Ghadar Mutiny The Ghadar Revolution ( Hindustani : ग़दर राज्य - क्रान्ति , غدر ریاست - کرانتی " Ġadara Rājya - krānti " ) was a pan - Indian mutiny in the British Indian Army in February 1915 formulated by the Ghadar Party . It was the most prominent plan amongst a number of plots of the much larger Hindu – German Mutiny , formulated between 1914 and 1917 to initiate a Pan - Indian rebellion against the British Raj during World War I . The revolutionaries included the Indian nationalists in India , United States and Germany , along with help from the Irish republicans and the German Foreign Office . The plot originated on the onset of the World War , between the Ghadar Party in the United States , the Berlin Committee in Germany , the Indian revolutionary underground in British India and the German Foreign Office through the consulate in San Francisco . The planned February mutiny was ultimately thwarted when British intelligence infiltrated the Ghadarite movement , arresting key figures . Mutinies in smaller units and garrisons within India were also crushed . The popular name of the mutiny derives from the Indian " Ghadar " Party in the United States whose supporters were the most prominent amongst those involved in the plans for the insurrection . Background . World War I began with an unprecedented outpouring of loyalty and goodwill towards the United Kingdom from within the mainstream political leadership . Contrary to initial British fears of an Indian revolt , India contributed massively to the British war effort by providing men and resources . About 1 . 3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe , Africa , and the Middle East , while both the Indian government and the princes sent large supplies of food , money , and ammunition . However , Bengal and Punjab remained hotbeds of anti colonial activities . Militancy in Bengal , increasingly closely linked with the unrest in Punjab , was significant enough to nearly paralyse the regional administration . Also , from the beginning of the war , an expatriate Indian population , notably from the United States , Canada , and Germany , headed by the Berlin Committee and the Ghadar Party , attempted to trigger insurrections in India along the lines of the 1857 uprising with Irish Republican , German and Turkish help in a massive conspiracy that has since come to be called the Hindu – German Mutiny This conspiracy also attempted to rally Afghanistan against British India . A number of failed attempts were made at mutiny , of which the February mutiny plan and the Singapore Mutiny remain most notable . This movement was suppressed by means of a massive international counter - intelligence operation and draconian political acts ( including the Defence of India Act 1915 ) that lasted nearly ten years . Indian nationalism in US . Early works towards Indian nationalism in the United States dates back to the first decade of the 20th century , when , following the example of London India House , similar organizations were opened in the United States and in Japan through the efforts of the growing Indian student population in the country at the time . Shyamji Krishna Varma , the founder of India House , had built close contacts with the Irish Republican movement . The first of the nationalist organizations was the Pan - Aryan Association , modeled after Krishna Varma ' s Indian Home Rule Society , opened in 1906 through the joint Indo - Irish efforts of Mohammed Barkatullah , S . L . Joshi and George Freeman . Barkatullah himself had been closely associated with Krishna Varma during his earlier stay in London , and his subsequent career in Japan put him at the heart of Indian political activities there . The American branch of the association also invited Madame Cama — who at the time was close to the works of Krishna Varma — to give a series of lectures in the United States . An " India House " was founded in Manhattan in New York in January 1908 with funds from a wealthy lawyer of Irish descent called Myron Phelps . Phelps admired Swami Vivekananda , and the " Vedanta " Society ( established by the Swami ) in New York was at the time under Swami Abhedananda , who was considered " seditionist " by the British . In New York , Indian students and ex - residents of London India House took advantage of liberal press laws to circulate " The Indian Sociologist " and other nationalist literature . New York increasingly became an important centre for the global Indian movement , such that " Free Hindustan " , a political revolutionary journal published by Tarak Nath Das closely mirroring " The Indian Sociologist " , moved from Vancouver and Seattle to New York in 1908 . Das collaborated extensively with the " Gaelic American " with help from George Freeman before " Free Hindustan " was proscribed in 1910 under British diplomatic pressure . After 1910 , the American east coast activities began to decline and gradually shifted to San Francisco . The arrival of Har Dayal around this time bridged the gap between the intellectual agitators and the predominantly Punjabi labour workers and migrants , laying the foundations of the Ghadar movement . Ghadar party . The Pacific coast of North America saw large scale Indian immigration in the 1900s , especially from Punjab which was facing an economic depression . The Canadian government met this influx with a series of legislations aimed at limiting the entry of South Asians into Canada , and restricting the political rights of those already in the country . The Punjabi community had hitherto been an important loyal force for the British Empire and the Commonwealth , and the community had expected , to honour its commitment , equal welcome and rights from the British and Commonwealth governments as extended to British and white immigrants . These legislations fed growing discontent , protests and anti - colonial sentiments within the community . Faced with increasingly difficult situations , the community began organising itself into political groups . A large number of Punjabis also moved to the United States , but they encountered similar political and social problems . Meanwhile , nationalist work among Indians on the east coast began to gain momentum from around 1908 when Indian students of the likes of P S Khankhoje , Kanshi Ram , and Tarak Nath Das founded the Indian Independence League in Portland , Oregon . Khankhoje ' s works also brought him close to Indian nationalists in United States at the time , including Tarak Nath Das . In the years preceding World War I , Khankhoje was one of the founding members of the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association , and subsequently founded the Ghadar Party . He was at the time one of the most influential members of the party . He met Lala Har Dayal in 1911 . He also enrolled at one point in a West Coast military academy . The Ghadar Party , initially the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association , was formed in 1913 in the United States under the leadership of Har Dayal , with Sohan Singh Bhakna as its president . It drew members from Indian immigrant s , largely from Punjab . Many of its members were also from the University of California at Berkeley including Dayal , Tarak Nath Das , Kartar Singh Sarabha and V . G . Pingle . The party quickly gained support from Indian expatriates , especially in the United States , Canada and Asia . Ghadar meetings were held in Los Angeles , Oxford , Vienna , Washington , D . C . , and Shanghai . Ghadar ' s ultimate goal was to overthrow British colonial authority in India by means of an armed revolution . It viewed the Congress - led mainstream movement for dominion status modest and the latter ' s constitutional methods as soft . Ghadar ' s foremost strategy was to entice Indian soldiers to revolt . To that end , in November 1913 Ghadar established the " Yugantar Ashram " press in San Francisco . The press produced the " Hindustan Ghadar " newspaper and other nationalist literature . Ghadar conspiracy . Har Dayal ' s contacts with erstwhile members of India House in Paris and in Berlin allowed early concepts of Indo - German collaboration to take shape . Towards the end of 1913 , the party established contact with prominent revolutionaries in India , including Rash Behari Bose . An Indian edition of the " Hindustan Ghadar " essentially espoused the philosophies of anarchism and revolutionary terrorism against British interests in India . Political discontent and violence mounted in Punjab , and Ghadarite publications that reached Bombay from California were deemed seditious and banned by the Raj . These events , compounded by evidence of prior Ghadarite incitement in the Delhi - Lahore Conspiracy of 1912 , led the British government to pressure the American State Department to suppress Indian revolutionary activities and Ghadarite literature , which emanated mostly from San Francisco . 