Chapter 3- European infiltration in India

The Portuguese
17th May 1498, Vasco de Gama arrives in India at Calicut (Kerala), through Cape of Good Hope and
his voyage was piloted by Abdul Majeed.
Vasco de Gama was welcome by King Zamorin.
Cape of Good Hope was discovered by Bartholomio Diyaz in 1487.
Fetorias: It is called to a Chain of out -post established by Portuguese along Indian coast (west
side) and on the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in early 16th century.
In 1503 Potuguese their established Cochin as their first trading station in India in 1503. It was
also their first capital.
In 1502 Vasco de Gama second visits to India. He visited total number of three times in India.
In 1524, he was sent a viceroy to India, but he fell ill and died in Cochin.
1505, Francis-de-Almeida (1505-09) was sent as first Portuguese Governor to India, to establish
Portuguese naval supremacy in this region.
1503, Alfonso albukark sent to India as a squadron commander.
In 1509, Albuquerque became viceroy.
In 1503, Portuguese established their first fort (trading station) at Cochin.
In 1505, they established Second trading fort in Kunnur.
In 1509, Francis de Almeida defeated the joint force of Gujarat & Egypt ruler.
In 1510, Albukark conquered Goa from the sultan of Bijapur, and also took over the control of
Rajouri and Dabhol.
In 1515 Albukark died.
In 1530, Nino-de-Cunha transferred the Portuguese capital from Cochin to Goa, and acquired Diu
in 1535 and Daman in 1559.
The famous saint Franciso Xavier came to India with the Governor Martin Alfonso Desouza.
The Portuguese power witnessed decline by the end of 16th century as they lost Hoogli to Mughal,
Qasim Khan in 1631.
They lost Hormuz to British in 1622.
In 1659 Sri Lanka was also lost.
1663 Dutch finally captured all the forts of Malabaar from Portuguese
1739, the Marathas captured Salsette & Bassin and ultimately the Portuguese were left only with
Goa, Daman & Diu which they retain till 1961.
In 1661, the Portuguese king gave Bombay to Charles II of England Prince as a dowry gift for
marrying her sister.
The Dutch
Dutch East India Company was formed in 1602; its chief administrative centre was at Batavia.
In 1595, the first Dutch expedition under Cornelis –de- Houliman crossed the Cape of Good Hope
to reach the Sumatra (1595) & Bantam (1596).
Dutch Company governed by 17 directors known as Gentlemen XVII.
 The main interest of Dutch was Indonesia and other spice island but later they broke the
Portuguese monopoly in India.
They populated textile trade.
In 1639, Dutch encircled Goa.
In 1641, they captured Malaysia.
In 1658, they captured Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
They had two factories in Golconda.
In 1657, they got the right to mint coins at Pulicat.
A part of Golconda, they also get the permission to trade with tax concession by the rulers of Jinji,
Madurai, and Tanjore (tanjavur).
By the Farmaan of 1676, the Golconda Sultan granted the complete freedom from tax in Golkunda.
In Bengal two more factories were established by Dutch in Malda in 1676 and khanakul in 1689.
The Dutch succeeding in getting Farmaan from Mughal Emperor Jahangir for trading along west
coast.
The Dutch were exempted from tolls from Burhanpur to Combay & Ahmadabad.
Shah Alam exempted the completely exempted the company from paying tariff across the territory
of Mughal empire.
Aurangzeb confirmed all the previliges granted by Shahjahan to the Dutch in Bengal in 1662.
Jahandar Shah confirmed all the previliges granted by Aurangzed in Coromandal in 1712.
Factories established by Dutch.
They mainly settle their factories in east coast & west coast. In….
1605- Masulipattam.
1610- Pulikat
1616- Surat (Gujrat)
1641- Bimilipattam
1645- Karikal
1653- Chinsura
1658- Kasim Bazaar (Patna),
Balasor, Negapattam.
1663- Cochin
Area Captured by Dutch
1605- Amboyna
1619- Masala Island
1658 Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
1641- Malakka (Malaysia)
1659-63 Cochin
War Between Dutch & British
Battle of Chinsura also known as---Battle of Biderra or Battle of Hoogly -This Battle lasts for 7
years…
 The British colonel is --- Francis Forde. The Dutch Colonel is—Jean Baptiste Russel
The Nawab of Bengal – Mir Jafar
In this battle Dutch & Nawab jointly fought against Britishers
Total war fought b/n Dutch & British = 3
The British
1599, first British Mildenhal arrives through land route.
1600, East India Company Established.
31 dec. 1600, queen Elizabeth 1st provide permit to trade with east, to the governor &
businessman of London for fifteen year.
1609, this duration was extended for infinite period.
East India Company having 24 directors also called merchant adventures.
It is a private owned company.
Captain William Hawkins reach at the court of Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1609 in Agra. But
Jahangir didn’t gave the permit of business.
In 1611, Captain Middletan defeated and destroyed the ships of Portuguese in Swalley near Surat,
This impressed the Jahangir which in return gave the permission to set a factory in Surat.
Before the factory setup at Surat, the Britishers already setup a factory in Masulipattam in 1611.
Captain Hawkins & Thomas Ro
In 1615, Thomas Ro was sent to Mughal court where he stayed till 1619.
In 1620, Britishers defeated Portuguese which mar end of Portuguese regime.
Expansion of trade by Britishers
In 1625, Britishers fortified (kilebandi) surat.
In 1622, Britishers captured Omurjpur.
In 1639, biritish takes madras on lease by local king Chandgiri and in return British agreed to paid
half of the entry tax collected to the king. But in addition to this they also got the right to fortify
their forts and right to mint their own coins.
In 1640 British seize madras from chandgiri who was a representative of vjaynagar rulers.
In 1661, Britain prince Charles II marries the princess of Portugal and thus he got Bombay as a
dowry gift. The prince Charles II gave Bombay to East India Company on an Annual rent of ten
British pound
In 1687, east India Company shifted their Head Quarter from Surat to Mumbai.
In 1633, Factories were established in Balasor (Orissa)
In 1651, another factory were established in Hoogli (Bengal).
By 1658, Bengal, bihar, Orissa & koromandal coast came under the control of saint George fort
(Madras).
In 1680, Mughal emperor imposed jaziya tax and in return gave the permission of trade without
any entry tax anywhere in mughal empire except Surat.
Establishment of trade in Calcutta
1690, Nawab of Bengal Ibrahim khan invite east India company.
In 1691, a farmaan by Aurangzeb which states that Britishers exempted from “Chungi Tax” (Entry
Tax).
 In 1698 job chornok took the lease of three village i.e ~ Sutanati, Kalikata, and Govindpur and
established Calcutta as a trading post.
In 1969, Shobha Singh (a Zamindar of Bardhman) revolts against British.
So in 90 years the company able to control the important trading port of Madras, Bombay &
Calcutta.
Farmaan of Farukhsiyyar and their Impact
After the death of Aurangzeb, British took the full advantage of Farukhsiyyar inability.
In 1717, a delegation under George Surman meets Farukhsiyyar.
After this meeting Farukhsiyyar issued another Farmaan which provide various rights & benefits
to Britishers and these are as follows.
The east India Company gets the right of tax collection of the area around Calcutta.
The company is free from all taxes in Surat after paying Rs. 10000 to Mughal Emperor annually.
The company got the right of tax free trade in Bengal. In return the company only has to pay Rs.
30000 annually to mughals.
Coins minted by the Britishers were granted validity along all across Mughal Empire.
The special rights of company at Hyderabad will be stayed as it is in terms of tax concession.
Struggle with Dutch & Portuguese
The treaty of Madrid in 1630, ends the hostility between Portuguese & British.
In 1634, another treaty took place between viceroy of Portuguese & director of Factory of Surat of
British, in this treaty a decision was taken that both the powers helps each other in fulfillment of
each other business goals . In other terms both will not interfere in each other matter.
1654, Portuguese accept the power of British in east and
In 1661, another treaty with Portuguese Unite British against Dutch.
In 1667, Dutch agree to vacate the British base under their control & British agree to vacate
Indonesia.
In 1795, the British completely over thrown Dutch out India.

Invasion of France
During the rule Louis XIV, one of his Minister Jean Baptist Colbert estd. French East India Company
in 1664
In 1667 an expedition team reach India, this team is headed by Francis Caron.
In 1668, they established their factory at Surat.
In 1669, another factory was established by French at Masulipattam
Responsibilities of both the factories were given to Francis Martin.
In 1672 Admiral Day took over the possession of Santhom from sultan of Golconda.
In 1673, Franco Martin & Lespine get Pondicherry from the ruler of Valikandapuram Sher Khan
Lodhi.
1698, Dutch conquer Pondicherry but due to the treaty of Ryswick of 1697 it was returned to
French.
Reorganization of French east India Company took place in 1720.
 After this reorganization they captured Mauritius in 1721.
In 1725 they captured Malabaar Coast
In 1739, they conquer Karikal.
Till 1742, the motive of French was only trade.
But with the arrival of Dupley as a governor their political intensions also arise.
In 1746, Duple conquer Madras with the help of Labodorne (the Governor of Mauritius).
While French & British became rivalry in India much before that they are fighting against each
other for the possession of Austria in Europe since 1740.
In 1742 the war in Europe between French & British were came to an end and both the powers
have signed a treaty called Aix-la-chapelle. Also called treaty of Aachen.
According to this treaty Madras was returned to Britishers.
Both British & French fought three wars in Karnataka for their dominance in the region.
1st Karnataka War- (1740-1748)
2nd Karnataka War- (1751-1755)
3rd Karnataka War- ( 1758-1763)
First Karnataka War (1740-1748)
Carnatic-Coromandel coast and its hinterland
Extension of the Anglo-French War caused by the Austrian War of Succession.
France retaliated by seizing Madras in 1746, Thus began the first Carnatic War.
Treaty of Aix-La Chapelle was signed bringing the Austrian War of Succession to a conclusion.
Madras was handed back to the English, and the French, got their territories in North America.
The First Carnatic War is remembered for the Battle of St. Thome (in Madras) on the banks of the
River Adyar fought between the French forces and the forces of Anwar-ud-din, the Nawab of
Carnatic, to whom the English appealed for help.
Nawab of Karnataka during the 1st war Anwaruddin.
Second Karnataka War (1751 – 1755)
This war was fought between 1751 – 1755
The intervention of nizam of Hyderabad & Marathas in Karnataka leads to the 2nd war.
In 1748 nizam of Hyderabad Asafjaah nizam-ul-mulk expired this led to the confrontation between
his sons Muzaffar Jung & nasir Jung for the crown.
At the same time in Karnataka the conflict arose between nawab Anwaruddin & and the son in law
of ex nawab Chanda Sahab.
Britishers supports Nasirjung in Hyderabad and Anwaruddin in Karnataka while French supports
Chanda Sahab in Karnataka and Muzaffar Jung in Hyderabad.
Governor Duple Signed treaty with Chanda Sahab & Muzaffar Jung and attack on anwaruddin on
3rd august 1749, Anwaruddin defeated & killed in Amber near vellore.
The British in reply induced Nasirjung to attack on Karnataka.
In 1750 Nasirjung attacks on Karnataka and captive muzaffar jung. The Duple at this point use
diplomacy and offer the temptation to the military officers nasir jung and make them in his favor.
These officers killed nasir jung and Mujaffar jung was declare as a Nawab of Hyderabad. But
 muzaffar Jung also killed before taking on the seat of Nawab. After that the younger brother of
Nasirjung Salawat Jung became Nawab.
In 1751 Sanders became the governor of Madras.
In Aug. 1751, Robert Clive conquer Akart
And in the same year clive & lorence defeat French commander la and conquer trichanapalli.
In 1753 duple again start a siege(gherabandi) on trichanapalli. But by this time the govt. Of france
decided to pull back the governor duple to france.
In Charles Robert Godehue was appointed in replacement.
In 1755 a treaty was signed between British & French and 2nd kartnataka war came to an end.
Third Karnataka war (1758-1763)
In 1757 British wins the battle of plassey and Britishers became more dominant in Bengal
In the same year Robert Clive conquer chandranagar (Bengal) a very important French colony.
To stop the growing supremacy of British, French govt. Sent the large army with the commander
Count-de-lali. Lali arrives in India in April 1758.
Count de Lali first siege the British colony fort saint david and captured it.
After that lali tried to siege tanjavur but failed.
After tanjavur lali decided to capture madras and for this he called governor Bussi of Hyderabad
for help. But this actually helps British because when bussi left Hyderabad British colonel ford
capture it and nawab salawat jung were also get in favor of British.
In 1759, British general crook arrive in madras with a huge army.
In 1760, British defeated French army very badly in Wandiwash (a place near near Pondicherry).
General Bussi make captive and this war nearly ends the French domination in India.
This war is also called the Wandiwash War.
In 1763, a treaty was signed in paris between British & French and the war has ended completely.
According to this treaty
The Pondicherry & Chandra Nagar was returned to French.
But French cannot settle an army in India.
The Danish
Danish East India Company was established in 1616.
In 1620 they open their first factory on the east coast in Trankobar (Tamil Nadu).
Danish were more involved in their religious propagation rather than trade.
Their main colony was established in Serampur in 1755.
In 1854 the Danish east India Company was sold to British government.
Untold Facts
Pedro Alwarez Cabrel: First man of Portugal to reach India in 1500.
Martin Alfanso Dsouza: Portuguese Governor
With whom the famous saint Francisco Xavier came to India.
Jon Child : British officer who capture Mughal ships, but after that apologies his mistake
William Noris: A British Messenger who went to Anurangzeb court for business facilities.
Franco Martin: first French governor of Pondicherry.
 Caron Franc: the French who established the first French factory.
Bhimaji Parikh: an agent of British company who specially worked for a promotion of printing
press
Garol Aangiyar: founder of Bombay.
Santhom: only Portuguese occupied region in south east.
Sandras: situated in south of madras, the centre of Dutch.
Chaowl: Situated in West coast of Maharashtra, one of the important Portuguese business centre.
Kannur: Coastal place of Malabaar where Vasco De Gama opened his factory in 1501.
Patna: Patna was famous for Salt-pitter (Shora). Dutch established Factory here.

