Rebels and the Raj
1. Learning Objectives
After reading these notes, you will be able to:
2. Introduction — The Mutiny Begins
3. Pattern of the Uprising
🔔 3.1 How the Mutinies Began
- A signal started each mutiny — in many places the firing of the evening gun or sounding of the bugle.
- Sepoys first seized the bell of arms (weapon store) and plundered the treasury.
- Then attacked government buildings — jail, treasury, telegraph office, record room, bungalows — burning all records.
- Proclamations in Hindi, Urdu and Persian were put up calling upon both Hindus and Muslims to unite, rise and exterminate the firangis.
- When ordinary people joined, targets widened: in major towns like Lucknow, Kanpur and Bareilly, moneylenders and the rich also became targets — seen as oppressors and allies of the British. Houses looted and destroyed.
- The mutiny in sepoy ranks quickly became a rebellion. There was a general defiance of all authority and hierarchy. In May–June 1857, British rule “collapsed like a house made of cards” (a British officer’s words).
📡 3.2 Lines of Communication
- The similarity of pattern across cantonments indicates planning and coordination. There was clear communication between sepoy lines of different cantonments.
- Example: After the 7th Awadh Irregular Cavalry refused to accept new cartridges in early May, they wrote to the 48th Native Infantry saying “they had acted for the faith and awaited the 48th’s orders.”
- Sepoys or their emissaries moved from station to station, planning and discussing the rebellion.
- Panchayats of native officers were used to make collective decisions — noted to be a nightly occurrence in the Kanpur sepoy lines (recorded by Charles Ball, one of the earliest historians of the uprising).
- The sepoys lived together in lines, shared a common lifestyle, many came from the same caste — they sat together and made their own rebellion.
👑 3.3 Leaders and Followers
- Rebels turned to those who had been leaders before British conquest for legitimacy. Bahadur Shah Zafar was the first act — Meerut sepoys rushed to Delhi to ask him to lead. He initially refused, but finally agreed to be the nominal leader.
- In Kanpur: Nana Sahib (successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II) was given no choice but to join as leader.
- In Jhansi: Rani Lakshmi Bai was forced by popular pressure to assume leadership.
- In Arrah, Bihar: Kunwar Singh, a local zamindar, led the revolt.
- In Awadh (Lucknow): The populace hailed Birjis Qadr (young son of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah) as their leader, celebrating the fall of British rule.
- Not all leaders were from courts. Ordinary men, women and religious leaders also carried the message. From Meerut, a fakir riding an elephant was visited frequently by sepoys. In Lucknow, religious leaders and self-styled prophets preached destruction of British rule.
🏴 Shah Mal
Jat cultivator from pargana Barout, UP. Mobilised headmen and cultivators of chaurasee des (84 villages), moving at night, urging rebellion. His men attacked government buildings, destroyed bridges, dug up roads (symbols of British rule), sent supplies to Delhi sepoys. Recognised locally as the Raja, he set up a “hall of justice” in an English officer’s bungalow. Killed in battle in July 1857.
🕌 Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah (Danka Shah)
Preached jehad against the British from 1856, moving village to village with drumbeaters — hence called “Danka Shah” (the maulvi with the drum). British officials panicked as thousands followed him. Jailed in Faizabad in 1857; upon release, elected leader by the 22nd Native Infantry. Fought in the Battle of Chinhat where British forces under Henry Lawrence were defeated. Believed by many to be invincible, with magical powers.
📢 3.4 Rumours and Prophecies
- The most famous rumour: Enfield rifle cartridges were greased with fat of cows and pigs. Biting the cartridges to load the rifle would defile both Hindu and Muslim soldiers. This rumour spread like wildfire.
- Origin traced: Captain Wright reported that in January 1857, a khalasi at Dum Dum asked a Brahmin sepoy for water. The sepoy refused (lower caste touch would defile his lota). The khalasi retorted: “You will soon lose your caste, as you will have to bite cartridges covered with the fat of cows and pigs.”
- Other rumours: British had mixed bone dust of cows and pigs into flour (atta) sold in markets. Sepoys and common people refused to touch the atta. British wanted to convert Indians to Christianity.
