Host of Midian: The Chapati Circulation and the Indian Revolt of 1857-58

Studies in History

Volumn 16, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 75-107

  Downs, Troy ^a  

^a NONE   (Australia)

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EID: 61049359658     PISSN: 02576430     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/025764300001600104     Document Type: Article

References (204)

1. An extract from a speech made by Charles Canning, Governor-General of India, at a farewell dinner given in his honour by the Board of Directors of the East India Company in London on 1 August 1855. Quoted in R. Hilton, The Indian Mutiny: A Centenary History, London, 1957, p. 5.
2. H. Yule and A.C. Burnell, Hobson-Jobson, A Glossary of Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, 2nd edition, London, 1903, p. 219.
3. M. Thornhill, The Personal Adventures and Experiences of a Magistrate during the Rise, Progress and Suppression of the Indian Mutiny, London, 1884, p. 2.
4. J.W. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War in India. 1857–58. Vol. 1, London, 1865, pp. 572–73.
5. T.R. Holmers, A History of the Indian Mutiny and of the Disturbances which Accompanied it among the Civil Population, 5th edition, London, 1898, p. 90.
6. G.B. Malleson, ed., Kaye's and Malleson's History of the Indian Mutiny, Vol. 5, London, 1897–98, pp. 63, 280.
7. See also G.B. Malleson, The Indian Mutiny of 1857, reprint, Delhi, 1988, p. 33.
8. G. MacMunn, The Indian Mutiny in Perspective, reprint, Delhi, 1985, p. 30.
9. Talmiz. Khaldun, ‘The great rebellion’, in P.C. Joshi, ed., Rebellion, 1857: A Symposium, reprint, Calcutta, 1986, p. 25
10. H. Chattopadhyaya, The Sepoy Mutiny, 1857: A Social Study and Analysis, Calcutta, 1987, p. 160.
11. V.D. Sarvarkar, The Indian War of Independence, 1857, reprint, New Delhi, 1986, p. 97.
12. A.S. Mishra, Nana Sahab Peshwa and the Fight for Freedom, Lucknow, 1961, p. 203.
13. R.C. Majumdar, The Sepoy Mutiny and Revolt of 1857, 2nd edition, Calcutta, 1962, pp. 367, 377.
14. S. Sen, Eighteen Fifty-seven, reprint, New Delhi, 1977, p. 398.
15. M.A. Rahim et al., A Short History of Pakistan (I.H. Quereshi, general ed.), Vol. 4, Karachi, 1967, p. 119.
16. P. Moon, The British Conquest and Dominion of India, London, 1989, p. 685.
17. D. Arnold, Colonizing the Body: State Medicine and Epidemic Disease in Nineteenth-century India, Berkeley, 1993, p. 177.
18. C.A. Bayly, Empire and Information: Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in India, 1780–1870, Cambridge, 1996, p. 321.
19. R. Guha, Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India, Delhi, 1983, pp. 238–46.
20. S.A.A. Rivzi and M.L. Bhargava, eds, Freedom Struggle in Uttar Pradesh: Source Material (henceforth FSUP), Vol. 1, Kanpur, 1957, p. 393, 392.
21. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, p. 570;
22. E.H. Nolan, The Illustrated History of the British Empire in India and the East from the Earliest Times to the Suppression of the Sepoy Mutiny in 1859, Vol. 2, London, n.d., p. 712;
23. ‘The Indian crisis of 1857’, Calcutta Review, Vol. 29: 58, 1857, p. 410.
24. Depositions taken at Meerut by Major G. W. Williams, Superintendent of Police, Norfh-Western Provinces. Statement of Mohar Singh, Deputy Collector, Meerut District. Appendix to the ‘Memorandum on the Mutiny and Outbreak at Meerut in May 1857’, Allahabad, 15 November 1858. India Office Home Records, Home Miscellaneous Series (henceforth HMS), Vols 727–28, microfilm, reel 303, M33, f. 961, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
25. N.A. Chick, Annals of the Indian Rebellion, 1857–58 (David Hutchinson, ed.), London, 1974, p. 5.
26. MacMunn, The Indian Mutiny, p. 30.
27. R. Collier, The Sound of Fury: An Account of the Indian Mutiny, London, 1963, p. 22;
28. and J. Harris, The Indian Mutiny, London, 1973, p. 26.
