Indian independence movement
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The Indian independence movement was a series of political efforts from the mid-1880s to 1947 that took place in the Indian subcontinent with the aim of ending British colonial rule.
The first nationalistic movement took root when the Indian National Congress (INC) was formed in 1885. Prominent moderate leaders of the INC worked on demands such as greater economic rights for Indians and the right to appear for Indian Civil Service exams in British India.
The first half of the 20th century saw a progressively radical approach towards self-rule. This began with protests against the Partition of Bengal (1905), which exposed the limits of the moderate leaders' reformist agenda, and evolved into the Non-cooperation Movement (1919–1922), which demanded non-cooperation with colonial authorities. Momentum grew steadily through the Civil Disobedience Movement (1929–1931) that called for active disobedience to the colonial government, and culminated in the Quit India Movement (1942), which categorically demanded the end of British colonial presence in India, ultimately resulted in the transfer of power in 1947.[1]
The stages of the independence struggle in the 1920s were characterised by the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Congress's adoption of his policy of non-violence and civil disobedience. Some of the leading followers of Gandhi's ideology were Pandit Motilal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and Maulana Azad. Intellectuals such as Rabindranath Tagore, and Subramania Bharati, spread patriotic awareness. Female leaders such as Sarojini Naidu, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Pritilata Waddedar, and Kasturba Gandhi promoted the emancipation of Indian women and their participation in the freedom struggle.
A few leaders adopted a more violent approach, which grew in popularity following the passage of Rowlatt Act that permitted indefinite detention without trial. The Act sparked protests across India, particularly in the Punjab Province, where these demonstrations were violently suppressed in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
The Indian independence movement was in constant ideological evolution. Essentially anti-colonial, it was supplemented by visions of independent economic development alongside a secular, democratic, republican, and civil-libertarian political structure. After the 1930s, the movement took on a strong socialist orientation. It culminated in the Indian Independence Act 1947, which ended Crown suzerainty and partitioned British India into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. On 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India came into effect, establishing the Republic of India, while the partitioned territories evolved into the independent nations of Pakistan[2] and, later, Bangladesh.[3]
Background
[edit]The first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean was the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who reached Calicut in 1498 in search of spice.[4] Just over a century later, the Dutch and English established trading outposts on the Indian subcontinent, with the first English trading post set up at Surat in 1613.[5]
Over the next two centuries, the British[note 1] defeated the Portuguese and Dutch but remained in conflict with the French. The decline of the Mughal Empire in the first half of the eighteenth century allowed the British to establish a foothold in Indian politics.[6] During the Battle of Plassey, the East India Company's Army defeated Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, and the company established itself as a major player in Indian affairs. After the Battle of Buxar of 1764, it gained administrative rights over Bengal, Bihar and the Midnapur part of Odisha.[7]
After the defeat of Tipu Sultan, most of southern India came either under the company's direct rule, or under its indirect political control in a subsidiary alliance. The Company subsequently seized control of regions ruled by the Maratha Empire, after defeating them in a series of wars. Much of Punjab was annexed in the year 1849, after the defeat of Sikh armies in the First (1845–46) and Second (1848–49) Anglo-Sikh Wars.[8]
Robert Clive with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey. Mir Jafar's betrayal of the Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah of Bengal in Plassey made the battle one of the main factors of British supremacy in the sub-continent.
The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultaun by Henry Singleton, c. 1800. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan of Mysore, most of South India was now either under the company's direct rule, or under its indirect political control.