India’s Status during British Conquest

Decline of Mughal Empire
Supremacy of Mughal empire came to an end after the death Mughal Empire Aurangzeb in 1707.
For better understanding (of the decline of Mughal Empire), the subsequent ruler kept under the
following headings, describe feeble Mughal Emperors, their weaknesses, and faulty activities:
Bahadur Shah I
Jahandar Shah
Farrukh Siyar
Muhammad Shah
Nadir Shah’s Outbreak
Ahmad Shah Abdali
Bahadur Shah –I
On Aurangzeb's death, his three sons fought among themselves for the throne. The 65-year old
Bahadur Shah emerged victorious. He was learned, dignified, and deserving.
Bahadur Shah followed a policy of compromise and conciliation, and there was evidence of the
reversal of some of the narrow-minded policies and measures adopted by Aurangzeb.
Bahadur Shah had tried to conciliate the rebellious Sikhs by making peace with Guru Gobind Singh
and giving him a high mansab (rank). But after the death of the Guru, the Sikhs once again raised
the banner of revolt in Punjab under the leadership of Banda Bahadur.
Bahadur Shah conciliated Chatarsal (the Bundela chief, who remained a loyal feudatory) and the
Jat chief Churaman, who joined him in the campaign against Banda Bahadur.
In spite of hard efforts of Bahadur Shah, there was further deterioration in the field of
administration in Bahadur Shah's reign.
Bahadur Shah was examining towards a solution of the problems besetting the Empire. He might
have revived the Imperial fortunes, but unfortunately, his death in 1712 plunged the Empire once
again into civil war.
JAHANDAR SHAH
In the civil war, one of Bahadur Shah's weak sons, Jahandar Shah, won because he was supported
by Zulfiqar Khan, the most powerful noble of the time.
Jahandar Shah was a weak and degenerate prince who was wholly devoted to pleasure. He lacked
good manners, dignity, and decency.
 During Jahandar Shah's reign, the administration was virtually in the hands of the extremely
capable and energetic Zulfiqar Khan, who was his wazir.
Zulfiqar Khan believed that it was necessary to establish friendly relations with the Rajput rajas
and the Maratha Sardars and to conciliate the Hindu chieftains necessary to strengthen his own
position at the Court and to save the Empire.
Jai Singh of Amber was given the title of Mira Raja Saint and appointed Governor of Malwa; Ajit
Singh of Marwar was awarded the tide of Maharaja and appointed Governor of Gujarat.
Zulfiqar Khan made an attempt to secure the finances of the Empire by checking the reckless
growth of jagirs and offices. He also tried to compel the (nobles) to maintain their official quota of
troops.
An evil tendency encouraged by him was that of ‘ijara’ or revenue-farming. Instead of collecting
land revenue at a fixed rate as under Todar Mal’s land revenue settlement, the Government began
to contract with revenue farmers and middlemen to pay the Government a fixed amount of money
while they were left free to collect whatever they could from the peasant. This encouraged the
oppression of the peasant.
Jahandar Shah's inglorious reign came to an early end in January 1713 when he was defeated at
Agra by his nephew Farrukh Siyar.
FARUKH SIYYAR
Farrukh Siyar owed his victory to the “Sayyid brothers’ i.e ~ Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan
Baraha, who were therefore given the offices of wazir and nur bakshi respectively.
The Sayyid brothers soon acquired dominant control over the affairs of the state and Farrukh Siyar
lacked the capacity to rule.
Year after year the ungrateful Emperor intrigued to overthrow the two brothers, but he failed
repeatedly. In the end of 1719, the Sayyid brothers deposed Farrukh Siyar and killed him.
MUHAMMAD SHAH
In Farrukh Siyar place, they raised to the throne in quick succession two young princes' namely
Rafi-ul Darjat and Rafi ud-Daulah (cousins of Farrukh Siyar), but they died soon. The Sayyid
brothers now made Muhammad Shah the Emperor of India.
The Sayyid brothers made a rigorous effort to control rebellions and to save the Empire from
administrative disintegration. They failed in these tasks mainly because they were faced with
constant political rivalry, quarrels, and conspiracies at the court.
Many nobles were jealous of the 'growing power’ of the Sayyid brothers. The deposition and
murder of Farrukh Siyar frightened many of them
In 1720, Hyder Khan killed Hussain Ali khan on 9 October 1720, the younger of the two brothers.
Abdullah Khan tried to fight, back but was defeated near Agra. Thus ended the domination of the
Mughal Empire by the Sayyid brothers (they were known in Indian history as 'king makers').
Muhammad Shah's long reign of nearly 30 years (1719-1748) was the last chance of saving the
Empire. But Muhammad Shah neglected the affairs of state.
Disgusted with the fickle-mindedness and suspicious nature of the Emperor, Nizum-ul-Mulk, the
most powerful noble of the time decided to leave the Emperor and his Empire to their fate.
He relinquished his office in October 1724 and marched south to find the state of Hyderabad in the
Deccan. "His departure was symbolic of the flight of loyalty and virtue from the Empire.”
 After the withdrawal of Nizum-ul-Mulk, many other zamindars, rajas, and nawabs of many states
raised the banner of rebellion and independence. For example Bengal, Hyderabad, Avadh, Punjab,
and Maratha.
NADIR SHAH OUTBREAK
Nadir Shah was attracted to India by the fabulous wealth.
Nadir Shah marched on to Delhi and the Emperor Muhammad Shah was taken as prisoner.
The greedy invader Nadir Shah took possession of the royal treasury and other royal property.
Nadir Shah also carried away the famous Koh-i-nur diamond and the Jewel-studded Peacock
Throne of Shahjahan.
Nadir Shah compelled Muhammad Shah to cede to him all the provinces of the Empire falling west
of the river Indus.
After Muhammad Shah's death in 1748, bitter struggles, and even civil war broke out among
unscrupulous and power hungry nobles.
AHMAD SHAH ABDALI
Empire was devastated by the repeated invasions of Ahmed Shah Abdali, one of Nadir Shah's
ablest generals, who had succeeded in establishing his authority over Afghanistan after his
master's death.
Abdali repeatedly invaded and plundered northern India right down to Delhi and Mathura
between 1748 and 1767.
In 1761, Abdali defeated the Maratha in the Third Battle of Panipat and thus gave a big blow to
their ambition of controlling the Mughal Emperor and thereby dominating the country.
Shah Alam II, who ascended the throne in 1759, spent the initial years as an Emperor wandering
from place to place far away from his capital, for he lived in mortal fear of his own war.
Shah Alam II was a man of some ability and ample courage. But the Empire was by now beyond
redemption.
In 1764, Shah Alam II joined Mir Qasim of Bengal and Shuja-ud-Daula of Avadh in declaring war
upon the English East India Company.
Defeated by the British at the Battle of Buxar (October 1764), Shah Alam II lived for several years
at Allahabad as a pensioner of the East India Company.
Shah Alam II left the British shelter in 1772 and returned to Delhi under the protective arm of the
Marathas.
The British occupied Delhi in 1803 and since that time to till 1857, when the Mughal dynasty was
finally extinguished, the Mughal Emperors merely served as a political front for the English.
SUCCESSOR STATES
Weakening of Mughals lead to the rise of new independent states like Hyderabad, Awadh & Bengal.
Hyderabad:
The state of Hyderabad was founded by Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah in 1724. He was one of the leading
nobles of the post-Aurangzeb era.
Asaf Jah never openly declared his independence in front of the Central Government, but in
practice, he acted like an independent ruler. He waged wars, concluded peace, conferred titles, and
gave jaws and offices without reference to Delhi.
 Asaf Jah followed a tolerant policy towards the Hindus. For example, a Hindu, Purim Chand, was
his Dewan. He consolidated his power by establishing an orderly administration in Deccan.
After the death of Asaf Jah (in 1748), Hyderabad fell prey to the Marathas & foreigners (same
disruptive forces as were operating at Delhi).
BENGAL
Murshid Quli Khan was made Governor of Bengal as late as 1717.
Shujauddin became nawab in 1727 and remain till 1739.
In 1739, Alivardi Khan became nawab of Bengal.
Taking advantage of the growing weakness of the central(Mughal) authority, these two men of
exceptional ability, Murshid Quli Khan and Alivardi Khan made Bengal virtually independent state.
In 1756, Shiraj ud daula became Nawab of Bengal.
The ruler of Bengal did not follow a policy of religious discrimination and Hindu’s were awarded a
noble post like zamindar.
Nawab’s of Bengal makes a strong policies to check the activities of East India Company.
No fortification is allowed to French as well as to Britishers. And no special rights were awarded to
foreign traders.
But the Nawab has small army as compared to Britishers.
In 1757, a fierce battle took place between the army of Nawab & Britishers which is known as
“Battle of Plassey”. In which Britishers wins and thus the power of Bengal is ultimately gone in the
hand of Britishers.
AWADH
The founder of Avadh kingdom was Saadat Khan Burhan-ul-Mulk who was appointed as Governor
of Avadh in 1722.
At the time of Burhan-ul-Mulk’s appointment, rebellious zamindars had raised their heads
everywhere in the province. They refused to pay the land tax, organized their own private armies,
erected forts, and defied the Imperial Government.
For years, Burhan-ul-Mulk had to wage war upon them. He succeeded in suppressing lawlessness
and disciplining the big zamindars and thus, increasing the financial resources of his government.
Burhan-ul-Mulk also carried out a fresh revenue settlement in 1723, as he was asked to improve
the peasant condition by protecting them from oppression by the big zamindars.
Like the Bengal Nawabs, Burhan-ul-Mulk too did not discriminate between Hindus and 'Muslims.
Before his death in 1739, Burhan-ul-Mulk had become virtually independent and had made the
province a hereditary possession.
Burhan-ul-Mulk was succeeded by his nephew Safdar Jang, who was simultaneously appointed the
wazir of the Empire in 1748 and granted in addition the province of Allahabad.
Safdar Jang suppressed rebellious zamindars and made an alliance with the Maratha Sardars so
that his dominion was saved from their incursions.
Safdar Jang gave a long period of peace to the people of Avadh and Allahabad before his death in
1754.
Independent States
THE RAJPOOTS
Many Rajput states took advantage of the growing weakness of Mughal power to virtually free
themselves from central control while at the same time increasing their influence in the rest of the
Empire.
In the reigns of Farrukh Siyar and Muhammad Shah, the rulers of Amber and Marwar were
appointed governors of important Mughal provinces such as Agra, Gujarat, and Malwa.
The internal politics of Agra, Gujarat, Malwa, etc. were often characterized by the same type of
corruption, intrigue, and treachery as prevailed at the Mughal court.
Ajit Singh of Marwar was killed by his own son.
The most outstanding Rajput ruler of the 18th century was Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Amber (1681-
1743).
Raja Sawai Jai Singh was a distinguished statesman, law-maker, and reformer. But most of all he
shone as a man of science in an age when Indians were oblivious of scientific progress.
Raja Sawai Jai Singh founded the city of Jaipur in the territory taken from the Jats and made it a
great seat of science and art.
Jaipur was built upon strictly scientific principles and according to a regular plan. Its broad streets
are intersected at right angles.
Jai Singh was a great astronomer. He erected observatories with accurate and advanced
instruments, some of his inventions can be still observed at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Varanasi, and
Mathura. His astronomical observations were remarkably accurate.
Jai Singh drew up a set of tables, entitled Zij-i Muhammadshahi, to enable people to make
astronomical observations. He had Euclid's "Elements of Geometry", translated into Sanskrit as
also several works on trigonometry, and Napier's work on the construction and use of logarithms.
Jai Singh was also a social reformer. He tried to enforce a law to reduce the lavish expenditure
which a Rajput had to incur on a daughter's wedding and which often led to infanticide.
This remarkable prince ruled Jaipur for nearly 44 years from 1699 to 1743.
MYSORE STATE
In 1766, British entered into an alliance with the Nizam of Hyderabad to protect him from Hyder
Ali (of Mysore) in return for the secession of the Northern Sarkars.
Hyder Ali beaten back the British attack, he threatened Madras in 1769 and forced the Madras
Council to sign a peace on his terms. Both sides restored each other's conquests and promised
mutual help in case of attack by a third party.
In 1771, when Hyder Ali was attacked by the Marathas, the English went back on their promise
and did not come to his help. This led Hyder Ali to distrust and dislike them.
In 1775, the English clashed with the Marathas, which lasted in 1782.
In the English and Maratha war, all the Maratha chiefs were united behind the Peshwa and their
chief minister, Nana Phadnavis.
The Southern Indian powers had long been resenting the presence of the British among them, and
Hyder Ali and the Nizam chose this moment to declare war against the British Company.
The British in India were, however, led at this time by their brilliant, energetic, and experienced
Governor-General, Warren Hastings.
 Acting with firm determination, he retrieved the vanishing British power and prestige.
The English had found in the Marathas a determined enemy, with immense resources. Mahadji
Sindhia had given evidence of his power which the English dreaded to contest.
The Anglo-Maratha War had come to a standout. With the intercession of Mahadji, peace was
concluded in 1782 by the Treaty of Salbai by which the status quo was maintained.
This war, known in history as the First Anglo-Maratha War, did not end in victory for either side.
But it did give the British 20 years of peace with the Marathas, the strongest Indian power of the
day.
The British utilized the period of 20 years to consolidate their rule over the Bengal Presidency,
while the Maratha chiefs frittered away their energy in bitter mutual squabbles.
The Treaty of Salbai enabled the British to exert pressure on Mysore as the Marathas promised to
help them in recovering their territories from Hyder Ali.
In July 1781, the British army under Eyre Coote defeated Hyder Ali at Porte Novo and saved
Madras.
Tipu Sultan
After Hyder Ali’s death in December 1782, the war was carried on by his son, Tipu Sultan. Since
neither side was capable of overpowering the other, peace was signed by them in March 1784 and
both sides restored all conquests.
The peace of 1784 had not removed the grounds for struggle between Tipu and the British; it had
merely postponed the struggle.
The authorities of the East India Company were acutely hostile to Tipu. They looked upon him as
their most formidable rival in the South and as the chief obstacle standing between them and
complete domination over South India.
Tipu, on his part, thoroughly disliked the English, saw them as the chief danger to his own
independence, and nursed the ambition to expel them from India.
Even though Tipu fought with exemplary bravery, Lord Cornwallis, the then Governor-General,
had succeeded through shrewd diplomacy in isolating him by winning over the Marathas, the
Nizam, and the rulers of Travancore and Coorg.
This war again revealed that the Indian powers were shortsighted enough to aid the foreigner
against another Indian power for the sake of temporary advantages.
By the Treaty of Seringapatam (1792), Tipu surrender half of his territories to the allies and paid
330 lakhs of rupees as indemnity.
The Third Anglo-Mysore war destroyed Tipu's dominant position in the South and firmly
established British supremacy there.
Kerala
At the beginning of the 18th century, Kerala was divided into a large number of feudal chiefs and
rajas.
The kingdom of Travancore rose into prominence after 1729 under King Martanda Varma, one of
the leading statesmen of the 18th century.
Martanda Varma organized a strong army on the western model with the help of European officers
and armed it with modern weapons. He also constructed a modern arsenal.
 Martanda Varma used his new army to expand northwards and the boundaries of Travancore soon
extended from Kanyakumari to Cochin.
Martanda Varma undertook many irrigation works, built roads and canals for communication, and
gave active encouragement to foreign trade.
By 1763, all the petty principalities of Kerala had been absorbed or subordinated by the three big
states of Cochin, Travancore, and Calicut.
Harder Ali began his invasion of Kerala in 1766 and in the end annexed northern Kerala up to
Cochin, including the territories of the Zamorin of Calicut.
Trivandrum, the capital of Travancore, became a famous center of Sanskrit scholarship during the
second half of the 18th century.
Rama Varma, the successor of Martanda Varma, was himself a poet, a scholar, a musician, a
renowned actor, and a man of great culture. He conversed fluently in English, took a keen interest
in European affairs. He regularly used to read newspapers and journals published in London,
Calcutta, and Madras.
The Marathas
Shahu, the grandson of Shivaji, had been a prisoner in the hands of Aurangzeb since 1689.
Shahu was released in 1707 after Aurangzeb's death.
Balaji Vishwanath
Arising out of the conflict between Shahu and his rival aunt Tarabai at Kolhapur, a new system of
Maratha government was evolved under the leadership of Balaji Vishwanath, the Peshwa of King
Shahu.
In 1713, Shahu made Balaji his peshwa (prime minister).
Balaji Vishwanath had induced Zulfiqar Khan to pay the chauth and sardeshmukhi of the Deccan.
In 1919, An agreement with syed brothers has give the Shahu, as an approval from Mughals and
he also get the right to collect the tax (Chauth & Sardeshmukhi) from six Mughal province –
Beedar, Barar, Bijapur, Golconda, Aurangabad, & Khandesh.
In return to this shahu agreed to send 15000 cavalry army, to stop the revolt & looting in deccan &
gift of Rs. 10 Lakhs to Farukhsiyyar.
In 1719, Balaji Vishwanath, at the head of a Maratha force, accompanied Saiyid Hussain Ali Khan to
Delhi and helped the Saiyid brothers in overthrowing Farrukh Siyar.
Balaji Vishwanath died in 1720 and his 20-year old son Baji Rao I succeeded as Peshwa.
In 1733 Bajirao lead the campaign against Siddhi’s of Janjira and thrown out of their land.
By 1740, when Baji Rao died (April 1740), the Maratha had won control over Malwa (1728),
Gujarat (1731), and parts of Bundelkhand.
The Maratha families of Gaekwad, Holkar, Sindhia, and Bhonsle came into prominence during this
period.
Baji Rao's 18-year old son Balaji Baji Rao (also known as Nana Saheb) was the Peshwa from 1740
to 1761. He was as able as his father though less energetic.
King Shahu died in 1749 and by his will left all management of state affairs in the Peshwa's hands.
In the South, the state of Mysore and other minor principalities were forced to pay tribute.
In 1760, the Nizam of Hyderabad was defeated at Udgir and was compelled to cede vast territories
yielding annual revenue of Rs. 62 lakhs.
 Later, the arrival of Ahmad Shah Abdali and his alliance with the major kingdoms of North India
(including an alliance with Najib-ud-daulah of Rohilkhand; Shuja-ud-daulah of Avadh, etc.) lead to
third battle of Panipat (on January 14, 1761).
The Peshwa's son, Vishwas Rao, Sadashiv Rao Bhau and numerous other Maratha commanders
perished on the battle field as did nearly 28,000 soldiers. Those who fled were pursued by the
Afghan cavalry and robbed and plundered by the Jats, Ahirs, and Gujars of the Panipat region.
The Peshwa, who was marching north to render help to his cousin, was stunned by the tragic news
(i.e. defeat at Panipat). Already seriously ill, his end was hastened and he died in Jun 1761.
The Maratha defeat at Panipat was a disaster for them. They lost the cream of their army and their
political prestige suffered a big blow.
Afghans did not get benefit from their victory. They could not even hold the Punjab. In fact, the
Third Battle of Panipat did not decide who was to rule India, but rather who was not. The way was,
therefore, cleared for the rise of the British power in India.
The 17-year old Madhav Rao became the Peshwa in 1761.
He defeated the Nizam, compelled Hyder Ali of Mysore to pay tribute, and reasserted control over
North India by defeating the Rohelas and subjugating the Rajput states and Jat chiefs.
In 1771, the Marathas brought back to Delhi Emperor Shah Alam who now became their
pensioner.
Once again, however, a blow fell on the Marathas for Madhav Rao died of consumption in 1772.
At Poona there was a struggle for power between Reghunath Rao, the younger brother of Balaji
Baji Rao, and Narayan Rao, the younger brother of Madhav Rao.
Narayan Rao was killed in 1773. He was succeeded by his posthumous son, Sawai Madhav Rao.
Out of frustration, Raghunath Rao approached to the British and tried to capture power with their
help. This resulted in the First Anglo-Maratha War.
Sawai Madhav Rao died in 1795 and was succeeded by the utterly worthless Baji Rao II, son of
Raghunath Rao.
The British had by now decided to put on end to the Maratha challenge to their supremacy in India.
The British divided the mutually-warring Maratha Sardars through clever diplomacy and then
overpowered them in separate battles during the second Maratha War, 1803-1805, and the Third
Maratha War, 1816-1819.
While other Maratha mates were permitted to remain as subsidiary states, the house of the
Peshwas was extinguished.
The Jats
The Jats, a caste of agriculturists, lived in the region around Delhi, Agra, and Mathura.
Repression by Mughal officials drove the Jat peasants around Mathura to revolt. They revolted
under the leadership of their Jat Zamindars in 1669 and then again in 1688.
Jats’ revolts were crushed, but the area remained disturbed. After the death of Aurangzeb, they
created disturbances all around Delhi. Though originally a peasant uprising, the Jat revolt, led by
zamindars, soon became predatory.
Jats plundered all and sundry, the rich and the poor, the jagirdars and the peasants, the Hindus and
the Muslims.
 The Jat state of Bharatpur was set up by Churaman and Badan Singh.
The Jat power reached its highest glory under Suraj Mal, who ruled from 1756 to 1763 and who
was an extremely able administrator and soldier and a very wise statesman.
Suraj Mal extended his authority over a large area, which extended from the Ganga in the East to
Chambal in the South, the Soobah of Agra in the West to the Soobah of Delhi in the North. His state
included among others the districts of Agra, Mathura, Meerut, and Aligarh.
After the death of Suraj Mal in 1763, the Jat state declined and was split up among petty zamindars
most of whom lived by plunder.
Rohela’s & Bangash Pathan
Muhammad Khan Bangash, an Afghan adventure, established his control over the territory around
Farrukhabad, between what are now Aligarh and Kanpur, during the reigns of Farrukh Siyar and
Muhammad Shah.
Similarly, during the breakdown of administration following Nadir Shah's invasion, Ali Muhammad
Khan carved out a separate principality, known as Rohilkhand, at the foothills of the Himalayas
between the Ganga in the south and the Kumaon hills in the north with its capital first at Aolan in
Bareilly and later at Rampur.
The Rohelas clashed constantly with Avadh, Delhi, and the Jats.
The Sikhs
Founded at the end of the 15th century by Guru Nanak, the Sikh religion spread among the Jat
peasantry and other lower castes of Punjab.
The transformation of the Sikhs into a militant, fighting community was begun by Guru Hargobind
(1606-1645).
It was, however, under the leadership of Guru Gobind Singh (1664-1708), the tenth and the last
Guru of the Sikhs, that Sikhs became a political and military force.
From 1699 onwards, Guru Gobind Singh waged constant war against the armies of Aurangzeb and
the hill rajas.
After Aurangzeb's death Guru Gobind Singh joined Bahadur Shah's camp as a noble of the rank of
5,000 Jat at and 5,000 sawar and accompanied him to the Deccan where he was treacherously
murdered by one of his Pathan employees.
After Guru Gobind Singh's death, the institution of Guruship came to an end and the leadership of
the Sikhs passed to his trusted disciple Banda Singh, who is more widely known as Banda Bahadur.
Banda rallied together the Sikh peasants of the Punjab and carried on a vigorous though unequal
struggle against the Mughal army for eight years. He was captured in 1715 and put to death.
Banda Bahadur’s death gave a set-back to the territorial ambitions of the Sikhs and their power
declined.
----------------------------------------------------
Chapter 5- Expansion of British Power
Victory of Bengal
During early 18th century, the Bengal has contributed 60% of the total exports to Britain from
Asia.
The business capabilities of Bengal attract Britishers towards Bengal.
The Britishers(John Surman) cleverly obtained a Farmaan from Farukhsiyyar in 1717,
By the order of this Farmaan British got now free to carry tax free trade in Bengal by paying
directly annual amount to Mughal Emperor.
This Farmaan however makes the Nawab of Bengal (Murshid Kuli Khan 1700-1727) unhappy.
In 1757, Shiraj-ud-daula became Nawab of Bengal.
Jagat Seth, Ameerchand, Rajvallabh, Rai durlabh, & Meer Jafar were among some aristocrats in
Nawab’s court.
In 1756 He captured Calcutta; He then moved military campaign against purniya. On Oct. 1756
Shaukat Jung (His own Cousin) defeated and killed in the battle of Manihari.
On 20 June 1756, Shiraj attacks on Fort William and capture it. Many Britishers were imprisoned
in a one room of this fort and get killed because of suffocation. Some of them ran away and took
refuge on fulta Island.
When this news reaches Madras, then Britishers sent Admiral Wattson & Colonel Clive along with
British troops to regain the Calcutta.
On January 1757, the British recapture Calcutta and in March 1757 they attack on Chandra Nagar
and capture it.
After this Shiraj-ud-daula makes a treaty with Britishers which is called “Treaty of Ali Nagar”
But Britishers broke this treaty Col. Clive offer the post of Nawab to Mir Jafar against his help in
defeating Shiraj which was accepted by Mir Jafar.
On 12 June1757 Sent their troops to attack Shiraj- ud- daula.
The Shiraj ud daula were unaware of this fact, are confident of his army which was around 50000
as compared to British which were 3000.
On 23 June 1757 both the army meets at plassey and this war was known as “Battle of Plassey”.
As scripted the army of Shiraj refuse to fought and Shiraj ran away to murshidabad and then to
Patna with his wife.
After some the son Mir Jafar killed Shiraj ud daula.
Result of Bengal Victory and (Relation of Mir Jafar, Mir Qasim & Britishers)
Mir Jafar get the reward as appointed as the Nawab of Bengal.
In return Mir Jafar gave permission of duty free business in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
Company also gets the zamindari of 24 Pargana.
The officers of the company now can also do business personally.
Mir Jafar has asked to pay a huge amount to his British friends for their help. Around 17.5 Lakhs.
Increasing continuous demands by British makes the delusion (moh bhang) of Mir Jafar from
Britishers.
At the same time New governor of Calcutta Wansitart formulate a secret pact with Mir Qasim in
which Mir Qasim were supported by Britishers in becoming Nawab and in return the Nawab has to
pay the demanded amount to Britishers.
So with the help of British Mir Qasim became Nawab. But Mir Qasim was a clever man and fully
understood the policy of Company.
Therefore after becoming Nawab he takes two important steps.
He posted the officers of his choice.
He transferred his capital to Munger from Murshidabad.
 After that he took some strong steps against the irregularities by the company, and also opposes
the Shahi Farmaan.
In 1762, Wansitart make a treaty with Mir Qasim, in which the company has to pay the Chungi Tax
of 9% to Nawab. But the British Council of Calcutta rejects this treaty.
When Mir Qasim came to know about this, He gave permission to Indian Businessman to trade
without any tax, this annoyed the Britishers.
And with a two months period the British defeat Mir Qasim in…….
In Kahwa, near Bardvan on 9 July 1763
In Giria, Murshidabad on 2nd Aug. 1763
Uddonala near Rajkamal in 4-5 Sept. 1763
Mir Qasim ran to Munger, Patna and then reach Awadh.
In Awadh he makes alliance with Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II & Shuja-Ud –Daula (Nawab of
Awadh)
In 1765 Clive returns as a governor of Bengal for 2nd time and do two important things upon his
return.
He draws the outline of treaty (Allahabad) with Shah Alam, Shuja-ud-daula & Mir Qasim according
to which he got the Diwani Right of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa.
Since Mir Jafar is killed hence Clive makes his son “Najim-ud-daula” as a Nawab of Bengal and also
signed treaty with him. According to this treaty the Army of Nawab is dissolved and provision for
the post of “Nayab Subedar” is introduced, which was directly appointed by the Britishers.
Mohd. Raza Khan became the first & last Subedar of Bengal
Battle of Buxar (1764)
On 22 Oct. 1764, the battle of Buxar took place in between Britishers & the alliance forces of Mir
Qasim, Shah Alam II & Shuja ud Daula.
The British won this Battle.
Treaty of Allahabad (1765)
When Clive returned in 1765, he signed two treaties one with Shah Alam II & another with Nawab
of Awadh in Allahabad in 1765.
Treaty with Nawab of Awadh:
The Nawab has to pay 50 lakhs to Britishers as a War Compensation.
Complete Rights to be given to Balwant Singh (Zamindar of Banaras) to his estate.
And to provide full help to Britishers when in need.
In return the company should also defend the boundary of Awadh.
Treaty with Nawab of Shah Alam II
Shah Alam II will be in protection of Company
Allahabad & Kara was given to Shah Alam II which was given from Nawab of Allahabad.
Shah Alam II has granted the Diwani Right of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa, and the Britishers has to Rs
26 Lakhs annually to Shah Alam II.
With this treaty the Britishers now gain the complete right of Diwani, Revenue & Finance.
But the Shah Alam II has to pay 53 Lakhs to Company for the arrangement of Administration work
of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa.
 However the arrangement of Security, Law & order will left in the hands of Nawab, so after the
Battle of Buxar the Nawab have just became a symbol.
Importance of Battle of Plassey & Buxar for East India Company
Battle of Plassey
Battle of Plassey has provided the remote control (Nawab) to Britishers, since the Nawab has been
made with their consent.
The Britishers now starts to interfere into the administration of Nawab.
In short they get the free hand to operate its business inside the Bengal without any tax.
The Company also gets the Zamindari rights of some places like 24 Pargana.
Battle of Buxar
A treaty signed by Shah Alam, Shuja ud Daula, Mir Qasim and by Robert Clive in Allahabad in 1756
after a defeat in the battle of Buxar.
This defeat has paved a way to the British rule in India.
The company gets the Diwani as well financial rights of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
The company also gets Rs 50 Lakhs from Nawab of Shuja-Ud-Daula as war compensation and also
gets the 53 lakhs from Shah Alam II in the name of managing & constructing Administrative Work
in Bengal, Bihar & Orissa.
So this is how the British gain the complete control of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa (The basket of
Natural Resources at that time.)
Dual Administrative System in Bengal
Robert Clive able to get the Diwani right from Shah Alam II (By a treaty of Allahabad) and Nizamat
Right from the Nayab Subedar of Bengal. (Appointment Nayab Subedar by the Britishers is a clause
of a treaty which Robert Clive was signed with Najim-ud-daula after making him nawab of Bengal)
So this is how Robert Clive started a new system of administration called “dual admin. System” in
the month of August 1765 in which the Diwani (Tax Collection), Police & Judiciary Right is in the
control of British and the administrative control will remains in Nawab’s hand.
The major point of this system is that both Nawab & Company are independent from each other
and both are running the systems simultaneously.
The company opened two Diwani offices in Murshidabad & Patna.
The responsibility of Tax Collection was given to two Indian officers namely Mohd. Raza Khan in
Bengal & Raja Sitab Rai in Bihar. It was given by Robert Clive.
This system has increased the company income by 30 Lakh Pounds.
Although the company agree to pay 53 lakhs to Nawab of Bengal for the management of
administrative affairs.
The company makes huge profit in this system, but the system fails because …
The Nawab was powerless; the real power is in hand of Nayab Subedar who was Britisher’s man.
The zamindar appointed by the company start exploiting the farmers.
The corruption & exploitation Ruins of trades & Business.
The dual admin sys. Started by Robert Clive was ended by Warren Hasting in 1772.
He releases the Nayab Subedar Mohd Raza Khan & Raja Sitab from their Post.
He completely takes over the full control of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa.
 He closed the Diwani Offices of Murshidabad & Patna and established a Diwani Council at Calcutta.
He completely releases the Nawab (Najim-ud-daula) of Bengal from all of his work and allotted the
pension of 16 Lakhs annually.
He appointed British collectors in place of Indian Collectors.
In 1773, with the regulating act of Bengal the governor of Bengal will be promoted to Governor
General of India and all the British presidency in India came under direct regulation of Governor
General.
So this is how Warren Hasting became the first Governor General of India and Bengal became the
centre point of British politics from where the company started his policy of Expansion of Empire.
Victory of Over Mysore
Anglo-Mysore Wars
The Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of four wars between the British and the Kingdom of Mysore
in the latter half of the 18th century in Southern India.
Hyder Ali (1721 – 1782)
Started his career as a soldier in the Mysore Army.
Soon rose to prominence in the army owing to his military skills.
He was made the Dalavayi (commander-in-chief), and later the Chief Minister of the Mysore state
under Krishnaraja Wodeyar II, ruler of Mysore.
Through his administrative prowess and military skills, he became the de-facto ruler of Mysore
with the real king reduced to a titular head only.
He set up a modern army and trained them along European lines.
First Anglo-Mysore War (1767 – 1769)
Causes of the war:
Building of strong army by Hyder Ali alarmed many powers including British, Nizam of Hyderabad
and Marathas
With this army Hyder Ali annex many regions in the South including Bidnur, Canara, Sera, Malabar
and Sunda.
He hired a French expert to train his army.
This alarming situation results in a treaty between British & Nizam in which British provide helps
to Nizam in case of attack of Hyder Ali and Nizam has to give the northern area to Britishers.
1766 when Hyder Ali was busy in fighting with Marathas Britishers provoke Nizam to attack on
Mysore.
But Hyder Ali was very wise man. He signed a treaty with Marathas and also signed a treaty with
Nizam of Hyderabad with the help of Mahfooz khan.
After that Hyder Ali attack on British Friend Karnataka, but Britishers defeat under general smith,
hyder ali & Nizam in Sangam & tiruvannamallai in 1767
But the opportunist Nizam again changes the side and signed a pact with British in 1768.
But hyder didn’t surrender and attack again on British and this time he defeated the British army
in 1769.
The clever British smell the circumstances and used their “ultimate weapon of treaty” and signed a
pact with hyder ali however it was signed on hyder terms. The main point of this treaty was.
 The Britishers would have to pay the compensation of war to hyder ali and;
The British army should help hyder ali in case of foreign attack.
Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780 – 1784)
In 1771 the Marathas attacked Hyder but the English did not come to help him. That enraged
Hyder. He waited for an opportunity to punish the English.
Hyder signed treaty with Maratha & Nizam.
There was a small French factory at Mahe in the territory of Hyder. The English captured it in
1773. There upon Hyder declared war in 1780 and attack on Karnataka, this was starting of 2nd
anglo Mysore war.
Hyder ali defeated General Belly in Karnataka and captured akart.
Here Warren Hastings use diplomacy and gave Guntur to Nizam and separated him hyder Ali.
Hastings also agreed the Sindhia & Bhonsle to get their favor.
In 1780, Warren Hastings the English Governor General immediately sent General Eyre Coote to
face the enemy, He defeated the hyder Ali but again 1782, hyder ali attack & Defeated Eyre Coot.
Hyder unfortunately died in the middle of the war in 7th Dec. 1782. Eyre Coote also died in 1783 in
broken health in Madras. Hyder Ali earned fame in Indian history as a relentless foe of the British
Company. He was succeeded by his son Tipu Sultan at that critical time. 
Both the sides fought desperately. But the course of the war remained undecided and both the
Britishers & Tipu signed a Treaty of Mangalore, according to which both were agree to return the
other’s occupied region.
Third Anglo-Mysore Battle (1790-1792)
In 1778 Company again provoke Nizam of Hyderabad to attack on Mysore.
This act was considered as a violation of treaty by Tipu and he attacked on Travancore.
Travancore king was the friend of Britishers, so Britishers signed a treaty with Marathas & Nizam
on this basis.
3rd Anglo Mysore War was fought in three stages.
In first stage Mido was General from the side of British and Britishers did not gain anything.
In Second Stage was started in 1790 in which Cornwallis himself led his army.
Till March 1791 He occupied Vellore & Amboor. He came very close to Shrirangapatnam but due to
rain he cannot continue his campaign and return to Mangalore.
In the same year perhaps in summer Tipu attack on Coimbatore.
In this & third stage Generals like Mido, Stuart, Maxwell & Hunter came with their army to help
Cornwallis.
Tipu cannot alone fight this huge army and therefore he surrenders and forced to sign a treaty
(Treaty of Shrirangapatnam).
According to this treaty Tipu forced to give half of area of Mysore to British, Maratha & Nizam.
He also has to give Rs. 3 Crore to British as a compensation of war.
And the most disturbing point was that Tipu has to leave his two sons in the custody of British.

