<P> Unlike the Madras and Bombay Armies of the BEIC, which were far more diverse, the Bengal Army recruited its regular soldiers almost exclusively amongst the landowning Bhumihars and Rajputs of the Ganges Valley . Though paid marginally less than the Bombay and Madras Presidency troops, there was a tradition of trust between the soldiery and the establishment--the soldiers felt needed and that the Company would care for their welfare . The soldiers performed well on the field of battle in exchange for which they were rewarded with symbolic heraldic rewards such as battle honours in addition to the extra pay or "batta" (foreign pay) routinely disbursed for operations committed beyond the established borders of Company rule . </P> <P> Until the 1840s there had been a widespread belief amongst the Bengal sepoys in the iqbal or continued good fortune of the East India Company . However much of this sense of the invincibility of the British was lost in the First Anglo - Afghan War where poor political judgement and inept British leadership led to the massacre of Elphinstone's army (which included three Bengal regiments) while retreating from Kabul . When the mood of the sepoys turned against their masters, they remembered Kabul and that the British were not invincible . </P> <P> Caste privileges and customs within the Bengal Army were not merely tolerated but encouraged in the early years of the Company's rule . Partly owing to this, Bengal sepoys were not subject to the penalty of flogging as were the European soldiers . This meant that when they came to be threatened by modernising regimes in Calcutta, from the 1840s onwards, the sepoys had become accustomed to very high ritual status, and were extremely sensitive to suggestions that their caste might be polluted . If the caste of high - caste sepoys was considered to be "polluted", they would have to expend considerable sums of money on ritual purification before being accepted back into society . </P> <P> There had been earlier indications that all was not well in the armies of the East India Company . As early as 1806, concerns that the sepoys' caste may be polluted had led to the Vellore Mutiny, which was brutally suppressed . In 1824, there was another mutiny by a regiment ordered overseas in the First Anglo - Burmese War, who were refused transport to carry individual cooking vessels and told to share communal pots . Eleven of the sepoys were executed and hundreds more sentenced to hard labour . In 1851 - 2 sepoys who were required to serve in the Second Anglo - Burmese War also refused to embark, but were merely sent to serve elsewhere . </P>

Governor general who introduced enfield rifle in the army