First Anglo-Afghan War

 Original image by W.Taylo

The First Anglo-Afghan War (1838-42) was fought between the British East India Company (EIC) and, the Emirate of Afghanistan. 

The war caused the greatest misfortune that ever befell the British army and dealt a severe blow to their prestige in India.

With the fall of Napoleonic France in 1814, Russia had emerged as Britain’s potential rival by 1830s. India was the prized possession of the British Empire at that time. Russia has made its Asiatic ambitions clear. But to realize its ambition it would have to gain a diplomatic and military foothold in Afghanistan, an insignificant and impoverished tribal society in the early 19th century.

Instead of entering into an alliance with Afghanistan’s ruler, Dost Mohammad, Britain chose to back Shah Shuja, the deposed ruler of Afghanistan, who had been living in exile in India for three decades.

In 1837, Alexander Burnes, an envoy sent by  George Eden (Lord Auckland), the then Governor-General of India, reached Afghanistan. The Afghanistan’s ruler Dost Mohammad was willing to have the British as his ally but he sought British help in restoring the lost province of Peshawar to him from the Sikh leader Ranjit Singh.  Lord Auckland cited the doctrine of non-intervention in the affairs of the States for his inability to help Dost Muhammad. Consequently the negotiation, which was not conducted in right earnest, failed. Auckland was adamant on deposing Dost Mohammad who was a capable ruler. He chose to back Shah Shuja. Unable to secure British friendship, Dost Muhammad sought Russian help. Until treated insignificantly, Russian envoy Viktevitch was now received by him with favour.  

Now the stage was set for the inevitable war of the English with Afghanistan. Britain initially gained success. Under the supreme command of Sir John Keane, the British army occupied Qandahar in April 1839, stormed Ghazni on 23rd July and Kabul fell into their hands on 3rd August.  Shah Shuja was enthroned in Kabul by the British thirty years after he had lost the throne to Dost Mohammad. Dost Muhammad surrendered in 1840 and was sent to Calcutta as a prisoner.

Shah Shuja 

Louis and Charles Haghe (Public Domain)

However, Shah Shuja was not welcomed by the people of Afghanistan. They resented the stationing of the British troops in their own country.  Meanwhile the position of the British army became untenable with the rebellion of the populace. On the 2nd November, 1841, Captain Alexander Burnes was pulled out his house by a mob and murdered along with his brother Charles and lieutenant William Broadfoot.

The situation came to such a pass that British were left with no choice but to evacuate Afghanistan. However, on 6 January 1842, the retreat of the British troops and camp-followers, 16,500 men in all, began from Kabul. Of them only one, the British doctor Dr. Bbrydon, reached Jalalabad to tell the painful story of the destruction of the rest due to the attacks by the rebellious Afghans. The invincibility of the British Empire was shattered.

William Brydon riding into Jalalabad / Wikipedia Commons

In 1842 Lord Auckland was replaced as Governor-General of India by Lord Ellenborough who released Dost Mohammad from prison and reinstalled him on the throne in Kabul.

Faraizi Movement: A Puritan Movement

Faraizi Movement is a nineteenth century religious reform movement which advocated the observance of the original teachings of Islam. The term Faraizi is derived from 'farz' meaning obligatory duties enjoined by Allah. 

Starting as a religious (communal) movement in Bengal, Faraizi Movement in course of time became a struggle against the landlords (who were mostly Hindus) who oppressed the common people and farmers and British colonists. 

Founded by a puritan and zealot, Haji Shariatullah, the movement began with a call to the Muslims to perform their obligatory duties (Fard) enjoined by Allah with a view to purging the religion of the un-Islamic rites which he considered were contrary to the teachings of the Qu’ran. To give his Muslim followers a separate identity,  a particular dress was introduced. Shariatullah advocated different styles of beards for his followers.

Haji Shariatullah was born in Faridpur (now in Bangladesh) in 1781. 

