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BITING THE BULLET
You have heard the term, but you don't know where it comes from.
(Thread)
In the mid-1850s, the British introduced the new Enfield rifle in India with its infamous Enfield cartridge. +
You have heard the term, but you don't know where it comes from.
(Thread)
In the mid-1850s, the British introduced the new Enfield rifle in India with its infamous Enfield cartridge. +
This paper cartridge had to be bitten open so the powder inside could be poured down the barrel of the muzzle-loading gun.
The cartridges were greased with tallow, which Muslims and Hindus knew, was made of pork and beef fat in Britain. +
The cartridges were greased with tallow, which Muslims and Hindus knew, was made of pork and beef fat in Britain. +
Tasting either would be sacrilegious, defiling, for a soldier belonging to either religion.
Once defiled, the eater would be shunned by his co-religionists, become casteless, and thus be forced to convert to Christianity -- so the Indians believed. +
Once defiled, the eater would be shunned by his co-religionists, become casteless, and thus be forced to convert to Christianity -- so the Indians believed. +
The Enfield cartridge was at least partly responsible for leading to the Sepoy Mutiny, or the 1857 War of Independence that the British squashed mercilessly.
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Amaresh Misra, a writer and historian based in Mumbai, argues that there was an “untold holocaust” which caused the deaths of almost 10 million people over 10 years beginning in 1857.
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The term 'biting the bullet' is believed to have originated from that.
So next time you use it, remember its colonial history.
Picture source: Enfield Pattern 1853 Percussion Rifle Musket cartridges, 1857
National Army Museum, UK
So next time you use it, remember its colonial history.
Picture source: Enfield Pattern 1853 Percussion Rifle Musket cartridges, 1857
National Army Museum, UK