1914 . During World War I , the British Indian Army contributed significantly to the British war effort . Consequently , a reduced force , estimated to have been as low as 15 , 000 troops in late 1914 , was stationed in India . It was in this scenario that concrete plans for organising uprisings in India were made . In September 1913 , Mathra Singh , a Ghadarite , visited Shanghai and promoted the Ghadarite cause within the Indian community there . In January 1914 , Singh visited India and circulated Ghadar literature amongst Indian soldiers through clandestine sources before leaving for Hong Kong . Singh reported that the situation in India was favourable for a revolution . In May 1914 , the Canadian government refused to allow the 400 Indian passengers of the ship to disembark at Vancouver . The voyage had been planned as an attempt to circumvent Canadian exclusion laws that effectively prevented Indian immigration . Before the ship reached Vancouver , its approach was announced on German radio , and British Columbian authorities were prepared to prevent the passengers from entering Canada . The incident became a focal point for the Indian community in Canada which rallied in support of the passengers and against the government ' s policies . After a 2 month legal battle , 24 of them were allowed to immigrate . The ship was escorted out of Vancouver by the protected cruiser HMCS " Rainbow " and returned to India . On reaching Calcutta , the passengers were detained under the Defence of India Act at Budge Budge by the British Indian government , which made efforts to forcibly transport them to Punjab . This caused rioting at Budge Budge and resulted in fatalities on both sides . A number of Ghadar leaders , like Barkatullah and Tarak Nath Das , used the inflammatory passions surrounding the Komagata Maru incident as a rallying point and successfully brought many disaffected Indians in North America into the party ' s fold . Outlines of mutiny . By October 1914 , a large number of Ghadarites had returned to India and were assigned tasks like contacting Indian revolutionaries and organisations , spreading propaganda and literature , and arranging to get arms into the country that were being arranged to be shipped in from United States with German help . The first group of 60 Ghadarites led by Jawala Singh , left San Francisco for Canton aboard the steamship " Korea " on 29 August . They were to sail on to India , where they would be provided with arms to organise a revolt . At Canton , more Indians joined , and the group , now numbering about 150 , sailed for Calcutta on a Japanese vessel . They were to be joined by more Indians arriving in smaller groups . During the September – October time period , about 300 Indians left for India in various ships like SS " Siberia " , " Chinyo Maru " , " China " , " Manchuria " , SS " Tenyo Maru " , SS " Mongolia " and SS " Shinyo Maru " . The SS " Korea " ' s party was uncovered and arrested on arrival at Calcutta . In spite of this , a successful underground network was established between the United States and India , through Shanghai , Swatow , and Siam . Tehl Singh , the Ghadar operative in Shanghai , is believed to have spent $ 30 , 000 for helping the revolutionaries to get into India . Amongst those who returned were Vishnu Ganesh Pingle , Kartar Singh , Santokh Singh , Pandit Kanshi Ram , Bhai Bhagwan Singh , who ranked amongst the higher leadership of the Ghadar party . Pingle had known Satyen Bhushan Sen ( Jatin Mukherjee ' s emissary ) in the company of Gadhar members ( such as Kartar Singh Sarabha ) at the University of Berkeley . Tasked to consolidate contact with the Indian revolutionary movement , as part of the Ghadar Conspiracy , Satyen Bhushan Sen , Kartar Singh Sarabha , Vishnu Ganesh Pingle and a batch of Sikh militants sailed from America by the SS " Salamin " in the second half of October 1914 . Satyen and Pingle halted in China for a few days to meet the Gadhar leaders ( mainly Tahal Singh ) for future plans . They met Dr Sun Yat - sen for co - operation . Dr Sun was not prepared to displease the British . After Satyen and party left for India , Tahal sent Atmaram Kapur , Santosh Singh and Shiv Dayal Kapur to Bangkok for necessary arrangements . In November , 1914 , Pingle , Kartar Singh and Satyen Sen arrived in Calcutta . Satyen introduced Pingle and Kartar Singh to Jatin Mukherjee . " Pingle had long talks with Jatin Mukherjee , who sent them to Rash Behari " in Benares with necessary information during the third week of December . Satyen remained in Calcutta at 159 Bow Bazar [ Street ] . Tegart was informed of an attempt to tamper with some Sikh troops at the Dakshineswar gunpowder magazine . " A reference to the Military authorities shows that the troops in question were the 93rd Burmans " sent to Mesopotamia . Jatin Mukherjee and Satyen Bhushan Sen were seen interviewing these Sikhs . The Ghadarites rapidly established contact with the Indian revolutionary underground , notably that in Bengal , and the plans began to be consolidated by Rash Behari Bose and Jatin Mukherjee and the Ghadarites for a coordinated general uprising . Early attempts . Indian revolutionaries under Lokamanya Tilak ' s inspiration , had turned Benares into a centre for sedition since 1900s . Sundar Lal ( b . 