The Skull of Alum Bheg Page 4
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Early next morning, 14 May, Alum Bheg was awoken by the reveille. Despite the disturbance of the night, his day began the same as most days when his regiment, the 46th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI), was not on campaign. As a havildar, or sergeant, he was responsible for a small detachment of sepoys, spending the day on guard-duty or occupied as instructor in the school of musketry. According to the account of an Indian clerk in a Bengal Army regiment, the daily routine of a sepoy was gruelling:
‘He had to wake up very early every morning when the bugle was sounded and had to get ready very fast while drums were being beaten. As soon as the bugle was sounded a second time, the sepoy had to rush out to the field for their parades in full uniform with guns in their hands. Parades though not held every morning, were regular in winter days, barring Sundays and Thursdays. They were serious affairs, rigorous and exhausting for the sepoys equipped with their full kits, and sometimes even caused physical injuries to them. Another duty of the sepoys was guarding various important areas of the camp both during the day and night—the armoury, the mess of the sahibs, the treasury, the market area of the regiment, the perimeter of the camp etc. Every soldier had to be on guard duty for eight hours a day. The guard duty involved two hours at a stretch for every soldier, followed by a change of guard and a four-hour rest for the previous sepoy. The guard duty was very serious business as the slightest slackness resulted in very harsh punishment. In addition to this, the sepoys also had to work as orderlies (carriers of letters and as peons) for higher officials of the regiment. In this way, 200 to 250 sepoys functioned as guards and orderlies every day. The rest of the sepoys participated in the parades.’13
For Muslims such as Alum Bheg, who made up around 20 percent of the largely Hindu regiments, this was particularly arduous service since May was the month of Ramadan. The Muslim sepoys would not be eating anything during the day, and thus had precious little time to feast after sunset and before the 4am morning parade.
The sepoys’ uniform consisted of the ubiquitous heavy red coat with deep-green facings, the design of which had changed little since the days of Waterloo, with long white trousers of a distinctly European pattern. The ornate but impractical black leather chako cap, modelled after the British stovepipe pattern, had by this time gone out of use and was only worn occasionally for special parades. Instead Alum Bheg and the sepoys wore a Kilmarnock cap with a white cover, bearing the regimental number in front; on their feet, they wore sandals or locally-made shoes. Their weapon was a slightly updated version of the smooth-bore Brown Bess, known as the Pattern 1842, where the flint-lock mechanism had been replaced by a percussion cap system. Completing their equipment, a white belt and cross-strap held their bayonet, a bag for cartridges and a small pouch for firing caps. Alum Bheg’s uniform differed from that of his subordinates by a red sash worn around the waist, a braided cord or aguilette hanging from his shoulder, and the three stripes on his shoulders indicating his rank. When on guard-duty, he might also carry a pace stick rather than a musket.14
In 1857, the 46th was commanded by Brevet Colonel G. Farquharson, who, assisted by eleven other British officers, was in charge of the 994 Indian officers and private soldiers.15 These were organised into ten companies, each company consisting of a subedar (captain) and a jemadar (lieutenant), as well as Indian NCOs, namely six havildars (sergeants), and six naiks (corporals), eighty sepoys (privates), in addition to a trumpeter and a drummer.16 The battle-honours of 46th BNI, also known as ‘Marrerroo Ke Becan Paltan’, included Assam, Punjab, Chillianwalla, and Gujrat—the latter two revealing that Alum Bheg and his regiment had played a key role in helping the British conquer the region less than a decade earlier.17
At Sialkot, Alum Bheg and the other sepoys were referred to as Hindustanis, or people inhabiting the region between the Ganges and the Jamuna River—the so-called Indo-Gangetic Plain. Further south, however, at places like Meerut and Delhi, they were referred to as Purbiyas, or ‘Easterners’, as most of the soldiers recruited by the British hailed from the region of Awadh and Bihar. Infantry regiments were usually composed of roughly 80 percent Hindus and 20 percent Sikhs and Muslims, while the drummers and buglers were Christian converts or of Eurasian background. Cavalry regiments on the other hand tended to be almost exclusively made up of Muslims.18 The famous officer, William H. Sleeman, described something of the bond that existed between men like Alum Bheg and their families and their villages back home:
‘Three-fourths of the recruits for our Bengal Native Infantry are drawn from the Rajpoot peasantry of the kingdom of Oude, on the left of the Ganges, where their affections have been linked to the soil for a long series of generations. The good feelings of the families from which they are drawn, continue through the whole period of their service, to exercise a salutary influence over their conduct as men and as soldiers. Though they never take their families with them, they visit them on furlough every two or three years; and always return to them when the Surgeon considers a change of air necessary to their recovery from sickness. Their family circles are always present to their imaginations…’19
