Explanation: The Indian trade and mercantile class was deliberately crippled by the British who imposed high tariff duties on Indian-made goods.

• Zamindars, the traditional landed aristocracy, often saw their land rights forfeited with frequent use of a quo warranto by the administration. This resulted in a loss of status for them in the villages.
• In Awadh, the storm centre of the revolt, 21,000 taluqdars had their estates confiscated and suddenly found they without a source of income, “unable to work, ashamed to beg, condemned to penury”.
• These dispossessed taluqdars seized the opportunity presented by the sepoy revolt to oppose the British and try to regain what they had lost.

Source: Spectrum Modern India