https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Bite_the_cartridgeBite the cartridge - Revision history2026-07-31T20:45:07ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Bite_the_cartridge&diff=191584&oldid=prev>ClueBot NG at 09:07, 23 September 20212021-09-23T09:07:27Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}<br />
{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}<br />
Refusing to "'''bite the cartridge'''" was a turn of phrase used by the British in India of native Indian soldiers ([[sepoy]]s) who had mutinied in 1857.<br />
<br />
It derives from the act of biting open a [[paper cartridge]] containing [[gunpowder]] and musket ball in order to load contemporary [[rifle]]s, especially the new [[Pattern 1853 Enfield]] [[rifled musket]]. The phrase is thought by some to have later spawned the more familiar idiom "[[bite the bullet]]".<br />
<br />
One of the alleged causes of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] were rumours that the grease on these cartridges designed to keep them dry was, variously, pork or cow fat (pork being abhorrent to the [[Islam|Muslims]], cows being sacred to the [[Hinduism|Hindus]]), thus their refusal to bite them.<ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/asbab/bijnor/app05_letter1869.html 1869 letter] by Sir [[Syed Ahmad Khan]] on the origins of the Mutiny of 1857</ref><br />
<br />
This refusal was also one of the immediate causes of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]].<br />
<br />
== Notes ==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bite The Cartridge}}<br />
[[Category:Military of British India]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Rebellion of 1857]]<br />
[[Category:Metaphors referring to objects]]<br />
[[Category:Metaphors referring to war and violence]]<br />
<br />
<br />
{{India-hist-stub}}</div>>ClueBot NG