In a cantonment early in 1857, soldiers have just been given new rifles, the result of an earlier effort to modernise the equipment of the army. Talk goes round the barracks that using the new cartridges will break their caste. Their officers call the men together and explain that the talk is false. Years later, a historian studying these events tries to understand why such talk took hold among the men.
What happened to this rumour in 1857 after the British explained the matter to the sepoys?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → It spread like wildfire across the sepoy lines of North India
Option (1) It gave way to a new rumour about bone dust in the flour — Incorrect. The bone dust rumour was a separate rumour. It circulated in North India at the same time, and the cartridge rumour kept spreading among the sepoys.
Option (2) It spread like wildfire across the sepoy lines of North India — Correct. The British told the sepoys the new cartridges were not greased with the fat of cows and pigs. Still the rumour spread like wildfire across the sepoy lines of North India.
Option (3) It stayed within the cantonment where the rifles were first issued — Incorrect. The rumour did not stay in one place. It travelled to sepoy lines all over North India, far beyond the cantonment that first got the rifles.
Option (4) It moved out to the villages but faded in the cantonments — Incorrect. The rumour did not fade among the soldiers. It grew strongest in the sepoy lines, where the men had to bite the cartridges.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.4 Rumours and prophecies |