After Haji Shariatullah’s death in 1840, the mantle of leadership was passed on to his son Muhsinuddin Ahmed, more popularly known as Dudu Miyan. Under Dudu Miyan, the movement became agrarian in character. After his death in 1862, the movement began to lose steam and ultimately died down. 

Santhal Rebellion of 1855

Santhal Rebellion / Image Credit

Santhal Rebellion ( Santhal Hul ) against the British colonialists or to be precise British East India Company (BEIC), landlords and Zamindars occurred a couple of years before India’s First War of Independence in 1857. The rebellion spread a considerable area that comprise the ‘Santhal Pargana’ or ‘Damin-i-Koh’ which includes present-day districts of Dumka, Godda, Sahibganj,  Deoghar, Pakur, and parts of Jamtara, in modern -day Jharkhand. 

It was June 29, 1855, when two brothers Kanhu Murmu and Sidhu Murmu, belonging to the Santhal community, asked the Santhals to assemble in the valley of Burhyte, modern-day Barhait, in Jharkhand. On the next day more than thousands of Santhals assembled at the Bhognadih village in the Sahibganj district where a divine order was issued asking the Santhals to free themselves from the clutches of their oppressors and “take possessions of the country and set up a government of their own.” 

Thus began the Santhal rebellion, also known as the Santhal Hool, which was precipitated by economic reasons.  

Hul Diwas (30th June) is observed in memory of four brothers - Sidho, Kanho, Chand, and Bhairav Murmu - along with sisters Phulo and Jhano, who had led the campaign against exploitation by colonial administrators, money lenders, upper castes, and zamindars. Interest on loans, ranging from 50 to 500 per cent, was charged by the diku (outsider) from the tribals  many of whom who were also cheated of their lands. The non-payment of wages by the railways was also one of the reasons that drove the Santhals to rebellion. Added to this, the Santhal women were insulted by these authorities.  

As the uprising began to take shape, houses of money lenders, zamindars, white planters, railway engineers and British officers were attacked by the rebels. This continued till February 1856 when the authorities crushed the rebellion with severe casualties and devastation. More than 15,000 Santhals lost their lives.

Dalmadal Cannon, Bishnupur

Dalmadal Canon / Image credit

The grandeur of Bishnupur in the Bankura district of West Bengal can be ascertained by the presence of many beautiful temples featuring intricate terracotta ornamentation. Built mostly of brick & at times, of laterite, these magnificent temples are the mute spectator to Bishnupur’s glorious past.

Apart from the terracotta temples, Dalmadal Cannon is another highlight of Bishnupur.  This 3.8 m long wrought iron forge welded cannon has a barrel with a diameter of 28.5 cm. Built by expert artisan Jagannath Karmakar, this historical canon with Persian inscriptions is  located near Chinnamasta temple in Bishnupur and weighs 11,840 kg.

Tradition has it that Dalmadal Cannon was used by the Malla kings of Bishnupur to repulse the ruthless bargis (Maratha troops) under Maratha leader Bhaskar Pundit sent by Raghoji I Bhonsle of Nagpur in the 18th century. The marauding bands of Maratha cavalry came to be called bargis in Bengal.  

Bhaskar Pundit and his twenty two generals were killed by Bengal Nawab Alivardi Khan while the former was plundering the people of Bengal. 

 

Meer Taqi Meer

Known as Khuda-e-Sukhan' (God of poetry), Mir Taqi Mir, also spelled Meer Taqi Meer, was born in Agra in 1723 and died in 1810 in Lucknow. He moved to Delhi at the age of 11 after his father's death. Known by his mononym ‘Mir’, Mir Taqi Mir was one of the greatest Urdu poets.

When the prestige of the Mughal Empire began to wane and chaos began to reign supreme due to the constant invasions from the foreign powers including Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali, Mir moved to the court of Asaf-ud-Daula Nawab of Oudh in Lucknow in 1782, where he breathed his last on September 21, 1810 at the age of 87.

