India in Flames: The Sipahi Revolution of 1857-58 (In 2 Volumes)
The Mutiny in India began in 1857 and came as a total surprise to the British civil and military authorities. Among the native troops, malicious rumour had spread that the cartridges for the mew musket had been greased with beef and pork fat, the one sacred to the Hindu and the other an abomination to the Muslim.
It was claimed that the British authorities had an ulterior motive in wishing to deprive the Hindu of his caste, and defile the Muslim - an underhand first step to converting both to Christianity.
To comply with the new order meant the loss of caste for the Hindu and an unclean state for the Muslim, nor could they return to their villages. Further more, use of a cartridge meant being shunned by their comrades. British officers tried to placate the suspicious sepoys but failed, at the same time naively believing that their men would never harm them or their families - a conviction they carried to their grave.
For the sepoys, there was only one way out of this explosive situation - mutiny.
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Bibliographic information
Noel F. Singer