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.
Which among the following was NOT a rumour?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → British annexed Satara, Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse.
Option (1) British mixed bone dust of cows into the flour. — A rumour. The rumour said that the British had hatched a conspiracy to destroy the caste and religion of Hindus and Muslims, and had mixed the bone dust of cows and pigs into the flour sold in the market. Sepoys and common people refused to touch the atta.
Option (2) British wanted to convert Indians to Christianity. — A rumour. There was fear and suspicion that the British wanted to convert Indians to Christianity, and the panic spread fast; British officers tried to calm these fears, but in vain.
Option (3) British annexed Satara, Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse. — Not a rumour. This really happened. On a variety of pleas, such as misgovernment and the refusal to recognise adoption, the British annexed not only Awadh but many other kingdoms and principalities, such as Jhansi and Satara.
Option (4) British rule would come to an end after 100 years of the Battle of Plassey. — A rumour. This was a prophecy that went round in 1857: British rule would end on the centenary of the Battle of Plassey, on 23 June 1857.
Note: The term ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ is not used in the NCERT book (2026-27), which speaks of ‘the refusal to recognise adoption’. Under the Doctrine of Lapse, a state whose ruler died without a natural male heir passed to the British, because an adopted son was not accepted as the heir. It is explained here for the benefit of the students.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.4 Rumours and prophecies … This was not the only rumour that was circulating in North India at the beginning of 1857. There was the rumour that the British government had hatched a gigantic conspiracy to destroy the caste and religion of Hindus and Muslims. To this end, the rumours said, the British had mixed the bone dust of cows and pigs into the flour that was sold in the market. In towns and cantonments, sepoys and the common people refused to touch the atta. There was fear and suspicion that the British wanted to convert Indians to Christianity. Panic spread fast. British officers tried to allay their fears, but in vain. These fears stirred men to action. The response to the call for action was reinforced by the prophecy that British rule would come to an end on the centenary of the Battle of Plassey, on 23 June 1857.… 1.5 Why did people believe in the rumours? … On a variety of pleas, like misgovernment and the refusal to recognise adoption, the British annexed not only Awadh, but many other kingdoms and principalities like Jhansi and Satara. Once these territories were annexed, the British introduced their own system of administration, their own laws and their own methods of land settlement and land revenue collection.…” |