The

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

has been variously termed as a

war of independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

, a

rebellion Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

, and a

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, ...

. Several Indian writers, who consider it as a part of the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

that ultimately led to the country's independence in 1947, have termed it as "The First War of Independence", the "great revolution", the "great rebellion", and the "Indian freedom struggle". Several British writers, who view it as a military disturbance, have termed it as "sepoy revolt", "sepoy war", "Indian rebellion", and the "great revolt". Since the 19th century, a section of British writers have challenged the choice of the word "mutiny" to describe the events.

British nomenclature

The British and colonial press, along with contemporary Europeans, referred to the events under a number of titles, the most common being the Sepoy Mutiny and the Indian Mutiny. Contemporary anti-imperialists viewed those terms as propaganda and pushed to characterise the uprising as more than just the actions of mutinous native soldiers. At the time, they used the term Indian Insurrection in the British and colonial press.

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

was the first Western scholar to call the events of 1857 a "national revolt", although he used the term Sepoy Revolt to describe them.

Indian nomenclature

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966 ), was an Indian politician, activist and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while confined at Ratnagiri in 1922. The prefix "Veer" (mea ...

first used the term ''War of Independence'' to describe the 1857 uprising in his 1909 book '' The History of the War of Indian Independence'', which was originally written in Marathi. However, Savarkar did not use the word "first" in his original book. The word "first" appeared first in an edition of Savarkar's book that was published in 1945 in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

during the Japanese occupation. The edition, titled ''The Volcano, or The First War of Indian Independence'', was published by the Indian National Army (INA) and the Japanese Ministry of Propaganda. Although

never used the term "war of independence" to describe the events of 1857–1859, a volume containing Karl Marx's ''New York Tribune'' articles on the topic was published in 1959 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

under the title ''The First Indian War of Independence 1857–1859''. This English-language volume was based on a Russian-language edition, whose title does not include the word "first" either. It is possible that the title of the Russian edition was inspired by Savarkar's book, although some later writers wrongly state that the term was coined by Karl Marx.

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

, the first Prime Minister of India, insisted on using the term ''First War of Independence'' to refer to the events of 1857–1859, and the terminology was adopted by the Government of India. Some

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

n historians have opposed the use of the term ''First War of Independence'' by the Government to describe the 1857 uprising, and have unsuccessfully taken the issue to the court. These historians insist that several other anti-British uprisings in South India, such as the Vellore Mutiny in 1806, had preceded the 1857 revolt and should be called the First War of Indian Independence. In 2006, when the Indian postal department issued a postal stamp to commemorate the Vellore Mutiny of 1806, M. Karunanidhi, the former Chief Minister of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, said that the move had given "due recognition" to India's "first war of independence". Some

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

groups have also opposed the use of the term. They insist that the

First Anglo-Sikh War The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in 1845 and 1846 around the Firozpur district of Punjab. It resulted in the defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh empire and cession of Jammu ...

(1845–46) should be called the First War of Independence instead, although other localised wars against the British had taken place previously, such as the First Anglo-Maratha War and the First Anglo-Mysore War. Nonetheless, in May 2007, the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal and three other MPs from Punjab protested against the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the 1857 revolt over this issue. Some Indian writers also insist that none of the armed uprisings against the British in India, including the 1857 uprising, should be termed as a "war of independence" since they were neither national in nature nor motivated mainly by nationalist sentiment and in fact involved only a minority of people or soldiers.Ganda Singh. . Issue No. 17, August 2004. (originally published in ''The Sikh Review'', August, 1972, pp. 32–44.)

British nomenclature

Indian nomenclature

References

Further reading