- Chapatti circulation: Reports from various parts of North India that chapattis were being passed from village to village at night — one person gave a chapatti to the watchman, asked him to make five more and distribute to the next village. Purpose unclear even today, but people read it as an omen of upheaval.
- Prophecy: British rule would end on the centenary of the Battle of Plassey — 23 June 1857.
4. Awadh in Revolt
🏰 4.1 The Annexation of Awadh — Stage by Stage
- The Subsidiary Alliance was imposed on Awadh in 1801 by Lord Wellesley. The Nawab had to: disband his military force; allow British troops inside the kingdom; act on advice of the British Resident; not make alliances or wage war without British permission.
- Deprived of his armed forces, the Nawab became completely dependent on the British for law and order — he could no longer control rebellious chiefs and taluqdars.
- British interest in Awadh: the soil was good for indigo and cotton; the region was ideally located to be the principal market of Upper India.
- By early 1850s all major areas of India had been conquered — Awadh’s annexation was expected to complete the territorial acquisition process that began with Bengal.
😢 4.2 Impact of Annexation — “The Life was Gone Out of the Body”
- Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled to Calcutta — on the plea of misgovernance. The British wrongly assumed he was unpopular. On the contrary, he was widely loved. When he left Lucknow, many followed him to Kanpur singing laments.
- A contemporary wrote: “The life was gone out of the body, and the body of this town had been left lifeless.” Folk song: “Angrez Bahadur ain, mulk lai linho” (The honourable English came and took the country).
- The dissolution of the Nawab’s court deprived a whole range of people — musicians, dancers, poets, artisans, cooks, retainers, administrative officials — of their livelihood.
⚖️ 4.3 Taluqdars — Displaced by Annexation
- Before the British, taluqdars maintained armed retainers, built forts, and enjoyed autonomy as long as they paid revenue to the Nawab. The bigger taluqdars had up to 12,000 foot-soldiers; smaller ones had about 200.
- After annexation: taluqdars were disarmed and their forts destroyed.
- The Summary Settlement of 1856 proceeded to remove taluqdars wherever possible — based on the assumption that they were interlopers with no permanent stake in land (had acquired land through force and fraud).
- In pre-British times, taluqdars held 67% of the total villages in Awadh. By the Summary Settlement, this fell to 38%. Southern Awadh taluqdars were the hardest hit.
- British expected removing taluqdars would reduce peasant exploitation and increase revenue. But in practice: revenue for the state increased but peasant burden did not decline. Revenue demand in some places increased by 30 to 70%. Neither taluqdars nor peasants had reason to be happy.
👨🌾 4.4 Peasants — Directly Exposed to British Revenue Demand
- The dispossession of taluqdars meant breakdown of an entire social order. The ties of loyalty and patronage binding peasant to taluqdar were disrupted.
- In pre-British times, taluqdars were oppressors but also father figures — considerate in times of need, providing loans and support during festivals and crop failure.
- Under the British, the peasant was directly exposed to overassessment of revenue and inflexible collection. No guarantee of relief during hardship or crop failure.
💂 4.5 Sepoys — Carrying Rural Grievances
- The vast majority of Bengal Army sepoys were recruited from villages of Awadh. Awadh was called the “nursery of the Bengal Army”. Many were Brahmins or from “upper” castes.
- For decades, sepoys had complained of low pay and difficulty getting leave.
- In the 1820s, white officers maintained friendly relations — wrestling, fencing, hawking with sepoys; fluent in Hindustani; disciplinarian yet father figure.
- From the 1840s, this changed. Officers developed a sense of racial superiority, treated sepoys as inferiors. Abuse and physical violence became common. Trust was replaced by suspicion. The greased cartridge episode was the final straw.
- Changes around sepoys’ families and the fears of sepoys were transmitted back and forth between villages and sepoy lines — creating a powerful link that, when the sepoys defied their officers, saw peasants pour into towns and join the rebellion.
5. What the Rebels Wanted
🤝 5.1 The Vision of Unity
- Rebel proclamations repeatedly appealed to all sections of the population — irrespective of caste and creed. Though many proclamations were issued by Muslim princes, they took care to address Hindu sentiments too.
- The rebellion was seen as a war in which both Hindus and Muslims had equally to lose or gain. The ishtahars glorified the coexistence of different communities under the Mughal Empire.