29. A.F. Steel, On the Face of the Waters: A Tale of the Mutiny, New York, 1897, p. 132. Other fictional accounts that refer to the chapatis include
30. J.G. Farrell, The Seige of Krishnapur, New York, 1973;
31. M. Malgonkar, The Devil's Wind: Nana Saheb's Story, New Delhi, 1988;
32. and J. Masters, Nightrunners of Bengal, London, 1951.
33. Sarvarkar, The Indian War of Independence, p. 557.
34. T. Roy, The Politics of a Popular Uprising: Bundelkhand in 1857, Delhi, 1994, p. 232. This was not necessarily the case elsewhere. Shahid Amin has pointed out that chaukidars in the district of Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh had a ‘dignified ancestry’. While most of those appointed to this office were Ahirs, high-caste Brahmins also served as chaukidars.
35. See S. Amin, Event, Metaphor, Meaning: Chauri Chaura, 1922–1992, Berkeley, 1995, p. 147.
36. FSUP, p. 394.
37. MacMunn, The Indian Mutiny, p. 30.
38. Majumdar, The Sepoy Mutiny, pp. 377–78.
39. Guha, Elementary Aspects, pp. 245–46.
40. The Times, 14 April 1857. p. 7.
41. FSUP, p. 392.
42. J.A.B. Palmer, The Mutiny Outbreak at Meerut in 1857, Cambridge, 1966, p. 2.
43. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, p. 637.
44. Majumdar, The Sepoy Mutiny, p. 375.
45. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, p. 572.
46. FSUP, p. 390.
47. Evidence of Hakim Ahsanullah Khan. Supplement to the Proceedings on the trial of Muhammad Bahadur Shah, Titular King of Delhi, before a charge of Rebellion, Treason and Murder, held at Delhi on 27 January 1858, and following days. House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, 1859 (henceforth PP), session 1, Vol. 18, p. 158.
48. Evidence of Theophilus Metcalfe, Proceedings on the trial of Muhammad Bahadur Shah, PP. p. 81.
49. C. Ball, The History of the Indian Mutiny. Vol. 1, London, n.d., p. 39;
50. Majumdar, The Sepoy Mutiny, p. 376;
51. Mishra, Nana Saheb, p. 202;
52. ‘The Indian crisis of 1857’, p. 410;
53. and Evidence of Chunni Lal, PP, p. 85.
54. ‘The Indian crisis of 1857’, p. 410.
55. Ball, The History of the Indian Mutiny, p. 39, fn.
56. FSUP, p. 389.
57. Sen, Eighteen Fifty-seven, p. 399.
58. Field Marshal Lord Roberts, Forty-one Years in India: From Subaltern to Commander-in-Chief, London, 1898, p. 34.
59. P.C. Gupta, Nana Sahib and the Rising at Cawnpore, Oxford, 1963, p. 35.
60. Thornhill, Personal Adventures, p. 3.
61. C. Hibbert, The Great Mutiny: India, 1857, reprint, Harmondsworth, 1983, p. 60.
62. J. Cave-Browne, ‘The Poorbeah mutiny—The Punjab’, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 83: 507, 1858, p. 94;
63. idem, ‘Crisis of the sepoy rebellion’, London Quarterly Review, Vol. 9: 18, 1858, p. 533;
64. P.O.J. Taylor, general ed., A Companion to the ‘Indian Mutiny’ of 1857, Delhi, 1996, p. 337.
65. J.W. Sherer, Daily Life during the Indian Mutiny, London, 1910, p. 7.
66. Hibbert, The Great Mutiny, pp. 60–61;
67. Malleson, History of the Indian Mutiny, Vol. 5, pp. 340–41.
68. Roy, The Politics of a Popular Uprising, p. 232.
69. I.T. Prichard, The Mutinies in Rajpootana: Being a Personal Narrative of the Mutiny at Nuseerabad, reprint, Ajmer, 1976, p. 21.
70. Guha, Elementary Aspects, p. 255.
71. FSUP, p. 390.
72. Ball, The History of the Indian Mutiny, p. 39, fn.
73. Evidence of Metcalfe, PP, p. 81;
74. FSUP, pp. 393–94, 389.
75. Bayly, Empire and Information, p. 322.
76. B. Gardner, The East India Company, London, 1971, p. 252.
77. Cave-Browne, ‘The Poorbeah mutiny’, p. 94.
78. FSUP, p. 389;
79. Gupta, Nana Sahib, p. 36;
80. The Annual Register, or a View of History and Politics of the Year 1857, London, 1858, p. 245.
81. The Times, 14 April 1857, p. 7;
82. FSUP, p. 391;
83. J. Cave-Browne, The Punjab and Delhi in 1857: Being a Narrative of the Measures by which the Punjab was Saved and Delhi Recovered during the Indian Mutiny, Vol. 1, London, 1861, p. 2.
84. Mishra, Nana Saheb, p. 202.
85. Malleson, History of the Indian Mutiny, Vol. 1, p. 420, fn.