Fourth Anglo Mysore Battle (March 1799- May 1799)

The Treaty of Shrirangapatnam failed to bring peace between Tipu and the English.
 Tipu also refused to accept the Subsidiary Alliance of Lord Wellesley.
Tipu aligned with the French which the British saw as a threat.
Mysore was attacked from all four sides.
The Marathas and the Nizam invaded from the North.
Tipu’s troops were outnumbered 4:1.
The British secured a decisive victory at the Battle of Shrirangapatnam in 1799.
Tipu died while defending the city, and the war ends.
Tipu’s territories were divided between the British and the Nizam of Hyderabad.
The core area around Shrirangapatnam and Mysore was restored to the Wodeyar dynasty who had
been ruling Mysore before Hyder Ali became the de-facto ruler.
Anglo Maratha Wars
Balaji Baji Rao was the third Peshwa who died after the defeat of Marathas in Third Battle of
Panipat in 1761. He was succeeded by Madhav rao, his son. While Raghunath Rao, brother of Balaji
Baji Rao was in lookout to become Peshwa himself. After death of Madhav Rao in 1772, British
caused the first war with Marathas.
First Anglo Maratha War (1775-82)
The immediate cause for first Anglo Maratha War was English interference in the internal affairs of
Marathas.
The then Maratha Peshwa, Narayan Rao died without an heir.
The birth of a posthumous son to Narayan Rao then drove Raghunath Rao to desperation and he
eventually signed the Treaty of Surat in 1775 with the Bombay government with hopes to gain the
throne with the help of English troops.
By the treaty of Surat, Raghunatha Rao had promised to cede Salsette and Bassein, and also refrain
from forming an alliance with the Company enemies.
In 1777 Nana Fadanwees gave permission to French of port violates his treaty with British Council
of Calcutta.
In reply British sent their army and they fought with Marathas in Pune.
In January Marathas Defeated British troops and the company’s army surrenders and signed a
treaty of Wadgaon in which Bombay have to returned all the areas captured by British of Maratha
State.
But British Governor General Warren Hastings Rejects this treaty and send Colonel Godard with
huge army.
Godard in Feb 1779 Capture Ahmadabad, and in December 1780 in Bassein.
And finally in Feb. 1781 General Keme defeat the Sindhia’s in Sipri.
With the defeat of Sindhia the treaty of Salbai was signed in 1782 which ended the first Anglo
Maratha War.
The Treaty of Salbai includes that…
Madhav Rao has been accepted as Peshwa
Raghunath was assigned for pension
This treaty was confirmed by Gen. Hasting in 1782 and by Fadanwees in 1783.
All occupied areas of Marathas were returned to Sindhia.
 With this treaty British able to isolate Hyder Ali.
They also get the area of Salsette.
Second Anglo- Maratha War (1803-1805)
In 1798, Wellesley was to India as a governor general.
He proposed a Support Treaty which was rejected by Marathas
Madhaji Sindhia died on 12 Feb 1794 and on 13 March 1800 Nana Fadanwees died.
After the death of these two statesmen a fierce rivalry for power starts between the successor of
Mahadji Sindhia, Daulat Rao Sindhia and Jaswant Rao Holkar.
Both of them tried to secure the throne at Poona. 
Thereafter, Baji Rao II fled to Bassein and then signed a treaty of Bassein with the British in 1802.
Under the treaty of Bassein,
Marathas should accept the English protection and also allow the stay of the foot army of British in
Poona.
Gujarat and Fertile area in between Tapti & Narmada and the nearby area of Tungabhadra River
whose income were around 26 lakhs were also surrender to British.
The right to establish relation with other states of Marathas should also be taken by Britishers.
The Peshwa surrendered the city of Surat and to gave up claims for chauth on Nizam’s dominions.
He also agreed to not take up arms against the Gaekwar.
The Britishers also get the right of Mediation between internal matters of Marathas & with Nizam.
Third Anglo- Maratha War (1817-1819)
The third and the final battle of the Anglo-Maratha struggle began after coming of Lord Hastings as
the Governor-General in year 1813.
The Peshwa had to sign the Treaty of Poona in 1817, under which he gave up the headship of the
Maratha confederacy (Union)
He also had to conduct relations with other states through British Resident.
The Peshwa also ceded the Konkan along with his rights in Malwa, and Bundelkhand.
The Treaty of Gwalior (1817) was concluded by Lord Hastings with Daulat Rao Sindhia as part of
preparations for campaign against Pindaris.
Consequently, the Pindari war was merged in the Third Anglo- Maratha War.
All Maratha opposition to the British power has ended after yet another attempt & loss by the
Maratha (as a Union) against British.
A new treaty was made with the Maratha Chiefs.
The Peshawa surrendered his name and authority forever in lieu of eight lakhs rupees as pension
and retired to Bithur near Kanpur.
A small district Satara was reserved for descendant of Shivaji as the Raja of Satara. All the
remaining Peshawa’s territories were annexed to the Presidency of Bombay.
British Conquest of Sindh
In 18th Century, Sindh was rule by Kallora Sardars, before the Ruler of Talpur who called
themselves as “Ameer”.
In 1758, Prince of Kallora Ghulam Shah offer a “Parwana”(Royal Order) which allows the British
Company to Open a factory in Thatta.
 In 1761, Ghulam Shah thrown out other European companies out of Sindh.
In 1775, the New Ruler Sarfaraz Khan orders the British to close down their factory.
In 1783, Talpur Tribe under the leadership of Mir Fateh Ali Khan captured the Sindh.
Mir Fateh Ali khan has four brothers also known as “Char Yaar”.
In 1800, when Mir Fateh died, These Char Yaar has distributed the entire Sindh area among them
and became Ameer of their own state.
In 18th century there was a rumor that Tipu Sultan is making alliance with Napoleon to Attack
British.
This was also a reason to establish trade relation with relation Sindh, Since Wellesley wants to
secure the route of Afghanistan.
In June 1807, Alexander I of Russia Meets Napoleon Bonapart in the treaty of Tilsit in which both
were agree to attack on India through land route.
British were aware of this fact, and lord Minto sent Metcalf to Lahore, Alfinstan to Kabul & Malcolm
to Tehran, Nicolas Smith were sent to Sindh where he met the Ameer. After the discussion Ameer
& British were agreed to signed a treaty called “Treaty of Eternal Friendship”
In this treaty both were agreed to send a representative in each other’s office and French should
not be allowed in Sindh.
Treaty of 1832: In 1832 William Bentick send Col. Pottinger to Signed another treaty with Ameer
of Sindh, the clause of the treaty were.
British traders & travelers should be allowed to pass though Sindh without any tax
None of the British traders will settle in Sindh and passport is for travelers.
Tariff rate can be modified by Ameer, but no demand of military surcharge or toll can be made.
Ameer should coordinate with king of Jodhpur to control robbers.
Lord Auckland & Sindh:
Auckland became governor general in 1836, and in order to save company from the attack of
Russia & Afghanistan, Company presence is necessary in Sindh.
Auckland shows this threat to Sindh, and agrees Ameer of Sindh to sign an agreement in 1838 in
which an army of company is stayed in Sindh and Ameer has to pay the expenses of that army.
This is how Sindh became British protectorate.
In 1839, the company signed another treaty with Ameer by which British Company provide the
area of Shikarpur & Bakkar for settlement of company army. However the expenses occur on the
army was paid by Ameer (it may be around 3 Lakhs per annum which was given to British from
Ameer)
In addition the Ameer not make any relation with any foreign state without British consent.
Surrender of Sindh:
In First Anglo- Afghan War (1839-42) which was fought on Sindh’s Land, but Ameer didn’t show
their interest in it.
So Company send Autrum to Sindh, He then forced the Ameer to sign the treaty in which the
The Ameer should submit the important part of their state if they violate the earlier treaties.
Fuel for the steamers of Britisher who sails in Sindhu River should be provided by the Ameer.
Minting of Coin by the Ameer should be stopped.
This was opposed by the Ameer and then Charles Napier was sent to fight a war with Ameer of
Sindh
By this time, Lord Auckland had been recalled and Lord Ellenborough, who loved military pomp,
had his tastes gratified by sending him to “cure” the Muslim insurrections in this region.
The loosely governed Sind, which was repeatedly targeted by the Sikhs in past, fell in the “Battle of
Miani & Battle of Dobo”, wherein in which 3000 British troops defeated 12,000 Baluchis in 1843
under Charles Napier.
The Amirs of Sind, their kith and kin were taken prisoners, and then these broken-hearted and
miserable men were sent to Burma in exile. Whole of Sind was annexed to British Empire in 1843.
Napier’s sent a one word telegram which was a pun after this battle. The message in the telegram
was a Latin word “peccavi“ means “I have sinned“. The meaning of this word play was I have Sindh.
Conquest of Punjab:
After the death of Guru Govind Singh, Kapoor Singh of Faizullapur laid the foundation of “Khalsa
Dal”
The State of Punjab in 1733 is expended to all of the present Punjab along with Saharanpur to east
to Multan (Pakistan).
The Sikh were divided into “12 Misl” and they were ….
Ahluwalia, Bhange, Dalwalia, Faizullapuria, Kanhaiyya, Karoda Singhiya, Nakai, Nihang,
Nishanwala, Phulkia, Ramgardiya and Sukarchakiya
Ranjit Singh & Sukarchakiya Misl
Ranjit singh was the leader of Sukarchakiya Misl.
In 1799, Ruler of Afghanistan Zamaan Shah make Ranjit Singh the Regional Ruler of Lahore.
Till 1805 Ranjit Singh Conquer Amritsar & Jammu.
Till 1823, Both British & Ranjit were busy in expanding their areas separately.
Ranjit Singh Occupied Kangra in 1811, Attak in 1813, Multan in 1811, Kashmir in 1819 and
Peshawar in 1823.
In 1814 Afghanistan Ruler gifted the Kohinoor Diamond to Ranjit Singh.
Ranjit Singh was very brave man and the Britishers should know this very well that’s why they
never indulge in conflict with Ranjit singh.
But unfortunately Ranjit Singh died on 27th June 1839.
Ranjit Singh had eight sons. Kharak Singh was the eldest from his second wife. His first wife gave
birth to Ishar Singh, who died at the age of two, and, after her separation from Ranjit Singh, to the
twins Tara Singh and Sher Singh. The two widows he took under his protection and married gave
birth to Multana Singh, Kashmira Singh and Pashaura Singh. Duleep Singh was from his last wife.
[31] Ranjit Singh acknowledged only Kharak Singh and Duleep Singh as his biological sons[32][33]
Kharak Singh became king but he was not wise as his father. So this led Punjab into the politically
unstable.
In 1839 he also died and his son Nav Nihal Singh also died while returning from the funeral of his
father.
These circumstances attract Britishers to take over the control of Punjab.
After the death of Nav Nihal Singh, Sher Singh crowned as a king but he was killed in 1843.
After Sher Singh, Dileep Singh (Ranjit Singh’s Son who was under age at that time) was crowned as
a king and Queen Jind was make care taker of the administration.
Lal Singh a lover of Queen Jind, transform the army into his favor and became Wazir (or PM) he
then appointed Teja Singh as Commander of the army.
First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-1846)
After the successfully overtaken the Sindh & death of Ranjit Singh, the Britishers were now waiting
for the correct time take over the Punjab.
In Dec. 1845, the army of Punjab gave them this chance. The army of Punjab attack on other side of
Sutlej River.
The Sikh army defeated badly in Mudki (18 Dec.), Firoz Shah (21-22 Dec.), Aalivaal (28 Jan. 1846)
and Subbaarhaan (10 Feb. ) by Britishers
The Britisher not only take Lahore & Jammu Kashmir from Sikhs but also forced them to Sign a
treaty “treaty of Lahore”.
Treaty of Lahore:
According to the clause of this treaty Dileep Singh should surrender the area of doab of river Sutlej
& Vyas River.
The strength of Sikh army reduced to certain limit.
The Britishers were the right to move freely throughout the state.
The Punjab state shall not appoint any post to any other European person except British.
Dileep singh were recognized as king and Queen Jhindan has become his guardian.
The government of Punjab was transferred to Lahore from Punjab.
Treaty of Bharonwaal
The Sikhs were not happy with Lahore treaty, so they revolt.
In Dec. 1846 treaty of Bhanronwaal took place according to which
The queen jind has been removed from the post of controlling agent and a controlling council was
established.
This council has included 8 sikh leaders and the head is British resident Henry Lawrence.
This is how British completely take the control of Punjab.
Second Anglo Sikh War( 1848-49)
With treaty of Lahore & Bharonwaal, many of sikh army officers were removed from the service.
This led to the emotion of internal aggression among many Sikhs.
In response this aggression, two British officers were killed in April 1848.
So on 21 Feb. 1849. British defeated Sikhs in “Gujrat War”.
Lord Dalhousie completely acquired the Punjab into British Empire.
Raja Dileep Singh was sent to England as a pensioner.
Expansion of British Empire by Administrative Policy
During 1757-1857 British adopt mainly two policies to take over the control of India.
Policy of War
Diplomatic Policy by singing treaties.
We will now see some policies adopted by British governor general.
Ring- Fence Policy (Warren Hastings)
 Thus, the states included within the ring fence were given the assurance of providing military help
against the external attack on their own expenditure.
Warren Hasting followed the ring fence policy, aimed at protecting the company's borders by
creating a buffer zone.
Subsidiary Alliance (सहायक संधि)
Governor General Wellesley adopted this policy during 1798-1805.
The important point of this policy were
The foreign relations of the Indian kings will be subject to the company authority, they will not
make any war and the company will consult with other states in the matters of the state.
The Large states will keep the English army in there state, whose command will be in English
hands, but these states will bear the army's expenditure.
The States must keep English resident in there state.
States will not keep any European in their service without the company's permission.
The company will defend the state from enemies.
The company will not interfere in the internal matters of the state.
This treaty was first signed with Nizam of Hyderabad( 1798) then Mysore(1799), Tanjore(Oct.
1799), Awadh(Nov. 1801), Peshwa (Dec. 1801), Bhonsle of Barad (Dec. 1803), Sindhia (Feb.1804),
followed by Jodhpur, Jaipur, Macheri, Boondi, And Bharat pur
Doctrine of Lapse
This policy was adopted by Gov. Gen. Dalhousie during 1848-56. This was also known as “Peaceful
merger Policy or शांतिपूर्ण विलय की निति.
With this policy, he got all the princely states into Company’s Empire which was not under the
company.
The states which was merge are Satara (1848), Jaitpur & Sambhalpur (1849), Baghaat (1850),
Udaipur (1852), Jhansi (1853) and Nagpur (1854).
This Policy was one of the major causes of 1857 revolt.

Relationship of British India with Neighboring Countries

Anglo- Nepal Relation
The British desire to extend their Indian Empire to its natural geographical frontier brought them
into conflict, first of all, with the northern Kingdom of Nepal.
War with Nepal, 1814
The Nepal valley had been conquered in 1768 by the Gurkhas, a Western Himalayan tribe.
Gurkhas had gradually built up a powerful army and extended their sway from Bhutan in the East
to the river Sutlej in the West.
From the Nepal Tarai, the Gurkha now began to push southward. In the meanwhile, the British
conquered Gorakhpur in 1801. This brought the two expanding powers face to face across as ill-
defined border.
In October 1814, a border clash between the border police of the two countries led to open war.
The British officials had expected an easy walk-over especially as their army attacked all along the
600 mile frontier. But the Gurkhas defended themselves with vigor and bravery. The British
armies were defeated again and again.
In the long run, however, the Gurkhas could not survive. The British were far superior in men,
money, and materials.
In April 1815, they occupied Kumaon, and on 15th May, they forced the brilliant Gurkha
Commander Amar Singh Thapa to surrender.
The Government of Nepal was now compelled for peace. But the negotiations for peace soon broke
down. The Government of Nepal would not accept the British demand for the stationing of a
Resident at Kathmandu, capital Nepal.
It was realized that to accept a subsidiary alliance with the British amounted to signing away
Nepal's independence. Fighting was resumed early in 1816.