As a havildar, Alum Bheg received a pay of 14 rupees per month, double that of ordinary sepoys, and this had been the rate for more than half a century, even as the prices of commodities increased over time.20 After 16 and 20 years’ service, sepoys would receive an extra bonus of one or two rupees per month, which according to one Indian officer, made a big difference: ‘A prudent sepoy lives upon two, or at utmost three rupees a month in seasons of moderate plenty; and sends all the rest to his family. A great number of the sipahees of our regiment live upon the increase of two rupees, and send all their former seven to their families.’21 A substantial part of their salaries were indeed sent back to the sepoys’ villages, as Sleeman explained:
‘They never take their wives or children with them to their regiments, or to the places where their regiments are stationed. They leave them with their fathers or elder brothers, and enjoy their society only when they return on furlough. Three-fourths of their incomes are sent home to provide for their comfort and subsistence, and to embellish that home in which they hope to spend the winter of their days.’22
The close link to a particular region and the ties between the sepoys and the villages, was an outcome of the unique recruitment practices of the Bengal Army as they had developed over the past century. As the East India Company became increasingly involved in politics during the second half of the eighteenth century, the nature of British rule in India gradually assumed all the trappings of a sovereign power.23 The Company was thus transformed from primarily a trading venture to a colonial state in its own right, which by 1818 derived most of its income from land revenue rather than trade. In order to maintain and expand its territorial possessions, the Company depended on local Indian soldiers led and trained by British officers along European military principles. At the time, however, the British were still an emerging power and had to compete with both Indian and European rivals, who were also offering similar service to local soldiers. Before the advent of the ‘civilising’ impulse, much of the Company’s legitimacy as a state power was, in fact, derived through the continuation of pre-colonial practices, which included the establishment of an army of high-caste Hindu sepoys. Out of sheer necessity, the Company in Bengal thus tapped into the military labour market of northern India and relied on existing networks of patronage and caste-ties to recruit peasant regiments directly from the zamindars or landholders of Awadh and Bihar.24 Accommodating high-caste usages and practices within its regiments was an effective means by which the East India Company could become an attractive and legitimate military employer in India during this period. The Company thus managed to establish a loyal base of recruitment by employing the rhetoric of high-caste status as well as the promise of regular pay and pension. The British recruited directly from the villages of Awadh and Bihar, and when sepoys returned from furlough, they would bring younger family members back to their regiment as
prospective recruits. This dynamic reinforced the links between the regiment and the village and meant that parts of the Bengal Army functioned as a sort of extended kinship network. The end-result was a uniquely homogeneous body of sepoys in the Bengal Army, composed mainly of high-caste Brahmins, Bhumihars, and Rajputs. 25
The religious identity and social status of Alum Bheg and his fellow sepoys, however, did not simply pre-date colonial rule or reflect Indian traditions that were then merely adopted within the Bengal Army—the social status of the sepoys was itself a product of service within that army. A number of the religious and social identities linked to military service, the status of which was taken more or less for granted by 1857, had actually only emerged during the preceding century and were thus ‘invented’ traditions rather than timeless castes.26 The decline of the Mughal Empire had caused significant political and social turmoil, but it had also enabled groups such as the Rajputs and Bhumihars, or so-called agricultural Brahmins, of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, to establish a high-caste status through military service. This entailed a combination of the warrior ideal with the ritual purity and social privilege of Brahmins, and the observance of strict dietary rules associated with priestly Hinduism.27 At the same time, the indigenous military labour market was becoming increasingly constricted as the British, with the help of the sepoys expanded their sphere of influence. By 1818, the Company had established an effective monopoly of power on the subcontinent, having defeated or pacified most rival Indian states that would otherwise have provided employment for thousands of Indian troops. The Bengal Army, which constituted the military force throughout the newly ceded and conquered territories in north India, provided the perfect frame within which the reinvented high-caste military traditions of the Bhumihars and Rajputs could be formally institutionalised. It presented the sepoys with the opportunity to improve and secure their new-found status and by endorsing and encouraging the high-caste status of the sepoys, the British were better able to control their troops and ensure continued support from the local landowners in the regions that supplied recruits.