86. Sherer, Daily Life, p. 7.
87. Guha, Elementary Aspects, p. 241.
88. Hibbert, The Great Mutiny, p. 59;
89. Cave-Browne, ‘The Poorbeah mutiny’, p. 94.
90. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, p. 572;
91. H. Knollys, ed., Incidents in the Sepoy War, 1857–58, Compiled from the Private Journals of General Sir Hope Grant, Edinburgh, 1884, p. 14.
92. The Times, 14 April 1857, p. 7;
93. The Annual Register, p. 245.
94. The Times, 14 April 1857, p. 7.
95. Malleson, History of the Indian Mutiny, Vol. 5, p. 63.
96. Bayly, Empire and Information, p. 316.
97. Mishra, Nana Saheb, p. 202.
98. Guha, Elementary Aspects, p. 239.
99. The Times, 14 April 1857, p. 7.
100. Cave-Browne, ‘The Poorbeah mutiny’, p. 94.
101. Evidence of Metcalfe, PP, p. 81;
102. R. Montgomery Martin, The History of the Indian Empire, Vol. 3, reprint, Delhi, 1983, p. 165.
103. G.O. Trevelyan, Cawnpore, London, 1865, p. 73.
104. A. Sattin, ed., An Englishwoman in India: The Memoirs of Harriet Tytler, Oxford, 1986, p. 111.
105. Cave-Browne, The Punjab and Delhi, p. 2, fn 2.
106. FSUP, p. 391.
107. S.M. Burke and S.A.D. Qurashi, The British Raj in India: An Historical Review, Karachi, 1995, p. 38.
108. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, p. 573.
109. See A. Ward, Our Bones are Scattered: The Cawnpore Massacres of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, New York, 1996, p. 80;
110. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, pp. 645–46.
111. ‘The Indian crisis of 1857’, p. 411.
112. Gupta, Nana Sahib, p. 44.
113. Roberts, Forty-one Years in India, p. 34.
114. Mishra, Nana Saheb, p. 202.
115. Sherer, Daily Life, p. 8.
116. Quoted in Nolan, Illustrated History of the British Empire in India, p. 712.
117. L.R. Ashburner, ‘Disturbances in Gujarat, 1857–59’ in Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. 1, Part 1, Bombay, 1896, pp. 433–34, footnote by J.M. Campbell.
118. Guha, Elementary Aspects, p. 241.
119. ‘The Indian mutiny and land-settlement’, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 84: 518, p. 708.
120. Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. 4, reprint, Oxford, 1970, p. 243.
121. R.W. Munro, Kinsmen and Clansmen, Edinburgh, 1971, p. 149.
122. Malleson, History of the Indian Mutiny, Vol. 5, p. 63.
123. Mishra, Nana Saheb, p. 202.
124. Holmes, A History of the Indian Mutiny, p. 90.
125. Nolan, Illustrated History of the British Empire in India, p. 712.
126. Trevelyan, Cawnpore, p. 73.
127. The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments (Authorized King James Version), Glasgow, 1959, Judges 7:13 and 7:14.
128. Cave-Browne, ‘The Poorbeah mutiny’, p. 94.
129. Guha, Elementary Aspects, p. 244.
130. P. Pelliot, ed., Huc and Gabet's Travels in Tartary Thibet and China, 1844–1846, Vol. 1, London, 1928, pp. 68–69.
131. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, p. 571, 572–73, fn.
132. Evidence of Hakim Ahsanullah Khan, PP, p. 158.
133. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, pp. 572–73, fn.
134. The Times, 28 April 1857, p. 7.
135. Sen, Eighteen Fifty-seven, p. 398.
136. Palmer, The Mutiny Outbreak at Meerut, p. 3.
137. Roy, Politics of a Popular Uprising, p. 232.
138. Evidence of Captain Martineau, PP, p. 100.
139. Collier, The Sound of Fury, p. 23.
140. Evidence of Hakim Ahsanullah Khan, PP, p. 158.
141. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, p. 572;
142. Collier, The Sound of Fury, pp. 22–23.
143. Mishra, Nana Saheb, p. 202.
144. Taylor, A Companion to the ‘Indian Mutiny’ of 1857, p. 81.
145. Evidence of Jat Mal, PP, p. 74.
146. Evidence of Chunni Lal, PP, p. 85.
147. Gupta, Nana Sahib, p. 37.
148. FSUP, pp. 393–94.
149. Cave-Browne, ‘The Poorbeah mutiny’, p. 94.
150. Ward, Our Bones are Scattered, p. 80.
151. See also Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, p. 637;
152. and Mishra, Nana Saheb, p. 202.
