The perceived hurt to spiritual practices was the set off for the 1806 Vellore Revolt, which noticed Hindus and Muslims collectively battle the British
The perceived hurt to spiritual practices was the set off for the 1806 Vellore Revolt, which noticed Hindus and Muslims collectively battle the British
Tamil Nadu, which performed an necessary position in the nation’s freedom battle and produced a quantity of sterling leaders throughout the nationwide motion, had to its credit score recorded an occasion, the Vellore Revolt of 1806, considered a forerunner to the 1857 Great Rebellion.
As in the case of the 1857 rebellion, the perceived hurt to spiritual practices was the set off for the Vellore Revolt, which broke out in the early hours of July 10, 1806. Another similarity between the occasions of 1806 and 1857 was that Hindus and Muslims have been on the similar web page whereas combating the British. Again, as in the case of 1857, whereby a Muslim — the titular Mughal emperor Bahādur Shah Zafar — was proclaimed as the chief, the Vellore Revolt noticed its individuals declaring Tipu Sultan’s second son Fateh Hyder as their king. But the 1857 rebellion lasted for much longer than the 1806 Revolt and its protection was extra widespread. So was its impression.
In the early half of the 19 th Century, simply as many different components of Tamil Nadu, Vellore too was beneath the management of the East India Company. Its well-known fort, constructed throughout 1526-1595 CE, was ‘home’ to members of Tipu Sultan’s household — 12 sons and 6 daughters — who have been held there by the British after the fall of Srirangapattinam and Tipu’s dying in 1799. It additionally housed the English garrison, which consisted of over 10 corporations of troopers, of whom Europeans accounted for almost 370. As many as 1,700 troopers have been Indians.
In March 1806, the introduction of a code of army rules and costume generated resentment amongst the Indian troopers as Hindus have been prohibited from carrying spiritual marks on their foreheads and Muslims have been required to shave their beard and trim their moustache. As historian Okay.A. Manikumar talked about in an article printed by Frontline on July 30, 2021, the most offensive half, from the Indian perspective, was the leather-based cockade in the new turban. Usually, the turban was made of an iron body and blue braid fabric and a plume or cotton tuft.
Sent to Fort St. George
The revolting troopers have been despatched to Fort St. George. Two troopers — a Hindu and a Muslim — got 900 lashes every and their providers terminated. Nineteen troopers got 500 lashes every and compelled to search pardon for his or her motion.
But this was not sufficient to suppress the sentiments of the Indian members of the Army. Around 2 a.m. on July 10, the Indians started their Revolt, killing almost 15 British officers and 100 English troopers. John Fancourt, Commander of the fort and garrison, was the first to be shot (He died hours after the Revolt was crushed). For some hours of the day, the Fort had Tipu’s Royal Tiger Flag flying over it.
But the Revolt was crushed in a matter of hours — by about 2 p.m. the similar day — primarily due to weaknesses on the half of those that had deliberate and executed it. Reinforcements got here from a close-by army publish and Col. Rollo Gillespie led a counter-attack. Over 800 troopers have been killed inside the fort and 17 Indian officers hanged outdoors. Numerous individuals have been imprisoned at the Vellore and Tiruchi prisons. Tipu’s sons have been shifted to Kolkata. The occasion, nevertheless, alarmed the British. William Bentinck, Governor of Madras, was recalled.
The fort, aside from serving as a sworn statement to the historic occasions, accommodates a website museum, which is being maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
Letters from 1806
A storehouse of information, the museum, performing at the Badhusha Mahal and Begum Mahal, supplies a glimpse of the occasions that preceded and adopted the Revolt. A assortment of letters from 1806 is one of the prized collections of the museum. It took greater than 190 years for a construction to come up in Vellore in reminiscence of the Indian troopers killed in the Revolt.
On December 20, 1998, the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi unveiled the memorial at the junction of Bengaluru Road and Officers’ Line. Again, in July 2006, it was left to him to launch a postal stamp in Vellore throughout the bicentenary celebration of the Revolt.
The memorial pillar at Makkan sign in Vellore.
| Photo Credit: C. VENKATACHALAPATHY
Karunanidhi had even introduced that his authorities would contemplate putting in one other memorial for the martyrs. There has been little progress on this regard.