In order to bolster the high-status profile of its army, the British allowed the observance of the dietary and ritual requirements of Hindus, and encouraged their religious festivals; at times, the regimental colours were incorporated in the religious ceremonies of the sepoys and worshipped as idols. What has been described as ‘military Hinduism’ and ‘barracks Islam’ thus emerged as a distinct socio-religious ethos and ritual practices within the framework of the military cantonments of British India.28 Although he was Muslim, and probably Sunni, Alum Bheg’s religious beliefs would thus have been an eclectic mix of popular beliefs. Muslim sepoys would patronise local Sufi pirs, or teachers, whose shrines, of which there were several at Sialkot, became the sites of social interaction between Indian soldiers—sepoys congregate at these shrines to discuss matters of importance, or to exchange gossip and smoke. Crucially, Hindus would frequent such shrines as well, while at other times, local Muslims might participate in ostensibly Hindu festivals. The syncretic nature of popular religious beliefs shared by the wider population, and the unique culture encouraged within the Bengal Army, meant that there was more that tied Hindu and Muslim sepoys together than that which divided them. Ultimately, serving in the Company’s army bestowed high status upon the sepoys and although Alum Bheg was a Muslim among a majority of Hindus, all the sepoys of the regiments in the Bengal Army can be regarded almost as a caste unto themselves, irrespective of creed. The Bengal Army became the space within which a unique military identity was both encouraged and actively cultivated, and service in the Company’s army became one of the most significant means by which the sepoys could assert their high status. Alum Bheg and his comrades were thus always more than just peasants in uniforms. Though they retained strong ties to their families and villages, links that were remade and revived during furlough and through the informal recruitment networks, their particular military ethos, status and religious identity was something that could only exist within the Bengal Army.29
The living arrangements within the space of the cantonment also set the sepoys apart as a community.30 Unlike British troops of the time, the sepoys did not live in barracks or eat in mess, but maintained their own quarters where they also prepared their own food. When Alum Bheg was off duty, he retired to his hut just north of the Sialkot cantonment, where he would discard the hot and uncomfortable uniform in favour of loose dhotis and a light cotton shirt. In their huts, built by themselves out of their own salary, the sepoys could spend their free time talking and smoking with one another, with very little oversight. Although many British officers prided themselves of the close links the maintained with their sepoys, in true paternalist fashion, they were effectively excluded from the off-duty lives of their men. Lieutenant Edward Martineau, at the school of musketry at Ambala, acknowledged that:
‘We make a grand mistake in supposing that because we dress, arm and drill Hindustani soldiers as Europeans, they become one bit European in their feelings and ideas. I see them on parade for say two hours daily, but what do I know of them for the other 22?
