‘The relationship of sepoys with the superior white officers underwent a change in the years preceding the uprising of 1857’. Support the statement.

Before the uprising of 1857, the white officers maintained a good relation with the Indian sepoys. This is described as follows:

• The officers tried to speak in Hindustani language to show that they were very much inclined to the Indian culture.

• The officers engaged themselves in the leisure time activities of the sepoys.

• But this friendly relationship changed later.

• The white officers started considering themselves as superior and the Indian sepoys inferior to them.

• Due to this concept of superiority, the white officers started abusing the sepoys as well as engaged in physical violence against them.

• The gap between the officers and sepoys widened.

Thus, by the influence of all these factors the mutiny cropped up in 1857.