Mangal Pandey was born in Nagwa, a village of upper Ballia district, Ceded and Conquered Provinces (now in Uttar Pradesh) .

[1] On the afternoon of 29 March 1857, Lieutenant Baugh, Adjutant of the 34th Bengal Native Infantry, then stationed at Barrackpore was informed that several men of his regiment were in an excited state.

Further, it was reported to him that one of them, Mangal Pandey, was pacing in front of the regiment's guard room by the parade ground, armed with a loaded musket, calling upon the men to rebel and threatening to shoot the first European that he set eyes on.

Testimony at a subsequent enquiry recorded that Pandey, unsettled by unrest amongst the sepoys and intoxicated by the narcotic bhang, had seized his weapons and ran to the quarter guard building upon learning that a detachment of British soldiers was disembarking from a steamer near the cantonment.

[3] A British Sergeant-Major named Hewson had arrived on the parade ground before Baugh, summoned by an Indian naik (corporal).

Assailed by sepoys who threw stones and shoes at his back, Shaikh Paltu called on the guard to help him hold Pandey, but they threatened to shoot him if he did not let go of the mutineer.

It was now late afternoon and off-duty sepoys from the 43rd BNI, another regiment forming part of the Barrackpore brigade, had joined the crowd on the parade ground.

[6] Taking in the chaotic scene at the bell-of-arms (arsenal) of the 34th BNI, Hearsey then rode up to the guard, drew his pistol and ordered them to do their duty by seizing Mangal Pandey.

[4] With British and Indian officers now in control of the situation Mangal Pandey, "shivering and convulsed", was taken to the regimental hospital for treatment under guard.

He was sentenced to death by hanging, along with Jemadar Ishwari Prasad, after three Sikh members of the quarter-guard testified that the latter had ordered them not to arrest Pandey.

The Delhi Gazette of 18 April described the hanging in some detail, stating that Pandey had refused to make any disclosures and that the occasion "had a most disheartening effect upon the sepoy regiments upon the ground".

[4] In contrast to the silent Mangal Pandey, the jemadar expressed regret for his actions and urged the sepoys present to obey their officers in future.

Regiment stationed at Barrackpore on 29 March were disbanded[11] "with disgrace" on 6 May as a collective punishment after an investigation by the government, for failing to perform their duty in restraining a mutinous soldier and their officer.

Sepoy Shaikh Paltu was promoted to havildar (sergeant) and decorated with the Indian Order of Merit for his behaviour on 29 March, but he was murdered in an isolated part of the Barrackpore cantonment shortly before most of the regiment was discharged.

As a result of the East India Company's action, they lost that special status, since Oudh no longer existed as a nominally independent political entity.

He concluded his exhortation with an appeal to the native officers to uphold the honour of the regiment and a threat to court-martial such sepoys as refused to accept the cartridge.

Knowledge of his action was widespread amongst his fellow sepoys and is assumed to have been one of the factors leading to the general series of mutinies that broke out during the following months.

Modern Indian nationalists portray Pandey as the mastermind behind a conspiracy to revolt against the British, although a recently published analysis of events immediately preceding the outbreak concludes that "there is little historical evidence to back up any of these revisionist interpretations".

[18] During the rebellion that followed, Pandee or Pandey became the derogatory term used by British soldiers and civilians when referring to a mutinous sepoy.

[21] A film based on the sequence of events that led up to the mutiny entitled Mangal Pandey: The Rising starring Indian actor, Aamir Khan along with Rani Mukerji, Amisha Patel and Toby Stephens, directed by Ketan Mehta was released on 12 August 2005.

The life of Pandey was the subject of a stage play titled The Roti Rebellion, which was written and directed by Supriya Karunakaran.

[22] Samad Iqbal, a fictional descendant of Mangal Pandey, is a central character in Zadie Smith's debut novel White Teeth.