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.
Identify the reason why the sepoys marched to Delhi from Meerut.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Delhi was the seat and symbol of Mughal authority.
Option (1) The Governor-General lived in Delhi. — Incorrect. The sepoys did not go to Delhi to face a British official. They rode to the Red Fort, to the old Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, and demanded that he give them his blessings.
Option (2) Delhi was the seat and symbol of Mughal authority. — Correct. Delhi was the seat of the Mughal emperor. Once Bahadur Shah blessed the sepoys, the revolt acquired a kind of legitimacy, because it could now be carried on in the name of the Mughal emperor. The British too recognised the symbolic value of Delhi, and their forces moved in from Calcutta and from the Punjab to reconquer it.
Option (3) Lakshmi Bai urged the sepoys to march to Delhi. — Incorrect. Nobody called the sepoys to Delhi. On the very evening of the mutiny at Meerut, as darkness fell, a group of sepoys rode off towards Delhi on their own.
Option (4) Cartridges were made in Delhi. — Incorrect. The sepoys told the emperor about the bullets coated with the fat of cows and pigs that they had been asked to bite at Meerut. They went to Delhi for the emperor’s blessing, not because of the place where cartridges were made.
NCERT (2026-27): “…As darkness descended, a group of sepoys rode off towards Delhi. The sepoys arrived at the gates of the Red Fort early in the morning on 11 May. It was the month of Ramzan, the Muslim holy month of prayer and fasting. The old Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, had just finished his prayers and meal before the sun rose and the fast began. He heard the commotion at the gates. The sepoys who had gathered under his window told him: ‘We have come from Meerut after killing all the Englishmen there, because they asked us to bite bullets that were coated with the fat of cows and pigs with our teeth. This has corrupted the faith of Hindus and Muslims alike.’’ Another group of sepoys also entered Delhi, and the ordinary people of the city joined them. Europeans were killed in large numbers; the rich of Delhi were attacked and looted. It was clear that Delhi had gone out of British control. Some sepoys rode into the Red Fort, without observing the elaborate court etiquette expected of them. They demanded that the emperor give them his blessings. Surrounded by the sepoys, Bahadur Shah had no other option but to comply. The revolt thus acquired a kind of legitimacy because it could now be carried on in the name of the Mughal emperor.… 4. Repression … Armed with these newly enacted special laws and the reinforcements brought in from Britain, the British began the task of suppressing the revolt. They, like the rebels, recognised the symbolic value of Delhi. The British thus mounted a two-pronged attack. One force moved from Calcutta into North India and the other from the Punjab – which was largely peaceful – to reconquer Delhi.…” |