The Marathas, the Subsidiary Alliance and Satara
In a quarrel with a neighbour you take help from a strong guest. The guest helps, but stays in your house, takes his expenses from you and keeps speaking in your family decisions. In the end the house is no longer really yours.
The Subsidiary Alliance was a treaty Lord Wellesley made with Indian rulers. The ruler got British military help but had to follow certain conditions.
Key idea 1 : The Marathas and the British — Mumbai was the main centre of the British in western India. After Peshwa Madhavrao died, his uncle Raghunathrao, greedy for the Peshwaship, asked the British for help, and the British entered Maratha politics. Three wars were fought between 1774 and 1818. In the first, the Marathas fought united and it ended with the Treaty of Salbai in 1782.
Key idea 2 : Conditions of the Alliance and the Treaty of Vasai — Conditions: the ruler had to keep British troops at his court and pay for them in cash or territory; make no treaty or war with any other power without British intervention; and accept a British Resident at his court. In 1802 Bajirao II accepted this alliance; this is the Treaty of Vasai. Some Maratha sardars did not accept it, so the Second Anglo-Maratha War followed. In 1818 Bajirao surrendered to the British. After defeating Shinde’s troops, General Lake captured the Mughal emperor.
Key idea 3 : Chhatrapati Pratapsingh of Satara — Though the Peshwaship ended, Chhatrapati Pratapsingh of Satara still ruled. He arranged water supply, roads, schools for boys and girls, and a printing press in Satara. Later he was dethroned and sent to Kashi, where he died in 1847. Rango Bapuji Gupte fought a legal battle all the way to England but failed. In 1848 Dalhousie refused to allow adoption and annexed Satara.
- Easy : Between whom was the Treaty of Vasai made? — Bajirao II and the British.
- Medium : State one condition of the Subsidiary Alliance. — The ruler had to keep a British Resident at his court.
- Exam-type : How did the Subsidiary Alliance take away rulers’ freedom? — Army, foreign relations and decisions came under British watch.
In the figure: Maratha power declined step by step and finally the state of Satara also passed to the British.
What happened before? On 25 October 1802 at Hadapsar near Pune, Yashwantrao Holkar defeated the combined armies of the Peshwa and Shinde. After that Peshwa Bajirao II fled from Pune to Vasai (Bassein) and asked the British for help.
What happened next? The Treaty of Vasai was signed on 31 December 1802. In 1803 Bajirao was placed on the throne again in Pune under British protection, and the Second Anglo-Maratha War began. He remained Peshwa in name, but real power went to the British.
Subsidiary Alliance = British troops + the ruler’s expense + a Resident = the ruler’s freedom reduced.
It is wrong to think the Subsidiary Alliance was only a protection pact. Through it the British gained control over the states.
Memory clue: Three conditions as three S: Soldiers, Silence with others, Sahib the Resident.
Spot the difference
| Condition | Meaning | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Army | Keep British troops at court and pay for them | Money or territory is lost; the state weakens |
| Foreign relations | No treaty or war without British intervention | Loss of the right to decide freely |
| Resident | A British officer stays at court | Interference in administration grows |
Practice questions
- 1Who introduced the Subsidiary Alliance?
- 2How did the British enter Maratha politics?
- 3With which treaty did the First Anglo-Maratha War end?
- 4State three conditions of the Subsidiary Alliance.
- 5When and by whom was Satara annexed?
- 6Why did Bajirao II sign the Treaty of Vasai?
- 7Which war followed the Treaty of Vasai?
- 8What happened after Chhatrapati Pratapsingh was dethroned?
Show answers (try them yourself first)
- 1Lord Wellesley.
- 2After Madhavrao’s death, Raghunathrao asked for British help out of greed for the Peshwaship.
- 3With the Treaty of Salbai in 1782.
- 4Keep British troops and pay for them; no treaty or war with others without the British; keep a British Resident.
- 5In 1848, by Lord Dalhousie.
- 6After the defeat at Hadapsar he had fled and needed British help to get his throne back.
- 7The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803).
- 8He was sent to Kashi, died there in 1847 and Satara was annexed in 1848.
Administration, justice and laws
In a big school one person cannot manage everything, so there are departments, heads and a rule book. The British built a new administration in India in just this way.
British administration stood on four pillars: the civil service, the military, the police and the judicial system.
Key idea 1 : Dual government and Acts of Parliament — In 1765 Clive introduced dual government in Bengal: the Company collected revenue and the Nawab looked after law and order. Tax money went into the pockets of the Company’s officers. So the British Parliament passed laws: the Regulating Act of 1773 (Bengal’s Governor became Governor General, Warren Hastings the first, with a council of four) and Pitt’s India Act of 1784 (a Board of Control). Changes were also made in 1813, 1833 and 1853.