- Bahadur Shah’s proclamation appealed to the people to join the fight under the standards of both Muhammad and Mahavir.
- In December 1857, the British spent Rs 50,000 in Bareilly to incite Hindus against Muslims. The attempt failed — remarkable given the conditions.
Merchants (Section II): British monopolised trade in indigo, cloth and shipping goods, leaving only trifles for native merchants. Merchants were taxed and could be imprisoned. Under Badshahi Government, all trade by land and water would be open to native merchants.
Public Servants (Section III): Natives in civil and military service had little respect, low pay and no influence — all high posts given to Englishmen. They should side with the Badshahi Government for better pay and high posts.
Artisans (Section IV): European articles had thrown weavers, cotton dressers, carpenters, blacksmiths and shoemakers out of employment, reducing them to beggary. Under Badshahi Government, native artisans would be exclusively employed by kings, rajahs and the rich.
Pundits, Fakirs, Learned Persons (Section V): Europeans were enemies of both Hindu and Muslim religion. In this war for religion, pundits and fakirs should join the holy war.
🔥 5.2 Against the Symbols of Oppression
- Proclamations completely rejected everything associated with firangi raj — annexations, broken treaties, British untrustworthiness.
- What enraged people: British land revenue settlements had dispossessed landholders big and small; foreign commerce had driven artisans and weavers to ruin.
- In villages, rebels burnt account books and ransacked moneylenders’ houses — an attempt to overturn traditional hierarchies, rebel against all oppressors, perhaps a vision of a more egalitarian society.
- The rebels wanted to restore the pre-British world that they cherished.
🏛️ 5.3 The Search for Alternative Power
- Once British rule collapsed, rebels in Delhi, Lucknow and Kanpur tried to establish structures of authority and administration — short-lived but showing the rebel leadership wanted to restore the pre-British 18th-century Mughal world.
- Leaders went back to the culture of the court: appointments made to posts, land revenue collection organised, troop payments arranged, looting ordered to be stopped, battle plans made, army chains of command laid down.
- In Awadh, where resistance lasted longest, plans of counter-attack by the Lucknow court and hierarchies of command were in place as late as the last months of 1857 and early 1858.
6. Repression — British Response
- Before sending out troops, the British passed a series of laws in May and June 1857: all of North India was put under martial law. Military officers and even ordinary Britons were given the power to try and punish Indians suspected of rebellion. The ordinary process of law and trial was suspended. Rebellion would have only one punishment — death.
- The British mounted a two-pronged attack on Delhi (the symbolic prize):
- One force moved from Calcutta into North India.
- Another from the Punjab (largely peaceful) towards Delhi.
- British attempts to recover Delhi began in earnest in early June 1857. Delhi was finally captured only in late September 1857. Rebels from all over North India had come to defend Delhi — fighting and losses were heavy on both sides.
- In the Gangetic plain, reconquest was slow — village by village. The countryside was entirely hostile. A British official (Forsyth) estimated that in Awadh, three-fourths of the adult male population was in rebellion. Awadh was brought under control only in March 1858.
- To break up unity in UP (where big landholders and peasants resisted together), the British promised to restore estates to loyal big landholders — a classic divide-and-rule tactic. Rebel landholders were dispossessed; loyal ones were rewarded. Many rebels died fighting or escaped to Nepal where they died of illness and starvation.
7. Images of the Revolt — Visual Representations
🏆 5.1 Celebrating the Saviours — “Relief of Lucknow” (Thomas Jones Barker, 1859)
When rebel forces besieged Lucknow, Henry Lawrence (Commissioner) took refuge in the Residency with the Christian population. Lawrence was killed; Residency defended by Colonel Inglis. On 25 September, Outram and Havelock cut through rebel forces and reinforced the garrison. Twenty days later, Colin Campbell (new Commander) rescued the besieged. The siege became a story of survival, heroic resistance and British triumph. Barker’s painting celebrates Campbell’s entry — British heroes at the lit centre, damaged Residency in background, dead and injured as testimony to suffering, triumphant horses. To the British public: reassuring. Time of trouble was past. British were the victors.