1885 , son of Tota Ram , Muzaffarnagar ) had given a very objectionable speech in 1907 on Shivaji Festival in Benares . Follower of Tilak , Lala Lajpat Rai and Sri Aurobindo , in 1908 this man had accompanied Lala in his UP lecture tour . His organ , the " Swarajya " of Allahabad , was warned in April 1908 against sedition . On 22 August 1909 , Sundar Lal and Sri Aurobindo delivered “ mischievous speeches ” in College Square , Calcutta . The " Karmayogi " in Hindi was issued in Allahabad since September 1909 : controlled by Sri Aurobindo , the Calcutta " Karmagogin " was edited by Amarendra Chatterjee who had introduced Rash Behari to Sundar Lal . In 1915 , Pingle will be received in Allahabad by the " Swarajya " group . Rash Behari Bose had been in Benares since early 1914 . Large number of outrages were committed there between October 1914 and September 1915 , 45 of them before February was over . On 18 November 1914 , while examining two bomb caps , he and Sachin Sanyal had been injured . They shifted to a house in Bangalitola , where Pingle visited him with a letter from Jatin Mukherjee and reported that some 4000 Sikhs of the Gadhar had already reached Calcutta . 15 . 000 more were waiting to come and join the rebellion . Rash Behari sent Pingle and Sachin to Amritsar , to discuss with Mula Singh who had come from Shanghai . Rash Behari ’ s man of confidence , Pingle led a hectic life in UP and Punjab for several weeks . During the " Komagata Maru " affray in Budge Budge , near Calcutta , on 29 September 1914 , Baba Gurmukh Singh had contacted Atulkrishna Ghosh and Satish Chakravarti , two eminent associates of Jatin Mukherjee , who actively assisted them . Since then , angry letters from US - based Indians reached India with hope of a German victory ; one of the emigrant leaders warned that his associates were in touch with the Bengal revolutionary party . It was at this juncture , in December 1914 , that Pingle arrived in the Punjab , promising Bengali co - operation to the malcontent emigrants . A meeting demanded revolution , plundering of Government treasuries , seduction of Indian troops , collection of arms , preparation of bombs and the commission of dacoities . Rash Behari planned collecting gangs of villagers for the rebellion . Simultaneous outbreaks at Lahore , Ferozepore & Rawalpindi was designed . Rising at Dacca , Benares , Jubbalpur to be extended . Preparing bombs was a definite part of the Gadhar programme . The Sikh conspirators – knowing very little about it – decided to call in a Bengali expert , as they had known in California Professor Surendra Bose , associate of Taraknath Das . Towards the end of December 1914 , at a meeting at Kapurthala , Pingle announced that a Bengali " babu " was ready to co - operate with them . On 3 January 1915 , Pingle and Sachindra in Amritsar received Rs 500 from the Ghadar , and returned to Benares . Coordination . Pingle returned to Calcutta with Rash Behari ' s invitation to the Jugantar leaders to meet him at Benares for co - ordinating and finalising their plans . Jatin Mukherjee , Atulkrishna Ghosh , Naren Bhattacharya left for Benares ( early January , 1915 ) . In a very important meeting , Rash Behari announced the rebellion , proclaiming : " Die for their country . " Though through Havildar Mansha Singh , the 16th Rajput Rifles at Fort William was successfully approached , Jatin Mukherjee wanted two months for the army revolt , synchronising with the arrival of the German arms . He modified the plan according to the impatience of the Gadhar militants to rush to action . Rash Behari and Pingle went to Lahore . Sachin tampered with the 7th Rajputs ( Benares ) and the 89th Punjabis at Dinapore . Damodar Sarup [ Seth ] went to Allahabad . Vinayak Rao Kapile conveyed bombs from Bengal to Punjab . Bibhuti [ Haldar , approver ] and Priyo Nath [ Bhattacharya ? ] seduced the troops at Benares ; Nalini [ Mukherjee ] at Jabalpur . On 14 February , Kapile carried from Benares to Lahore a parcel containing materials for 18 bombs . By the middle of January , Pingle was back in Amritsar with " the fat babu " ( Rash Behari ) ; to avoid too many visitors , Rash Behari moved to Lahore after a fortnight . In both the places he collected materials