In the given question, a statement of Assertion is followed by a statement of Reason. Mark the correct answer.

Assertion: The relationship of the sepoys with their superior white officers underwent a significant change in the years preceding the uprising of 1857.

Reason: In the 1820s, white officers made it a point to maintain no relations with the sepoys. However, around the 1840s they developed friendly relations.

The Assertion is correct but the Reason is incorrect.

The correct answer is Option 4 - The Assertion is correct but the Reason is incorrect.

Assertion: The relationship of the sepoys with their superior white officers underwent a significant change in the years preceding the uprising of 1857. (Correct)

Reason: In the 1820s, white officers made it a point to maintain no relations with the sepoys. However, around the 1840s they developed friendly relations. (Incorrect)

The relationship of the sepoys with their superior white officers underwent a significant change in the years preceding the uprising of 1857. In the 1820s, white officers made it a point to maintain friendly relations with the sepoys. They would take part in their leisure activities – they wrestled with them, fenced with them and went out hawking with them. Many of them were fluent in Hindustani and were familiar with the customs and culture of the country. These officers were disciplinarian and father figure rolled into one. In the 1840s, this began to change. The officers developed a sense of superiority and started treating the sepoys as their racial inferiors, riding roughshod over their sensibilities. Abuse and physical violence became common and thus the distance between sepoys and officers grew. Trust was replaced by suspicion. The episode of the greased cartridges was a classic example of this.