1857: The Religious Roots of Indian Anti-Imperialism

Abstract

To trace the growth of the national sentiment, a convenient point of departure is the Great Revolt of 1857. Not only does it give us clues to what India was before the consolidation of colonial power, it also helps us understand the dynamics between the colonizers and the colonized. Without an examination of colonialism, it would be impossible to have a sense of how modern India came to be the way it is. There are, of course, several different ways of trying to understand the relationship between the colonizers and the colonized, especially as it unfolded in India. The overthrow of colonial power in India was one of the great events of the twentieth century, with widespread ramifications for many nations all over the globe. While there was something spectacular about the end of the Raj in 1947, resistance to British power had a much older and continuous history in the subcontinent. The fabled stability of the empire was more or less just that—a fable, a myth, a colonial fabrication bolstered by endless propaganda. The actual history of British power in India is marked by periodic unrest and decadal famines. Almost every group that was subdued and forced to join the complex configuration of alliances that characterized British paramountcy in India, actively resisted such cooptation. A certain dissatisfaction and resentment simmered all over the land. From small tribal and peasant revolts to large-scale uprisings in different parts of India, colonial rule was marked by widespread discontent.