153. H. Malik, ed., Political Profile of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan: A Documentary Record, Delhi, 1973, p. 135.
154. Ball, The History of the Indian Mutiny, p. 39, fn.
155. Evidence of Metcalfe, PP, p. 81.
156. The source material for this paragraph and the following two paragraphs is drawn from J. Malcolm. A Memoir of Central India Including Malwa and Adjoining Provinces, 3rd edition, Vol. 2, London, 1832, pp. 217–19.
157. It was a common practice among Brahmins in Gujarat to distribute coconuts as ‘sacred food’ to friends and relations. See R.E. Enthoven, The Folklore of Bombay, Oxford, 1924, p. 179.
158. P. Chatterjee, The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories, Princeton, 1993, pp. 158–59.
159. FSUP, p. 394.
160. Palmer, The Mutiny Outbreak at Meerut, p. 3.
161. Khaldun, ‘The great rebellion’, p. 25.
162. Thornhill, Personal Adventures, p. 3.
163. On the Vellore mutiny see C.A. Bayly. Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire, Cambridge, 1988, p. 179;
164. R.E. Frykenberg, ‘New light on the Vellore mutiny’, in K. Ballhatchet and J. Harrison, eds, East India Company Studies: Papers Presented to Professor Sir Cyril Philips, Hong Kong, 1986, pp. 209, 213;
165. A.F. Cox, North Arcott, revised edition by H.A. Stuart, Vol. 1, Madras, 1895, p. 106.
166. For primary source material on rumours associated with the mutiny see HMS, Vol. 510, reel 206.
167. W. Butler, The Land of the Veda, 3rd edition, New York, 1872, p. 226.
168. Mishra, Nana Saheb, p. 202.
169. Majumdar, The Sepoy Mutiny, p. 377.
170. Guha, Elementary Aspects, pp. 235–38.
171. Sen, Eighteen Fifty-seven, p. 400.
172. Majumdar, The Sepoy Mutiny, p. 377.
173. Sen, Eighteen Fifty-seven, p. 400.
174. Gupta, Nana Sahib, pp. 37–38.
175. Arnold, Colonizing the Body, p. 178.
176. The Times, 28 April 1857, p. 4.
177. The Annual Register, p. 245.
178. Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, pp. 572–73, fn.
179. Sherer, Daily Life, p. 8.
180. Sen, Eighteen Fifty-seven, p. 399.
181. Guha, Elementary Aspects, p. 243.
182. W. Crooke, Religion and Folklore of Northern India, New Delhi, 1925, p. 127.
183. Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. 9, Part 1, Bombay, 1901, p. 415.
184. British military forces involved in the suppression of the Revolt suffered 9,467 fatalities. Of these only 586 were the result of injuries sustained in military engagements. Arnold, Colonizing the Body, p. 65, 177–78.
185. H.W. Bellew, The History of Cholera in India from 1862 to 1881, London, 1885, p. 802.
186. Arnold, Colonizing the Body, p. 171.
187. Enthoven, The Folklore of Bombay, p. 258.
188. W.H. Sleeman, Rambles and Recollections of un Indian Officiul (V.A. Smith, ed.), reprint, Karachi, 1973, pp. 163–64 and p. 232
189. and David Arnold, ‘Cholera and colonialism in British India’, Past und Present, No. 118, 1986, pp. 127–28.
190. S. Bayly, Saints, Goddesses and Kings: Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society, 1700–1900, Cambridge, 1989, p. 37–38;
191. Enthoven, The Folklore of Bombay, pp. 257, 266;
192. and E. Thurston, Omens and Superstitions in Southern India, London, 1912, p. 175.
193. Gupta, Nana Sahib, p. 36–37.
194. Arnold, ‘Cholera and colonialism’, p. 133.
195. Moon, The British Conquest and Dominion of India, p. 685.
196. FSUP, p. 391;
197. The Times, 14 April 1857, p. 7.
198. J.L. Bryden, Epidemic Cholera in the Bengal Presidency: A Report on the Cholera of 1866–68 and its Relations to Cholera of Previous Epidemics, Calcutta, 1869, pp. 18–20.
199. The Cambridge Economic History of India, Vol. 2, Cambridge, 1983, p. 479.
200. S.A.C. Das Gupta, ed., The Days of John Company: Selections from Calcutta Gazette, 1824–1832, Calcutta, 1959, p. 687.
201. Palmer, The Mutiny Outbreak at Meerut, p. 2.
202. Evidence of Jat Mal, PP, p. 74.
203. Guha, Elementary Aspects, p. 246.
204. Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, 1896, pp. 433–34, fn.