Meera, a college student from Patna, plans a trip to four places linked with the events of 1857: the Red Fort in Delhi, Kanpur, Jhansi and Arrah in Bihar. At each place she wants to learn about the person who came to head the rising there: Bahadur Shah, Nana Sahib, the rani of Jhansi and Kunwar Singh. Before leaving, she reads about how each of these persons came to lead, and how historians name the different risings of that year.
How would historians of 1857 class the rising that Kunwar Singh headed at Arrah, and why?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → As a revolt, since he was a local zamindar and the term covers mainly the rising of civilians
Option (1) As a revolt, since he was a native officer and the term covers any rising against the Company — Incorrect. Kunwar Singh was a local zamindar. For 1857, revolt means mainly the rising of the civilian population.
Option (2) As a mutiny, since he was a native officer and the term covers mainly the rising of sepoys — Incorrect. Kunwar Singh was a local zamindar in Arrah. The term mutiny is kept for the rising of the sepoys.
Option (3) As a revolt, since he was a local zamindar and the term covers mainly the rising of civilians — Correct. Kunwar Singh was a local zamindar in Arrah. For 1857, revolt refers primarily to the uprising of the civilian population, and zamindars are part of it, so his rising is a revolt.
Option (4) As a mutiny, since he was a local zamindar and the term covers any armed rising of that year — Incorrect. He was indeed a local zamindar. Mutiny, however, means a collective disobedience within the armed forces, so a zamindar's rising falls outside it.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.2 Lines of communication … “In the context of the revolt of 1857 the term revolt refers primarily to the uprising of the civilian population (peasants, zamindars, rajas, jagirdars) while the mutiny was of the sepoys.” “… In Kanpur, the sepoys and the people of the town gave Nana Sahib, the successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II, no choice save to join the revolt as their leader. In Jhansi, the rani was forced by the popular pressure around her to assume the leadership of the uprising. So was Kunwar Singh, a local zamindar in Arrah in Bihar. …” |