Hul! Hul!: The Suppression of the Santal Rebellion in Bengal, 1855

If not for the famous Indian mutiny-rebellion of 1857, the Santal ‘Hul’ (rebellion) of 1855 would today be remembered as the most serious uprising that the East India Company ever faced. Instead, this rebellion–to which 10 per cent of the Bengal Army’s infantry was committed and in which at least 10,000 Santals died–has been forgotten. While its memory lived among Santals, British officers published little about it, and most of the sepoys involved died in 1857. In the words of one British o...