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R EBELS AND THE R AJ 269 The dispossession of taluqdars meant the breakdown of an entire social order. The ties of loyalty and patronage that had bound the peasant to the taluqdar were disrupted. In pre-British times, the taluqdars were oppressors but many of them also appeared to be generous father figures: they exacted a variety of dues from the peasant but were often considerate in times of need. Now, under the British, Source 4 the peasant was directly exposed to overassessment of revenue and inflexible methods of collection. There What taluqdars thought was no longer any guarantee that in times of hardship The attitude of the taluqdars was or crop failure the revenue demand of the state would best expressed by Hanwant be reduced or collection postponed; or that in times Singh, the Raja of Kalakankar, of festivities the peasant would get the loan and near Rae Bareli. During the support that the taluqdar had earlier provided. mutiny, Hanwant Singh had In areas like Awadh where resistance during 1857 given shelter to a British officer, was intense and long lasting, the fighting was carried and conveyed him to safety. out by taluqdars and their peasants. Many of these While taking leave of the officer, taluqdars were loyal to the Nawab of Awadh, and Hanwant Singh told him: they joined Begum Hazrat Mahal (the wife of the Sahib, your countrymen Nawab) in Lucknow to fight the British; some even came into this country and remained with her in defeat. drove out our King. You The grievances of the peasants were carried over sent your officers round the districts to examine the into the sepoy lines since a vast majority of the titles to the estates. At one sepoys were recruited from the villages of Awadh. For decades the sepoys had complained of low levels blow you took from me of pay and the difficulty of getting leave. By the 1850s lands which from time there were other reasons for their discontent. immemorial had been in my family. I submitted. The relationship of the sepoys with their superior Suddenly misfortune fell white officers underwent a significant change in upon you. The people of the years preceding the uprising of 1857. In the the land rose against you. 1820s, white officers made it a point to maintain You came to me whom you had despoiled. I have saved friendly relations with the sepoys. They would take part in their leisure activities – they wrestled with you. But now – now I march them, fenced with them and went out hawking with at the head of my retainers them. Many of them were fluent in Hindustani and to Lucknow to try and drive were familiar with the customs and culture of the you from the country. country. These officers were disciplinarian and father figure rolled into one. What does this excerpt In the 1840s, this began to change. The officers tell you about the attitude developed a sense of superiority and started of the taluqdars? Who did Hanwant Singh mean by treating the sepoys as their racial inferiors, riding the people of the land? roughshod over their sensibilities. Abuse and physical violence became common and thus the What reason does distance between sepoys and officers grew. Trust Hanwant Singh give for was replaced by suspicion. The episode of the the anger of the people? greased cartridges was a classic example of this. Reprint 2026-27