The British forces won important victories and reached within 50 miles of Kathmandu. In the end,
the Nepal Government had to make a peace agreement (known as Treaty of Sugauli) on British
terms.
Nepal Government accepted a British Resident. It ceded the districts of Garhwal and Kumaon and
abandoned claims to the Tarai areas. It also withdrew from Sikkim.
The agreement held many advantages for the British such as:
Their Indian Empire now reached the Himalayas;
They gained greater facilities for trade with Central Asia;
They also obtained sites for important hill-stations such as Simla, Mussoorie, and Nainital; and
The Gurkhas gave added strength to the British-Indian army by joining it in large numbers.
The relations of the British with Nepal were quite friendly thereafter. Both parties to the War of
1814 had learnt to respect each other's fighting capacity and preferred to live at peace with each
other.
Anglo-Burma Relation
The conflict between Burma and British India was initiated by border clashes. It was whiffed by
the expansionist urges.
The British merchants cast avaricious glances on the forest resources of Burma and were keen to
promote export of their manufactures among its people.
The British authorities also wanted to check the spread of French commercial and political
influence in Burma and the rest of South-East Asia.
Through three successive wars, the independent kingdom of Burma was conquered by the British
during the 19th century.
First Burmese War, 1824-26
Burma and British India developed a common frontier at the close of the 18th century when both
were expanding powers.
After centuries of internal strife, Burma was united by King Alaungpaya between 1752 and 1760.
Bodawpaya, the successor of King Alaungpaya, was ruling from Ava on the river Irrawaddi
repeatedly invaded Siam, repelled many Chinese invasions, and conquered the border states of
Arakan (1785) and Manipur (1813) bringing Burma's border up to that of British India. Continuing
his westward expansion, he threatened Assam and the Brahmaputra Valley.
In 1822, the Burmese conquered Assam. The Burmese occupation of Arakan and Assam led to
continuous friction along the ill-defined border between Bengal and Burma.
The Burmese Government pressed the British authorities to take action against the insurgents
(Arakanese fugitives) and to hand them over to the Burmese authorities.
The Burmese forces, chasing the insurgents, would often cross into Indian Territory. In 1823,
clashes on the Chittagong Arakan frontier came to a head over the possession of Shahpuri island,
which was first occupied by the Burmese and then by the British.
The Burmese proposal for neutralization of the island was rejected by the British and tension
between the two began to mount.
Burmese occupation of Manipur and Assam provided another source of conflict between the two.
It was looked upon by the British authorities as a serious threat to their position in India. To
counter this threat they established British influence over the strategic border states of Cachar and
Jaintia.
The Burmese were angered by the British action and marched their troops into Cachar. A clash
between Burmese and British troops ensued, the Burmese being compelled to withdraw into
Manipur.
For several decades, British Indian authorities had been trying to persuade the Government of
Burma to sign a commercial treaty with them and to exclude French traders from Burma.
The British believed that the Burmese power should be broken as soon as possible, especially as
they felt that British power was at the time far superior to that of the Burmese. The Burmese, on
their part, did nothing to avoid war.
The Burmese rulers had been long isolated from the world and did not correctly assess the
strength of the enemy. They were also led to believe that an Anglo-Burmese war would lead many
of the Indian powers to rebel.
The war was officially declared on 24 February 1824. After an initial set-back, the British forces
drove the Burmese out of Assam, Cachar, Manipur, and Arakan.
The British expeditionary forces by sea occupied Rangoon in May 1824 and reached within 45
miles of the capital at Ava.
The famous Burmese General Maha Bandula was killed in April 1825. But Burmese resistance was
tough and determined. Especially effective was guerrilla warfare in the jungles.
The rainy climate and virulent diseases added to the cruelty of the war. Fever and dysentery killed
more people than the war.
In Rangoon, 3,160 died in hospitals and 166 on the battlefield. In all, the British lost 15,000
soldiers out of the 40,000 they had landed in Burma.
The war was proving extremely costly (financially as well as in terms human lives), thus the
British, who were winning the war, as well as the Burmese, who were losing it, were glad to make
peace which came in February 1826 with the Treaty of Yandabo.
The Government of Burma agreed:
to pay one crore rupees as war compensation;
to cede its coastal provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim;
to abandon all claims to Assam, Cachar, and Jaintia;
to recognize Manipur as an independent state;
to negotiate a commercial treaty with Britain; and
to accept a British Resident at Ava while posting a Burmese envoy at Calcutta.
By this treaty, the British deprived Burma of most of its coastline, and acquired a firm base in
Burma for future expansion.
Second Burmese War (1852)
If the First Burmese War was in part the result of border clashes, the second Burmese War which
broke out in 1852 was almost wholly the result of British commercial greed.
British timber firms had begun to take interest in the timber resources of Upper Burma. Moreover,
the large population of Burma appeared to the British to be a vast market for the sale of British
cotton goods and other manufactures.
The British, already in occupation of Burma's two coastal provinces, now wanted to establish
commercial relations with the rest of the country, but the Burmese Government did not permit
further foreign commercial penetration
The British merchants now began to complain of ''lack of facilities for trade" and of "oppressive
treatment" by the Burmese authorities at Rangoon.
The fact of the matter was that British imperialism was at its zenith and the British believed
themselves to be a superior people. British merchants had begun to believe that they had a divine
right to force their trade upon others.
By the time, the aggressive Lord Dalhousie became the Governor-General of India. He was
determined to heighten British imperial prestige and to push British interests in Burma.
As an excuse for armed intervention in Burma, Dalhousie took up the frivolous and petty
complaint of two British sea-captains that the Governor of Rangoon had extorted neatly 1,000
rupees from them.
In November 1851, Dalhousie sent an envoy, accompanied by several ships of war, to Rangoon to
demand compensation for the two British merchants.
The British envoy, Commodore Lambert, behaved in an aggressive and unwarranted manner. On
reaching Rangoon, he demanded the removal of the Governor of Rangoon before he would agree to
negotiate.
The Court at Ava was frightened by the show of British strength and agreed to recall the Governor
of Rangoon and to investigate British complaints. But the haughty British envoy was determined to
provoke a conflict. He started a blockade of Rangoon and attacked and destroyed over 150 small
ships in the port.
The Burmese Government agreed to accept a British Resident at Rangoon and to pay the full
compensation demanded by the British.
The Government of India now turned on the screw and pushed up their demands to an exorbitant
level. They demanded the recall of the new Governor of Rangoon and also an apology for alleged
insults to their envoy.
Such demands could hardly be accepted by an independent government. Obviously, the British
desired to strengthen their hold over Burma by peace or by war before their trade competitors, the
French or the Americans, could establish themselves there.
A full British expedition was dispatched to Burma in April 1852. This time, the war was much
shorter than in 1825-26 and the British victory was more decisive.
Rangoon was immediately captured and then other important towns—Bassein, Pegu, Prome fell to
the British.
Burma was at this time undergoing a struggle for 'power. The Burmese King, Mindon, who had
deposed his half-brother, King Pagan Min, in a struggle for power in February 1853, was hardly in
a position to fight with the British; at the same time, he could not openly 'agree to surrender
Burmese territory. Consequently, there were no official negotiations for peace and the war ended
without a treaty.
The British now controlled the whole of Burma's coastline and its entire sea-trade.
The brunt of fighting the war was borne by Indian soldiers and its expense was wholly met from
Indian revenues.
Third Burmese War (1885)
Relations between Burma and Britain remained peaceful for several years after the annexation of
Pegu.
In particular, the British merchants and industrialists were attracted by the possibility of trade
with China through Burma.
There was vigorous agitation in Britain and Rangoon for opening the land route to Western China.
Finally, Burma was persuaded in 1862 to sign a commercial treaty by which British merchants
were permitted to settle in any part of Burma and to take their vessels up the Irrawaddy
British merchants were impatient of restrictions on their trade and profits and began to press for
stronger action against the Burmese Government. Many of them even demanded British conquest
of Upper Burma. The king was finally persuaded to abolish all monopolies in February 1882.
Causes of Third Anglo-Burmese War
There are many other political and economic questions over which the Burmese king and the
British Government clashed.
The British Government humiliated the king in 1871 by armoring that relations with him would be
conducted through the Viceroy of India as if he were merely a ruler of one of the Indian states.
Another source of friction was the attempt by the king to develop friendly relations with other
European powers.
In 1873, a Burmese mission visited France and tried to negotiate a commercial treaty, which would
also enable Burma to import modern arms, but later under British pressure, the French
Government refused to ratify the treaty.
King Mindon died in 1878 and was succeeded by King Thibaw.
The British gave shelter to rival princes and openly interfered in Burma's internal affairs under the
garb of preventing the alleged cruelties of King Thibaw.
The British thus claimed that they had the right to protect the citizens of Upper Burma from their
own king.
Thibaw's desire to pursue his father’s policy of developing commercial and political relations with
France.
In 1885, Thibaw signed a purely commercial treaty with France providing for trade. The British
were intensely jealous of the growing French influence in Burma.
The British merchants feared that the rich Burmese market would be captured by their French and
American rivals.
The British officials felt that an alliance with France might enable the king of Upper Burma to
escape British tutelage or might even lead to the founding of a French dominion in Burma and so
endanger the safety of their Indian Empire.
The French had already emerged as a major rival of Britain in South-East Asia.
In 1883, they had seized Annam (Central Vietnam), thus laying the foundation of their colony of
Indo-China.
They were pushing actively towards North Vietnam, which they conquered between 1885 and
1889, and in the west towards Thailand and Burma.
The chambers of commerce in Britain and the British merchants in Rangoon now pressed the
willing British Government for the immediate annexation of Upper Burma.
Immediate Cause
Only a pretext for war was needed. This was provided by the Bombay-Burma Trading Corporation,
a British concern which held a lease of the teak forests in Burma.
The Burmese Government accused the Company of extracting more than double the quantity of
teak contracted for by bribing local officials, and demanded compensation.
The British Government, which had already prepared a military plan for the attack on Upper
Burma, decided to seize this opportunity and put forward many claims on the Burmese
Government including the demand that the foreign relations of Burma must be placed under the
control of the Viceroy of India.
The Burmese Government could not have accepted such demands without losing its independence.
Its rejection was followed by a British invasion on 13 November 1885.
Burma as an independent country had every right to put trade restrictions on foreigners. Similarly,
it had every right to establish friendly relations with France and to import arms from anywhere.
The Burmese Government was unable to put up effective resistance to the British forces. The King
was incompetent, unpopular, and unprepared for war.
The country was divided by court intrigues. A condition of near civil war prevailed. King Thibaw
surrendered on 28 November 1885 and his dominions were annexed to the Indian Empire soon
after.
Freedom Struggle of Burma
After the First World War, a vigorous modern nationalist movement arose in Burma. A wide
campaign of boycotting British goods and administration was organized and the demand for Home
Rule was put forward.
The Burmese nationalists soon joined hands with the Indian National Congress.
In 1935, the British separated Burma from India in the hope of weakening the Burmese struggle
for freedom. The Burmese nationalists opposed this step.
The Burmese nationalist movement reached new heights under the leadership of U Aung San
during the Second World War. And, finally, Burma won its independence on 4 January 1948.
Anglo- Bhutan Relation
Bhutan is a large hilly country to the East of Sikkim and at India's northern border (as shown in
the map given below – highlighted with red line).
Warren Hastings established friendly relations with the ruler of Bhutan after 1774 when Bhutan
permitted Bengal to trade with Tibet through its territory.
Relations between the Government of India and Bhutan became unsatisfactory after 1815. The
British now began to cast greedy eyes upon the narrow strip or territory of about 1,000 square
miles at the base of Bhutan hills containing a number of duars or passes.
This area would give India a well-defined and defendable border and useful tea-lands to the British
planters.
In 1841, Lord Auckland annexed the Assam duars.
The relations between India and Bhutan were further strained by the intermittent raids made by
the Bhutiyas (tribal group) on the Bengal side of the border.
In 1865, a brief war broke out between the British and Bhutan. The fighting was utterly one-sided
and was settled by a treaty signed in November 1865.
Relations with Sikkim
The state of Sikkim lies to the north of Bengal, adjacent to Nepal and at the border between Tibet
and India (as shown in the map given below – highlighted with red line).
In 1835, the Raja of Sikkim ceded to the British territory around Darjeeling in return for an annual
money grant.
Friendly relations between the British and Raja (of Sikkim) were disturbed in 1849 when a minor
quarrel led Dalhousie to send troops into Sikkim whose ruler was in the end forced to cede nearly
1700 square miles of his territory to British India.
In 1860, the second clash occurred when the British were engaged by the troops of the Diwan of
Sikkim.
By the peace treaty signed in 1861, Sikkim was reduced to the status of a virtual protectorate.
The Raja of Sikkim expelled the Diwan and his relations from Sikkim, agreed to pay a fine of Rs.
7,000 as well as full compensation for British losses in the war, opened his country fully to British
trade, and agreed to limit the transit duty on goods exchanged between India and Tibet via Sikkim.
In 1886, fresh trouble arose when the Tibetans tried to bring Sikkim under their control with the
complicity of its rulers who were pro-Tibet. But the Government of India would not let this
happen.
It looked upon Sikkim as an essential buffer for the security of India's northern frontier,
particularly of Darjeeling and its tea-gardens. The British, therefore, carried out military
operations against the Tibetans in Sikkim during 1888.
A settlement came in 1890 with the signing of an Anglo-Chinese agreement. The treaty recognized
that Sikkim was a British protectorate over whose internal administration and foreign relations,
the Government of India had the right to exercise exclusive control.

