Mangal Pandey - UPSC Current Affairs 2025

Syllabus

GS 1: Modern History

Context: Recently, July 19 has marked 198^th Birth anniversary of Mangal Pandey, a key figure in Revolt of 1857.

Mangal Pandey was born on July 19, 1827, in Nagwa village in Ballia district into a Bhumihar Brahmin family.
At the age of 22, he joined the East India Company’s army as a soldier in the 6^th company of the 34^th Bengal Native Infantry.

Mangal Pandey refused to use the newly introduced Enfield rifle as it was believed that its cartridges were greased with beef and pork fat.
Since sepoys had to bite open the cartridges to load the rifle, this hurt the religious sentiments of both Hindu and Muslim soldiers.

On March 29, 1857, Mangal Pandey fired at his Senior Sergeant Major in Barrackpore near Kolkata which sparked the beginning of the Revolt of 1857.
Mangal Pandey was captured and hanged on April 8, 1857, by the order of a Court Martial at Lal Bagan in Barrackpore.
His regiment was also disbanded, just like the 19th Infantry at Behrampore for showing signs of rebellion.
He was from the kingdom of Awadh, which had been annexed by Lord Dalhousie in 1856 on the grounds of misgovernance.
Unlike other regions taken over under the Doctrine of Lapse, Awadh’s annexation was not based on the absence of a natural heir.

Awadh was a major recruiting ground for the East India Company’s army, with around 75,000 soldiers from the region.
Nearly every farming family had someone serving as a sepoy, so any issue affecting Awadh directly impacted the soldiers.
In 1856, the British deposed the Nawab of Awadh and seized the lands of the taluqdars during a new land revenue settlement. This caused widespread anger.
The sepoys themselves sent around 14,000 petitions, complaining about the hardships caused by the new revenue policies.
Mangal Pandey came to symbolize the anger and suffering that British rule had brought to ordinary peasant families. Soon after, the 7th Awadh Regiment also rebelled but faced harsh punishment.
Following this, acts of disobedience, arson and unrest began to spread across army bases in Ambala, Lucknow, and Meerut.
Finally, on May 10, 1857, sepoys in Meerut openly revolted. They marched to Delhi and entered the Red Fort, asking the aged Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II, to lead them.
After some hesitation, he agreed and was declared the emperor of Hindustan (Shah-en-shah-i-Hindustan), giving symbolic unity and legitimacy to the uprising.