Nursery of the Bengal Army
Topic: The Revolt of 1857 · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Rebels and the Raj"
Meaning
"Nursery of the Bengal Army" was a name for Awadh, because most of the Bengal Army's sepoys came from there and from eastern Uttar Pradesh. This close link meant that village worries reached the sepoy lines, and the sepoys' fears travelled back to the villages. It helps explain why Awadh became the centre of the 1857 revolt.
Example
Under the Summary Settlement of 1856, the revenue demand in Awadh rose by 30 to 70 per cent. Sepoys came from these same families, so the burden on the land became their concern too. When the sepoys rose in 1857, peasants poured into the towns to join them.
Don't confuse with
- Bengal Army: the army itself, one of the Company's three presidency armies. The "nursery" is Awadh, the region its soldiers came from.
Related concepts
- Annexation of Awadh
- Wajid Ali Shah
- Summary Settlement of 1856
- Taluqdar
- Hanwant Singh
- Bengal Army
- Sepoy grievances