for making bombs and ordered for 80 bomb cases to a foundry at Lahore . Its owner out of suspicion refused to execute the order . Instead , inkpots were used as cases in several of the dacoities . Completed bombs were found during house searches , while Rash Behari escaped . " By then effective contact had been established between the returned Gadharites and the revolutionaries led by Rash Behari , and a large section of soldiers in the NW were obviously disaffected . " " It was expected that as soon as the signal was received there would be mutinies and popular risings from the Punjab to Bengal . " " 48 out of the 81 accused in the Lahore conspiracy case , including Rash Behari ’ s close associates like Pingle , Mathura Singh & Kartar Singh Sarabha , recently arrived from North America . " Along with Rash Behari Bose , Sachin Sanyal and Kartar Singh , Pingle became one of the main coordinators of the attempted mutiny in February 1915 . Under Rash Behari , Pingle issued intensive propaganda for revolution from December 1914 , sometimes disguised as Shyamlal , a Bengali ; sometimes Ganpat Singh , a Punjabi . Setting a date . Confident of being able to rally the Indian sepoy , the plot for the mutiny took its final shape . The 23rd Cavalry in Punjab was to seize weapons and kill their officers while on roll call on 21 February . This was to be followed by mutiny in the 26th Punjab , which was to be the signal for the uprising to begin , resulting in an advance on Delhi and Lahore . The Bengal revolutionaries contacted the Sikh troops stationed at Dacca through letters of introduction sent by Sikh soldiers of Lahore , and succeeded in winning them over . The Bengal cell was to look for the " Punjab Mail " entering the Howrah Station the next day ( which would have been cancelled if Punjab was seized ) and was to strike immediately . 1915 Indian mutiny . By the start of 1915 , a large number of Ghadarites ( nearly 8 , 000 in the Punjab province alone by some estimates ) had returned to India . However , they were not assigned a central leadership and begun their work on an " ad hoc " basis . Although some were rounded up by the police on suspicion , many remained at large and began establishing contacts with garrisons in major cities like Lahore , Ferozepur and Rawalpindi . Various plans had been made to attack the military arsenal at Mian Meer , near Lahore and initiate a general uprising on 15 November 1914 . In another plan , a group of Sikh soldiers , the " manjha jatha " , planned to start a mutiny in the 23rd Cavalry at the Lahore cantonment on 26 November . A further plan called for a mutiny to start on 30 November from Ferozepur under Nidham Singh . In Bengal , the Jugantar , through Jatin Mukherjee , established contacts with the garrison at Fort William in Calcutta . In August 1914 , Mukherjee ' s group had seized a large consignment of guns and ammunition from the Rodda company , a major gun manufacturing firm in India . In December , a number of politically motivated armed robberies to obtain funds were carried out in Calcutta . Mukherjee kept in touch with Rash Behari Bose through Kartar Singh and V . G . Pingle . These rebellious acts , which were until then organised separately by different groups , were brought into a common umbrella under the leadership of Rash Behari Bose in North India , V . G . Pingle in Maharashtra , and Sachindranath Sanyal in Benares . A plan was made for a unified general uprising , with the date set for 21 February 1915 . February 1915 . In India , confident of being able to rally the Indian sepoy , the plot for the mutiny took its final shape . Under the plans , the 23rd Cavalry in Punjab was to seize weapons and kill their officers while on roll call on 21 February . This was to be followed by mutiny in the 26th Punjab , which was to be the signal for the uprising to begin , resulting in an advance on Delhi and Lahore . The Bengal cell was to look for the " Punjab Mail " entering the Howrah Station the next day ( which would have been cancelled if Punjab was seized ) and was to strike immediately . However , the Punjab CID successfully infiltrated the conspiracy at the last moment through Kirpal Singh : a cousin of the trooper Balwant Singh ( 23rd Cavalry ) , US - returned Kirpal , a spy , visited Rash Behari ' s Lahore headquarters near the Mochi Gate , where over a dozen leaders including Pingle met on 15 February 1915 . Kirpal informed the police . Sensing that their plans had been compromised , the D - day was brought forward to 19 February , but even these plans found their way to the Punjab CID . Plans for revolt by the 