His autobiography is Zikr-i-Mir, originally penned in Persian.

History MCQs – Set 11 - Modern India

Q.1. The revolutionaries who were arrested in the Central Assembly Bombing Case were?

A. Bhagat Singh & Chandrashekar Azad

B. Bhagat Singh & Batukeshwar Dutt

C. Bhagat Singh & Sachindranath Sanyal

D. Jatindra Nath Das & Bhagat Singh

Q.2. Rani Gaidinliu was the fearless freedom fighter from:

A. Manipur 

B. Tripura

C. Mizoram

D. Nagaland 

Q.3. The treaty of Srirangapatnam was signed between Tipu Sultan and

A. Robert Clive

B. Cornwallis

C. Dalhousie

D. Warren Hastings

Q.4. Who among the following was the first English President of the Indian National Congress?

A. George Yule

B. Alfred Webb

C. Henry John Stedman Cotton

D. William Wedderburn

Q.5. Both the processes of transfer of power and the partition of India were hurried through in ____ days?

A. 72

B. 94

C. 86

D. 92

Q.6. Albuquerque captured Goa from the ruler of

A. Golconda

B. Vijaynagar

C. Ahmednagar

D. Bijapur 

Q.7. The two Home Rule Leagues in India were led by:

A. Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant.

B. Annie Besant and G.K. Gokhale

C. Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Pheroze Shah

D. Annie Besant and K.T. Telang.

Q.8. The East India Company received the zamindari of the 24 parganas from:

A. Siraj-ud-Daulah 

B. Mir Jafar

C. Mir Qasim

D. Chanda Sahib 

Q.9. The founders of Theosophical Society, Colonel Olcott and Madame H.P. Blavatsky set up their first office in India in:

A. Thiruvananthapurami

B. Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu

C. Cochin, Kerala

D. Adyar, Madras

Q.10. When the Simon Commission visited India, the Viceroy of India was ___.

A. Lord Irwin 

B. Lord Willingdon

C. Lord Linlithgow

D. Lord Reading

Answers

1-B

Notes: Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt had hurled bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi on April 8, 1929. 

Batukeshwar Dutt and Bhagat Singh were members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.

Among those present in the Central Legislative Assembly when the bombing took place were Motilal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Madan Mohan Malaviya,  Sir John Allsebrook Simon (of the Simon Commission).

2-A

Notes: Rani Gaidinliu was a Naga woman revolutionary leader and successor to the political movement launched by the Naga leader Haipou Jadonang (1905-31) to derive away the British from Manipur. She was born in 1915. 

After the execution of Jadonang in 1931 by the British, Rani Gaidinliu led a popular rebellion against the British rule at the young age of sixteen.

Rani Gaidinliu was described by Jawaharlal Nehru as the Rani of the Nagas.

3-B

Notes: The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790-92) came to an end by the Treaty of Seringapatam (also called Srirangapatinam or Srirangapatna), signed 18 March 1792. Its signatories included Lord Cornwallis on behalf of the British East India Company, representatives of the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Maratha Empire, and Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore.

Under the terms of the treaty Tipu Sultan had to surrender of nearly half of Mysorean territory to the victorious allies. 

4-A

Notes: George Yule served as the fourth President of the Indian National Congress in 1888 at Allahabad.

5-A

Notes: On February 20, 1947 British Prime Minister Clement Attlee declared the British would quit India before 30th June 1948. The processes of transfer of power and the partition of India were hurried by 72 days. India was partitioned on the basis of the "Indian Independence Act". The Indian Independence bill was introduced on 4th July, 1947. It received Royal assent on 18th July, 1947 and came into force on 15th August, 1947.

Clement Attlee of Labour Party was the British Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951.

6-D

Notes: Yusuf Adil Khan of Adil Shahi Dynasty of Bijapur  was succeeded by his 13-year old son Ismail Adil Khan. As soon as he took the reigns of the kingdom, he has to cede Goa in 1510 to the Portuguese under their governor Afonso de Albuquerque.

