In Pictures: A Story of Imperialism and Resistance
March 4, 2008
Teaching the history of peoples and cultures that are so far removed from the population you teach can be challenging. Imagining the look and feel of something alien can be a frustrating exercise. Period pictures are often used by teachers to provide students a window into the times of old. For me, pictures can be utilized to be far more evocative. Pictures can be enlightening, penetrating, funny, obscene, or instructive. Sometimes pictures that have nothing to do with what you are studying are better at conveying the message or theme you are attempting to teach. As a history teacher I use images to convey context as well as messages and themes.
Knowing my students, I chose pictures I know would have the greatest impact. Whether its because they are memorable (“Oh yeah that fat guy was eating a hamburger! I think those Indian people thought cows were sacred or something…”), engaging (“I don’t see the old woman, oh wait, now I do…), or relevant (“You mean you can have a BigMac in India too? It’s not made from beef?”), pictures can be great instructional tools.
What follows is the story behind India’s First War of Independence, otherwise known as the Sepoy Mutiny.
International ‘trade’ on the loose.
Source: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/02/08/mcdonalds_global_same_store_sales_outpace_us/
The East India Company swept across the Indian subcontinent, seemingly benign but casting a large looming shadow of its future consequences. Before long the Company took on the attributes of an independent government. Like its multinational corporate offspring, the British East India company was able to alter lifestyles of average people through manipulating the local economy. Consequences of the Company’s decisions were often grave, most notably causing the death of millions of Indians by starvation due to reducing food production in favor of cotton.
The consumption of a sacred being. Vile in so many ways.
(Source: http://www.landingthedeal.com/2006/10/but_wait_if_you_order_now_youl.html)
The Indian subjects were able to stomach desecration of their holy places, continuous degradation of their language and culture, and general disrespect for their way of life. The final insult came in the form of a bullet cartridge. The cartridge for the Enfield rifle was smeared with fat from pig, unlawful for Muslims, and beef, sacred to Hindus. It is hard to imagine that the authorities could have simply lapsed in their judgment, and a more dubious motivation was at play in their decision to case the cartridges in such a vile substance. In the end, their arrogance or ignorance proved to be overwhelming. It’s unthinkable that something like that could happen today.
Old woman or young lady? Act of heroism or insanity? Independence or mutiny?
(Source: http://theliterarylink.com/illusions.html)
Like any major event widely recorded in the annals of history, understanding the nature of this event is a matter of perspective. Historical perspectives of the event are most clearly evidenced in the very name given to the event in different cultures. To the British and the Western world, it has come to be known as the Sepoy Mutiny, implying that paid Indian soldiers rose up against a legitimate power. For Indians, the acts of one perhaps crazed sepoy were the highly anticipated spark that lit the powderkeg of decades-long frustrations and resentment to their British overlords. In India, it has come to be known as none other than India’s First War of Independence, a battle whose aim would not come to fruition for nearly a century.
Left: Indian “Braveheart.” Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan portrays the Indian national hero during his final moments in the film The Rising: The Ballad of Mangal Pandey, 2005. Right: The commemorative stamp.
(Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/image_galleries/the_rising_gallery.shtml?6
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/9/9c/Mangalpandeystamp.jpg)
The actions of the sepoys against their British superiors were incited by one Mangal Pandey. Very little is known about this man, but speculation surrounds his motivations, some claiming he was simply high on that fateful March day in 1857.
For his actions, whether understood as being heroic or insane, Mangal Pandey was sentenced to death. He was hung on April 8 of that year, and the rest of his troop was unceremoniously disbanded.
His legacy is still celebrated to this day. Most notably, the events of his life, largely fabricated, are portrayed heroically in the Bollywood film The Rising, and a stamp commemorating his memory was issued by the Indian government in 1984.