What do they talk about in their lines…?’31
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What Alum Bheg and the sepoys at Sialkot talked about in their lines was what most soldiers talk about when they think their superiors cannot hear them: they give voice to grievances over the conditions of their service. Mutiny was in fact endemic in the East India Company army, and was indeed a part of the traditional terms of employment which the sepoys, to some extent, still assumed to be in place. The century following 1757 was accordingly one of continuous negotiations between the British and their Indian troops, caused, in part, by the incommensurability of British notions of a standing army and Indian terms of military service. It was, for instance, often claimed that Hindus would lose their caste if they crossed the ‘kala pani’ or black water: that is, if they crossed the ocean.32 This apparent taboo actually reflected more practical concerns: Most of the sepoys of the Bengal Army, whether Hindu or Muslim, came from a peasant background, in landlocked regions, and had little or no experience of the sea. They were most likely averse to risking their lives on the ocean and engaging in service far from home. Overseas service could entail years of being away from their families, to whom they were much attached. When parents died, their sons were supposed to tend to their funeral and perform certain rituals, and this added another disincentive for the sepoys to leave the shores of their ancestral home. Water from the sacred Ganges river (or one of its tributaries) was also a prerequisite for various purification rituals among north Indian Hindus, including the absolution of sins at the time of death, and being unable to access Ganges water therefore posed a real problem. High-caste Hindus would furthermore not eat any food that had been prepared by or been in physical contact with a person of a lower caste; they certainly could not share pots or drinking vessels, or eat in a communal mess. Onboard a ship it would be virtually impossible for high-caste sepoys to observe their daily rituals and dietary purity, such as cooking their own food and eating by themselves, and provisions were likely to be handled by any number of people.33
Considering the history and extent of Indian seafaring and trade in the Indian ocean region the fear of kala pani was not actually a rigid taboo, and it was certainly limited to upper castes.34 On several occasions, high-caste sepoys had actually proved willing to overlook the restrictions when volunteering for service overseas and those who did were paid an extra allowance, known as batta, which assisted them in overcoming these fears—and alleviated the financial burden of undergoing purification if they were subsequently ostracised by their families.35 At other times, however, sepoys might refuse to travel by sea if they had simply been ordered to do so; yet by couching their objections in terms of caste prohibition, the sepoys had an effective bargaining tool to negotiate with a British military administration eager to avoid any confrontation on religious grounds. The idea of kala pani thus became fir
mly entrenched as a traditional caste-taboo, and confirmed to the British that their Hindu sepoys were enslaved to superstition and the prejudice of caste. Over time, however, this notable exemption to service became a key source of contention in the recurrent conflicts between the British command and the Indian soldiers.
In 1824, several regiments of the Bengal Army were assembled at Barrackpore, waiting to be marched to Rangoon as part of the British campaign in Burma.36 In order to avoid crossing the Bay of Bengal, which was the faster route, the regiments were to be marched on foot to Rangoon via Chittagong. Unfortunately, the British had failed to arrange for a sufficient number of bullocks to carry the sepoys’ personal possessions, which weighed 10.5 kg per man in addition to their equipment, and they were ordered to carry these themselves or leave them behind. The outraged sepoys, however, refused to leave until the transport for their possessions had been provided or their extra allowance increased, so that they could arrange carriage themselves. Swearing an oath on Ganges water, the holy tulsi plant, and the Koran, the sepoys committed themselves to protest what they considered a breach of contract on part of their officers.37 It was furthermore rumoured that once they had reached Chittagong, they would be forced to board ships and sail to Rangoon after all. At one point the sepoys armed themselves in the lines at Barrackpore, and when they refused to lay down their weapons and comply with the orders of their officers, the British opened fire on them with artillery. Several hundred were killed immediately or subsequently hunted down and executed. It later emerged that peer pressure and threats had ensured assured solidarity amongst the Hindu and Muslim sepoys. According to a Muslim soldier, ‘those sepoys who were Hindus objected to go on board ship and told the Mohammedan sepoys that if they went to the Colonel they would kill them, consequently we did not go but endeavoured to please them.’38 The crucial fact that the British were trying to organise an overland march, and not ship the sepoys, appeared to have been lost on them.