The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 against colonial domination in India had been for a long time the subject of much controversy and debate and had produced more literature than any other single event in modern Indian history. To some British officials, it was “a momentary ripple on the placid waters of the British Raj.” To Indian nationalists, it was the First Indian War of Independence. Socialist thinkers, like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, also supported the Indian view. Charles Canning, Governor-General of India, admitted that it was “more like a