Anglo- Tibet Relation

Politically, the British wanted to safeguard the northern frontier of India. But up to the end of the
19th century, the Tibetan authorities blocked all British efforts to penetrate it.
At this time, Russian ambitions also turned towards Tibet. Russian influence in Tibet was on the
increase, this the British Government would not tolerate.
The Government of India, under Load Curzon, a vigorous empire builder, decided to take
immediate action to counter Russian moves and to bring Tibet under its system of protected
Border States.
According to some historians, the Russian danger was not real and was merely used as an excuse
by Curzon to intervene in Tibet.
In March 1904, Curzon dispatched a military expedition to Lhasa, the Capital of Tibet, under
Francis Younghusband.
The virtually unarmed Tibetans, who lacked modern weapons, fought back bravely but without
success.
In August 1904, the expedition reached Lhasa without coming across any Russians on the way. A
treaty was signed after prolonged negotiations.
Tibet had to pay Rs. 25 lakhs as indemnity; the Chumbi valley was to be occupied by the British for
three years; a British trade mission was to be stationed at Gyantse.
The British agreed not to interfere in Tibet's internal affairs. On their part, the Tibetans agreed not
to admit the representatives of any foreign power into Tibet.
The British achieved very little by the Tibetan expedition. It secured Russia's withdrawal from
Tibet, but at the cost of confirming Chinese suzerainty.
Anglo- Afghanistan Relations
The British Indian Government fought two wars with Afghanistan before its relations with the
Government of Afghanistan were stabilized.
During the 19th century, the problem of Indo-Afghan relations got inextricably mixed up with the
Anglo-Russian rivalry. Britain was expanding colonial power in West, South, and East Asia, Russia
was an expanding power in Central Asia and desired to extend its territorial control in West and
East Asia.
The two imperialisms openly clashed all over Asia. In fact, in 1855, Britain in alliance with France
and Turkey, fought a war with Russia, known as the Crimean War.
Throughout the 19th century, the British rulers of India feared that Russia would launch an attack
on India through Afghanistan and the North Western frontier of India. They, therefore, wanted to
keep Russia at a safe distance from the Indian frontier.
Afghanistan was placed in a crucial position geographically from the British point of view. It could
serve as an advanced post outside India’s frontiers for checking Russia's potential military threat
as well as for promoting British commercial interests in Central Asia.
The British policy towards Afghanistan entered an active phase in 1835 when the Whigs came to
power in Britain and Lord Palmerston became the Foreign Secretary.
Afghan politics had been unstable since the early years of the 19th century. Dost Muhammad
Khan(the ruler of Afghanistan) had brought about partial stability, but was constantly threatened
by internal and external enemies such as:
In the North, Dost Muhammad faced internal revolts and the potential Russian danger;
In the South, one of his brothers challenged his power at Kandahar;
In the East, Maharaja Ranjit Singh had occupied Peshawar and beyond him lay the English; and
In the West, enemies were at Herat and the Persian threat.
Dost Muhammad Khan was therefore in dire need of powerful friends. And, since he had a high
regard for English strength, he desired some sort of an alliance with the Government of India.
The Russians tried to convince Dost Mohammad Khan, but he refused to comply. While
discouraging the Russian envoy, he adopted a friendly attitude towards the British envoy, Captain
Burns. But he failed to get adequate terms from the British who would not offer anything more
than a verbal sympathy.
The British wanted to weaken and end Russian influence in Afghanistan, but they did not want a
strong Afghanistan. They wanted to keep her a weak and divided country which they could easily
control.
Lord Auckland, the Indian Governor-General, offered Dost Muhammed an alliance based on the
subsidiary system.
Dost Muhammed wanted to be an ally of the British Indian Government on the basis of complete
equality and not as one of its puppets or subsidiary allies.
Having tried his best to acquire British friendship, but failed, Dost Muhammad reluctantly turned
towards Russia.
The First Afghan War
Auckland now decided to replace Dost Mohammed with a friendly i.e. subordinate ruler. His gaze
fell on Shah Shuja, who had been deposed from the Afghan throne in 1809 and since then living at
Ludhiana as a British pensioner.
On 26 June 1838, the Indian Government, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and Shah Shuja signed a treaty at
Lahore (three allies) by which the first two promised to help Shah Shuja capture power in
Afghanistan and, in return, Shah Shuja promised not to enter into negotiations with any foreign
state without the consent of the British and the Punjab Governments.
The three allies launched an attack on Afghanistan in February 1839. But Ranjit Singh cleverly
hung back and never went beyond Peshawar. The British forces had not only to take the lead but to
do all weary fighting.
Most of the Afghan tribes had already been won over with bribes. Kabul fell to the English on 7
August 1839, and Shah Shuja was immediately placed on the throne.
Shah Shuja was detested and despised by the people of Afghanistan, especially as he had come
back with the help of foreign bayonets.
The Afghani people resented British interference in their administration. Gradually, the patriotic,
freedom-loving Afghans began to rise up in anger and Dost Muhammed and his supporters began
to harass the British army.
Dost Muhammed was captured in November 1840 and sent to India as a prisoner. But popular
anger went on increasing and more and more Afghan tribes rose in revolt.
Then suddenly, on 2 November 1841, art uprising broke out at Kabul and the sturdy Afghans fell
upon the British forces.
On 11 December 1841, the British were compelled to sign a treaty with the Afghan chiefs by which
they agreed to evacuate Afghanistan and to restore Dost Mohammed.
As the British forces withdrew, the Afghan were attacked all along the way. Out of 16,000 men,
only one reached the frontier alive, while a few others survived as prisoners.
The entire Afghan adventure ended as total failure. It had proved as one of the greatest disasters
suffered by the British arms in India.
The British Indian Government now organized a new expedition. Kabul was reoccupied on 16
September 1842.
But it had learnt its lesson well, having avenged its recent defeat and humiliation, it arrived at a
settlement with Dost Mohammed by which the British evacuated Kabul and recognized him as the
independent ruler of Afghanistan.
Afghan War cost India over one and a half crores of rupees and its army, about 20,000 men.
Policy of Non-Interference
A new period of Anglo-Afghan friendship was inaugurated in 1855 with the signing of a treaty of
friendship between Dost Mohammed and the Government of India.
The two governments promised to maintain friendly and peaceful relation, to respect each other's
territories, and to abstain from interfering in each other's internal affairs.
Dost Mohammed also agreed that he would be "the friend of the friends of the East India Company
and the enemy of its enemies." He remained loyal to this treaty during the Revolt of 1857 and
refused to give help to the rebels.
After 1964, the policy of non-interference was vigorously pursued by Lord Lawrence and his two
successors. As Russia again turned its attention to Central Asia after its defeat in the Crimean War;
however, the British followed the policy of strengthening Afghanistan as a powerful buffer.
The British gave the Amir of Kabul aid and assistance to help him discipline his rivals internally
and maintain his independence from foreign enemies. Thus, by a policy of non-interference and
occasional help, the Amir was prevented from aligning himself with Russia.
Second Afghan War
The policy of non-interference did not, however, last very long. From 1870 onwards, there was a
resurgence of imperialism all over the world. The Anglo-Russian rivalry was also intensified.
The British Government was again keen on the commercial and financial penetration of Central
Asia.
Anglo-Russian ambitions clashed ever, more openly in the Balkans and West Asia.
The British statesmen once again thought of bringing Afghanistan under direct political control so
that it could serve as a base for British expansion in Central Asia.
The Indian Government was directed by London to make Afghanistan a subsidiary state whose
foreign and defence policies would be definitely under British control.
Sher Ali, the Afghan ruler or Amir, was fully conscious of the Russian danger to his independence
and he was, therefore, quite willing to cooperate with the British in eliminating any threat from the
North.
Sher Ali offered the Government of India a defensive and offensive alliance against Russia and
asked it for promise of extensive military aid in case of need against internal or foreign enemies.
The Indian Government refused to enter into any such reciprocal and unconditional commitment.
It demanded instead the unilateral right to keep a British mission at Kabul and to exercise control
over Afghanistan's foreign relations.
When Sher Ali refused to comply, he was declared to be anti-British and pro-Russian in his
sympathies.
Lord Lytton, who had come to India as Governor-General in 1876, openly declared: "A tool in the
hands of Russia, I will never allow him to become. Such a tool it would be my duty to break before
it could be used."
Lytton proposed to effect "the gradual disintegration and weakening of the Afghan power."
To force British terms on the Amir, a new attack on Afghanistan was launched in 1878. Peace came
in May 1879 when Sher Ali's son, Yakub Khan, signed the Treaty of Gandamak by which the British
secured all they had desired.
They secured certain border districts, the right to keep a Resident at Kabul, and control over
Afghanistan's foreign policy.
The British success was short lived. The national pride of the Afghans had been hurt and once
again they rose to defend their independence.
On 3 September 1879, the British Resident, Major Cavagnari, and his military escort were attacked
and killed by rebellious Afghan troops. Afghanistan was again Invaded and occupied.
A change of government took place in Britain in 1880 and Lytton was replaced by a new Viceroy,
Lord Ripon.
Ripon rapidly reversed Lytton's aggressive policy and went back to the policy of non-interference
in the internal affairs of a strong and friendly Afghanistan.
Ripon recognized Abdur Rahman a grandson of Dost Mohammed, as the new ruler of Afghanistan.
The demand for the maintenance of a British Resident in Afghanistan was withdrawn in return,
Abdur Rahman agreed not to maintain political relations with any power except the British.
The Government of India also agreed to pay Amir an annual subsidy and to come to his support in
case of foreign aggression.
Amir of Afghanistan lost control of his foreign policy and, to that extent became a dependent ruler.
Third Anglo-Afghan War
The First World War and the Russian Revolution of 1917 created a new situation in Anglo-Afghan
relations.
The war gave rise to strong anti-British feeling in Muslim countries, and the Russian Revolution
inspired new anti-imperialist sentiments in Afghanistan as, in fact, all over the world.
The disappearance of Imperial Russia, moreover, removed the perpetual fear of aggression from
the northern neighbor, which had compelled successive Afghan rulers to look to the British for
support.
The Afghans now demanded full Independence from British control. Habibullah, who had
succeeded Abdul Rahman in 1901 as Amir, was assassinated on 20 February 1919 and his son
Amanullah, the new Amir, declared open war on British India.
Peace came in 1921 by a treaty; Afghanistan recovered its independence in foreign affairs.
(6) People’s Resistance against British Before 1857
Hermit (Sanyasi) Revolt (1770-1820):
This revolt took place around Murshidabad and Baikunthupur forests of Jalpaiguri. 
The main reason of this revolt was imposition of ban on teerth yatra of Hindu religion.
The British control over Bengal after battles of Plassey and Buxar led to increase in land tax and
exploitation of the peasants.
Further, the Bengal Famine of 1770 led to drop in production and many Zamindars could not pay
the taxes. As per permanent settlement terms, lands of many of the old Zamindars were con_scated
and given to new purchasers.
Numerous restrictions were placed on Sanyasis and Fakirs also because British considered them
looters and thugs.
In 1771, 150 Fakirs were killed for no good reason. This triggered rebellion which reached its
climax in late 1770s.
The Fakirs and Sanyasis came together in number close to fifty thousand to defeat the common
enemy British.
They looted the factories of British, and robbed them as well.
Hindus & Muslims were equally participated in this revolt. So this revolt was often known as Fakir
Revolt.
Maznoon Shah, Chirag Ali, Musa Shah, Bhawani Pathak, and Devi Chaudhrani were among
important leaders who actively participated in this revolt.
The main highlight of this revolt was the participation of Women.
This revolt was suppressed by British in 1820.
Bankim Chand in his novel “Anand Math” discuss about this revolt and the role of Devi Chaudhrani.
The National Song Vande Matram from this Novel.
Revolt in Midnapur & Dhaldhum (1766-74)
British occupied midnapur in1760. And
There were around 3000 zamindars & talukdars who were having the friendly relation with their
ruler.
The problem created by the new law on land revenue imposed by the company
According to British Gov. General Wansitart, the zamindar always took the side of their ruler in the
condition of clash between ruler of Midnapur & British.
At last in 1880 the zamindars were disposed from their lands & Zamindari.
The Main leader of this Revolt was Damodar Singh & Jagannath Dhal.
Moamria Revolt (1769-99)
The revolt of the Moamarias in 1769 was a potent challenge to the authority of Ahom kings of
Assam.
The Moamarias were low-caste peasants who followed the teachings of Aniruddhadeva (1553-
1624).
Their revolts weakened the Ahoms and opened the doors for others to attack the region, for
instance, in 1792, the King of Darrang (Krishnanarayan), assisted by his band of burkandazes (the
demobilised soldiers of the Muslim armies and zamindars) revolted. The Moamarias made
Bhatiapar their headquarters.
Rangpur (now in Bangladesh) and Jorhat were the most affected region.
Civil Uprisings in Gorakhpur, Basti and Bahraich (1781)
Warren Hastings made a plan to earn money by involving English officers as izaradars (revenue
farmers) in Awadh..
Hannay secured the izara of Gorakhpur and Bahraich to the amount of 22 lakh rupees for one year.
The zamindars and cultivators rose against the unbearable exactions in 1781.
Revolt of Raja of Vizianagaram (1794)
In 1758, a treaty was made between the English and Ananda Gajapatiraju, the ruler of
Vizianagaram, to jointly oust the French from the Northern Circars.
The East India Company went on to demand a tribute of three lakh rupees from Vizayaramaraju,
the Raja of Vizianagaram.
This angered the raja as there were no dues to be paid to the Company supported by his subjects
rose up in revolt.
Revolt of Dhundia in Bednur (1799-1800)
Dhundia Wagh, a local Maratha leader, who was converted to Islam by Tipu Sultan and put into jail
Dhundia organised a force which consisted of anti-British elements, and carved out a small
territory for him.
A defeat by the English in August 1799 forced him to take refuge in Maratha region.
In September 1800, he was killed while fighting against the British forces under Wellesley.
Resistance of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (1797; 1800-05)
Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, popularly known as Kerala Simham (Lion of Kerala) or ‘Pyche raja’,
was the de facto head of Kottayam (Cotiote) in Malabar region.
Kerala Varma fought against the British between 1793 and 1805. The English appointed Vira
Varma, the uncle of Pazhassi Raja, as the Raja of Kottayam. The new raja, to meet the revenue
target fixed by the Company, levied exorbitant rates of tax on the peasants.
This led to a massresistance by the peasants under the leadership of Pazhassi Raja in 1793.
Pazhassi Raja fought bravely using guerilla warfare, and in 1797 a peace treaty was madeIn
November 1805, the Kerala Simham died in a gun-fight at Mavila Todu near present day Kerala-
Karnataka border.
Civil Rebellion in Awadh (1799)
Wazir Ali Khan, the fourth Nawab of Awadh, with the help of the British, had ascended the throne
in September 1797.
In January 1799, he killed a British resident, Geogre Frederik Cherry, who had invited him to lunch.
Wazir Ali’s guards killed two other Europeans and even attacked the Magistrate of Benares.
The whole incident became famous as the Massacre of Benares. After surrender in December 1799,
wazir ali was placed in confinement at Fort William, Calcutta.
Uprisings in Ganjam and Gumsur (1800, 1835-37)
Strikara Bhanj, a zamindar of Gumsur in Ganjam district, refused to pay revenues in 1797. In 1800,
he openly rebelled and defied the public authorities. Dhananjaya rebelled against the English but
was forced to surrender in June 1815.
Dhananjay Bhanj rose in rebellion for the second time when the British forces occupied Gumsur
and Kolaida in November 1835.
The revolt greatly reduced the government’s authorityThe struggle lasted till February 1837, when
Doora Bisayi, a formidable leader, was arrested.
Uprisings in Palamau (1800-02)
In 1800, Bhukhan Singh, a Chero chief, rose in rebellion. Colonel Jones camped for two years in
Palamau and Sarguja to suppress the rebellion.
Poligars’ Revolt (1795-1805)
The poligars (or palayakkarargal) of South India gave a stiff resistance to the British between 1795
and 1805.
The main centres of these strong uprisings were Tinneveli (or Thirunelveli), Ramanathapuram,
Sivaganga, Sivagiri, Madurai, and North Arcot.
The problem started in 1781, when the Nawab of Arcot gave the management and control of
Tinneveli and the Carnatic Provinces to the East India Company.
The first revolt of the poligars against the Company was basically over taxation, but had a larger
political dimension in that the English considered and treated the poligars as enemies.
Kattabomman Nayakan, the poligar of Panjalankurichi, led the insurrection between 1795 and
1799. Company forces were defeated by Veerapandiya Kattabomman, a price was put on the
latter’s head.
This led to greater rebellion by the poligars. The second phase, started in February 1801The
fugitives led by Oomathurai, brother of Kattabomman, who fled to Sivaganga in Ramnad joined the
rebellion of the ‘Marudus’ led by Marathu Pandian which was suppressed in October 1801.
Between 1803 and 1805, the poligars of North Arcot rose in rebellion, when they were deprived of
their right to collect the kaval By February 1805, the rebels were suppressed.
Uprising in Bhiwani (1809)
In 1809, the Jats of Haryana broke into rebellion.
Diwan Velu Thampi’s Revolt (1808-1809)
The highhanded attitude of the Company compelled Prime Minister (or Dalawa) Velu Thampi to
rise against the Company, assisted by the Nair troops.
Velu Thampi addressed a gathering in Kundara, openly calling for taking up arms against the
British to oust them from the native soil.
This was later known as the Kundara Proclamation.
Disturbances in Bundelkhand (1808-12)
The vast province of Bundelkhand, conquered by the British during the Second Anglo-Maratha
Wars (1803-05), was put within the Presidency of Bengal.
The first major resistance came from Lakshaman Dawa, the killadar (fort commander) of Ajaygarh
fort. Lakshman was permitted to retain the fort as a temporary arrangement for two years ending
in 1808.
The next resistance came from killadar of Kalanjar, Darya Singh, which was suppressed in January
1812.
The most serious threat came from Gopal Singh. To put a stop to these disturbances, the British
had to adopt a policy of binding down the hereditary chieftains of Bundelkhand by a series of
contractual obligations—
Parlakimedi Outbreak (1813-34)
When the Company acquired Ganjam, Narayan Deo was the raja of Parlakimedi, whose resistance
forced the British to dispatch an army under Colonel Peach.
Kutch or Cutch Rebellion (1816-1832)
There was a treaty between the British and Maharaja Bharamal II of Kutch in 1816, by which
power was vested in the throne.
The British interfered in the internal feuds of the Kutch and, in 1819, Raja Bharmal II raised Arab
and African troops with the firm intention of removing the British from his territory.
A British resident governed the areas as the de facto ruler with the help of a regency council.
Rising at Bareilly (1816)
The immediate cause of upsurge was the imposition of the police tax which aroused the burning
indignation of the citizens.
Several armed Muslims from Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur and Rampur rose in rebellion for the defence
of the faith and the Mufti.
Upsurge in Hathras (1817)
Due to progressively increasing high revenues, Dayaram constantly failed to pay arrears and even
committed many acts of hostility by giving harbour to government fugitives.
So, the Company with a large army attacked Hathras in February 1817.
Paika Rebellion (1817)
The Paiks of Odisha were the traditional landed militia (‘foot soldiers’ literally) and enjoyed rent
free land tenures for their military service and policing functions on a hereditary basis.
The English Company’s conquest of Odisha in 1803, and the dethronement of the Raja of Khurda.
Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar had been the military chief of the forces of the Raja of Khurda.
In 1814, Jagabandhu’s ancestral estate of Killa Rorang was taken over by the Company, reducing
him to penury.
The spark waslighted by the arrival of a body of Khonds from Gumsur into the Khurda territory in
March 1817. With active support of Mukunda Deva, the last Raja of Khurda, and other zamindars of
the region, Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar led a sundry army of Paikas forcing the East India
Company forces to retreat for a time.
The rebellion came to be known as the Paika Bidroh (rebellion). The Paik Rebellion succeeded in
getting large remissions of arrears, reductions in assessments, suspension of the sale of the estates
of defaulters at discretion, a new settlement on fixed tenures and other adjuncts of a liberal
governance.
Waghera Rising (1818-1820)
Resentment against the alien rule coupled with the exactions of the Gaekwad of Baroda supported
by the British government compelled the Waghera chiefs of Okha Mandal to take up arms.
The Wagheras carried out inroads into British territory during 1818-19. A peace treaty was signed
in November 1820.
Ahom Revolt (1828)
After the First Burma War (1824-26). instead of withdrawing, the British attempted to incorporate
the Ahoms’ territories in the Company’s dominion.
This sparked off a rebellion in 1828 under the leadership of Gomdhar Konwar, an Ahom prince,
alongwith compatriots.
Finally, the Company decided to follow a conciliatory policy and handed over Upper Assam.
Surat Salt Agitations (1840s)
A strong anti-British sentiment resulted in attacks by the local Surat population on the Europeans
in 1844 over the issue of the government’s step to raise the salt duty from 50 paise to one rupee.
Kolhapur and Savantvadi Revolts
Facing the spectre of unemployment, the Gadkaris rose in revolt and occupied the Samangarh and
Bhudargarh forts.Similarly, the simmering discontent caused a revolt in Savantvadi areas.
Wahabi Movement
The Wahabi Movement was essentially an Islamic revivalist movement founded by Syed Ahmed of
Rai Bareilly who was inspired by the teachings of Abdul Wahab (1703-87) of Saudi Arabia and
Shah Waliullah of Delhi.
After the defeat of the Sikh ruler and incorporation of Punjab into the East India Company’s
dominion in 1849, the English dominion in India became the sole target of the Wahabis’ attacks.
Wahabis played an important role in spreading anti- British sentiments. A series of military
operations by the British in the 1860s on the Wahabi base in Sithana and various court cases of
sedition on the Wahabis weakened the Wahabi resistance.
Kuka Movement
The Kuka Movement was founded in 1840 by Bhagat Jawahar Mal (also called Sian Saheb) in
western Punjab.
Its basic tenets were abolition of caste and similar discriminations among Sikhs, discouraging the
consumption of meat and alcohol and drugs, permission for intermarriages, widow remarriage,
and encouraging women to step out of seclusion.
On the political side, the Kukas wanted to remove the British and restore Sikh rule over Punjab;
they advocated wearing hand-woven clothes and boycott of English laws and education and
products.
So, the concepts of Swadeshi and non-cooperation were propagated by the Kukas.
Peasant Movements with Religious Overtones–The peasant movements in India till the outbreak of
the Revolt of 1857(and in its immediate aftermath) are given below.
Narkelberia Uprising-
Mir Nithar Ali (1782-1831) or Titu Mir inspired the Muslim tenants in West Bengal to rise against
landlords, mainly Hindu, who imposed a beard-tax on the Faraizis, and British indigo planters.
Often considered the first armed peasant uprising against the British later merged into the Wahabi
movement.
The Pagal Panthis
The Pagal Panthi, a semi-religious group mainly constituting the Hajong and Garo tribes of
Mymensingh district (earlier in Bengal), was founded by Karam Shah.
The tribal peasants organised themselvesto fight the oppression of the zamindars. From 1825 to
1835, the Pagal Panthis refused to pay rent above a certain limit
Faraizi Revolt
The Faraizis were the followers of a Muslim sect founded by Haji Shariat-Allah of Faridpur in
Eastern Bengal. They advocated radical religious, social and political changes.
Shariat-Allah son of Dadu Mian (1819-60) organised his followers with an aim to expel the English
intruders from Bengal.
The sect also supported the cause of the tenants against the zamindars.
Moplah Uprisings
Hike in revenue demand and reduction of field size, coupled with the oppression of officials,
resulted in widespread peasant unrest among the Moplahs of Malabar. Twenty-two rebellions took
place between 1836 and 1854.
Peasants’ Role in the 1857 Revolt
The peasants united with the local feudal leaders in many places to fight against foreign rule. After
the revolt, the plight of the peasants worsened with the British Government’s decision to gain the
support of the landed classes while ignoring the peasants.
Tribal Revolts–Tribal movements under British rule were the most frequent, militant and violent
of all movements.
Different Causes for Mainland and North-Eastern Tribal Revolts-
The mainland tribal rebellions were sparked off by the tribal lands or forests.
The land settlements of the British affected the joint ownership tradition
As agriculture was extended in a settled form by the Company government, the tribals lost their
land, Shifting cultivation in forests was curbed and this added to the tribals’ problems.
Exploitation by the police, traders and money-lenders.
Some general laws were also abhorred for their intrusive nature
The British entered the north-eastern areas much later than the non-frontier tribal areas.
The frontier tribal revolts under the British continued for a longer time than the non-frontier tribal
movements.
Characteristics of Tribal Revolts-
Tribal identity or ethnic ties lay behind the solidarity shown by these groups.
The resentment against the imposition of laws by the ‘foreign government’ that was seen as an
effort at destroying the tribals’ traditional socioeconomic framework.
Many uprisings were led by messiah-like figures who encouraged their people to revolt
The tribal uprisings were doomed from the beginning, given the outdated arms
Important Tribal Movements of Mainland–The frontier tribal areas, were concentrated in central
India, the west-central region and the south.
Pahariyas’ Rebellion
The British expansion on their territory led to an uprising by the martial Pahariyas of the Raj
Mahal Hills in 1778.
The British were forced to usher in peace by declaring their territory as damni-kol area.
Chuar Uprising
Famine, enhanced land revenue demands and economic distress goaded the Chuar aboriginal
tribesmen of the Jungle Mahal of Midnapore district and also of the Bankura district (in Bengal) to
take up arms.
The uprising lasted from 1766 to 1772 and then, again surfaced between 1795 and 1816.
The Chuars were prominent in Manbhum and Barabhum, especially in the hills between Barabhum
and Ghatsila.
Kol Mutiny (1831)
The Kols, alongwith other tribes, are inhabitants of Chhotanagpur. This covered Ranchi,
Singhbhum, Hazaribagh, Palamau and the western parts of Manbhum.
The trouble in 1831 started with large-scale transfers of land from Kol headmen to outsiders. The
British judicial and revenue policies badly affected the traditional social conditions of the Kols. The
Kols resented this and in 1831, under the leadership of Buddho Bhagat,
Ho and Munda Uprisings (1820-1837)
The Raja of Parahat organised his Ho tribals to revolt against the occupation of Singhbhum (now in
Jharkhand).
The revolt continued till 1827 when the Ho tribals were forced to submit. in 1831organised a
rebellion, joined by the Mundas of Chotanagpur, to protest against the newly introduced farming
revenue policy and the entry of Bengalis into their region.
The Santhal Rebellion (1855-56)
Continued oppression of the Santhals, an agricultural people, who had fled to settle in the plains of
the Rajmahal hills (Bihar) led to the Santhal rebellion against the zamindars.
The rebellion turned into an anti-British movement. Under Sidhu and Kanhu, two brothers, the
Santhals proclaimed an end to Company rule, and declared the area between Bhagalpur and
Rajmahal as autonomous.
Khond Uprisings (1837-1856)
From 1837 to 1856, the Khonds of the hilly tracts extending from Odisha to the Srikakulam and
Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh revolted against Company rule.
Koya Revolts
The Koyas of the eastern Godavari track (modern Andhra), joined by Khonda Sara chiefs, rebelled
in 1803, 1840, 1845, 1858, 1861 and 1862.
Their complaints were oppression by police and moneylenders, new regulations and denial of
their customary rights over forest areas.
Bhil Revolts
The Bhils who lived in the Western Ghats controlled the mountain passes between the north and
the Deccan.
They revolted against Company rule in 1817-19, as they had to face famine, economic distress and
misgovernment.
Koli Risings
The Kolis living in the neighbourhood of Bhils rose up in rebellion against the Company’s rule in
1829, 1839 and again during 1844-48.
Ramosi Risings
The Ramosis, the hill tribes of the Western Ghats, had not reconciled to British rule and the British
pattern of administration.
They rose under Chittur Singh in 1822 and plundered the country around Satara.
Tribal Movements of the North-East–Some famous tribal movements of the north-east frontier
region have been given below.
Khasi Uprising-
The Khasis, Garos, Khamptis and the Singphos organized themselves under Tirath Singh to drive
away the strangers from the Brahmaputra Valley.
The uprising developed into a popular revolt against British rule in the area.
Singphos Rebellion
The rebellion of the Singphos in Assam in early 1830 was immediately quelled.
Chief Nirang Phidu led an uprising in 1843, which involved an attack on the British garrison and
the death of many soldiers.
Some of the smaller movements were those of the Mishmis (in 1836); the Khampti rebellion in
Assam between 1839 and 1842; the Lushais’ revolt in 1842 and 1844.
Sepoy Mutinies–
Causes-
discrimination in payment and promotions;
mistreatment of the sepoys by the British officials;
refusal of the government to pay foreign service allowance while fighting in remote regions;
religious objections of the high caste Hindu sepoys to Lord Canning’s General Service Enlistment
Act (1856)
EXAMPLES OF CONFLICTS-
In 1806, the replacement of the turban by a leather cockade caused a mutiny at Vellore.
In 1844, there was a mutinous outbreak of the Bengal army sepoys for being sent to far away Sind
and
In 1824 the sepoys at Barrackpore rose in revolt when they were asked to go to Burma because
crossing the sea would mean loss of caste.
Important Mutinies–The most important mutinies which broke out during the pre- 1857 period
are the following:
The mutiny of the sepoys in Bengal in 1764.
The Vellore mutiny of 1806 when the sepoys protested against interference in their social and
religious practices and raised a banner of revolt unfurling the flag of the ruler of Mysore.
The mutiny of the sepoys of the 47th Native Infantry Unit in 1824.
The revolt of the Grenadier Company in Assam in 1825.
The mutiny of an Indian regiment at Sholapur in 1838.
The mutinies of the 34th Native Infantry (N.I.), the 22nd N.I., the 66th N.I. and the 37th N.I. in 1844,
1849, 1850 and 1852 respectively.
Weaknesses of People’s Uprisings-
These uprisings drew a large number of participants, localised and occurred at different times in
different regions.
They mostly arose out of local grievances.
The leadership was semi-feudal in character, backward looking, traditional in outlook and their
resistance did not offer alternatives to the existing social set-up.
If many of these revolts seemed similar to one another in wanting to oust the alien rule, it was
because they were protesting against conditions that were common to them.
These rebellions were centuries-old in form and ideological / cultural content.
Those who were not so uncooperative or obstinate were pacified through concessions by the
authorities.
The methods and arms used by the fighters in these uprisings were practically obsolete compared
to the weapons and strategy—as well as deception and chicanery—employed by their opponents.
--------------------------------------------------------------
(7) Revolt of 1857
Simmering Discontent-
 The simmering discontent burst in the form of a violent storm in 1857 which shook the British
Empire in India to its very foundations.