👩 5.2 English Women and the Honour of Britain — “In Memoriam” (Joseph Noel Paton, 1859)
News reports inflamed British public with tales of violence against women and children. “In Memoriam” — painted two years after the mutiny — showed English women and children huddled in a circle, helpless and innocent, waiting for dishonour, violence and death. It does not show gory violence — only suggests it. Seeks to provoke anger and fury, represents rebels as violent and brutish (though invisible in the picture). British rescue forces are visible in the background as saviours. Another painting — Miss Wheeler defending herself in Kanpur — showed women as heroic, single-handedly fighting rebels, given a religious connotation: battle to save the honour of Christianity (the Bible lies on the floor).
⚖️ 5.3 Vengeance and Retribution — “Justice” (Punch, 12 September 1857)
Visual representations created a milieu where violent repression was seen as necessary and just. The Punch image of “Justice” — an allegorical female figure with sword and shield, trampling sepoys under her feet while Indian women with children cower in fear. Her posture: aggressive; her face: rage and desire for revenge. Innumerable cartoons and pictures in the British press sanctioned brutal repression and violent reprisal. Rebels were blown from guns and hanged from gallows — executions theatrically performed in the open to instil fear.
🤝 5.5 No Time for Clemency — “The Clemency of Canning” (Punch, 24 October 1857)
Governor General Canning declared that a gesture of leniency would help win back loyalty of sepoys — he was mocked in the British press. A Punch cartoon showed Canning as a looming father figure with a protective hand over the head of a sepoy who still holds an unsheathed sword and a dagger dripping with blood. The cartoon ridiculed any call for mercy.
🇮🇳 5.6 Nationalist Imageries — First War of Independence
The national movement in the 20th century drew inspiration from 1857 — celebrated as the First War of Independence in which all sections came together to fight imperial rule. Leaders were presented as heroic figures. Rani Lakshmi Bai was the most prominent symbol — represented as a masculine warrior, fighting with a sword in hand, riding a horse, symbol of determination to resist injustice. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan’s famous poem: “Khoob lari mardani woh to Jhansi wali rani thi” (Like a man she fought, she was the Rani of Jhansi). In popular prints, Rani Lakshmi Bai is always in battle armour, sword in hand, on horseback. Art, literature and film helped keep alive the memory of 1857.
8. Summary — Quick Revision
On 10 May 1857, sepoys at Meerut mutinied. They arrived at Delhi on 11 May. Bahadur Shah Zafar, initially reluctant, became the nominal leader of the revolt, giving it legitimacy. Cantonments across the Gangetic valley and beyond rose in mutiny in the weeks following.
The revolt followed a similar pattern everywhere — seizure of the bell of arms, treasury, destruction of government buildings, burning of records. Ordinary people widened targets to moneylenders and the rich, seen as oppressors and British allies.
The revolt was planned through sepoy panchayats and communication between cantonments. Leaders included Bahadur Shah Zafar, Nana Sahib (Kanpur), Rani Lakshmi Bai (Jhansi), Kunwar Singh (Bihar), Birjis Qadr (Awadh), and local figures like Shah Mal and Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah.
Rumours — greased cartridges with cow and pig fat, bone dust in flour, British intent to convert Indians to Christianity — mobilised people. They made sense because of the cumulative impact of British policies since the 1820s: Western education, social reforms, annexations and new revenue systems.
Awadh was the most intense centre. The Subsidiary Alliance (1801) weakened the Nawab. Annexation (1856) displaced Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, taluqdars and their dependents. The Summary Settlement of 1856 took taluqdars from 67% to 38% of village holdings. Revenue demand increased 30–70% but peasant burden did not decline.
The Azamgarh Proclamation (25 August 1857) expressed rebel grievances across five sections: zamindars (high revenue), merchants (British trade monopoly), public servants (low pay, racial discrimination), artisans (unemployment due to British goods), and pundits/fakirs (defend religion).
Rebel proclamations sought Hindu-Muslim unity. They harked back to the pre-British Mughal world. Rebels wanted to restore the 18th-century order. In Awadh, the Lucknow court maintained counter-attack plans and chains of command until early 1858.
British repression: martial law, special powers for military officers and ordinary Britons to try and punish rebels. Two-pronged attack on Delhi (captured September 1857). Village-by-village reconquest. Awadh under control only by March 1858. Rebels blown from guns and hanged publicly as a “performance of terror.”