Early resistance to Company rule
[edit]
Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone was an early revolutionary against the British presence in Tamil Nadu. He became a military leader in the town of Ettayapuram and was defeated in battle against the British and Maruthanayagam's forces. He was executed in 1757.[9][better source needed] Puli Thevar opposed the Nawab of Arcot, who was supported by the British.[10] Maruthanayagam Pillai was a commandant of the British East India Company's Madras Army. He was born in a Tamil Vellalar caste family in a village called Panaiyur in British India, what is now in Nainarkoil Taluk, Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu, India. He converted to Islam and was named Muhammad Yusuf Khan. He was popularly known as Khan Sahib when he became the ruler of Madurai. He became a warrior in the Arcot troops, and later a commandant for the British East India Company troops. The British and the Arcot Nawab employed him to suppress the Polygar (a.k.a. Palayakkarar) uprising in South India. Later, he was entrusted to administer the Madurai country when the Madurai Nayak rule ended. He later fought a war against the British and the Arcot Nawab. A dispute arose with the British and the Arcot Nawab, and three of Khan's associates were bribed to capture him. He was captured during his morning prayer (Thozhugai) and hanged on 15 October 1764 at Sammatipuram near Madurai. Local legends state that he survived two earlier attempts at hanging, and that the Nawab feared Yusuf Khan would come back to life and so had his body dismembered and buried in different locations around Tamil Nadu. In Eastern India and across the country, Indigenous communities organised numerous uprising against the British and their fellow members, especially landlords and moneylenders.[11][12][13] One of the earliest of these on record was led by Binsu Manki around 1771 over the transfer of Jharkhand to the East India Company.[11] The Rangpur Dhing took place from 1782 to 1783 in nearby Rangpur, Bengal.[14] Following Binsu Manki's revolt in Jharkhand, numerous uprisings across the region took place, including the rebellion led by Tilka Manjhi in 1784; Bhumij Revolt of Manbhum from 1798 to 1799; the Chero Uprising of Palamu in 1800 under the leadership of Bhukan Singh, and two uprising of the Munda community in Tamar region, during 1807 led by Dukan Mank, and 1819–20 under the leadership Bundu and Konta.[11] The Ho Rebellion took place when the Ho community first came in contact with the British, from 1820 to 1821 near Chaibasa on the Roro River in West Singhbhum, but were defeated by the technologically enhanced colonial cavalry.[15][16] A larger Bhumij Revolt occurred near Midnapur in Bengal, under the leadership of Ganga Narain Singh who had previously also been involved in co-leading the Chuar Rebellions in these regions from 1771 to 1809.[17] Syed Mir Nisar Ali Titumir was an Islamic preacher who led a peasant uprising against the Hindu Zamindars of Bengal and the British during the 19th century. Along with his followers, he built a bamboo fort (Bansher Kella in Bengali) in Narkelberia Village, which gained a prominent place in Bengali folk legend. After the storming of the fort by British soldiers, Titumir died of his wounds on 19 November 1831.[18] These rebellions lead to larger regional movements in Jharkhand and beyond such as the Kol Insurrection led by Singhray and Binray Manki, where the Kol (Munda, Oraon, Bhumij and Ho communities) united to rebel against the "outsiders" from 1830 -1833.[11][12][15][19]
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The Santhal Hul was a movement of over 60,000 Santhals that happened from 1855 to 1857 (but started as early as 1784)[dubious – discuss] and was particularly led by siblings – brothers Sidhu, Kanhu, Chand and Bhairav and their sisters Phulo and Jhano from the Murmu clan in its most fervent years that lead up to the Revolt of 1857.[20][21][22][23] More than 100 years of such escalating rebellions created grounds for a large, impactful, millenarian movement in Eastern India that again shook the foundations of British rule in the region, under the leadership of Birsa Munda. Birsa Munda belonged to the Munda community and lead thousands of people from Munda, Oraon, and Kharia communities in "Ulgulaan" (revolt) against British political expansion and those who advanced it, against forceful conversions of Indigenous peoples into Christianity (even creating a Birsaite movement), and against the displacement of Indigenous peoples from their lands.[24][25][26] To subdue these rising tensions which were getting increasingly out of control of the British, they aggressively set out to search for Birsa Munda, even setting up a reward for him. They brutally attacked the Dombari Hills where Birsa had repaired a water tank and made his revolutionary headquarters between 7–9 January 1900, murdering a minimum of 400 of the Munda warriors who had congregated there, akin to the attacks on the people at Jallianwallah Bagh, however, receiving much less attention.[25][27] The hills are known as "Topped Buru" today – the mound of the dead.[27] Birsa was ultimately captured in the Jamkopai forest in Singhbhum, and assassinated by the British in jail in 1900, with a rushed cremation/burial conducted to ensure his movement was subdued.[24][25][27]
The toughest resistance the Company experienced was offered by Mysore. The Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of wars fought in over the last three decades of the 18th century between the Kingdom of Mysore on the one hand, and the British East India Company (represented chiefly by the Madras Presidency), and Maratha Confederacy and the Nizam of Hyderabad on the other. Hyder Ali and his successor Tipu Sultan fought a war on four fronts with the British attacking from the west, south, and east, while the Marathas and the Nizam's forces attacked from the north. The fourth war resulted in the overthrow of the house of Hyder Ali and Tipu (who was killed in the final war in 1799), and the dismantlement of Mysore to the benefit of the East India Company, which won and took control of much of India.[28] Pazhassi Raja was the prince regent of the princely state of Cotiote in North Malabar, near Kannur, India between 1774 and 1805. He fought a guerrilla war with tribal people from Wynad supporting him. He was captured by the British, and his fort was razed to the ground.