The Major Causes

o Economic Causes
Company destroyed the traditional economic fabric of the Indian society.
British rule also meant misery to the artisans and handicrafts people.
British policy discouraged Indian handicrafts and promoted British goods. The highly skilled
Indian craftsmen were forced to look for alternate sources of employment that hardly existed, as
the destruction of Indian handicrafts was not accompanied by the development of modern
industries.
The Indian trade and mercantile class was deliberately crippled by the British who imposed high
tariff duties on Indian-made goods. At the same time, the import of British goods into India
attracted low tariffs, thus encouraging their entry into India.
By mid-nineteenth century, exports of cotton and silk textiles from India practically came to an
end. Free trade—one way, that is—and refusal to impose protective duties against machine-made
goods from Britain simply killed Indian manufacture.
Zamindars, the traditional landed aristocracy, often saw their land rights forfeited with frequent
use of a quo warranto by the administration.
(b)Political Cause
The Policies like ‘Effective Control’, ‘Subsidiary Alliance’ and ‘Doctrine of Lapse’. The right of
succession was denied to Hindu princes (through this a child adopted by the Hindu king crowned
to prince).
o Administrative Cause
The corruption in British administration mainly in police, lower grade officers and lower courts
are one of the main reasons.
o Socio Religious Cause
The treatment of British with Indian community was very miserable.
People were discriminated by colors. Indian was treated like slave.
British should also discriminate on the bases of the religion.
The activities of Christian missionaries who followed the British flag in India were looked upon
with suspicion by Indians.
The attempts at socio-religious reform such as abolition of sati, support to widow-marriage and
women’s education were seen by a large section of the population as interference in the social and
religious domains of Indian society by outsiders.
These fears were compounded by the government’s decision to tax mosque and temple lands and
making laws such as the Religious Disabilities Act, 1856, which modified Hindu customs, for
instance, declaring that a change of religion did not debar a son from inheriting the property of his
‘heathen’ father.
o Influence of Outside Events
The revolt of 1857 coincided with certain outside events in which the British suffered serious
losses—the First Afghan War (1838-42), Punjab Wars (1845-49), and the Crimean Wars (1854-
 56). These had obvious psychological repercussions. The British were seen to be not so strong and
it was felt that they could be defeated.
o Discontent among Sepoys
The conditions of service in the Company’s Army and cantonments increasingly came into conflict
with the religious beliefs and prejudices of the sepoys.
In 1856, Lord Canning’s government passed the General Service Enlistment Act which decreed that
all future recruits to the Bengal Army would have to give an undertaking to serve anywhere their
services might be required by the government. This caused resentment.
Immediate cause of the sepoys’ dissatisfaction was the order that they would not be given the
Foreign Service allowance (bhatta) when serving in Sindh or in Punjab.
History of revolts in the British Indian Army—in Bengal (1764), Vellore (1806), Barrackpore
(1825) and during the Afghan Wars (1838-42).
Beginning and Spread of the Revolt-
The Spark.
The reports about the mixing of bone dust in atta (flour) and the introduction of the Enfield rifle
enhanced the sepoys’ growing disaffection with the government.
The greased wrapping paper of the cartridge of the new rifle had to be bitten off before loading
and the grease was reportedly made of beef and pig fat.
Starts at Meerut.
The revolt began at Meerut, 58 km from Delhi, on May 10, 1857 and then, gathering force rapidly,
soon embraced a vast area from the Punjab in the north and the Narmada in the south to Bihar in
the east and Rajputana in the west.
Sepoy of the 34th Native Infantry, Mangal Pande, went a step further and fired at the sergeant
major of his unit at Barrackpore.
On April 24, ninety men of the 3rd Native Cavalry refused to accept the greased cartridges.
On May 9, eighty-five of them were dismissed, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and put in
fetters.
On May 10, they released their imprisoned comrades, killed their officers and unfurled the banner
of revolt.
Choice of Bahadur Shah as Symbolic Headi.
This spontaneous raising of the last Mughal king to the leadership of the country was recognition
of the fact that the long reign of Mughal dynasty had become the traditional symbol of India’s
political unity.
The broad outlook of the rebels was not influenced by religious identity but by the perception of
the British as the common enemy.
The entire Bengal Army soon rose in revolt which spread quickly. Awadh, Rohilkhand, the Doab,
Bundelkhand, central India, large parts of Bihar and East Punjab shook off British authority.
Civilians Join
The revolt of the sepoys was accompanied by a rebellion of the civil population, particularly in the
north-western provinces and Awadh.
The peasants and petty zamindars took advantage of the revolt to destroy the money lenders’
account books and debt records.
 Storm Centres and Leaders of the Revolt
At Delhi the real command lay with a court of soldiers headed by General Bakht Khan Sir Hugh
Wheeler, commanding the station, surrendered on June 27, 1857 and was killed on the same day.
Nana Saheb expelled the English from Kanpur, proclaimed himself the peshwa, acknowledged
Bahadur Shah as the Emperor of India and declared himself to be his governor.
Begum Hazrat Mahal took over the reigns at Lucknow where the rebellion broke out on June 4,
1857 and popular sympathy was overwhelmingly in favour of the deposed nawab.
In March 1858, the city was finally recovered by the British.
At Bareilly, Khan Bahadur, a descendant of the former ruler of Rohilkhand,not enthusiastic about
the pension being granted by the British, he organized an army of 40,000 soldiers and offered stiff
resistance tothe British.
In Bihar, the revolt was led by Kunwar Singh, the zamindar of Jagdishpur. He unhesitatingly joined
the sepoys when they reached Arrah from Dinapore (Danapur).
Maulvi Ahmadullah of Faizabad fought a stiff battle against the British troops. He emerged as one
of the revolts’s acknowledged leaders once it broke out in Awadh in May 1857.
Rani Laxmibai, who assumed the leadership of the sepoys at Jhansi. The Rani of Jhansi and Tantia
Tope marched towards Gwalior. Gwalior was recaptured by the English in June 1858.
Shah Mal, a local villager in Pargana Baraut (Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh) organised the headmen and
peasants of 84 villages (referred as chaurasi desh), marching at night from village to village, urging
people to rebel against the British hegemony. Shah Mal’s body was cut into pieces and his head
displayed on July 21, 1857.
Suppression of the Revolt.
The revolt was finally suppressed. The British captured Delhi on September 20, 1857 Thus the
great House of Mughals was finally and completely extinguished.
Sir Colin Campbell occupied Kanpur on December 6, 1857.
Tantia Tope was captured while asleep in April 1859 and put to death. The Rani of Jhansi had died
on the battlefield earlier in June 1858. Jhansi was recaptured by Sir Hugh Rose.
The British Resistance
o Delhi - Lieutenant Willoughby, John Nicholson, Lieutenant Hudson
o Kanpur - Sir Hugh Wheeler, Sir Colin Campbell
o Lucknow - Henry Lawrence, Brigadier Inglis, Henry Havelock, James Outram, Sir Colin Campbell
o Jhansi - Sir Hugh Rose
o Benaras - Colonel James Neill
Why the Revolt Failed
All-India participation was absent.
Limited territorial spread was one factor; there was no all- India veneer about the revolt.
All classes did not join.
Big zamindars acted as “break-waters to storm”; even Awadh taluqdars backed off once promises
of land restitution were spelt out.
Educated Indians viewed this revolt as backward looking, supportive of the feudal order and as a
reaction of traditional conservative forces to modernity.
Rulers who did not participate included the Sindhia of Gwalior, the Holkar of Indore, and the rulers
of Patiala, Sindh and other Sikh chieftains and the Maharaja of Kashmir.
Poor Arms and Equipments.
The Indian soldiers were poorly equipped materially, fighting generally with swords and spears
and very few guns and muskets.
Uncoordinated and Poorly Organized
The revolt was poorly organized with no coordination or central leadership.
The principal rebel leaders—Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope, Kunwar Singh, Laxmibai.
The mutineers lacked a clear understanding of colonial rule; nor did they have a forward looking
program, a coherent ideology, a political perspective or a societal alternative.
Hindu-Muslim Unity Factori.
According to Maulana Azad, “Two facts stand out clearly in the midst of the tangled story of the
Rising of 1857. The first is the remarkable sense of unity among the Hindus and the Muslims of
India in this period. The other is the deep loyalty which the people felt for the Mughal Crown.”
Thus, the events of 1857 demonstrated that the people and politics of India were not basically
communal or sectarian before 1858.
Nature of the Revolt
It was a mere ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ to some British historians—“a wholly unpatriotic and selfish Sepoy
Mutiny with no native leadership and no popular support”, said Sir John Seeley.
Dr K. Datta considers the revolt of 1857 to have been “in the main a military outbreak, which was
taken advantage of by certain discontented princes and landlords, whose interests had been
affected by the new political order”. It was “never all-Indian in character, but was localised,
restricted and poorly organized”. Further, says Datta, the movement was marked by absence of
cohesion and unity of purpose among the various sections of the rebels.
A “planned war of national independence”, by V.D. Savarkar in his book, The Indian War of
Independence, 1857. Savarkar called the revolt the first war of Indian independence.
Dr S.N. Sen in his Eighteen Fifty- Seven considers the revolt as having begun as a fight for religion
but ending as a war of independence. Dr R.C. Majumdar, however, considers it as neither the first,
nor national, nor a war of independence as large parts of the country remained unaffected
According to some Marxist historians, the 1857 revolt was “the struggle of the soldier-peasant
democratic combine against foreign as well as feudal bondage”.
Jawaharlal Nehru considered the Revolt of 1857 as essentially a feudal uprising though there were
some nationalistic elements in it (Discovery of India).
M.N. Roy felt the Revolt was a last ditch stand of feudalism against commercial capitalism.
R.P. Dutt also saw the significance of the Revolt of the peasantry against foreign domination It had
seeds of nationalism and anti-imperialism but the concept of common nationality and nationhood
was not inherent to the revolt of 1857.
S.B. Chaudhuri observes, the revolt was “the first combined attempt of many classes of people to
challenge a foreign power. This is a real, if remote, approach to the freedom movement of India of a
later age”.
Consequences
The revolt of 1857 marks a turning point in the history of India. It led to far-reaching changes in
the system of administration and the policies of the British government.
 The British Parliament, on August 2, 1858, passed an Act for the Better Government of India.
The Act declared Queen Victoria as the sovereign of British India and provided for the
appointment of a Secretary of State for India
The assumption of the Government of India by the sovereign of Great Britain was announced by
Lord Canning at a durbar at Allahabad in the ‘Queen’s Proclamation’ issued on November 1, 1858.
The proclamation also promised equal and impartial protection under law to all Indians, besides
equal opportunities in government services irrespective of race or creed. It was also promised that
old Indian rights, customs and practices would be given due regarded while framing and
administering the law.
The Army Amalgamation Scheme, 1861 moved the Company’s European troops to the services of
the Crown.
‘Conservative brand of liberalism’, as it was called by Thomas Metcalf—had the solid support of
the conservative and aristocratic classes of England who espoused the complete non-interference
in the traditional structure of Indian society. The Indian economy was fully exploited without fear.
In accordance with Queen’s Proclamation of 1858, the Indian Civil Service Act of 1861 was passed,
which was to give an impression that under the Queen all were equal, irrespective of race or creed.
Racial hatred and suspicion between the Indians and the English was probably the worst legacy of
the revolt. The complete structure of the Indian government was remodelled and based on the
notion of a master race—justifying the philosophy of the ‘Whiteman’s burden’.
Significance of the Revolt
It brought out in the open grievances of people and the sepoys, which were seen to be genuine.
--------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER-8
Socio-Religious Reform Movements: General Features
Factors Giving Rise to Desire for Reform-
 Impact of British Rule-
It came at a time when India, in contrast to an enlightened Europe of the eighteenth century
affected in every aspect by science and scientific outlook, presented the picture of a stagnant
civilisation and a static and decadent society.
II. Social Conditions Ripe for Reform-
Religious and Social Ills- Indian society in the nineteenth century was caught in a vicious web
created by religious superstitions and social obscurantism. Hinduism had become steeped in magic
and superstition.
Depressing Position of Women- Attempts to kill female infants at birth were not unusual. Child
marriage was another bane of society. The practice of polygamy prevailed and in Bengal, under
Kulinism, even old men took very young girls as wives, sati which Raja Rammohan Roy described
as a “murder according to every shastra”.
The Caste Problem-This entailed a system of segregation, hierarchically ordained on the basis of
ritual status. Under a rigid caste system, social mobility was checked, social divisions grew, and
individual initiative was thwarted.
Opposition to Western Culture-Faced with the challenge of the intrusion of colonial culture and
ideology, an attempt to reinvigorate traditional institutions and to realize the potential of
traditional culture developed during the nineteenth century.
III. New Awareness among Enlightened Indians-
The impact of modern Western culture and consciousness of defeat by a foreign power gave birth
to a new awakening. Factors such as growth of nationalist sentiments, emergence of new economic
forces, spread of education, impact of modern Western ideas and culture and increased awareness
of the world strengthened the resolve to reform.
IV. Social and Ideological Bases of Reform
Middle Class Base-
There was a significant contrast between the broadly middle class ideals derived from a growing
awareness of contemporary developments in the West, and a predominantly non-middle class
social base. The intelligentsia of nineteenth century India roots lay in government service or the
professions of law, education, journalism or medicine—with which was often combined some
connection with land in the form of the intermediate tenures.
The Intellectual Criteria-
Raja Rammohan Roy firmly believed in the principle of causality linking the whole phenomenal
universe and demonstrability as the sole criterion of truth.
Akshay Kumar Dutt, while declaring that “rationalism is our only preceptor”, held that all natural
and social phenomena could be analyzed and understood by purely mechanical processes.
According to Swami Vivekananda, the same method of investigation which applies to sciences
should be the basis on which religion must justify itself.
The evolution of an alternative cultural-ideological system and the regeneration of traditional
institutions were two concerns of these movements. These concerns were manifest in the attempts
to reconstruct traditional knowledge, the use and development of vernacular languages, creation
of an alternative system of education, defence of religion, efforts to regenerate Indian art and
literature, the emphasis on Indian dress and food, attempts to revitalise the Indian systems of
medicine and to research the precolonial technology for its potential.
Two Streams-
The reform movements could broadly be classified into two categories—the reformist movements
like the Brahmo Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, the Aligarh Movement, and the revivalist movements
like Arya Samaj and the Deoband movement.
The only difference between one reform movement and the other lay in the degree to which it
relied on tradition or on reason and conscience.
V. Direction of Social Reform-
The humanistic ideals of social equality and the equal worth of all individuals which inspired the
newly educated middle class influenced the field of social reform in a major way.
The social reform movements were linked to the religious reforms primarily because nearly all
social ills like untouchability and gender-based inequity derived legitimacy from religion in one
way or the other.
Organisations such as the Social Conference, Servants of India Society and the Christian
missionaries were instrumental in social reform along with many enlightened individuals like
 Jyotiba Phule, Gopalhari Deshmukh, K.T. Telang, B.M. Malabari, D.K. Karve, Sri Narayana Guru, E.V.
Ramaswami Naicker and B.R. Ambedkar.
Fight for Betterment of Position of Women
The improvement of the status of women in the society was considered to be vital, and
socialreformers worked towards this since a radical change in the domestic sphere—where initial
socialisation of the individual takes place and where a crucial role is played by women— was the
need of the hour.
Steps taken to Ameliorate Women’s Position
Abolition of Sati
Influenced by the frontal attack launched by the enlightened Indian reformers led by Raja
Rammohan Roy, the government declared the practice of sati illegal and punishable by criminal
courts as culpable homicide.
b. The regulation of 1829 (Regulation XVII, A.D. 1829 of the Bengal Code) was applicable in the
first instance to Bengal Presidency
Preventing Female Infanticide
The practice of murdering female infants immediately after their birth was a common practice
among upper class Bengalis and Rajputs who considered females to be an economic burden.
The Bengal regulations of 1795 and 1804 declared infanticide illegal and equivalent to murder.
An Act passed in 1870 made it compulsory for parents to register the birth of all babies
Widow Remarriage
 The Brahmo Samaj had the issue of widow remarriage high on its agenda and did much to
popularise it due to the efforts of Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-91), that the Hindu
Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856, was passed;
 Jagannath Shankar Seth and Bhau Daji were among the active promoters of girls’ schools in
Maharashtra.
 Vishnu Shastri Pandit founded the Widow Remarriage Association in the 1850s.
 Karsondas Mulji who started the Satya Prakash in Gujarati in 1852 to advocate widow remarriage.
 Similar efforts were made by Professor D.K. Karve in western India and by Veerasalingam Pantulu
in Madras. Karve himself married a widow in 1893.
 The right of widows to remarriage was also advocated by B.M. Malabari, Narmad
(Narmadashankar Labhshankar Dave), Justice Govind Mahadeo Ranade and K. Natarajan among
others.
Controlling Child Marriage
The Native Marriage Act (or Civil Marriage Act), 1872 signified legislative action in prohibiting
child marriage.
The relentless efforts of a Parsi reformer, B.M. Malabari, were rewarded by the enactment of the
Age of Consent Act (1891) which forbade the marriage of girls below the age of 12.
The Sarda Act (1930) further pushed up the marriage age to 18 and 14 for boys and girls,
respectively.
In free India, the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act, 1978 raised the age of marriage for
girls from 15 to 18 years and for boys from 18 to 21.
Education of Women
The Christian missionaries were the first to set up the Calcutta Female Juvenile Society in 1819.
The Bethune School, founded by J.E.D. Bethune, president of the Council of Education in Calcutta in
1849 was the first fruit of the powerful movement for women’s education that arose in the 1840s
and 1850s.
Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was associated with no less than 35 girls’ schools in Bengal and
is considered one of the pioneers of women’s education.
d. Charles Wood’s Dispatch on Education (1854) laid great stress on the need for female education.
e. In 1914, the Women’s Medical Service did a lot of work in training nurses and mid-wives.
f. The Indian Women’s University set up by Professor D.K. Karve in 1916 was one of the
outstanding institutions imparting education to women. In the same year Lady Hardinge Medical
College was opened in Delhi.
g. Health facilities began to be provided to women with the opening of Dufferin Hospitals in the
1880s.
h. Sarojini Naidu went on to become the president of the Indian National Congress (1925) and
later the governor of the United Provinces (1947-49).
Women’s Organisations
In 1910, Sarla Devi Chaudhurani convened the first meeting of the Bharat Stree Mahamandal in
Allahabad. Considered as the first major Indian women’s organisation set up by a woman, its
objectives included promotion of education for women, abolition of the purdah system and
improvement in the socio-economic and political status of woman all over India. Sarla Devi
believed that the man working for women’s upliftment lived ‘underthe shade of Manu’.
Ramabai Ranade founded the Ladies Social Conference (Bharat Mahila Parishad), under the parent
organization National Social Conference, in 1904 in Bombay.
Pandita Ramabai Saraswati founded the Arya Mahila Samaj to serve the cause of women. She
pleaded for improvement in the educational syllabus of Indian women before the English
Education Commission which was referred to Queen Victoria. This resulted in medical education
for women which started in Lady Dufferin College.
Later Ramabai Ranade established a branch of Arya Mahila Samaj in Bombay.
In 1925, the National Council of Women in India, a national branch of the International Council of
Women, was formed. Mehribai Tata played a vital role in its formation and advancement.
f. Other women who held important positions on the executive committee of the council included
Cornelia Sarabji, India’s first lady barrister; Tarabai Premchand, wife of a wealthy banker; Shaffi
Tyabji, a member of one of Mumbai’s leading Muslim families; and Maharani Sucharu Devi,
daughter of Keshab Chandra Sen.
g. The All India Women’s Conference (AIWC), founded by Margaret Cousins in 1927, was perhaps
the first women’s organization with an egalitarian approach. Its first conference was held at
Ferguson College, Pune. Its objectives were to work for a society based on principles of social
justice, integrity, equal rights and opportunities; and to secure for every human being, the
essentials of life, not determined by accident of birth or sex but by planned social distribution.
h. Sarda Act (1929), Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act (1937), Factory Act (1947), Hindu
Marriage and Divorce Act (1954), Special Marriage Act (1954), Hindu Minority and Guardianship
Act (1956), Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (1956), the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in
 Women Act (1958), Maternity Benefits Act (1961), Dowry Prohibition Act (1961) and Equal
Remuneration Act (1958, 1976).
Struggle Against Caste-Based Exploitation The worst-hit by the discriminatory institution of caste
were the ‘untouchables’ or the scheduled castes/Dalits
Factors that Helped to Mitigate Caste-based Discrimination
British rule, perhaps without intention, created certain conditions that undermined caste
consciousness to an extent.
The social reform movements also strove to undermine caste-based exploitation.
The national movement took inspiration from the principles of liberty and equality against the
forces which tended to divide the society.
Gandhi, in 1932, founded the All India Harijan Sangh.
With increasing opportunities of education and general awakening, there were stirrings among the
lower castes themselves.
The struggle of the depressed classes led to the provision of special representation for these
classes in the Government of India Act, 1935.
Sri Narayana Guru in Kerala coined the slogan “one religion, one caste, one God for mankind”,
which his disciple Sahadaran Ayyapan changed into “no religion, no caste, no God for mankind”.
Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar led the Mahad Satyagraha in March 1927 to challenge the regressive
customs of the caste Hindus. Dr Ambedkar established the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha in 1924 to
highlight the difficulties and grievances of the dalits before the government. Its motto was:
‘Educate, Agitate and Organise’.
The Constitution of free India has made equality and non-discrimination on basis of caste
imperative.
------------------------------------------------------------

(9) A General Survey of Socio- Cultural Reform Movements

Socio-Cultural Reform Movements and Their Leaders
Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833) & Brahma Samaj:
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was considered as father of Indian Renaissance & maker of modern India.
Mughal Emperor Akbar Shah II awarded him the title of Raja.
He put his faith in monotheism. He wrote Gift to Monotheists (1809) and translated into Bengali the
Vedas and the five Upanishads to prove his conviction that ancient Hindu texts support
monotheism.
In 1814 He founded “Atmiya Sabha” in Calcutta to propagate monotheist ideals of Vendanta and
to campaign against idolatry, caste rigidities and meaningless rituals and social ills.
He wrote “Preceps of Jesus” in 1820.
Later he also founded the “Brahmo Sabha” which later renamed to “Brahmo Samaj”
The Samaj was committed to “the worship and adoration of the Eternal, Unsearchable,
Immutable being who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe” the Samaj’s opposition to
idolatry and meaningless rituals.
The long-term agenda of the Brahmo Samaj—to purify Hinduism and to preach monotheism—
was based on the twin pillars of reason and the Vedas and Upanishads.
Due to his philosophy, many people start opposing him. In 1833 Raja RadhaKant Dev founded
“Dharm Sabha” to counter the propaganda of Brahmo Samaj.
 In 1833 he was died in Bristol (England).
The features of Brahmo Samaj are—
It denounced polytheism and idol worship;

It discarded faith in divine avataras (incarnations);

It denied that any scripture could enjoy the status of ultimate authority transcending human reason
and conscience;

It took no definite stand on the doctrine of karma and transmigration of soul and left it to individual
Brahmos to believe either way;

It criticised the caste system.

Raja Rammohan Roy’s Efforts at Social Reform-

Rammohan was a determined crusader against the inhuman practice of sati.

He started his anti-sati struggle in 1818 His efforts were rewarded by the Government Regulation in
1829 which declared the practice of sati a crime. Roy attacked polygamy and the degraded state of
widows and demanded the right of inheritance and property for women.

