RAS question
Which event is often considered the immediate cause of the Revolt of 1857?
Correct answer: (D) Introduction of Enfield rifle cartridges greased with animal fat.
The immediate cause of the Revolt of 1857 was the introduction of new Enfield rifle cartridges suspected to be greased with cow and pig fat.
Explanation
The cartridge issue became the immediate trigger because it joined military discontent with religious anxiety. The new rifle drill required sepoys to handle cartridges that were suspected to be coated with the fat of cows and pigs, offending Hindu and Muslim religious sensibilities. NCERT records that reports about these greased cartridges created excitement across regiments, and that sepoys at Meerut refused to do the drill with the new cartridges. After 85 sepoys were dismissed and jailed on 9 May 1857, other Indian soldiers at Meerut rebelled on 10 May, released them, attacked British officers, seized arms and declared war on British rule. Wider causes existed, but the cartridge controversy supplied the immediate spark.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The Doctrine of Lapse was part of the deeper political resentment against Company expansion, but it was not the immediate incident that set off the 1857 mutiny.
- (B) The Suez Canal cannot explain the Revolt of 1857 because it opened in 1869, after the revolt had already taken place.
- (C) The abolition of sati belonged to an earlier phase of social reform and social unease, not to the direct military trigger of 1857.
Concept
This tests the Modern Indian History distinction between long-term causes and the immediate trigger of the Revolt of 1857. RAS often returns to this theme because the revolt links colonial policy, sepoy grievances and popular resistance in one core event.