Mangal Pandey Indian Freedom Fighter

Mangal Pandey Indian Freedom Fighter

Year of birth: 1827 and Date of death: 8^th April, 1857
Mangal Pandey was sepoy (en. soldier) in the 34^th Regiment of the Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) of the English East India Company.  He is widely known in India as one of its first freedom fighters.  The Indian government has issued an Indian Postage Stamp to commemorate him as a distinguished freedom fighter.  Beyond that his life and actions have also been adapted to the silver screen.
Mangal Pandey was born on 19^th July, 1827 in the village Nagwa, of Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh of India to a Bhumihar Brahmin family.
He joined the East India Company’s forces in 1849, at the age of 22.  Pandey was part of the 6^th Company of the 34^th Bengal Native Infantry and is primarily known for his involvement in an attack on several of the regiment’s officers.  This incident marked an opening stage in what came to e known as the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 or the First War if Indian Independence.  It is said (by whom?) that Pandey was a devout Hindu who practiced his religion diligently.
Some of the sepoys of the quarter-guard then advanced and struck at the two prostrate officers.  They then threatened Shaikh Paltu and ordered him to release Pandey, whom he had been vainly trying to hold back.  However, Paltu continued to hold Pandey until Baugh and the sergeant-major had had time to get up.  Himself wounded by now, Paltu was obliged to loosen his grip.  He backed away in one direction and Baugh and Hewson in another, while being struck with the butt ends of the guards’ muskets.
Mangal Pandey’s execution was scheduled for 18^th April, but was carried out ten days before that date.  Jemadar Ishwari Prasad was executed by hanging on 21^st April.
The Indian historian Surendra Nath Sen notes that the 34^th B.N.I. had had a good recent record and that the Court of Enquiry had not found any evidence of a connection with unrest at Berhampur involving the 19^th B.N.I. four weeks before (see below).  However, Mangal Pandey’s actions and the failure of the armed and on-duty sepoys of the quarter-guard to take action convinced the British military authorities that the whole regiment was unreliable.  It appeared that Pandey had acted without first taking other sepoys into his confidence but that antipathy towards their British officers within the regiment had led most of those present to act as spectators rather than obey orders.
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The primary motivation behind Mangal Pandey’s behaviour is attributed to a new type of bullet cartridge used in the Enfield P-53 rifle which was to be introduced in the Bengal Army that year.
The 19^th Bengal Native Infantry Regiment is important because it was the regiment charged with testing the new cartridges on 26^th February, 1857.  However, right up to the mutiny the new rifles had not been issued to them, and the cartridges in the magazine of the regiment were as free of grease as they had been through the preceding half century.  The paper used in wrapping the cartridges was of a different colour, arousing suspicions.  The non-commissioned officers of the regiment refused to accept the cartridges on the 26^th February.
The rifle used a Metford-Pritchitt cartridge that required the use of a heavy paper tube containing 2 ½ drams (68 grains) of musket powder and a 530-grain (34 g), pure lead bullet.  As the bullet incorporated no annular grease rings like the French and American minie ball bullets introduced in 1847, it was wrapped with a strip of greased paper to facilitate loading.  The cartridge itself was covered with a thin mixture of beeswax and linseed oil for waterproofing (although rumours abounded that it was beef or pork fat).
To load his rifle, the sepoy had to first bite off the rear of the cartridge to pour the powder down the barrel.  He then inverted the tube (the projectile was placed in the cartridge base up), pushed the end-portion into the muzzle to the approximate depth of the bullet and tore off the remaining paper.  The bullet could then be easily rammed on top of the charge.
Since cows are sacred to Hindus and pigs are strictly forbidden to Muslims, the Indian sepoys could be expected to have reservations about the cartridges.  Thus when the rumour that animal fat was being used began to circulate, it had a very damaging effect.  Other unsettling accounts started spreading.  For instance, it was thought that the British planned to make their sepoys outcaste in the society to force them to convert to Christianity.  Another rumour said the British had adulterated the wheat flour distributed to the sepoys with ground bone-dust of bullocks.
The government let itself be convinced and rescinded the order allowing the usage of ghee.  The attack by, and punishment of, Pandey is widely seen as the opening scene of what came to be known as the Indian Rebellion of 1857.  He is referred as Shaheed (Martyr) Mangal Pandey in India.
The Government of India commemorated Mangal Pandey by issuing a postage stamp bearing his image on October 5, 1984.  The stamp and the accompanying first- day cover were designed by Delhi based artist C.R. Pakrashi.