Many among these groups were unable to meet the heavy revenue demands and repay their loans to money lenders, eventually losing the lands that they had held for generations.In rural areas, peasants and zamindars were infuriated by the heavy taxes on land and the stringent methods of revenue collection followed by the Company.Even the introduction of the railways and telegraph was viewed with suspicion.Introducing western methods of education was directly challenging the orthodoxy for Hindus as well as Muslims.The abolition of practices like sati and female infanticide, and the legislation legalizing widow remarriage, were believed as threats to the established social structure.The people were convinced that the Government was planning to convert Indians to Christianity.An act in 1850 changed the Hindu law of inheritance enabling a Hindu who had converted into Christianity to inherit his ancestral properties.The rapidly spreading Western Civilisation in India was alarming concerns all over the country.To those problems added the growing discontent of the Brahmans, many of whom had been dispossessed of their revenues or had lost lucrative positions.It involved the British prohibiting a Hindu ruler without a natural heir from adopting a successor and, after the ruler died or abdicated, annexing his land.The notable British technique called the Doctrine of Lapse was first perpetrated by Lord Dalhousie in the late 1840s.This measure converted Awadh, a loyal state, into a hotbed of discontent and intrigue. The annexation of Awadh by Lord Dalhousie on the pretext of maladministration left thousands of nobles, officials, retainers and soldiers jobless.Jaitpur, Sambalpur and Udaipur were also annexed.Satara, Nagpur and Jhansi were annexed under the Doctrine of Lapse.Rani Lakshmi BaiвЂ™s adopted son was not permitted to sit on the throne of Jhansi.A large number of Indian rulers and chiefs were dislodged, thus arousing fear in the minds of other ruling families who apprehended a similar fate.British policy of expansion: The political causes of the revolt were the British policy of expansion through the Doctrine of Lapse and direct annexation.The revolt is known by several names: the Sepoy Mutiny (by the British Historians), the Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion (by the Indian Historians), the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection, and the First War of Independence (by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar).It began as a revolt of the sepoys of the British East India CompanyвЂ™s army but eventually secured the participation of the masses.It was the first expression of organised resistance against the British East India Company.

The Indian Mutiny of 1857-59 was a widespread but unsuccessful rebellion against the rule of British East India Company in India which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British crown.

Sepoy mutiny definition