British images celebrated saviours (Relief of Lucknow), depicted English women as victims (In Memoriam), and called for vengeance (Justice in Punch). Governor General Canning’s plea for clemency was mocked. These images shaped public support for brutal repression.
Indian nationalist imagination celebrated 1857 as the First War of Independence. Rani Lakshmi Bai became the supreme symbol. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan’s poem celebrated her as a masculine warrior. Films, posters and art kept the memory alive and shaped nationalist consciousness.
9. Timeline — The Revolt of 1857
| Date / Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1798 | Subsidiary Alliance system devised by Lord Wellesley |
| 1801 | Subsidiary Alliance imposed on Awadh; Nawab progressively weakened |
| Late 1820s onwards | British adopt “reforming” policies — Western education, abolition of sati (1829), widow remarriage; fuelling fear of cultural destruction |
| 1851 | Lord Dalhousie describes Awadh as “a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day” |
| 1856 | Nawab Wajid Ali Shah deposed; Awadh formally annexed. Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah begins preaching jehad against the British |
| 1856–57 | Summary revenue settlements introduced in Awadh — taluqdars’ holdings reduced from 67% to 38% of villages |
| January 1857 | Rumour of greased cartridges begins — traced to an incident at Dum Dum magazine |
| Early May 1857 | 7th Awadh Irregular Cavalry refuses new cartridges; writes to 48th Native Infantry |
| 10 May 1857 | Mutiny breaks out in Meerut — native infantry, cavalry, and city people join |
| 11–12 May 1857 | Sepoys reach Red Fort; Bahadur Shah Zafar accepts nominal leadership; Delhi garrisons revolt |
| 20–27 May 1857 | Sepoys mutiny in Aligarh, Etawah, Mainpuri, Etah |
| 30 May 1857 | Rising in Lucknow — Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah released from Faizabad jail, leads revolt |
| May–June 1857 | Mutiny turns into a general revolt of the people across North India |
| June 1857 | British begin earnest attempt to recover Delhi; pass Acts placing North India under martial law |
| 30 June 1857 | Battle of Chinhat — British forces under Henry Lawrence defeated by Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah |
| July 1857 | Shah Mal killed in battle; British begin siege of Delhi |
| 25 August 1857 | Azamgarh Proclamation issued — one of the main sources on what the rebels wanted |
| 25 September 1857 | British forces under Havelock and Outram enter the Residency in Lucknow |
| Late September 1857 | Delhi finally captured by British after heavy fighting |
| October 1857 | “The Clemency of Canning” cartoon published in Punch — mocking Canning’s call for leniency |
| March 1858 | Awadh brought under British control after protracted fighting |
| June 1858 | Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi killed in battle |
| End of 1858 | Rebellion collapses. Nana Sahib escapes to Nepal. British Crown takes over governance of India from the East India Company (Crown Rule / direct British Raj begins) |
10. Important Terms to Remember
- Mutiny: A collective disobedience of rules and regulations within the armed forces. The 1857 mutiny referred specifically to the uprising of sepoys.
- Revolt / Rebellion: A rebellion of people against established authority and power. In 1857, the revolt referred primarily to the uprising of civilian population — peasants, zamindars, rajas, jagirdars.
- Bell of arms: A storeroom in which weapons are kept. Sepoys seized these at the start of mutinies to arm themselves.
- Firangi: A term of Persian origin (possibly derived from “Frank”), used derogatorily in Hindi and Urdu to designate foreigners, particularly the British.
- Ishtahar: Notification or proclamation issued by rebel leaders to propagate their ideas and persuade people to join the revolt.
- Bahadur Shah Zafar: The last Mughal emperor. The sepoys arrived at the Red Fort on 11 May 1857 and demanded his blessings. He became the nominal leader of the revolt, giving it legitimacy.
- Nana Sahib: The successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II. Led the revolt in Kanpur. Escaped to Nepal at the end of 1858 when the rebellion collapsed.
- Rani Lakshmi Bai: The Rani of Jhansi. Forced by popular pressure to assume leadership of the uprising. Killed in battle in June 1858. Became the supreme nationalist symbol — celebrated as a masculine warrior.