In 1766 the Nizam of Hyderabad transferred the Northern Circars to the British authority. The independent king Jagannatha Gajapati Narayan Deo II of Paralakhemundi estate situated in today's Odisha and in the northernmost region of the then political division was continuously revolting against the French occupants since 1753 as per the Nizam's earlier handover of his estate to them on similar grounds. Narayan Deo II fought the British at Jelmur fort on 4 April 1768 and was defeated due to superior firepower of the British. He fled to the tribal hinterlands of his estate and continued his efforts against the British until his natural death on the Fifth of December 1771.
Rani Velu Nachiyar (1730–1796), was a queen of Sivaganga from 1760 to 1790. Rani Nachiyar was trained in war match weapons usage, martial arts like Valari, Silambam (fighting using stick), horse riding and archery. She was a scholar in many languages and she had proficiency with languages like French, English, and Urdu. When her husband, Muthuvaduganathaperiya Udaiyathevar, was killed in battle with British soldiers and the forces of the Nawab of Arcot, she was drawn into battle. She formed an army and sought an alliance with Gopala Nayaker and Hyder Ali to attack the British, whom she successfully challenged in 1780. When the inventories of the Britishers were discovered, she is said to have arranged a suicide attack by a faithful follower, Kuyili, dousing herself in oil and setting herself alight and walking into the storehouse. Rani formed a women's army named "Udaiyaal" in honour of her adopted daughter, who had died detonating a British arsenal. Rani Nachiyar was one of the few rulers who regained her kingdom, and ruled it for a decade more.[29][30]
Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an eighteenth-century Polygar and chieftain from Panchalankurichi in Tamil Nadu, India who waged the Polygar war against the East India Company. He was captured by the British and hanged in 1799 CE.[31] Kattabomman refused to accept the sovereignty of East India Company, and fought against them.[32] Dheeran Chinnamalai was a Kongu Nadu chieftain and Palayakkarar from Tamil Nadu who fought against the East India Company.[33] After Kattabomman and Tipu Sultan's deaths, Chinnamalai sought the help of Marathas and Maruthu Pandiyar to attack the British at Coimbatore in 1800. The British forces managed to stop the armies of the allies, forcing Chinnamalai to attack Coimbatore on his own. His army was defeated and he escaped from the British forces. Chinnamalai engaged in guerrilla warfare and defeated the British in battles at Cauvery in 1801, Odanilai in 1802 and Arachalur in 1804.[34][35]
In 1804 the King of Khordha, Kalinga was deprived of his traditional rights to the Jagannath Temple. In retaliation, a group of armed Paiks attacked the British at Pipili. Jayee Rajguru, the chief of Army of Kalinga requested a common alliance against the British.[36] After Rajguru's death, Bakshi Jagabandhu launched an armed revolution against the East India Company's rule in Odisha. This is now known as the Paik Rebellion, the first uprising against the British East India Company.[37][38][39]
Statue of Bakshi Jagabandhu, the leader of Paika Rebellion
Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, leaders of Santhal rebellion
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Rebellion of 1857
[edit]The Indian war of independence of 1857 was a large uprising in northern and central India against the East India Company.[40] The conditions of service in the company's army and cantonments had increasingly come into conflict with the religious beliefs and prejudices of the sepoys.[1] The predominance of members from the upper castes in the army, perceived loss of caste due to overseas deployment, and rumours of secret designs of the government to convert them to Christianity led to growing discontent.[41] The sepoys were also disillusioned by their low salaries and the racial discrimination practised by British officers in matters of promotion and privileges.[42]
The indifference of the British towards native Indian rulers and the annexation of Oudh furthered dissent. The Marquess of Dalhousie's policy of annexation, the doctrine of lapse and the projected removal of the Mughals from their ancestral palace at Red Fort also led to popular anger.
The final spark was provided by the rumoured use of tallow (from cows) and lard (pig fat) in the newly introduced Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle cartridges. Soldiers had to bite the cartridges with their teeth before loading them into their rifles, ingesting the fat. This was sacrilegious to both Hindus and Muslims.[43]
Mangal Pandey was sepoy who played a key part in the events immediately preceding the outbreak of the Indian rebellion of 1857. His defiance to his British superiors led to his execution, contributing to the first outbreak at Meerut.
