COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM
IMPERIALISM IN ASIA
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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The British wanted Indian soldiers to take part in putting down Muslim rebellions.
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The British wanted Indian soldiers to use rifle cartridges that were greased with animal fat.
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The British wanted Indian soldiers to wear boots that were made of animal skins.
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The British wanted Indian soldiers to wear boots that were made of animal skins.
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Detailed explanation-1: -An uprising in several sepoy companies of the Bengal army was sparked by the issue of new gunpowder cartridges for the Enfield rifle in February 1857. Loading the Enfield often required tearing open the greased cartridge with one’s teeth, and many sepoys believed that the cartridges were greased with cow and pig fat.
Detailed explanation-2: -The rebellion began when sepoys refused to use new rifle cartridges, which were thought to be lubricated with grease containing a mixture of pigs’ and cows’ lard and thus religiously impure for Muslims and Hindus.
Detailed explanation-3: -There was a rumour that the grease in the rifle cartridges was the fat of cows and pigs. The Hindus worshipped the cows, and the Muslims detested pigs. This raised a furore among the Indian Sepoys, and they refused to use the newly introduced rifles.
Detailed explanation-4: -Conventional history says native Hindu and Muslim soldiers, known as sepoys, revolted against the British East India Company over fears that gun cartridges were greased with animal fat forbidden by their religions.
Detailed explanation-5: -They were certain that the greased cartridges were a British plot to render them impure and, thus, separate them from their families and communities. This would, the reasoning went, make them more vulnerable to Christian missionizing.