7-A

Notes: Home Rule League was led by Indian nationalist Bal Gangadhar Tilak and British social reformer and Indian independence leader Annie Besant. 

8-B

Notes: The name 24 Parganas is derived from the number of parganas or divisions contained in the Zamindari of Calcutta which was ceded to the East India Company by Mir Jafar in 1757.

9-D

Notes: Theosophical Society was founded in 1875 in New York in the USA by Madame H. P. Blavatsky and Colonel H. S. Olcott. They came to India in January 1879 and set up the headquarters of the society at Adyar, presently a suburb of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. 

10-A

Notes: Simon Commission , also known as the Indian Statutory Commission, came to India in 1928.

Revolutionary martyr Sohan Lal Pathak

Born in 1883 at Patti (now in Tarn Taran district) in Punjab, Sohan Lal Pathak was a revolutionary who was hanged at the Mandalay Jail in Burma on 10 February 1916 for organizing an uprising against the British. 

In 1901, Sohan Lal Pathak got married to Laksmi Devi who died after giving birth to their son who also died with a week of his birth.  

Sohan Lal Pathak came in contact with Lala Lajpat Rai under whom he became the editor of an Urdu journal, Bande Mataram. Bande Mataram was being run by Lala Lajpat Rai in Lahore. 

Sohan Lal Pathak went to the USA in 1913 to join the Ghadar Party in California. He was the first revolutionary of the Ghadar Party who went to gallows outside India.

Sir Muhammad Iqbal : ideological founder of Pakistan

Muhammad Iqbal was an Urdu poet and lawyer. Born in Sialkot (now in Pakistan) on November 9, 1877, he was a great nationalist during early years of career writing the famous nationalist song: Sare Jahan se Accha, Hindositan hamara, but later on he voiced the idea of a separate Muslim state in the north-west India in his presidential address to the annual session of the Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930.

It was this idea which later fructified and culminated in the creation of a separate Muslim state of Pakistan on August 14, 1947. Naturally enough, he is acclaimed as the father of the idea of Pakistan. 

Muhammad Iqbal, also known as Allama Iqbal, died in Lahore in 1938.

Kunwar Singh: Leader of the 1857 Revolt in Bihar

                                    Kunwar Singh: 1857 Rebellion Hero / Image source

A Rajput zamindar, Kunwar Singh is known as a brave leader who unfurled the banner of rebellion against the British in Bihar. At the time of Revolt of 1857, he was eighty years old. However, old age did not deter him from fighting the British with utmost valour.  

Popularly known as Veer Kunwar Singh, he was born at Jagdishpur village (then in the erstwhile Shahabad district) in Bhojpur district in Bihar in 1777. Chivalry, undaunted courage and able generalship had earned him the sobriquet of “Lion of Bihar”. 

He challenged the British authority and established his own government. He marched to Kalpi in Bundelkhand with a view to give helping hand to Nana Saheb, leader of the revolt in Kanpur.

Known for his perfection in guerrilla warfare, he employed this warfare tactic with great effect against the British.

His gallant resistance to the British forces ended when he died on 26 April, 1858 of the wounds he sustained during the fight with them. 

Dinabandhu Mitra's Nil Darpan

Dinabandhu Mitra is known for his novel Nil Darpan (The Mirror of Indigo) which describes the oppression of the indigo cultivators at the hands of indigo planters, leading to the Indigo Revolt in Bengal in 1859. 

Indigo Revolt has been described as "the first Revolution in Bengal after the advent of the English."  

Since Dinabandhu Mitra was in government service, he published Nil Darpan in the name of anonymous.