On 10 May 1857, the sepoys at Meerut broke ranks and turned on their commanding officers, killing some of them. They reached Delhi on 11 May, set the company's toll house on fire, and marched into the Red Fort, where they asked the Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II, to become their leader and reclaim his throne. The emperor eventually agreed and was proclaimed Shahenshah-e-Hindustan by the rebels.[40] The rebels also murdered much of the European, Eurasian, and Christian population of the city, including natives who had converted to Christianity,[44] while sparing British men and women who had converted to Islam.[45]
Revolts broke out in other parts of Oudh and the North-Western Provinces as well, where civil rebellion followed the mutinies, leading to popular uprisings.[46] The British were initially caught off-guard and were thus slow to react, but eventually responded with force. The lack of effective organisation among the rebels, coupled with the military superiority of the British, brought an end to the rebellion.[47] The British fought the main army of the rebels near Delhi, and after prolonged fighting and a siege, defeated them and reclaimed the city on 20 September 1857.[48] Subsequently, revolts in other centres were also crushed. The last significant battle was fought in Gwalior on 17 June 1858, during which Rani Lakshmibai was killed. Sporadic fighting and guerrilla warfare, led by Tatya Tope, continued until spring 1859, but most of the rebels were eventually subdued.
![Attack of the Mutineers on the Redan Battery at Lucknow, July 30, 1857](https://lowyatch.pages.dev/bl-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:"Attack_of_the_Mutineers_on_the_Redan_Battery_at_Lucknow,_July_30th,_1857,.jpg)
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a turning point. While affirming the military and political power of the British,[49] it led to a significant change in how India was to be controlled by them. Under the Government of India Act 1858, the East India Company's territory was transferred to the British government.[50] At the apex of the new system was a Cabinet minister, the Secretary of State for India, who was to be formally advised by a statutory council;[51] the Governor-General of India (Viceroy) was made responsible to him, while he in turn was responsible to the government.
In a royal proclamation made to the people of India, Queen Victoria promised equal opportunity of public service under British law, and also pledged to respect the rights of native princes.[52] The British stopped the policy of seizing land from the princes, decreed religious tolerance and began to admit Indians into the civil service. However, they also increased the number of British soldiers in relation to native Indian ones, and allowed only British soldiers to handle artillery. Bahadur Shah II was exiled to Rangoon where he died in 1862.
In 1876 the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli proclaimed Queen Victoria the Empress of India. The British Liberals objected as the title was foreign to British traditions.[53]
Rise of organised movements
[edit]The decades following the Rebellion were a period of growing political awareness, the manifestation of Indian public opinion and the emergence of Indian leadership at both national and provincial levels. Dadabhai Naoroji formed the East India Association in 1866 and Surendranath Banerjee founded the Indian National Association in 1876. Inspired by a suggestion made by A.O. Hume, a retired Scottish civil servant, seventy-two Indian delegates met in Bombay in 1885 and founded the Indian National Congress.[55] They were mostly members of the upwardly mobile and successful western-educated provincial elites, engaged in professions such as law, teaching and journalism. At its inception, Congress had no well-defined ideology and commanded few of the resources essential to a political organisation. Instead, it functioned more as a debating society that met annually to express its loyalty to the British and passed numerous resolutions on less controversial issues such as civil rights or opportunities in government (especially in the civil service). These resolutions were submitted to the Indian government and occasionally to the British Parliament, but the Congress's early gains were slight. "Despite its claim to represent all India, the Congress voiced the interests of urban elites;[55] the number of participants from other social and economic backgrounds remained negligible.[55] However, this period of history is still crucial because it represented the first political mobilisation of Indians, coming from all parts of the subcontinent and the first articulation of the idea of India as one nation, rather than a collection of independent princely states.[55]
Religious groups played a role in reforming Indian society. These were of several religions from Hindu groups such as the Arya Samaj, the Brahmo Samaj, to other religions, such as the Namdhari (or Kuka) sect of Sikhism.[56] The work of men like Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, Subramanya Bharathy, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Rabindranath Tagore and Dadabhai Naoroji, as well as women such as the Scots–Irish Sister Nivedita, spread the passion for rejuvenation and freedom. The rediscovery of India's indigenous history by several European and Indian scholars also fed into the rise of nationalism among Indians.[55] The triumvirate also is known as