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Copyright © and Moral Rights for This Phd Thesis Are Retained by the Author And/Or Other Copyright Owners Chatterjee, Niladri (2015) The uprising in the ‘periphery’ : Bengal 1857-58. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/20389 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this PhD Thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This PhD Thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this PhD Thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the PhD Thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full PhD Thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD PhD Thesis, pagination. THE UPRISING IN THE ‘PERIPHERY’: BENGAL 1857-58 NILADRI CHATTERJEE Department of History School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PhD) SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES (SOAS) UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 2015 Page | 1 DECLARATION FOR PHD THESIS I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the School of Oriental and African Studies concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: Niladri Chatterjee Date: 15 January 2015 Page | 2 ABSTRACT The thesis deals with the rebellion of 1857 – variously described as the Sepoy Mutiny or the First Indian War of Independence – in an area generally stereotyped as the periphery in the context of the rebellion. The geographical area covered in the thesis includes the lower province of the Bengal Presidency, which at present roughly incorporates the states of West Bengal and Assam in India, and Bangladesh. Using the hitherto underutilized sources this dissertation seeks to venture into the task of constructing a narrative of sequential events related to the rebellion in this region, while simultaneously analysing the moments of crises that the colonial administration had encountered during this time. The dissertation argues that in spite of the regional specificities that determined the nature, character and outcome of the movement, the rebellion was a multifaceted and multi-layered one, and the events of varying multitudes in the region were interconnected with the broader conflagration of 1857, together which brought about a crisis of the colonial rule in Indian subcontinent. While doing so, the thesis looks at the action of the rebels, the networks of communication, and the role and significance of non-traditional modes of communication, with specific focus on the circulation of rumours and panic in shaping the character of the rebellion in the region. It argues that during a moment of social and political upheaval, such as the rebellion of 1857, rumours and their consequent effect have the potential to be a source of historical analysis. As a corollary to the present study, the thesis also revisits the question of ‗loyalism‘ of the middle class intelligentsia of Bengal during the rebellion, arguing for a more nuanced understanding of such terminologies. Page | 3 DEDICATION In the Memory of My Father Late Professor Basudeb Chattopadhyay Page | 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Pursuing a Ph.D. project has been a both painful and enjoyable experience. It‘s just like climbing a high peak, step by step, accompanied with bitterness, hardships, frustration, encouragement and trust and with so many people‘s kind help. While finally managing to pull myself at the top, I have realised that it was, in fact, teamwork that got me there. Though it will not be enough to express my gratitude in words to all those people who helped me, I would still like to give my heartfelt thanks to all of them. At the very outset, I would like to take the opportunity to thank my supervisor, Dr. Shabnum Tejani, who had accepted me as her PhD student without any hesitation and guided me right from the very inception. It is indeed difficult to express in words how much I owe her for the continuous support, guidance and encouragement. She has been a friend, tutor and a great mentor to me. This project has been, in a way, the brainchild of my father, late Professor Dr. Basudeb Chattopadhyay. I do not know how to thank him. It was he who had first introduced me to the fascinating world of history and had been a pillar of strength and support to me. During his stint as the Director of State Archives in West Bengal, he showed me interesting documents, hitherto untouched, concerning various issues of historical significance. It was from one such document that the whole idea of this project was first conceived. After his untimely demise, it therefore became an imperative for me to carry forward the task he had undertaken. I am not sure if the present project has been anywhere close to what he had perceived, but am glad that I have at least tried my best to fulfil his last academic venture. This thesis is dedicated to him. I am deeply indebted to the Felix Scholarship Foundation for providing me with the much needed financial support during the course of this project. I would especially like to thank Laura Jacobs and Alicia Sales-Fernandez, Felix Scholarship Officers of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), for their constant support and encouragement. I am also grateful to the University of London‘s Central Research Fund for the financial assistance provided during the period of my field research. Their generosity is difficult to express in words, but suffice it to say that this project would have remained a distant dream without them. Over the years I have incurred many debts, intellectual, institutional and personal, in the course of this project, and I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge them. My teachers at the Scottish Church College, University of Calcutta and at Uppsala University provided me with the necessary acumen to undertake this historical research. My sincere respect and gratitude to all of them for making me where I stand today. I would especially like to thank Professor Dr. Suranjan Das, Dr. Suparna Gooptu, Dr. Rajsekhar Basu, Dr. Sanjukta Dasgupta, Dr. Amit De, Professor Bhaskar Chakraborty, Dr. Arun Bandyopadhyay and Dr. Kingshuk Chatterjee of the Department of History of the University of Calcutta for sharing their thoughts and guiding me at various stages of the work. I happily recollect the countless academic discussions I had with them. I shall be forever grateful to Dr. Hari S. Vasudevan for standing beside me at a time when I needed him the most. The thesis would not have seen the light of day without him. My Page | 5 sincere gratitude to Dr. Amiya Kumar Bagchi and Ramkrishna Chatterjee of the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK) for enduring me as a junior research scholar and providing me with the space and facilities for working on the project at the earlier stage. I would also like to thank Professor Biswamoy Pati of the Delhi University and Professor Deepak Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University for their support and encouragement, and standing by me at a time when I really needed them. I am especially grateful to Dr. Tapti Roy for her continuous encouragement and academic guidance throughout the entire project. It was a pleasure to be able to have numerous discussions with her, both in Cambridge as well as in India. She was kind enough to go through all my drafts and give her valuable comments and suggestions to improve the scope of my research. I am deeply indebted to the faculty at the Department of History at SOAS, University of London, for their constant support and encouragement. I remember with special fondness the guidance provided at various stages of my work by Professor Ravi Ahuja, Professor Peter Robb, Professor Sunil Kumar and Dr. Eleanor Newbigin. A word of thanks to Dr. Laleh Khalili of the Department of Politics at SOAS for her interest and encouragement towards this project. I must also admit that this whole endeavour would not have been possible without the encouraging words and suggestions of Professor Dr. C.A. Bayly of Cambridge University. His continuing interest in the various phase of this project helped me believe that this was worth undertaking. Although I was not fortunate enough to be his direct student at any point of time, but his contribution towards this project has been remarkable in a subtle way. My sincere thanks also to Professor Crispin Bates, Dr. Saul David, Dr. Gunnel Cederlöf, Dr. Sekhar Bandopadhyay and Dr. Kim A. Wagner for their interest, encouragement and critical inputs towards realizing the project. Any historical research is inconceivable without the support of the archives and libraries. Over the years, I was fortunate to have the support and guidance of many of these officers and I would like to sincerely thank them all for their endeavour in locating the source materials. I am especially indebted to Madhurima Sen, Sarmistha De and Bidisha Chakraborty of the West Bengal State Archives for their invaluable assistance and making available to me the wealth of material to which I could hardly do justice. My days at the state archives would have been miserable without them.
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