- Kunwar Singh: A local zamindar from Arrah, Bihar. Led the revolt in his region.
- Birjis Qadr: Young son of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh. Hailed as leader by the populace of Lucknow after the fall of British rule there.
- Shah Mal: A Jat cultivator from pargana Barout, UP. Mobilised 84 villages against the British; set up a local hall of justice. Killed in battle in July 1857.
- Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah (Danka Shah): A maulvi who preached jehad against the British from 1856. Called “Danka Shah” because he moved with drumbeaters (danka). Led rebel forces in the Battle of Chinhat.
- Chaurasee des: Eighty-four villages — the kinship-based territory over which Shah Mal exercised influence.
- Subsidiary Alliance: A system devised by Lord Wellesley in 1798. Allied states had to: accept British troops on their territory (at their own expense); not maintain independent armed forces; not enter alliances or fight wars without British permission; but received British protection from external and internal threats.
- Resident: The designation of a representative of the Governor General who lived in a state not under direct British rule. The Resident’s advice effectively controlled the ally’s policies.
- Wajid Ali Shah: The popular Nawab of Awadh, dethroned and exiled to Calcutta in 1856. His exile was deeply mourned — “The life was gone out of the body.” Many followed him to Kanpur singing laments.
- Begum Hazrat Mahal: Wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. Joined with Awadh taluqdars to fight the British in Lucknow. Even remained with them in defeat.
- Taluqdar: Large landholders of Awadh who had held land and power for generations before the British. Before annexation: held 67% of villages; after Summary Settlement 1856: reduced to 38%. Many had armies — bigger ones with up to 12,000 foot-soldiers.
- Summary Settlement of 1856: The first British revenue settlement in Awadh after annexation. Proceeded to remove taluqdars wherever possible on the assumption they were interlopers with no permanent stake in land. Resulted in taluqdar share of villages falling from 67% to 38%.
- Doctrine of Lapse: Lord Dalhousie’s policy by which if a native ruler died without a natural heir, the kingdom would be annexed by the British. Used to annex Satara, Jhansi and other principalities — fuelling resentment and contributing to the causes of 1857.
- Azamgarh Proclamation (25 August 1857): One of the main sources of knowledge about what the rebels wanted. Addressed zamindars, merchants, public servants, artisans and religious leaders, explaining grievances and calling them to join the Badshahi (imperial) Government.
- Greased cartridges: The Enfield rifle cartridges were rumoured to be greased with cow and pig fat. Soldiers had to bite these to load the rifles — an act that would defile Hindu and Muslim soldiers’ religion. This was the immediate trigger for the mutiny.
- Arzi: A petition or application. The rebel sepoys’ arzi (Source 6) is one of the rare surviving documents from the rebels’ perspective.
- Martial law: Acts passed by the British in May and June 1857 that suspended ordinary processes of law and trial in all of North India. Military officers and ordinary Britons were empowered to try and punish Indians suspected of rebellion. The only punishment: death.
- “Relief of Lucknow” (Thomas Jones Barker, 1859): A British painting celebrating Colin Campbell’s rescue of the besieged British garrison at the Residency in Lucknow. Placed British heroes at the well-lit centre; created a reassuring narrative of British triumph.
- “In Memoriam” (Joseph Noel Paton, 1859): A painting showing English women and children huddled in a circle, waiting for violence. Did not show gory violence but suggested it — stirring the imagination, provoking anger. British rescue forces visible in the background.
- “The Clemency of Canning” (Punch, 24 October 1857): A cartoon ridiculing Governor General Canning’s call for leniency. Showed Canning as a protective figure over a sepoy who still held a sword and dagger dripping with blood. At a time when the clamour was for vengeance, pleas for moderation were mocked.
- Subhadra Kumari Chauhan: Author of the famous Hindi poem celebrating Rani Lakshmi Bai: “Khoob lari mardani woh to Jhansi wali rani thi” (Like a man she fought, she was the Rani of Jhansi). This poem shaped nationalist imagination around 1857.
- First War of Independence: The term used by nationalist historians and the freedom movement to describe the revolt of 1857 — celebrating it as the first occasion when all sections of Indian people came together to fight against imperial rule.