The immediate result of the rebellion was a general housecleaning of the Indian administration. The East India Company was abolished in favor of the direct rule of India by the British government. In concrete terms this did not mean much, but it introduced a more personal note into the government and removed the unimaginative commercialism that had lingered in the Court of Directors. The financial crisis caused by the rebellion led to a reorganization of the Indian administration’s finances on a modern basis. The Indian army was also extensively reorganized.

Another significant result of the rebellion was the beginning of the policy of consultation with Indians. The Legislative Council of 1853 had contained only Europeans and had arrogantly behaved as if it were a full-fledged parliament. It was widely felt that a lack of communication with Indian opinion had helped to precipitate the crisis. Accordingly, the new council of 1861 was given an Indian-nominated element. The educational and public works programs (roads, railways, telegraphs, and irrigation) continued with little interruption; in fact, some were stimulated by the thought of their value for the transport of troops in a crisis. But insensitive British-imposed social measures that affected Hindu society came to an abrupt end.

Finally, there was the effect of the rebellion on the people of India themselves. Traditional society had made its protest against the incoming alien influences, and it had failed. The princes and other natural leaders had either held aloof from the rebellion or had proved, for the most part, incompetent. From this time all serious hope of a revival of the past or an exclusion of the West diminished. The traditional structure of Indian society began to break down and was eventually superseded by a Westernized class system, from which emerged a strong middle class with a heightened sense of Indian nationalism.

Notable figures in the rebellion

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The rebellion produced a diverse group of leaders. Some of them are listed below.

• Mangal Pandey attacked British officers at Barrackpore in March 1857. His action became one of the first major incidents of the uprising and helped spark the wider military crisis that soon spread across northern India.
• Bakht Khan, a field battery commander in the East India Company’s army, joined the rebellion and led his troops to Delhi. He established a court of administration, the members of which were elected by the army and the government departments.
• Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah, also called Maulavi of Faizabad, was a religious teacher who became an important rebel leader. He used religious propagation methods to inspire rebellion against British rule.
• Begum Hazrat Mahal, a consort of the deposed ruler of Oudh, was a regent for her young son, Birjis Qadir. From Lucknow she set up a rebel administration and gathered support from taluqdars (large landholders). In her proclamations she defended rights, religion, and honor against British rule. After the British defeated the rebels in Oudh, she fled to Nepal, where she died in exile.
• Nana Sahib was the adopted son of the former Maratha peshwa (ruler) Baji Rao II. He was angered by the British refusal to continue his adoptive father’s pension. During the uprising, he led the rebellion in Cawnpore (Kanpur). After the British regained control of Cawnpore, Nana Sahib fled toward Nepal. His final fate remains unknown.
• Tantia Tope was Nana Sahib’s main military commander. He led fast-moving campaigns across the North-Western Provinces and central India. He worked closely with Queen Lakshmi Bai and other leaders during the battle in Gwalior.
• Lakshmi Bai refused to cede Jhansi to the British, who offered her the status of a pensioner. She was proclaimed the regent of Jhansi, and she ruled on behalf of her minor son. She joined the uprising against the British, rapidly organized her troops, and assumed charge of the rebels in the Bundelkhand region.
• Kunwar Singh joined the rebellion from Bihar and connected mutinying soldiers from Danapur with local rural supporters. He led guerrilla warfare in the Jagdishpur and Arrah regions and expanded resistance across parts of Bihar.
• Shah Mal was a peasant from what is now Uttar Pradesh who mobilized local peasants against the East India Company’s policies and attacked a large group of merchants.