Rajnarayan Basu, Grandfather of Indian Nationalism

Affectionately called “the Grandfather of Indian Nationalism” Rajnarayan Basu was founder of the Society for Promotion of National feeling (Jatiyo Gaurab Sampadani Sabha),

Bauls: Mystic minstrels

                                            Baul Minstrel / Image source

The Bauls are mystic minstrels or bards who reside mainly in West Bengal, north-eastern India and in Bangladesh. The sect originated in Bengal in the 17th century and its philosophy of humanism attracts people of all religions, sects, caste and creed for its ethos of inclusion. It was popularised by Lalon Shah whose moving songs of religious tolerance have been inspiring poets, writers and thinkers of every period including Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and American poet Allen Ginsberg.

Usually travelling from place to place the Bauls earn their living from singing to the accompaniment of single-stringed ektaras. Shah Abdul Karim , Bhaba Pagla and Purna Das Baul are famous Baul singers. 

Raja Ram Mohan Roy, friend of Jeremy Bentham

                                                    Raja Ram Mohan Roy/Wikipedia Commons

Born in 1772 at Radhanagar (in the Hooghly district of West Bengal), Raja Ram Mohan was known for his advocacy of social reform and has been rightly called the father of Indian Renaissance. In 1815, he founded Atmiya Shabha in Calcutta to propagate monotheism and reforms in the Hindu society. In 1828, he founded a sect named Brahmo Sabha which was later renamed Brahmo Samaj in 1882.

He launched in 1821 a Bengali weekly newspaper Sambad Kaumudi or “The Moon of the Intelligence” through which he started a campaign for the abolition of Sati.  

Among his Persian literary works, Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin (A Gift to Monotheists) published in 1803 and Manazarutul Adyan, a discussion on various religions deserve special mention. In 1822, he published a Persian journal titled Mirat-ul-Akbar. Precepts of Jesus was published by him in 1820.  

In 1830 Raja Ram Mohan Roy went to England as an envoy of the penultimate Mughal Emperor, Akbar Shah II, to the court of King William IV. It was Akbar Shah II who gave him the title of Raja,

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a friend of English philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham. He died in England in 1833. 

Charles Freer Andrews: A Biography

An English missionary and social reformer, Charles Andrews Freer (also known as C. F. Andrews) had a fascination for everything Indian. Born in 1871 in England, He taught at St. Stephens College in Delhi. A close confidante of Mahatma Gandhi, he maintained close association with Gopal Krishna Gokhle, Rabindranath Tagore, and other Indian freedom fighters. He spent time with Gandhi at the Phoenix ashram in South Africa and worked hard to improve the lot of Indians living in African countries, West Indies, Fiji, etc.

A veteran trade union activist, Charles Freer Andrews was president of the Trade Union Congress two times (1925 and 1927). He also actively participated in the movements for the eradication of untouchability. Andrews took active participation in the famous Vaikom Satyagraha in 1925. Vaikom Satyagraha was a movement in Travancore in Kerala against removal of deep-rooted malaise of untouchability in Hindu society. Working closely with Dr.B R Ambedkar he formulated the Dalit (Harijan) demands in 1933. His love for the poor earned the title of Dinabandhu from Mahatma Gandhi.

Charles Freer Andrews died in Calcutta in 1940. 

Opinions on the Revolt of 1857

The Revolt of 1857, also known as First War of Indian Independence, shook the very foundation of the British Empire in India. Some of the famous quotes related to the Revolt: 

“The crisis came at first as a mere military mutiny, it speedily changed its character and became a national insurrection.” – G. B. Malleson 

“It is mutiny or is it a national revolt?” – Benjamin Disraeli, British Conservative leader and Prime Minister. 

"What began as a fight for religion ended as a war for independence for there is not the slightest doubt that rebels wanted to get rid of the alien government and restore the old order of which the king of Delhi was the rightful representative.” –S.N.Sen 

“On the whole, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that so-called First National War of Independence is neither First, nor National, nor a war of independence.” -R.C. Majumadar. 

“It is in fact an anachronism to describe the mutiny as the first essay towards modern independence. It was rather, in its political aspect, the last effort of the old conservative India.” – Percival Spear.