Posted on: 13 February 2010

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Indian mutiny was 'war of religion'

1857 Mutiny : Conventional history says native Hindu and Muslim soldiers, known as sepoys, revolted against the British East India Company over fears that gun cartridges were greased with animal fat forbidden by their religions. Not so simple, says internationally acclaimed writer and historian WILLIAM DALRYMPLE. Conventional history says native Hindu and Muslim soldiers, known as sepoys, revolted against the British East India Company over fears that gun cartridges were greased with animal fat forbidden by their religions.


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Now to get everyone to say "sipahi"!

: )) !!

Sipahi is the original word, see: http://books.google.com/books?id=MjxuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA236&lpg=PA236&dq=sipahi+mutiny&source=bl&ots=Rs6i_dhW2y&sig=CE-7gGARGcMNbMo2Gzxea1xO9ys&hl=en&ei=29p3S72jLcij8QaMm5D0CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCEQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=sipahi%20mutiny&f=false and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sipahi

Amrita : I thought you were saying it in jest.....The wiki entry is quite enlightening about the middle eastern sipahi's. But I guess our sipahi's were just plain foot soldiers as against the priveleged medieval middle-eastern ones. Isnt it?

I think the British usage might have been extracted from the environment, where I imagine the usual practice of elaborate politeness or euphemisms, like the gesture of saying jemadar instead of sweeper, would have precipitated the use of sipahi for a foot soldier.