130th Baluchi Regiment at Rangoon on 21 February were thwarted . On 15 February , the 5th Light Infantry stationed at Singapore was among the few units to actually rebel . About half of the eight hundred and fifty troops comprising the regiment mutinied on the afternoon of the 15th , along with nearly a hundred men of the Malay States Guides . This mutiny lasted almost seven days , and resulted in the deaths of forty - seven British soldiers and local civilians . The mutineers also released the interned crew of the SMS " Emden " . The mutiny was only put down after French , Russian and Japanese ships arrived with reinforcements . Of nearly two hundred tried at Singapore , forty seven were shot in a public execution . Most of the rest were deported for life or given jail terms ranging between seven and twenty years . Some historians , including Hew Strachan , argue that although Ghadar agents operated within the Singapore unit , the mutiny was isolated and not linked to the conspiracy . Others deem this as instigated by the Silk Letter Movement which became intricately related to the Ghadarite conspiracy . Plans for revolt in the 26th Punjab , 7th Rajput , 24th Jat Artillery and other regiments did not go beyond the conspiracy stage . Planned mutinies in Firozpur , Lahore , and Agra were also suppressed and many key leaders of the conspiracy were arrested , although some managed to escape or evade arrest . A last - ditch attempt was made by Kartar Singh and Pingle to trigger a mutiny in the 12th Cavalry regiment at Meerut . Kartar Singh escaped from Lahore , but was arrested in Benares , and V . G . Pingle was apprehended from the lines of the 12th Cavalry at Meerut , in the night of 23 March 1915 . He carried " ten bombs of the pattern used in the attempt to assassinate Lord Hardinge in Delhi , " according to Bombay police report . It is said that it was enough to blow up an entire regiment . Mass arrests followed as the Ghadarites were rounded up in Punjab and the Central Provinces . Rash Behari Bose escaped from Lahore and in May 1915 fled to Japan . Other leaders , including Giani Pritam Singh , Swami Satyananda Puri and others fled to Thailand or other sympathetic nations . Later efforts . Other related events include the 1915 Singapore Mutiny , the Annie Larsen arms plot , Christmas Day Plot , events leading up to the death of Bagha Jatin , as well as the German mission to Kabul , the mutiny of the Connaught Rangers in India , as well as , by some accounts , the Black Tom explosion in 1916 . The Indo - Irish - German alliance and the conspiracy were the target of a worldwide British intelligence effort , which was successful in preventing further attempts . American intelligence agencies arrested key figures in the aftermath of the Annie Larsen affair in 1917 . The conspiracy led to criminal conspiracy trials like the Lahore Conspiracy Case trial in India and the Hindu – German Conspiracy Trial in the United States , the latter being the longest and most expensive trial in the country at that date . Trials . The conspiracy led to a number of trials in India , most famous among them being the Lahore Conspiracy Case trial , which opened in Lahore in April 1915 in the aftermath of the failed February mutiny . Other trials included the Benares , Simla , Delhi , and Ferozepur conspiracy cases , and the trials of those arrested at Budge Budge . At Lahore , a special tribunal was constituted under the Defence of India Act 1915 and a total of 291 conspirators were put on trial . Of these 42 were awarded the death sentence , 114 transported for life , and 93 awarded varying terms of imprisonment . A number of these were sent to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman . Forty two defendants in the trial were acquitted . The Lahore trial directly linked the plans made in United States and the February mutiny plot . Following the conclusion of the trial , diplomatic effort to destroy the Indian revolutionary movement in the United States and to bring its members to trial increased considerably . Impact . The Hindu – German Conspiracy as a whole , as well as the intrigues of the Ghadar Party in Punjab during the war , were among the main stimuli for the enactment of the Defence of India Act , appointment of the Rowlatt Committee , and the enactment of the Rowlatt Act s . The Jallianwala Bagh massacre is also linked intimately with the Raj ' s fears of a Ghadarite uprising in India especially Punjab in 1919 . In popular media . A character in the World War II thriller " The Tenth Unknown " by author Jvalant Nalin Sampat is involved in the Ghadar Mutiny .