From Mutiny to Revolt

Why did the nonviolent Meerut mutiny of 1857 in India explode into a violent military revolt which quickly spread into a subcontinental war that threatened to destroy the British Empire from within? Breaking new ground on the events of May 10, William Pinch reexamines the evidence, shifting our focus toward the identity of female participants and their actions in the hours before the revolt began. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, including Hindi folksongs, military records, police reports, literary fiction, and Urdu memoir, he creates snapshots from the perspective of key figures to uncover the social and emotional world of the military “cantonment” and its rural hinterland. By foregrounding the lives of ordinary “military women” and “their men” — the Indian sepoys who peopled the revolt — Pinch challenges conventional narratives and guides readers through the literary and historiographical echoes of the fateful decision to take up arms against the British.

Author Biography

William R. Pinch is Professor of History and Global South Asian Studies at Wesleyan University.