3. What the Rebels Wanted

. What the Rebels Wanted As victors, the British recorded their own trials and tribulations as well as their heroism. They dismissed the rebels as a bunch of ungrateful and barbaric people. The repression of the rebels also meant silencing of their voice.

Few rebels had the opportunity of recording their version of events. Moreover, most of them were sepoys and ordinary people who were not literate. Thus, other than a few proclamations and ishtahars (notifications) issued by rebel leaders to propagate their ideas and persuade people to join the revolt, we do not have much that throws light on the perspective of the rebels. Attempts to reconstruct what happened in are thus heavily and inevitably dependent on what the British wrote.

While these sources reveal the minds of officials, they tell us very little about what the rebels wanted. Ü Discuss... Find out whether people in your state participated in the revolt of . If they did, find out why they did so.

If they did not, try and explain this. Fig. . Bengal sepoys in European-style uniform