |
| D. | Sepoy lines of North India | IV. | News spread like wildfire |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → A-III, B-II, C-I, D-IV
(A) Rumours and prophecies — this matches (III) Moved people into action. Rumours and prophecies played a part in moving people to action in 1857.
(B) Biting the bullets — this matches (II) Corruption of caste and religion. The sepoys who came from Meerut told Bahadur Shah that biting bullets coated with the fat of cows and pigs would corrupt their caste and religion.
(C) Enfield rifles — this matches (I) Greased cartridge. The bullets they spoke of were the cartridges of the Enfield rifles just given to them, which, the rumour said, were greased with the fat of cows and pigs.
(D) Sepoy lines of North India — this matches (IV) News spread like wildfire. The British tried to explain to the sepoys that the cartridges were not greased, but the rumour spread like wildfire across the sepoy lines of North India.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.4 Rumours and prophecies … Rumours and prophecies played a part in moving people to action. As we saw, the sepoys who had arrived in Delhi from Meerut had told Bahadur Shah about bullets coated with the fat of cows and pigs and that biting those bullets would corrupt their caste and religion. They were referring to the cartridges of the Enfield rifles which had just been given to them. The British tried to explain to the sepoys that this was not the case but the rumour that the new cartridges were greased with the fat of cows and pigs spread like wildfire across the sepoy lines of North India.…” |