He supported David Hare’s efforts to found the Hindu College in 1817, while Roy’s English school
taught mechanics and Voltaire’s philosophy. In 1825, he established a Vedanta college where
courses in both Indian learning and Western social and physical sciences were offered.
Rammohan was a gifted linguist Roy condemned oppressive practices of Bengali zamindars and
demanded fixation of maximum rents. He also demanded abolition of taxes on taxfree lands.
Roy had David Hare, Alexander Duff, Debendranath Tagore, P.K. Tagore, Chandrashekhar Deb and
Tarachand Chakraborty as his associates.
Debendranath Tagore and Brahmo Samaj-
Maharishi Debendranath Tagore (1817-1905), father of Rabindranath Tagore joined the Samaj in
1842.
Tagore headed the Tattvabodhini Sabha (founded in 1839) which, along with its organ
Tattvabodhini Patrika in Bengali, was devoted to the systematic study of India’s past with a rational
outlook and to the propagation of Rammohan’s ideas the Brahmo Samaj came to include prominent
followers of Rammohan, the Derozians and independent thinkers such as Ishwar Chandra
Vidyasagar and Ashwini Kumar Datta.
Tagore worked on two fronts: within Hinduism, the Brahmo Samaj was a reformist movement;
outside, it resolutely opposed the Christian missionaries for their criticism of Hinduism and their
attempts at conversion.
Keshab Chandra Sen and the Brahmo Samaj
The Brahmo Samaj experienced another phase of energy, when Keshab Chandra Sen (1838-1884)
was made the acharya by Debendranath Tagore soon after the former joined the Samaj in 1858.
Keshab (also spelt Keshub) was instrumental in popularising the movement, and branches of the
Samaj were opened outside Bengal—in the United Provinces, Punjab, Bombay, Madras and other
towns.
Keshab Chandra Sen was dismissed from the office of acharya in 1865. Keshab and his followers
founded the Brahmo Samaj of India in 1866, while Debendranath Tagore’s Samaj came to be known
as the Adi Brahmo Samaj.
After 1878, the disgusted followers of Keshab set up a new organisation, the Sadharan Brahmo
Samaj.
 The Sadharan Brahmo Samaj was started by Ananda Mohan Bose, Shibchandra Deb and Umesh
Chandra Datta. A number of Brahmo centres were opened in Madras province.
In Punjab, the Dayal Singh Trust sought to implant Brahmo ideas by the opening of Dayal Singh
College at Lahore in 1910.
Significance of the Brahmo Samaj
It condemned the prevailing Hindu prejudice against going abroad. It worked for a respectable
status for women in society—condemned sati, worked for abolition of purdah system, discouraged
child marriage and polygamy, crusaded for widow remarriage and for provisions of educational
facilities.
It also attacked casteism and untouchability though in these matters it attained only limited success.
II. Prarthana Samaj
In 1867, Keshab Chandra Sen helped Atmaram Pandurang found the Prarthana Samaj in Bombay.
A precursor of the Prarthana Samaj was the Paramahansa Sabha, something like a secret society to
spread liberal ideas and encourage the breakdown of caste and communal barriers.
Mahadeo Govind Ranade (1842-1901), joined the samaj in 1870, Other leaders of the samaj were
R.G. Bhandarkar (1837- 1925) and N.G. Chandavarkar (1855-1923). The Prarthana Sabha was very
attached to the bhakti cult of Maharashtra.
There was a four-point social agenda also: (i) disapproval of caste system,
(ii) women’s education, (iii) widow remarriage, and (iv) Raising
the age of marriage for both males and females.
Dhondo Keshav Karve and Vishnu Shastri were champions of social reform with Ranade.
III. Young Bengal Movement and Henry Vivian Derozio
‘Young Bengal Movement’- late 1820s and early 1830s. A young Anglo-Indian, Henry Vivian Derozio
(1809-31), who taught at the Hindu College from 1826 to 1831, was the leader and inspirer of this
progressive trend.
The main reason for their limited success was the prevailing social conditions at that time, which
were not ripe for the adoption of radical ideas.
The Derozians lacked any real link with the masses; for instance, they failed to take up the peasants’
cause. Their radicalism was bookish in character.
Despite their limitations, the Derozians carried forward Rammohan Roy’s tradition of public
education on social, economic and political questions. For instance, they demanded induction of
Indians in higher grades of services, protection of ryots from oppressive zamindars, better
treatment to Indian labour abroad in British colonies, revision of the Company’s charter, freedom of
press and trial by jury.
Surendranath Banerjea was to describe the Derozians as “the pioneers of the modern civilisation of
Bengal, the conscript fathers of our race whose virtues will excite veneration and whose failings will
be treated with gentlest consideration”.
IV. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar-
Vidyasagar’s ideas were a happy blend of Indian and Western thought. He believed in high moral
values, was a deep humanist and was generous to the poor.
Vidyasagar started a movement in support of widow remarriage which resulted in legalisation of
widow remarriage. He was also a crusader against child marriage and polygamy. He did much for
the cause of women’s education.
As government inspector of schools, he helped organise thirtyfive girls’ schools many of which he
ran at his own expense.
V. Balshastri Jambhekar
 Balshastri Jambhekar (1812-1846) was a pioneer of social reform through journalism in Bombay;
he attacked brahminical orthodoxy and tried to reform popular Hinduism. He started the
newspaper Darpan in 1832.
He is known as the father of Marathi journalism. In 1840, he started Digdarshan which published
articles on scientific subjects as well as history. Jambhekar founded the Bombay Native General
Library and started the Native Improvement Society of which an offshoot was the Students Literary
and Scientific Library.
He was the first professor of Hindi at the Elphinston College, besides being a director of the Colaba
Observatory.
VI. Paramahansa Mandali
Founded in 1849 in Maharashtra, the founders of the Paramahansa Mandali—Dadoba Pandurang,
Mehtaji Durgaram and others—began as a secret society that worked to reform Hindu religion and
society in general.
The ideology of the society was closely linked to that of the Manav Dharma Sabha.
VII. Satyashodhak Samaj and Jyotiba or Jyotirao Phule
Jyotiba Phule (1827-1890), organized a powerful movement against upper caste domination and
brahminical supremacy. Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers’ Society) in 1873,
with the leadership of the samaj coming from the backward classes
The main aims of the movement were (i) social service, and (ii) spread of education among women
and lower caste people.
Phule’s works, Sarvajanik Satyadharma and Gulamgiri, became sources of inspiration for the
common masses. Phule used the symbol of Rajah Bali as opposed to the brahmins’ symbol of Rama.
Phule was awarded the title ‘Mahatma’ for his social reform work.
VIII. Gopalhari Deshmukh ‘Lokahitawadi’
Gopalhari Deshmukh (1823-1892) was a social reformer and rationalist from Maharashtra.
He wrote for a weekly Prabhakar under the pen name of Lokahitawadi on social reform issues.
He said, “If religion does not sanction social reform, then change religion.”
He started a weekly, Hitechhu, and also played a leading role in founding the periodicals, Gyan
Prakash, Indu Prakash and Lokahitawadi.
IX. Gopal Ganesh Agarkar
Gopal Ganesh Agarkar (1856-1895) was an educationist and social reformer from Maharashtra.
He criticised the blind dependenceon tradition and false glorification of the past.
He was also the first editor of Kesari, the journal started by Lokmanya Tilak. Later, he started his
own periodical, Sudharak, which spoke against untouchability and the caste system.
X. The Servants of India Society
Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915), a liberal leader of the Indian National Congress, founded the
Servants of India Society in 1905 with the help of M.G. Ranade.
The aim of the society was to train national missionaries for the service of India; to promote, by all
constitutional means, the true interests of the Indian people; and to prepare a cadre of selfless
workers who were to devote their lives to the cause of the country in a religious spirit.
In 1911, the Hitavada began to be published to project the views of the society. After Gokhale’s
death (1915), Srinivasa Shastri took over as president.
XI. Social Service League
Narayan Malhar Joshi founded the Social Service League in Bombay with an aim to secure for the
masses better and reasonable conditions of life and work.
Joshi also founded the All India Trade Union Congress (1920).
XII. The Ramakrishna Movement and Swami Vivekananda
The teachings of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-1886) catch the attention of many followers.
He is considered to have attained the highest spiritual experience available to Hindus.
Two objectives of the Ramakrishna movement were—(i) to bring into existence a band of monks
dedicated to a life of renunciation and practical spirituality, from among whom teachers and
workers would be sent out to spread the universal message of Vedanta as illustrated in the life of
Ramakrishna, and (ii) in conjunction with lay disciples to carry on preaching, philanthropic and
charitable works, looking upon all men, women and children, irrespective of caste, creed or color, as
veritable manifestations of the Divine.
Paramahamsa himself laid the foundations of the Ramakrishna Math as a nucleus to fulfill the first
objective. The second objective was taken up by Swami Vivekananda after Ramakrishna’s death
when he founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897.
The headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission are at Belur near Calcutta.
Swami Vivekananda
Narendranath Datta (1862-1902), who later came to be known as Swami Vivekananda spread
Ramakrishna’s message
His mission was to bridge the gulf between paramartha (service) and vyavahara (behavior), and
between spirituality and day-to-day life. Vivekananda believed in the fundamental oneness of God
and said, “For our own motherland a junction of the two great systems, Hinduism and Islam, is the
only hope.”
At the Parliament of Religions held at Chicago in 1893, Swami Vivekananda made a great
impression on people by his learned interpretations. In 1897 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission.
Vivekananda was a great humanist and used the Ramakrishna Mission for humanitarian relief and
social work. The Mission stands for religious and social reform. Vivekananda advocated the doctrine
of service.
XIII. Dayananda Saraswati
And Arya Samaj
Its founder, Dayananda Saraswati or Mulshankar (1824-1883) The first Arya Samaj unit was
formally set up by him at Bombay in 1875 and later the headquarters of the Samaj were established
at Lahore.
Dayananda’s views were published in his famous work, Satyarth Prakash (The True Exposition). He
took inspiration from the Vedas and considered them to be ‘India’s Rock of Ages’, the infallible and
the true original seed of Hinduism. He gave the slogan “Back to the Vedas”.
Dayananda had received education on Vedanta from a blind teacher named Swami Virajananda in
Mathura. Swami Dayananda once lamented the Hindu race as “the children of children”.
The nucleus for this movement was provided by the Dayananda Anglo-Vedic (D.A.V.) schools,
established first at Lahore in 1886, which sought to emphasize the importance of Western
education.
Swami Shraddhanand started the Gurukul at Hardwar in 1902 to impart education in the traditional
framework.
The ten guiding principles of the Arya Samaj are—
(i) God is the primary source of all true
Knowledge;
(ii) God, as all-truth, all-knowledge, almighty, immortal, creator of Universe, is alone worthy of
worship;
(iii) The Vedas are the books of true knowledge;
(iv) An Arya should always be ready to accept truth and abandon untruth;
(v) Dharma, that is, due consideration of right and wrong, should be the guiding principle of all
actions;
(vi) the principal aim of the Samaj is to promote World’s well-being in the material, spiritual and
Social sense;
(vii) Everybody should be treated with love and justice;
(viii) Ignorance is to be dispelled and knowledge increased;
(ix) One’s own progress should depend on uplift of all others;
(x) Social well-being of mankind is to be placed above an individual’s well-being.
The work of the Swami after his death was carried forward by Lala Hansraj, Pandit Gurudutt, Lala
Lajpat Rai and Swami Shraddhanand, among others.
XIV. Seva Sadan
A Parsi social reformer, Behramji M. Malabari (1853- 1912), founded the Seva Sadan in 1908 along
with a friend, Diwan Dayaram Gidumal.
It was his efforts that led to the Age of Consent Act regulating the age of consent for females,
XV. Dev Samaj
Founded in 1887 at Lahore by Shiv Narayan Agnihotri (1850- 1927) Its teachings were compiled in
a book, Deva Shastra. Agnihotri spoke against child marriage.
XVI. Dharma Sabha
Radhakant Deb founded this sabha in 1830. An orthodox society, it stood for the preservation of the
status quo
XVII. Bharat Dharma Mahamandala
Other organisations created to defend orthodox Hinduism were the Sanatana Dharma Sabha (1895),
the Dharma Maha Parishad in South India, and Dharma Mahamandali in Bengal. These organisations
combined in 1902 to form the single organisation of Bharat Dharma Mahamandala, with
headquarters at Varanasi.
This organization sought to introduce proper management of Hindu religious institutions, open
Hindu educational institutions, etc. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya was a prominent figure in this
movement.
XVIII. Radhaswami Movement
Tulsi Ramknown as Shiv Dayal Saheb, founded this movement in 1861. The Radhaswamis believe in
one supreme being, supremacy of the guru, a company of pious people (satsang), and a simple social
life.
XIX. Sree Narayana Guru Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Movement
The SNDP movement was an example of a regional movement born out of conflict between the
depressed classes and upper castes.
It was started by Sree Narayana Guru Swamy (1856- 1928) among the Ezhavas of Kerala.
The Ezhavas were the single largest caste group in Kerala constituting 26 per cent of the total
population.
Narayana Guru took a stone from the Neyyar river and installed it as a Sivalinga at Aruvippuram on
Sivaratri in 1888. The movement (Aruvippuram movement) drew the famous poet Kumaran Asan
as a disciple of Narayana Guru.
In 1889, the Aruvippuram Kshetra Yogam was formed. Thus the Aruvippuram Sree Narayana Guru
Dharma Paripalana Yogam (in short SNDP) was registered in 1903 under the Indian Companies Act,
with Narayana Guru as its permanent chairman, and Kumaran Asan as the general secretary.
On the wall of the Aruvippuram temple he got inscribed the words, “Devoid of dividing walls of
caste or race, or hatred of rival faith, we all live here in brotherhood.”
 The SNDP Yogam took up several issues for the Ezhavas, such as-
(i) right of admission to public schools,
(ii) Recruitment to government services,
(iii) Access to roads and entry to temples, and (IV) political representation.
XX. Vokkaliga Sangha
The Vokkaliga Sangha in Mysore launched an anti-brahmin movement in 1905.
XXI. Justice Movement
This movement in Madras Presidency was started by C.N. Mudaliar, T.M. Nair and P. Tyagaraja In
1917, Madras Presidency Association was formed
XXII. Self-Respect Movement
This movement was started by E.V. Ramaswamy Naiker, a Balija Naidu, in the mid-1920s
XXIII. Temple Entry Movement
In the meanwhile, Vaikom, in the northern part of Travancore, became a centre of agitation for
temple entry.
In 1924, the Vaikom Satyagraha led by K.P. Kesava, was launched in Kerala demanding. Again in
1931 when the Civil Disobedience Movement was suspended, temple entry movement was
organised in Kerala. on November 12, 1936, the Maharaja of Travancore issued proclamation
throwing open all government-controlled temples to all Hindus.
A similar step was taken by the C. Rajagopalachari administration in Madras in 1938.
XXIV. Indian Social Conference
Founded by M.G. Ranade and Raghunath Rao, the Indian Social Conference met annually from its
first session in Madras in 1887
The conference advocate inter-caste marriages, opposed polygamy and kulinism. Itlaunched the
‘Pledge Movement’ to inspire people to take a pledge against child marriage.
XXV. Wahabi/Walliullah Movement
The teachings of Abdul Wahab of Arabia and the preachings of Shah Walliullah (1702-1763)
inspired this essentially revivalist response to Western influences and the degeneration which had
set in among Indian Muslims and called for a return to the true spirit of Islam.
Two-fold ideals of this movement:
(i) desirability of harmony among the four schools of Muslim jurisprudence which had divided the
Indian Muslims (he sought to integrate the best elements of the four schools); (ii) recognition of the
role of individual conscience in religion where conflicting interpretations were derived from the
Quran and the Hadis.
The Wahabi Movement fizzled out in the face of British military might in the 1870s.
XXVI. Titu Mir‘s Movement
Mir Nithar Ali, popularly known as Titu Mir, was a disciple of Sayyid Ahmed Barelvi, the founder of
the Wahabi Movement. Titu Mir adopted Wahabism and advocated the Sharia.
XXVII. Faraizi Movement
The movement, also called the Fara’idi Movement because of its emphasis on the Islamic pillars of
faith, was founded by Haji Shariatullah in 1818.
The movement survived merely as a religious movement without political overtones after the death
of Dudu Mian in 1862.
XXVIII. Ahmadiyya Movement
 Ahmadiyya forms a sect of Islam which originated from India. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad in 1889.
The Ahmadiyya community is the only Islamic sect to believe that the Messiah had come in the
person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to end religious wars.
XXIX. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and the Aligarh Movement
A section of Muslims led by Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) stimulate a process of growth among
Indian Muslims through better education and employment opportunities.
After retirement in 1876, he became a member of the Imperial Legislative Council in 1878.
His loyalty earned him a knighthood in 1888. He translated into Urdu and started the Mohammedan
Anglo-Oriental College (later, the Aligarh Muslim University) at Aligarh in 1875.
He believed in the fundamental underlying unity of religions or ‘practical morality’. Syed’s
Progressive social ideas were propagated through his magazine Tahdhib-ul-Akhlaq (Improvement of
Manners and Morals).
It aimed at spreading
(i) modern education among Indian Muslims without weakening their allegiance to Islam; (ii) social
reforms among Muslims relating to purdah, polygamy, widow remarriage, women’s education,
slavery, divorce, etc.
XXX. The Deoband School (Darul Uloom)
The Deoband Movement was organised by the orthodox section among the Muslim ulema.
The Deoband Movement was begun at the Darul Uloom (or Islamic academic centre), Deoband, in
Saharanpur district (United Provinces) in 1866 by Mohammad Qasim Nanotavi (1832-80) and
Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (1828-1905) to train religious leaders for the Muslim community.
The aim of the Deoband Movement was moral and religious regeneration of the Muslim community
the Nadwatal. Ulama and Darul Uloom in Lucknow in 1894-96 was founded.
XXXI. Parsi Reform Movements
The Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha (Religious Reform Association) was founded in 1851 by a group
of English educated Parsis for the “regeneration of the social conditions of the Parsis and the
restoration of the Zoroastrian religion to its pristine purity”.
The movement had Naoroji Furdonji, Dadabhai Naoroji, K.R. Cama and S.S. Bengalee as its Leaders.
The message of reform was spread by the newspaper Rast Goftar (Truth-Teller).
XXXII. Sikh Reform Movements
The Singh Sabha Movement was founded at Amritsar in 1873 with a two-fold objective—(i) to
make available modern western education to the Sikhs, and (ii) to counter the proselytizing
activities of Christian missionaries as well as the Brahmo Samajists, Arya Samajists and Muslim
maulvis
The Akali movement (also known as Gurudwara Reform Movement) was an offshoot of the Singh
Sabha Movement. It aimed at liberating the Sikh gurudwaras from the control of corrupt Udasi
mahants
The government tried its repressive policies against the non-violent non-cooperation satyagraha
launched by the Akalis in 1921, but had to bow before popular demands; it passed the Sikh
Gurudwaras Act in 1922 (amended in 1925) which gave the control of gurudwaras to the Sikh
masses to be administered through Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) as the
apex body..
XXXIII. The Theosophical Movement
A group of westerners led by Madame H.P. Blavatsky (1831- 1891) and Colonel M.S. Olcott, who
were inspired by Indian thought and culture, founded the Theosophical Society in New York City,
United States in 1875.
 In 1882, they shifted their headquarters to Adyar, on the outskirts of Madras (at that time) in India.
The society believed that a special relationship could be established between a person’s soul and
God In India, the movement became somewhat popular with the election of Annie Besant (1847-
1933) as its president after the death of Olcott in 1907.
Annie Besant had come to India in 1893. She laid the foundation of the Central Hindu College in
Banaras in 1898.The college became the nucleus for the formation of Banaras Hindu University in
1916.
2. Significance of Reform Movements
Positive Aspects-
Liberation of the individual from the conformity born out of fear and from uncritical submission to
exploitation by the priests and other classes.
Simplification of rituals made worship a more personal experience. translation of religious texts into
vernacular languages,
Emphasis on an individual’s right to interpret the scriptures
Emphasized the human intellect’s capacity to think and reason.
Enabled their followers to meet the official taunt that their religions and society were decadent and
inferior.
Served the purpose of reducing the sense of humiliation which the conquest by a foreign power had
produced
Promoting a modern, this-worldly, secular and rational outlook was a major contribution of these
reform movements.
A basic change in the notions of ‘pollution and purity’.
Negative Aspects-
Had a narrow social base, namely the educated and urban middle classes, while the needs of the vast
masses of peasantry and the urban poor were ignored.
The tendency of reformers to appeal to the greatness of the past and to rely on scriptural authority
encouraged mysticism an Insufficient emphasis on other aspects of culture—art, architecture,
literature, music, science and technology.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 10-Beginning of Modern Nationalism in India
Factors in the Growth of Modern Nationalism-
Worldwide upsurge of the concepts of nationalism and right of self-determination initiated by the
French Revolution.
Indian Renaissance.
Offshoot of modernization initiated by the British in India.
Strong reaction to British imperialist policies in India.
Understanding of Contradictions in Indian and
I. Colonial Interests
Colonial rule was the major cause of India’s economic backwardness and that the interests of the
Indians involved the interests of all sections and classes.
The nationalist movement arose to take up the challenge of these contradictions.
II. Political, Administrative and Economic Unification of the Country
The British rule in the Indian subcontinent extended from the Himalayas in the north to the Cape
Comorin in the south and from Assam in the east to Khyber Pass in the west.
While Indian provinces were under ‘direct’ British rule, the princely states were under ‘indirect’
British rule.
 The necessities of administrative convenience, considerations of military defense and the urge for
economic penetration and commercial exploitation (all in British interests) were the driving forces
behind the planned development of modern means of transport and communication
This process of unification had a two-fold effect:
The economic fate of the people of different regions got linked together; for instance, failure of crops
in one region affected the prices and supply in another region.
Modern means of transport and communication brought people, especially the leaders, from
different regions together. This was important for the exchange of political ideas and for
mobilisation and organisation of public opinion on political and economic issues.
III. Western Thought and Education-
1. The introduction of a modern system of education afforded opportunities for assimilation of
modern Western ideas.
2. The liberal and radical thought of European writers like Milton, Shelley, John Stuart Mill,
Rousseau, Paine, Spencer and Voltaire helped many Indians imbibe modern rational, secular,
democratic and nationalist ideas.
IV. Role of Press and Literature
1. In 1877, there were about 169 newspapers published in vernacular languages and their
circulation reached the neighborhood of 100,000.
2. The press while criticizing official policies, on the one hand, urged the people to unite, on the
other.
V. Rediscovery of India’s Past
1. The historical researches by European scholars, such as Max Mueller, Monier Williams, Roth and
Sassoon, and by Indian scholars such as R.G. Bhandarkar, R.L. Mitra and later Swami Vivekananda,
created an entirely new picture of India’s past.
VI. Progressive Character of Socio-religious Reform Movements
1. These reform movements sought to remove social evils which divided the Indian society
VII. Rise of Middle Class Intelligentsia
1. According to Percival Spear, “The new middle class was a well-integrated all-India class with
varied background but a common foreground of knowledge, ideas and values.... It was a minority of
Indian society, but a dynamic minority.... It had a sense of unity of purpose and of hope.”
VIII. Impact of Contemporary Movements in the World
1. Rise of a number of nations in particular deeply influenced the nationalist ranks.
IX. Reactionary Policies and Racial Arrogance of Rulers
1. Lytton’s reactionary policies such as reduction of maximum age limit for the I.C.S. examination
from 21 years to 19 years (1876), the grand Delhi Durbar of 1877 when the country was in the
severe grip of famine, the Vernacular Press Act (1878) and the Arms Act (1878) provoked a storm of
opposition in the country.
2. Ripon had to modify the bill, thus almost defeating the original purpose, because of the stiff
opposition from the European community.
X. Political Associations Before the Indian National Congress
1. Through long petitions to the British Parliament most of them demanded—administrative
reforms, association of Indians with the administration, and spread of education.
2. Political Associations in Bengal
The Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha was formed in 1836 by associates of Raja Rammohan Roy.
The Zamindari Association, more popularly known as the ‘Landholders’ Society’, was founded to
safeguard the interests of the landlords.
 The Bengal British India Society was founded in 1843 In 1851, both the Landholders’ Society and
the Bengal British India Society merged into the British Indian Association.
The East India Association was organised by Dadabhai Naoroji in 1866 in London
The Indian League was started in 1875 by Sisir Kumar Ghosh
The Indian Association of Calcutta (also known as the Indian National Association) superseded the
Indian League and was founded in 1876 by younger nationalists of Bengal led by Surendranath
Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose It protested against the reduction of age limit in 1877 for
candidates of the Indian Civil Service examination.
The association sponsored an all India conference which first took place in Calcutta on December 28
to 30, 1883. It later merged with the Indian National Congress in 1886.
3. Political Associations in Bombay
The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha was founded in 1867 by Mahadeo Govind Ranade
The Bombay Presidency Association was started by Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozshah Mehta and K.T.
Telang in 1885.
4. Political Associations in Madras
The Madras Mahajan Sabha was founded in 1884 by M. Viraraghavachari, B. Subramaniya Aiyer and
P. Anandacharlu.
XI. Pre-Congress Campaigns-
1. For imposition of import duty on cotton
(1875)
2. For Indianization of government service (1878-79)
3. Against Lytton’s Afghan adventure
4. Against Arms Act (1878)
5. Against Vernacular Press Act (1878)
6. For right to join volunteer corps
7. Against plantation labour and against Inland Emigration Act.
8. In support of Ilbert Bill
9. For an All India Fund for Political Agitation
10. Campaign in Britain to vote for pro-India party
11. Against reduction in maximum age for appearing in Indian Civil Service
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 11 Indian National Congress: Foundation & Moderate Phase
Foundation of Indian National Congress

The final shape to the establishment of an all-India organisation idea was given by A.O. Hume, who
organised the first session of the Indian National Congress at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in
Bombay in December 1885.

Two sessions of the Indian National Conference had been held in 1883 and 1885; Surendranath
Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose were the other main architects of the Indian National Conference.

The first session of the Indian National Congress was attended by 72 delegates and presided over by
Vyomesh Chandra Bannerjee.

Kadambini Ganguly, the first woman graduate of Calcutta University, addressed the Congress
session.

Was It a Safety Valve?

 Hume formed the Congress with the idea that it would prove to be a ‘safety valve’ for releasing the
growing discontent of the Indians.

Even the Marxist historian’s ‘conspiracy theory’ was an offspring of the ‘safety valve’ notion.

