CHARACTERISATIONS of the events of 1857 in India have long been a subject of debate and contestation. While the description of the events as the 'mutiny' by the British imperial regime has dominated both popular and historical discourses, the events have been severally characterised as a revolt, rebellion, war of independence, people's uprising, an attempt to restore the sovereignty of the Mughal emperor and as a religious war.2 If there is no clear agreement among historians on a definitive characterisation of the events, historical investigation has at least established the complex and multifaceted nature of the causes of the uprising, and that considerable local variation existed. One factor that was clearly integral to events was religion, yet the precise nature and extent of its significance remains disputed. Views on why the breaking of religious taboos by the use of greased cartridges triggered the initial revolt at Meerut have ranged from the dismissal of this as political manipulation to the sympathetic treatment of it as an insensitive blunder by the British. Similarly, assessments of the provocative nature of missionary activity range from denials that they had much impact on the Indian population to the depiction of a 'clash of rival fundamentalisms' between British evangelical missionaries and Muslims.' There is evidence that the activities of evangelical Protestant missionaries, who were increasingly, making their presence felt in the period before 1857, were causing disquiet among Muslims.4 Hindu responses to the activities of missionaries were mixed, as Hindus were said to be often willing to make use of the educational opportunities provided by missionary schools, but were in general resistant to attempts at conversion, with individual conversions often provoking protests and the temporary withdrawal of pupils from schools.' It has been argued that, in the period preceding the 1857 uprising, what was most alarming to Indians was the perception of government support for missionary activities. As Disraeli put it to the House of Commons in July 1857, what the `Hindoo does dread' is 'the union