We commemorate the 165th anniversary of the first war of Indian independence, which was sparked on 10th May 1857. The war of independence was fed by resentments born of diverse perceptions, including disturbing of the social fabric, harsh land taxes, and crude treatment of Indian kings, queens, and princes. The immediate spark, however, was the use of greased cartridges. The grease used on these cartridges was rumored to include fat derived from beef and pork. At Meerut in May 1857, 85 Sepoys of the 3rd Cavalry regiment on their refusal to use the greased cartridges were court-martialed and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. On 10th May, the Sepoys shot their officers, released their fellow Sepoys, and headed towards Delhi. After the outbreak of the mutiny in Meerut, the sepoys quickly reached Delhi, whose 81-year-old Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was declared the Emperor of Hindustan. Soon, the rebels had captured large tracts of the North-Western Provinces and Awadh. The loss of Delhi was a serious loss of prestige to the English. Very soon the uprising spread throughout Northern and Central India. Bahadur Shah Zafar II in Delhi, Begum Hazrat Mahal in Lucknow, Nana Saheb in Kanpur, Lakshmi Bai & Tantia Tope in Jhansi and Gwalior, Khan Bahadur Khan in Bareilly, Maulvi Liyakat Ali in Prayagraj and Varanasi, and Kunwar Singh in Bihar, were the main leaders of the first war of independence. The East India Company's response came rapidly as well. With help from reinforcements, Delhi was retaken by the end of September. However, it then took the British around one year to completely suppress the uprising, which was contained only by the independence activists’ defeat in Gwalior on 20 June 1858. The uprising of the first war of independence shook the foundation of the British East India Company and disclosed their inefficiency in handling the Indian administration. The major impact was the introduction of the Government of India Act, 1858 which abolished the rule of the British East India Company and marked the beginning of the British raj that bestowed powers in the hands of the British government to rule India directly through representatives. However, the first war of Indian independence ignited the spark and provided the momentum that continued to serve as the main source of inspiration for the people, who vigorously fight the British to free their motherland.