In the early months of 1857, a stranger comes to a village in North India at night. He hands a chapatti to the village watchman and asks him to make five more and pass them on to the next village. The watchman does as he is told. Within days the same practice is reported from village after village across the region. Company officials send reports about it to their seniors, while villagers talk about it in the bazaars and at the village well.
A historian is asked what the distribution of chapattis was really meant to achieve. Which answer is supported by the historical record?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Its meaning and purpose were not clear then and are not clear even today.
Option (1) It was a secret signal from sepoy leaders fixing the date of the rising. — Incorrect. No record shows that sepoy leaders used the chapattis to fix a date. People read them as an omen of an upheaval and gave no fixed date.
Option (2) Its meaning and purpose were not clear then and are not clear even today. — Correct. Historians still do not know the meaning and purpose of the chapatti chain. What is certain is only how people took it: as a sign that a great upheaval was coming.
Option (3) It was a call from religious preachers urging villagers to rise against British rule. — Incorrect. Religious men and self-styled prophets did preach against British rule in 1857, but nothing links them to the chapattis. Their purpose stays unknown.
Option (4) It was a message from the Mughal court asking villagers to support the emperor. — Incorrect. The sepoys did turn to the Mughal emperor for leadership, but no message from his court is known to lie behind the chapattis. Their purpose remains unclear.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.4 Rumours and prophecies … |