Sepoy

From India

A sepoy (from Persian سپاهی Sipâhi meaning "soldier") was a native of India, a soldier allied to a European power, usually the United Kingdom. Specifically, it was the term used in the British Indian Army, and earlier in the Honourable East India Company, for an infantry private (a cavalry trooper was a Sowar), and is still so used in the modern Indian Army, Pakistan Army and Bangladesh Army. The Sepoys played a prominent role in the 1857 Rebellion after they discovered that the new rifles being issued to them used animal fat to grease the casing.

The Sepoy Mutiny got its name from this "1857 rebellion".

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