NCERT Solutions

Why did the mutinous sepoys in many places turn to erstwhile rulers to provide leadership to the revolt?

Discuss the evidence that indicates planning and coordination on the part of the rebels.

Discuss the extent to which religious beliefs shaped the events of 1857.

What were the measures taken to ensure unity among the rebels?

What steps did the British take to quell the uprising?

On an outline map of India, mark Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai) and Madras (Chennai), three major centres of British power in 1857. Refer to Maps 1 and 2 and plot the areas where the revolt was most widespread. How close or far were these areas from the colonial cities?

Read a biography of any one of the leaders of the revolt of 1857. Check the sources used by the biographer. Do these include government reports, newspaper accounts, stories in regional languages, visual material, anything else? Do all the sources say the same thing, or are there differences? Prepare a report on your findings.

See a film made on the revolt of 1857 and write about the way it represents the revolt. How does it depict the British, the rebels, and those who remained loyal to the British? What does it say about peasants, city dwellers, tribals, zamindars and taluqdars? What kind of a response does the film seek to evoke?

Why was the revolt particularly widespread in Awadh? What prompted the peasants, taluqdars and zamindars to join the revolt?

What did the rebels want? To what extent did the vision of different social groups differ?

What do visual representations tell us about the revolt of 1857? How do historians analyse these representations?

Examine any two sources presented in the chapter, choosing one visual and one text, and discuss how these represent the point of view of the victor and the vanquished.