Previous Year Question

Jhansi – 11 May, 1857 is not correctly matched because the uprising at Jhansi occurred not in May, but in the beginning of June 1857.

Barrackpore – 29 March, 1857 is correctly matched. At the Barrackpore Cantonment, Mangal Pandey, a sepoy of the 34th Bengal Native Infantry, acted against British officers on 29 March 1857. He was subsequently hanged on 8 April 1857.

Meerut – 10 May, 1857 is also correctly matched. After 85 Indian soldiers were punished for refusing to use the cartridges, the sepoys at Meerut broke into open rebellion on 10 May 1857. They released their imprisoned comrades and subsequently marched towards Delhi.

Lucknow – 4 June, 1857 is treated as correctly matched in the question. Military and civilian discontent against British authority spread rapidly in Awadh, and Lucknow became one of the principal centres of the uprising. Begum Hazrat Mahal subsequently assumed a central leadership role in the resistance in Awadh. Institutional historical material associates 4 June 1857 with the outbreak of widespread rebellion at Lucknow.

However, Jhansi – 11 May, 1857 is incorrect. The date 11 May is principally associated with the rebels from Meerut reaching Delhi. The military uprising at Jhansi broke out in early June 1857. A Ministry of Culture record refers to the killing of the British at Jokhan Bagh on 8 June 1857 and Rani Lakshmibai subsequently assuming the reins of administration.

Rani Lakshmibai's dispute with the British Government had already developed over the Doctrine of Lapse and the annexation of Jhansi. The circumstances of the Revolt of 1857 subsequently placed her at the centre of resistance against British authority.