NCERT 8th Class (CBSE) Social Science: The Great Uprising

Question: What was the plea of Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II?

Answer: Nana Saheb pleaded that he be given his father’s pension when the latter died.

Question: What was the first step taken by the Company towards ending the Mughal dynasty?

Answer: The name of the Mughal king was removed from the coins minted by the Company.

Question: Why were the Indian sepoys unhappy with the British rule? Give any one reason.

Answer: The Indian sepoys were underpaid.

Question: What rumour spread among the sepoys of the Meerut regiment about the new cartridges?

Answer: The rumour spread that the new cartridges were coated with the fat of cows and pigs.

Question: What did the ageing Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar do after he was declared the leader of the rebels?

Answer: He wrote letters to all the chiefs and rulers of the country to come forward and organise a confederacy of Indian states to fight the British.

Question: Name any two smaller rulers who acknowledged the suzerainty of Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Answer: Nana Saheb and Biijis Qadr.

Question: Who was Tantia Tope?

Answer: He was the General of Nana Saheb.

Question: Who was Ahmadullah Shah? What was his prophesy?

Answer: Ahmadullah Shah was a maulvi from Faizabad. His prophesy was that the rule of the British would soon come to an end.

Question: Who was Bakht Khan?

Answer: Bakht Khan was a soldier from Bareilly. He took charge of a large force of fighters who came to Delhi.

Question: When did the British recapture Delhi?

Answer: The British recaptured Delhi in September 1857.

Question: Why were the powers of the East India Company transferred to the British Crown?

Answer: The powers of the East India Company were transferred to the British Crown in order to ensure a more responsible management of Indian affairs.

Question: Under what condition the ruling chiefs could pass on their kingdoms to their heirs?

Answer: They could do so only when they were ready to acknowledge the British Queen as their Sovereign Paramount.

Question: Why did the British treat Muslims with suspicion and hostility?

Answer: The British believed that Muslims were responsible for the rebellion in a big way.

Question: What was the demand of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi that was refused by the British?

Answer: Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi wanted the Company to recognize her adopted son as the heir to the kingdom after the death of her husband. But the British refused her plea.

Question: What did the British do to protect the interests of those who converted to Christianity?

Answer: Those who converted to Christianity would inherit the property of his ancestors.

Question: What objections did the sepoys have to the new cartridges that they were asked to use?

Answer: The sepoys objected that the new cartridges that they were asked to use were coated with the fat of cows and pigs.