Matadin Valmiki an Indian freedom fighter, who played a pivotal role in the events leading up to the outbreak of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, was a Valmiki worker in a cartridge manufacturing unit of the British East India Company. He was employed there because, during those times, working with leathers and the skin of dead animals was considered an occupation for low castes. Matadin was the first person who sowed the seeds of the 1857 revolt.
Orthodox upper-caste Hindus viewed workers like Matadin as “impure.” One day, while Mangal Pandey, a soldier in the company’s service, was asked for water by Matadin, he refused due to the age-old belief that touching a low-caste person was “polluting.” Matadin then made him realize that it was paradoxical that he was proud of his birth in a high-caste Brahmin family but still bit cartridges made from the fat of cows and pigs with his mouth. This prompted both Hindu and Muslim soldiers of the company to raise the banner of revolt since cows were considered sacred to Hindus, while pigs were forbidden for Muslims.
According to Subaltern historians and Dalit activists, Matadin should be recognized as the real face behind the revolt of 1857. He was the person who made Mangal Pandey aware that the British were knowingly or unknowingly hurting their religious sentiments. Thus, he was the first person who sowed the seeds of the 1857 revolt.
Matadin Valmiki
(★ – 1857) – (Uttar Pradesh)
Matadin Valmiki an Indian freedom fighter, who played a pivotal role in the events leading up to the outbreak of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, was a Valmiki worker in a cartridge manufacturing unit of the British East India Company. He was employed there because, during those times, working with leathers and the skin of dead animals was considered an occupation for low castes. Matadin was the first person who sowed the seeds of the 1857 revolt.
Orthodox upper-caste Hindus viewed workers like Matadin as “impure.” One day, while Mangal Pandey, a soldier in the company’s service, was asked for water by Matadin, he refused due to the age-old belief that touching a low-caste person was “polluting.” Matadin then made him realize that it was paradoxical that he was proud of his birth in a high-caste Brahmin family but still bit cartridges made from the fat of cows and pigs with his mouth. This prompted both Hindu and Muslim soldiers of the company to raise the banner of revolt since cows were considered sacred to Hindus, while pigs were forbidden for Muslims.
According to Subaltern historians and Dalit activists, Matadin should be recognized as the real face behind the revolt of 1857. He was the person who made Mangal Pandey aware that the British were knowingly or unknowingly hurting their religious sentiments. Thus, he was the first person who sowed the seeds of the 1857 revolt.
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