R.P. Dutt opined that the Indian National Congress was born out of a conspiracy to abort a popular
uprising in India and the bourgeois leaders were a party to it.

Bipina Chandra observes, the early Congress leaders used Hume as a ‘lightning conductor’ to bring
together the nationalistic forces even if under the guise of a ‘safety valve’.

Aims and Objectives of the Congress-The main aims of the Indian National Congress in the initial
stage were to—

found a democratic, nationalist movement;

politicise and politically educate people;

establish the headquarters for a movement;

promote friendly relations among nationalist political workers from different parts of the country;

develop and propagate an anti-colonial nationalist ideology;

formulate and present popular demands before the government with a view to unifying the people
over a common economic and political program;

Develop and consolidate a feeling of national unity among people irrespective of religion, caste or
province.

Carefully promote and nurture Indian nationhood.

2. Era of Moderates (1885-1905)

Important Leaders-The national leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozshah Mehta, D.E. Wacha,
W.C. Bannerjee, S.N. Banerjea
Moderate Approach

They worked on a two-pronged methodology—one, create a strong public opinion to arouse

consciousness and national spirit and then educate and unite people on common political questions;
and two, persuade the British Government and British public opinion to introduce reforms in India
on the lines laid out by the nationalists.

A British committee of the Indian National Congress was established in London in 1899 which had
India as its organ.

3. Contributions of Moderate Nationalists

Economic Critique of British Imperialism

The early nationalists, led by Dadabhai Naoroji, R.C. Dutt, Dinshaw Wacha and others, carefully
analyzed the political economy of British rule in India, and put forward the “drain theory” to explain
British exploitation of India.

They opposed the transformation of a basically self-sufficient Indian economy into a colonial
economy

Constitutional Reforms and Propaganda in Legislature-From 1885 to 1892, the nationalist

demands for constitutional reforms were centered around—
1. Expansion of councils—i.e., greater participation of Indians in councils; and

2. Reform of councils—i.e., more powers to councils, especially greater control over finances. They
gave the slogan—“No taxation without representation”.

Campaign for General Administrative Reforms-The Moderates campaigned on the following

grounds:

a) Indianization of government service

b) Call for separation of judicial from executive functions.

c) Criticism of an oppressive and tyrannical bureaucracy and an expensive and time-consuming

judicial system.

d) Criticism of an aggressive foreign policy which resulted in annexation of Burma, attack on

Afghanistan and suppression of tribals in the North-West—all costing heavily for the Indian
treasury.

e) Call for increase in expenditure on welfare (i.e., health, sanitation), education—especially

elementary and technical—irrigation works and improvement of agriculture, agricultural banks for
cultivators, etc.
f) Demand for better treatment for Indian labour abroad in other British colonies, where they faced
oppression and racial discrimination.
Protection of Civil Rights- Through an incessant campaign, the nationalists were able to spread
modern democratic ideas, and soon the defense of civil rights became an integral part of the freedom
struggle.
4. An Evaluation of the Early Nationalists.
a) They represented the most progressive forces of the time.
b) They were able to create a wide national awakening of all Indians having common interests and the
need to rally around a common program against a common enemy, and above all, the feeling of
belonging to one nation.
c) They trained people in political work and popularized modern ideas.
d) They exposed the basically exploitative character of colonial rule, thus undermining its moral
foundations.
e) Their political work was based on hard realities, and not on shallow sentiments, religion, etc.
f) They were able to establish the basic political truth that India should be ruled in the interest of
Indians.
g) They created a solid base for a more vigorous, militant, mass-based national movement in the years
that followed.
h) They failed to widen their democratic base and the scope of their demands.
Role of Masses-
The moderate phase of the national movement had a narrow social base and the masses played a
passive role. This was because the early nationalists lacked political faith in the masses; they felt
that there were numerous divisions and subdivisions in the Indian society, and the masses were
generally ignorant and had conservative ideas and thoughts.
Attitude of the Government
The government resorted to open condemnation of the Congress, calling the nationalists “seditious
Brahmins”, “disloyal babus”, etc. Dufferin called the Congress “a factory of sedition (*Agitation)”.
Later, the government adopted a ‘divide and rule’ policy towards the Congress.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 12- Era of Militant Nationalism-(1905-1909)
1. Growth of Militant Nationalism-
Why Militant Nationalism Grew-
1. Recognition of the True Nature of British Rule
1892— The Indian Councils Act was criticised by nationalists as it failed to satisfy them.
1897— The Natu brothers were deported without trial and Tilak and others, imprisoned on
charges of sedition.
1898— Repressive laws under IPC Section 124 A were further amplified with new provisions under
IPC Section 156 A
1899— Number of Indian members in Calcutta Corporation were reduced.
1904— Official Secrets Act curbed freedom of press.
1904— Indian Universities Act ensured greater government control over universities
2. Growth of Confidence and Self-Respect
3. Growth of Education International Influences- The defeat of the Italian army by Ethiopians
(1896), the Boer wars (1899- 1902) where the British faced reverses and Japan’s victory over
Russia (1905) demolished myths of European invincibility.
4. Reaction to Increasing Westernization Dissatisfaction with Achievements of Moderates-
They were strongly critical of the methods of peaceful and constitutional agitation, popularly known
as the “Three ‘P’s”—prayer, petition and protest—and described these methods as ‘political
mendicancy’.
5. Reactionary Policies of Curzon- Administrative measures adopted during Curzon’s rule— the
Official Secrets Act, the Indian Universities Act, the Calcutta Corporation Act and, above all, the
partition of Bengal—left no doubt in Indian minds about the basically reactionary nature of British
rule in India.
6. Existence of a Militant School of Thought- The basic tenets of this school of thought were:
Hatred for foreign rule; since no hope could be derived from it, Indians should work out their
own salvation;
Swaraj to be the goal of national movement;
Direct political action required; belief in capacity of the masses to challenge the authority;
Personal sacrifices required and a true nationalist to be always ready for it.
7. Emergence of a Trained Leadership

2. The Swadeshi and Boycott Movement

The Swadeshi Movement had its genesis in the anti-partition movement which was started to
oppose the British decision to partition Bengal.
Partition of Bengal to Divide People
(i) The British government’s decision to partition Bengal had been made public in December 1903.
(ii) The idea was to have two provinces: Bengal comprising Western Bengal as well as the provinces
of Bihar and Orissa, and Eastern Bengal and Assam.
(iii) Bengal retained Calcutta as its capital, while Dacca became the capital of Eastern Bengal.
Anti-Partition Campaign Under Moderates (1903-05)
(i) The methods adopted were petitions to the government, public meetings, memoranda, and
propaganda through pamphlets and newspapers such as Hitabadi, Sanjibani and Bengalee.
(ii) Their objective was to exert sufficient pressure on the government through an educated public
opinion in India and England to prevent the unjust partition of Bengal from being implemented.
(iii) The government announced partition of Bengal in July 1905. On August 7, 1905, with the passage
of the Boycott Resolution in a massive meeting held in the Calcutta Townhall, the formal
proclamation of Swadeshi Movement was made.
(iv) October 16, 1905, the day the partition formally came into force, was observed as a day of
mourning throughout Bengal. ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’, the national anthem of present-day Bangladesh,
was composed by Rabindranath Tagore
The Congress’s Position
(i) The Indian National Congress, meeting in 1905 under the presidentship of Gokhale, resolved to….
a) Condemn the partition of Bengal and the reactionary policies of Curzon and (ii) support the
anti-partition and Swadeshi Movement of Bengal.
b) A big step forward was taken at the Congress session held at Calcutta (1906) under the
presidentship of Dadabhai Naoroji, where it was declared that the goal of the Indian National
Congress was “self-government or Swaraj.
3. The Movement under Extremist Leadership-
There were three reasons for this:
The Moderate-led movement had failed to yield results.
The divisive tactics of the governments of both the Bengals had embittered the nationalists.
The government had resorted to suppressive measures,
The Extremist Programme
Extremists gave a call for passive resistance in addition to swadeshi and boycott The purpose, as
Aurobindo put it, was to “make the administration under present conditions impossible by an
organised refusal to do anything which will help either the British commerce in the exploitation of
the country or British officialdom in the administration of it”. “Political freedom is the life breath of a
nation,” declared Aurobindo.
New Forms of Struggle
a) Boycott of Foreign Goods
b) Public Meetings and Processions
c) Corps of Volunteers or ‘Samitis’-Samitis such as the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti of Ashwini Kumar
Dutta (in Barisal) emerged as a very popular and powerful means of mass mobilisation. In
Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, Subramania Siva and some lawyers formed the
Swadeshi Sangam which inspired the local masses.
d) Imaginative use of Traditional Popular Festivals and Melas.
e) Emphasis given to Self-Reliance.
f) Programme of Swadeshi or National Education-Bengal National College, inspired by Tagore’s
Shantiniketan, was set up with Aurobindo Ghosh as its principal. On August 15, 1906, the National
Council of Education was set up to organise a system of education— literary, scientific and
technical—on national lines and under national control.
g) Swadeshi or Indigenous Enterprises V.O. Chidambaram Pillai’s venture into a national shipbuilding
enterprise—Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company—at Tuticorin.
h) Impact in the Cultural Sphere In Tamil Nadu, Subramania Bharati wrote Sudesha Geetham.
i) In painting, Abanindranath Tagore broke the domination of Victorian naturalism over the Indian
art scene and took inspiration from Ajanta, Mughal and Rajput paintings. Nandalal Bose, who left a
major imprint on Indian art, was the first recipient of a scholarship offered by the Indian Society of
Oriental Art, founded in 1907.
Extent of Mass Participation
1. Student participation was visible in Bengal, Maharashtra, especially in Poona, and in many parts of
the South—Guntur, Madras, Salem.
2. Women play a significant role in the national movement.
 3. The nature of the Swadeshi Movement, with leaders evoking Hindu festivals and goddesses for
inspiration, tended to exclude the Muslims. In September 1905, more than 250 Bengali clerks of the
Burn Company, Howrah, walked out in protest against a derogatory work regulation.
4. In July 1906, a strike of workers in the East Indian Railway resulted in the formation of a Railway
men’s Union.
5. Between 1906 and 1908, strikes in the jute mills were very frequent, Subramania Siva and
Chidambaram Pillai led strikes in Tuticorin and Tirunelveli in a foreign-owned cotton mill. In
Rawalpindi (Punjab), the arsenal and railway workers went on strike
All India Aspect
Movements in support of Bengal’s unity and the Swadeshi and boycott agitation were organised in
many parts of the country.
4. Annulment of Partition
The annulment came as a rude shock to the Muslim political elite. It was also decided to shift the capital
to Delhi
5. Evaluation of the Swadeshi Movement
The Movement Fizzles Out- There was severe government repression.
a) The movement failed to create an effective organization or a party structure. It threw up an entire
gamut of techniques that later came to be associated with Gandhian politics—non-cooperation,
passive resistance, filling of British jails, social reform and constructive work—but failed to give
these techniques a disciplined focus.
b) The movement was rendered leaderless with most of the leaders either arrested or deported by
1908 and with Aurobindo Ghosh and Bipin Chandra Pal retiring from active politics.
c) Internal squabbles among leaders, magnified by the Surat split (1907), did much harm to the
movement.
d) The movement aroused the people but did not know how to tap the newly released energy or how
to find new forms to give expression to popular resentment. The movement largely remained
confined to the upper and middle classes and zamindars, and failed to reach the masses—especially
the peasantry.
e) Non-cooperation and passive resistance remained mere ideas.
f) It is difficult to sustain a mass-based movement at a high pitch for too long.
Movement a Turning Point
a) It proved to be a “leap forward” in more ways than one. Hitherto untouched sections—students,
women, workers, some sections of urban and rural population—participated. All the major trends
of the national movement, from conservative moderation to political extremism, from revolutionary
activities to incipient socialism, from petitions and prayers to passive resistance and non-
cooperation, emerged during the Swadeshi Movement.
b) The richness of the movement was not confined to the political sphere, but encompassed art,
literature, science and industry also.
c) People were aroused from slumber and now they learned to take bold political positions and
participate in new forms of political work.
d) The Swadeshi campaign undermined the hegemony of colonial ideas and institutions.
e) The future struggle was to draw heavily from the experience gained.
Moderate Methods Give Way to Extremist Modes
a) Moderates had outlived their utility and their politics of petitions and speeches had become
obsolete.
b) Their failure to get the support of the younger generation for their style of politics. Their failure to
work among the masses had meant that their ideas did not take root among the masses.
c) The Extremist ideology and its functioning also lacked consistency. Its advocates ranged from open
members and secret sympathizers to those opposed to any kind of political violence.
6. The Surat Split
The Congress split at Surat came in December 1907,
Run-up to Surat
a) In December 1905, at the Banaras session of the Indian National Congress presided over by Gokhale.
b) A relatively mild resolution condemning the partition of Bengal and the reactionary policies of
Curzon and supporting the Swadeshi and boycott programme in Bengal was passed.
c) The Calcutta session of the Congress in December 1906.
d) Moderates wanted to restrict the Boycott Movement to Bengal and to a boycott of foreign cloth and
liquor. Extremists wanted to take the movement to all parts of the country and include within its
ambit all forms of association
Split Takes Place.
a. The split became inevitable, and the Congress was now dominated by the Moderates who lost no
time in reiterating Congress’ commitment to the goal of self-government within the British Empire
and to the use of constitutional methods only to achieve this goal.
Government Repression
a) The Seditious Meetings Act, 1907;
b) Indian Newspapers (Incitement to Offences) Act, 1908;
c) Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908; and
d) The Indian Press Act, 1910.
Tilak, the main Extremist leader, was tried in 1909 for sedition for what he had written in 1908 in
his Kesari about a bomb thrown by Bengal revolutionaries in Muzaffarpur
7. The Government Strategy
a) In the government’s view, the Moderates still represented an anti-imperialist force consisting of
basically patriotic and liberal intellectuals.
b) The policy was to be of ‘rallying them’ (John Morley— the secretary of state) or the policy of ‘carrot
and stick’.
c) It may be described as a three-pronged approach of repression conciliation- suppression.
d) In the first stage, the Extremists were to be repressed mildly
e) In the second stage, the Moderates were to be placated through some concessions.
f) The Surat split suggested that the policy of carrot and stick had brought rich dividends to the British
India government.
8. Morley-Minto Reforms—1909-
a. In October 1906, a group of Muslim elites called the Simla Deputation, led by the Agha Khan, met
Lord Minto and demanded separate electorates for the Muslims.
b. The same group quickly took over the Muslim League, initially floated by Nawab Salimullah of Dacca
along with Nawabs Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Waqar-ul- Mulk in December 1906.
The Reforms
a) The Morley- Minto (or Minto-Morley) Reforms that translated into the Indian Councils Act of
1909.
b) The elective principle was recognized for the nonofficial membership of the councils in India.
Indians were allowed to participate in the election of various legislative councils, though on the
basis of class and community.
c) For the first time, separate electorates for Muslims for election to the central council was
established—a most detrimental step for India.
 d) The number of elected members in the Imperial Legislative Council and the Provincial Legislative
Councils was increased. In the provincial councils, non-official majority was introduced, but since
some of these non-officials were nominated and not elected, the overall non-elected majority
remained.
e) According to Sumit Sarkar, in the Imperial Legislative Council, of the total 69 members, 37 were to
be the officials and of the 32 non-officials, 5 were to be nominated. Of the 27 elected non-officials, 8
seats were reserved for the Muslims under separate electorates (only Muslims could vote here for
the Muslim candidates), while 4 seats were reserved for the British capitalists, 2 for the landlords
and 13 seats came under general electorate.
f) The elected members were to be indirectly elected. The local bodies were to elect an electoral
college, which in turn would elect members of provincial legislatures, who in turn would elect
members of the central legislature.
g) Besides separate electorates for the Muslims, representation in excess of the strength of their
population was accorded to the Muslims. Also, the income qualification for Muslim voters was kept
lower than that for Hindus.
h) Powers of legislatures—both at the centre and in provinces—were enlarged and the legislatures
could now pass resolutions (which may or may not be accepted), ask questions and
supplementaries, vote separate items in the budget though the budget as a whole could not be voted
upon.
i) One Indian was to be appointed to the viceroy’s executive council (Satyendra Sinha was the first
Indian to be appointed in 1909).
Evaluation
a) Lord Morley said, “If it could be said that this chapter of reforms led directly or indirectly to the
establishment of a parliamentary system in India, I, for one, would have nothing at all to do with it.”
b) The system of election was too indirect and it gave the impression of “infiltration of legislators
through a number of sieves”.
c) What the reforms of 1909 gave to the people of the country was a shadow rather than substance.
d) The people had demanded self-government but what they were given was ‘benevolent despotism’.
---------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER-13 First Phase of Revolutionary Activities (1907-1917)
I. Why the Surge of Revolutionary Activities
First phase acquired a more activist form as fallout of the Swadeshi and Boycott Movement and
continued till 1917.
Second phase started as fallout of the Non-Cooperation Movement.
II. The Revolutionary Programme
Revolutionaries opted to follow in the footsteps of Russian nationalists or the Irish nationalists.
This methodology involved individual heroic actions.
III. A Survey of Revolutionary Activities
Bengal
first revolutionary groups were organised in 1902 in Midnapore (under Jnanendranath Basu) and in
Calcutta (the Anushilan Samiti founded by Promotha Mitter, and including Jatindranath Banerjee,
Barindra Kumar Ghosh and others.)
In April 1906, an inner circle within Anushilan (Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Bhupendranath Dutta)
started the weekly Yugantar and conducted a few abortive ‘actions’.
After severe police brutalities on participants of the Barisal Conference (April 1906), the Yugantar
wrote: “The remedy lies with the people. The 30 crore people inhabiting India must raise their 60
crore hands to stop this curse of oppression. Force must be stopped by force.”
 Rashbehari Bose and Sachin Sanyal had organised secret society covering far-flung areas of Punjab,
Delhi and United Provinces while some others like Hemachandra Kanungo went abroad for military
and political training.
In 1907, an abortive attempt was made by the Yugantar group on the life of a very unpopular British
official, Sir Fuller (the first Lt. Governor of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam).
In December 1907, there were attempts to derail the train on which the lieutenant governor, Sri
Andrew Fraser.
In 1908, Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose threw a bomb at a carriage The whole Anushilan group
was arrested including the Ghosh brothers, Aurobindo and Barindra, who were tried in the Alipore
conspiracy case, variously called Manicktolla bomb conspiracy or Muraripukur conspiracy.
In February 1909, the public prosecutor was shot dead in Calcutta and in February 1910, a deputy
superintendent of police met the same fate while leaving the Calcutta High Court.
In 1908, Barrah dacoity was organised by Dacca Anushilan under Pulin Das to raise funds for
revolutionary activities.
Jatin Mukherjee was shot and died a hero’s death in Balasore on the Orissa coast in September 1915.
“We shall die to awaken the nation”, was the call of Bagha Jatin.
Newspapers and journals advocating revolutionary activity included Sandhya and Yugantar in
Bengal, and Kal in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra
first of the revolutionary activities in Maharashtra was the organisation of the Ramosi Peasant
Force by Vasudev Balwant Phadke
In 1879 Tilak propagated a spirit of militant nationalism, including use of violence, through
Ganapati and Shivaji festivals and his journals Kesari and Maharatta. Two of his disciples—the
Chapekar brothers, Damodar and Balkrishna—murdered the Plague Commissioner of Poona, Rand,
and one Lt. Ayerst in 1897.
Savarkar and his brother organised Mitra Mela, a secret society, in 1899 which merged with
Abhinav Bharat (after Mazzinni’s ‘Young Italy’) in 1904. Soon Nasik, Poona and Bombay emerged
as centres of bomb manufacture.
Punjab
Lala Lajpat Rai who brought out Punjabee (with its motto of self-help at any cost) and Ajit Singh
(Bhagat Singh’s uncle) who organised the extremist Anjuman-i-Mohisban-i-Watan in Lahore with
its journal, Bharat Mata.
Revolutionary Activities Abroad
Shyamji Karishnavarma had started in London in 1905 an Indian Home Rule Society—‘India
House’—as a centre for Indian students, a scholarship scheme to bring radical youth from India, and
a journal The Indian Sociologist.
Madanlal Dhingra from this circle assassinated the India office bureaucrat Curzon-Wyllie in 1909.
New centres emerged on the continent—Paris and Geneva
The Ghadr
Ghadr Party was a revolutionary group organised around a weekly newspaper The Ghadr with its
headquarters at San Francisco and branches along the US coast and in the Far East.
These revolutionaries included mainly ex-soldiers and peasants who had migrated from the Punjab
to the USA and Canada in search of better employment opportunities.
To carry out revolutionary activities, the earlier activists had set up a ‘Swadesh Sevak Home’ at
Vancouver and ‘United India House’ at Seattle. Finally in 1913, the Ghadr was established.
Their plans were encouraged by two events in 1914—the Komagata Maru incident and the
outbreak of the First World War.
Komagata Maru Incident and the Ghadr
Komagata Maru was the name of a ship which was carrying 370 passengers, mainly Sikh and
Punjabi Muslim would-be immigrants, from Singapore to Vancouver.
Ship finally anchored at Calcutta in September 1914. The inmates refused to board the Punjab
bound train. In the ensuing conflict with the police at Budge near Calcutta, 22 persons died.
Ghadrites fixed February 21, 1915 as the date for an armed revolt in Ferozpur, Lahore and
Rawalpindi garrisons. The authorities took immediate action, aided by the Defence of India Rules,
1915.
British met the wartime threat with a formidable battery of repressive measures— the most
intensive since 1857—and above all by the Defence of India Act passed in March 1915 primarily to
smash the Ghadr movement.
Evaluation of Ghadr The achievement of the Ghadr movement lay in the realm of ideology. It
preached militant nationalism with a completely secular approach.
Revolutionaries in Europe
Berlin Committee for Indian Independence was established in 1915 by Virendranath
Chattopadhyay, Bhupendranath Dutta, Lala Hardayal and others with the help of the German foreign
office under ‘Zimmerman Plan’.
Indian revolutionaries in Europe sent missions to Baghdad, Persia, Turkey and Kabul to work
among Indian troops and the Indian prisoners of war (POWs) and to incite anti-British feelings
among the people of these countries.
One mission under Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, Barkatullah and Obaidullah Sindhi went to Kabul to
organise a ‘provisional Indian government’ there with the help of the crown prince, Amanullah.
Mutiny in Singapore
Most notable was in Singapore on February 15, 1915 by Punjabi Muslim 5th Light Infantry and the
36th Sikh battalion under Jamadar Chisti Khan, Jamadar Abdul Gani and Subedar Daud Khan.
It was crushed after a fierce battle in which many were killed.
Decline
There was a temporary respite in revolutionary activity after the First World War because the
release of prisoners held under the Defence of India Rules cooled down passions a bit; there was an
atmosphere of conciliation after Montagu’s August 1917 statement.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 14-First World War and Nationalist Response