Hamaara 1857

OTL and context

In Indian history,the revolt of 1857 (also known as the Indian Mutiny,The first Indian war of Independence,etc) was a failure and those who commited it met terrible fates.

First of all how did this revolution start?

Well,the East India Company had controlled India for years and had many soldiers from there serving in their army.In fact,when the British fought Indian kings,often it would be Indians fighting alongside the British,seemingly in want of their own kings to submit to colonial rule!

The problem arose when the British got the new Enfield rifles.These soldiers were not Christians like the British,but they were Hindus and Muslims.Hindus were forbidden from eating cows,and Muslims were forbidden from eating pigs.The British,to cut costs,used cow and pig fat to make grease for these rifles.They also revolted as they were made to serve in distant lands,were payed very little,and because of the way the British essentially took control of small Indian kingdoms.Thus,with the support of some Indian rulers,the soldiers rebelled.

Images(from top to bottom)Indian rulers Bahadur Shah Zafar of Delhi,Nana Saheb of Bithur,Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh,and Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi,all of whom played a prominent role in the revolt.

ATL and consequences

In this timeline,the revolt succeede,thanks to help from the large kingdoms who did not help them in OTL(such as Nepal and Travancore) and Bahadur Shah was crowned Emperor of Hindustan(OTL parts of Pakistan),and Shahenshah-i-Lahore.The other rulers too were made to rule over territories of theirs,while some sepoys set up republics known as 'Sipaahi Ganas'. The large kingdoms/empires would likely westernize and unify their regions,European-style,while the small ones would end up being annexed by the larger ones.Bombay,Madras,and Calcutta might have still had western influence because they were colonized pre-1857 but by large the region will not have English influence.

What would the reaction of the world be?What would the consequences of this be?Welcome to...Hamaara 1857!

What has happened

It is 1867,ten years after the conflict.Let us rewind back to when the conflict had only just ended.

1858

Bahadur Shah Zafar,aged 83,dies of Malaria in his palace in Lahore

Birjis Qadr is crowned Nawab of Awadh

Nana Saheb unifies the Maratha kingdoms,with him as Chhatrapati and Tantya Tope as Peshwa

1859

52 year-old Mirza Mughal crowned as new Shahenshah-i-Hindustan and Shah Alam.

Punjab unified by the Maharaja Of Patiala

Punjab conquers the Aravallis and Delhi to the southeast and the Sivalik region to the northeast

The Kashmir Wars. Ladakh and Kashmir gain their independence from the Dogras

Abul Asaf Farhad declares Sindh an independent caliphate

1860

An Assamese nobleman,Maniram Dewan,also a conspirer in the revolt,declares himself 'Raja of Assam' and establishes a monarchy in the northeast

Bengal,previously a patchwork of states ruled by claimants to one Bengali throne,is unified by Nawab Khwaja Abdul Ghani of Dhaka

1861

Gujarat unified by the Jadeja-Gaekwad dynasty.Sindh is made a Gujarati vassal.

Travancore and Kochi unify as Travancore-Kochi

Garwhali independence leader Shiva Megar begins the Garwhali War of Independence against Punjab

Raja Chennappa Chakravarthy is given the Tamil region as a gift from the Nizam of Hyderabad

The former monarchy of Kandy in Sri Lanka is restored in the Kandyan Restoration and the Kingdom of Lanka is set up.

The Gajapatis unify Kalinga

Mohammed Ali Taqi Siddiqui Khan,Nawab of Pataudi buys northern Awadh and the city of Agra.He establishes the Kingdom of Agra there.

1865

Garwhal is made an independent kingdom

Gujarat vassalise Socotra,and begins an ongoing war with Sindh.

The Rathores of Jodhpur and Sisodias of Udaipur unify Rajputana

1866

The king of Lanka declares a war on the Tamil Raja for making inroads into his kingdom

Nations

Lanka

Long years ago,there reigned a legendary king named Ravana.He was despised by the Hindus because he captured Queen Sita of Ayodhya,but the Lankans,even the Hindus,loved and love him. Now,the fallen king's legacy stays.Now the Nayaka Dynasty rules Lanka as powerfully as Ravana did in the distant past.The Lankan lion may be old,but beyond the ancient demeanour of the Lankan lion,there lies a whole new lion,one that is not an old,rusty,lion,but a new one,as new as the current nation of Lanka itself.

Travancore-Kochi

Creating a nation isn't easy.Just ask that to Travancore-Kochi,who made a nation from kings,hegemony,and nothing else.But,oh,what progress this great nation has made!Now powerful,with their place on the map and their old rival Calicut,sore and bitter from resentment,is falling,as Travancore-Kochi rises up top.