Greased cartridges

Also called: Enfield rifle cartridges · Topic: The Revolt of 1857 · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 4 "The Colonial Era in India"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Rebels and the Raj"

Meaning

Greased cartridges were the paper cartridges of the new Enfield rifle. In 1857 a rumour spread that they were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. A sepoy had to bite the end off with his mouth, so sepoys feared that using them would destroy their caste and religion [3].

The rumour was the immediate trigger (the spark) of the Revolt of 1857. It also shows how deeply Indians already feared that British rule was attacking their faith and way of life.

Explanation

Background: the new rifle

• NCERT says the British army was being modernised under Governor General Henry Hardinge. As part of this, new Enfield rifles were given to the sepoys.
• The Enfield was a muzzle-loading rifle, which means the powder charge was pushed in from the front of the barrel [2].
• Its barrel was rifled: it had grooves cut inside it.
• So it was far more accurate than the old smooth-bore musket.

• It was the standard British infantry weapon from the 1850s [2].

• The key point: to load it, the sepoy had to bite off the end of the greased paper cartridge. His mouth touched the grease.

The rumour and why it hurt both communities

• The claim: the grease was made of cow fat and pig fat [3].
• The cow is sacred to Hindus.
• The pig is forbidden to Muslims.

• So one cartridge insulted Hindus and Muslims at the same time [3].

• The truth: there is no firm proof that cow or pig fat was ever used on these cartridges [3].

• NCERT calls it a rumour. Britannica agrees and adds that no conclusive evidence exists [3].

How it spread: the Dum Dum story (January 1857)

• Dum Dum, near Calcutta, was a depot where cartridges were made.
• A khalasi (a low-ranking labourer at the depot) asked a Brahmin sepoy for water from his lota (a small water pot).
• The Brahmin refused, because he believed the touch of a "low-caste" man would pollute his pot.
• The khalasi hit back: you will soon lose your caste anyway, because you will have to bite cartridges covered in cow and pig fat.
• This small quarrel is the earliest source of the story that historians can trace. Within weeks it had travelled from this one depot across north India.

Result: the British response failed

• The British saw the danger. They withdrew the cartridges and changed them [3].
• It did not work. Neither explanations nor new cartridges calmed the sepoys [3].
• This shows the sepoys were already angry for other reasons.

• The cartridge was the spark. The fuel was annexation, land revenue, social reform and missionary activity.

• The cartridge rumour spread together with other rumours:

• bone dust of cows and pigs mixed into the atta (flour) sold in bazaars;
• a secret plan to convert all Indians to Christianity;
• a prophecy that British rule would end on 23 June 1857, exactly 100 years after the Battle of Plassey.

Time, place and evidence

• When: early 1857. The traceable start is January 1857. The revolt itself lasted from 1857 to 1858.
• Where: it began at Dum Dum, near Calcutta, then spread through the Bengal Army across north India.
• Key people:
• Henry Hardinge: according to NCERT, the army was modernised under him.
• The khalasi and the Brahmin sepoy at Dum Dum. Their names are not recorded.

• Awadh sepoys: a very large share of the Bengal Army came from Awadh, which the British had annexed in 1856 [4].

• How we know:

• NCERT: Class 12, "Rebels and the Raj", and Class 8, "The Colonial Era in India". Both present the grease as a rumour.
• John William Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War in India, 1857-1858, Vol. I. This is an early British account, now in India's national digital rare-book collection [5].
• A pamphlet, "The rebellion in India: the wondrous tale of the greased cartridges", kept in the Library of Congress. It shows how central the cartridge story was to the British telling of the revolt [6].

Don't confuse with

• Bone-dust atta rumour: this was about food sold in bazaars, which affected ordinary civilians too. The greased-cartridge rumour was about army ammunition and the sepoy's mouth.
• Chapattis: these were small breads passed from village to village. Their meaning is unknown, then and now, and people read them as an omen (a warning sign) of some great upheaval. The cartridge rumour had a clear message: your religion is under attack.
• Smooth-bore musket vs Enfield: the old musket had a plain barrel. The Enfield had a rifled (grooved) barrel, was muzzle-loading, and needed its cartridge bitten [2].
• Hardinge vs Dalhousie vs Bentinck: according to NCERT, Hardinge was linked to the army modernisation that brought the Enfield. Dalhousie devised the Doctrine of Lapse [4]. Bentinck abolished sati in 1829.

Prelims Hooks

• The greased-cartridge rumour can be traced to Dum Dum (near Calcutta), January 1857, in a quarrel over a lota between a khalasi and a Brahmin sepoy.
• The rifle was the Enfield, a muzzle-loading rifled weapon whose cartridge had to be bitten before loading [2][3].
• The rumoured grease was cow fat + pig fat, which offended both Hindus and Muslims. There is no conclusive proof it was actually used [3].
• Trap: the British withdrew and replaced the cartridges, but the unrest did not stop [3].
• The prophecy that went with it fixed the end of British rule at the centenary of Plassey, 23 June 1857.
• Trap: Awadh was annexed in 1856 because the British said it was badly governed. It was not annexed under the Doctrine of Lapse. This hit the many Bengal Army sepoys who came from Awadh [4].

Mains Points

• Trigger versus cause.
• The cartridge was the spark, not the fuel.
• When the British withdrew the cartridges, the anger did not fade [3].

• So the deeper causes were annexations (Satara 1848, Jhansi 1853, Nagpur 1854, Awadh 1856) [4], the new land-revenue system, reforms such as the abolition of sati (1829), and missionary preaching.

• Rumour as historical evidence.

• A rumour does not tell us what really happened. It tells us what people feared.
• The cartridge, atta and conversion stories all carried one message: the British are coming for your religion.

• Their speed of spread shows how deep that fear already ran. The real question is not "was the grease real?" but "why did lakhs of people find it easy to believe?"

• From barracks to countryside.

• Many Bengal Army sepoys came from Awadh, the same region whose annexation hurt taluqdars and peasants [4].
• The soldier and the peasant were often from the same family, so a barracks rumour became a wider revolt.
• This supports the view that 1857 was more than a soldiers' mutiny. Yet the revolt broke out in a scattered, disorganised way, which argues against one master plan [3].

Related concepts

• Enfield rifle
• Dum Dum khalasi rumour
• Bone-dust flour rumour
• Plassey centenary prophecy
• Chapatti movement
• Rumours in 1857
• Francois Sisten

Read more

• Rumours, prophecies and the mind of 1857