Abdul Hadi Pasha
Banned
I've done a whole lot of reading about this, and while religion always factors into these sorts of things, it was not a planned event and people had very diverse motivations for participating, most of which were economic or political, not religious. Also, once fighting begins, a lot of what people say is colored with religious imagery. We do it too - not to get political, but Bush claimed God is on our side after 9-11, and has used the word "Crusade", which has strong implications for Middle Easterners. Likewise, the word Jihad has a different meaning to the modern Western ear than should be written into letters by ordinary soldiers.
It certainly had nothing to do with Wahhabism. The most Wahhabi-infuenced place in India was Hyderabad, which actively assisted the British to suppress the revolt.
In general I don't like to depend upon the work of one author, especially if he is quite radically revisionist.
It certainly had nothing to do with Wahhabism. The most Wahhabi-infuenced place in India was Hyderabad, which actively assisted the British to suppress the revolt.
In general I don't like to depend upon the work of one author, especially if he is quite radically revisionist.
Yes, it was a revolt. Not a general one though, the civilian population of west Bengal formed posses and rounded up mutiniers.
No, it really was a religious uprising. This is a fairly recent finding done by actually bothering to read the mutiniers own documents by Dalrymple etc.