Key idea 2 : Civil service, military and police — Lord Cornwallis built a bureaucracy. He stopped private trade by Company officers and raised their pay for that purpose. He divided British-held territory into districts; the Collector was head of the district, in charge of revenue, justice and order. Officers were chosen through competitive examinations (the Indian Civil Services, ICS). The military protected British territory, acquired new land and put down revolts; the police kept law and order.
Key idea 3 : The judicial system — On the pattern of England, every district got a civil and a criminal court, and a High Court was set up to review judgements. A committee under Lord Macaulay prepared a code of laws; this is the Indian Penal Code, with the principle of equality before law. There were defects too: separate courts and laws for Europeans, new laws hard for common people to understand, and cases that were costly and pending for years.
- Easy : Who was the head of a district? — The Collector.
- Medium : What was the fault of dual government? — The Company took the revenue but law and order was the Nawab’s duty; tax money went into officers’ pockets.
- Exam-type : Give one good and one bad feature of the Indian Penal Code. — Good: equality before law. Bad: separate laws for Europeans.
In the figure: The administration of British rule stood on four pillars.
What happened before the Indian Penal Code came into force? Before this, different regions and communities followed different laws and punishments. In 1837 Macaulay’s Law Commission drafted one penal code for the whole country.
What happened after the Indian Penal Code came into force? The Code came into force on 1 January 1862 and lasted more than 160 years. It was replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on 1 July 2024.
Collector = revenue + justice + order; ICS = competitive exam.
Dual government does not mean two rulers working together. The money went to the Company and the responsibility to the Nawab.
Memory clue: Cornwallis = districts + Collector + higher pay.
Spot the difference
| Pillar | Work | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Civil service | Handle revenue, justice and order | Collector, ICS |
| Military | Defend territory, gain new land, crush revolts | British-Indian army |
| Police | Law and order | District police |
| Judiciary | Civil and criminal cases | High Court, Penal Code |
Practice questions
- 1Who introduced dual government and when?
- 2What did the Regulating Act of 1773 change?
- 3How were officers of the Indian Civil Services chosen?
- 4State three duties of the Collector.
- 5On which principle was the Indian Penal Code based?
- 6State two defects of the judicial system.
- 7What were the bad effects of dual government?
- 8What did the British Parliament do after the Company’s working was criticised?
Show answers (try them yourself first)
- 1Robert Clive, in 1765.
- 2Bengal’s Governor became Governor General (Warren Hastings the first) and got a council of four.
- 3Through competitive examinations.
- 4Collecting revenue, giving justice and maintaining law and order.
- 5On the British principle of equality before law.
- 6Separate courts for Europeans; costly and pending cases.
- 7Tax money went into the Company officers’ pockets and the people suffered.
- 8It made laws to control the Company in 1773, 1784 and later in 1813, 1833 and 1853.
Economic and social effects
A village weaver weaves cloth every day, but the market fills with a heap of cheap factory-made cloth. Buyers take the cheap cloth and the weaver’s work stops. Many craftsmen faced the same.
British policies changed India’s economy for England’s benefit, and this led to exploitation. At the same time new changes came in transport, industry and education.
Key idea 1 : Land revenue and agriculture — Before the British, revenue depended on the type of crop, was taken mostly in grain, and a farmer was exempted if the crop failed. The British measured the land, fixed tax by area, made cash payment compulsory and took the land if tax was not paid. Farmers sold crops at whatever price they got, mortgaged land to moneylenders and went bankrupt. They were exploited by the government, zamindars, moneylenders and merchants. Stressing cash crops such as cotton, indigo, tobacco and tea is the commercialisation of agriculture. Great famines struck from 1860 to 1900.
Key idea 2 : Traditional and new industries — Heavy tax was put on goods going from India to England and light tax on goods coming from England. English goods were also made cheaply by machines. So craftsmen could not compete, traditional industries shut down and many became unemployed. Still, some overcame the difficulties and built industries: in 1854 Kawasjee Nanabhoy Davar started the first textile mill in Mumbai; in 1855 the first jute mill began at Rishra in Bengal; and in 1907 Jamshedji Tata established the Tata Iron and Steel Company at Jamshedpur.
Key idea 3 : Transport, education and reform — On 16 April 1853 the first railway in India ran from Mumbai to Thane; the telegraph began in the same year and the postal service followed. In 1784 William Jones founded the ‘Asiatic Society of Bengal’ in Kolkata. In 1829 Bentinck passed the Sati Prohibition Act and in 1856 the Widow Remarriage Act was passed. In 1835 English education began on Macaulay’s recommendation, and in 1857 universities were established at Kolkata, Mumbai and Madras. The English-educated middle class later led social reform.
- Easy : On which route did India’s first railway run? — Mumbai to Thane.
- Medium : Why did farmers go bankrupt? — To pay tax in cash they sold crops cheap and mortgaged land to moneylenders.
- Exam-type : Why did traditional industries close down? — Cheap machine-made English goods came in with low tax while Indian goods paid high tax.
In the figure: On one side exploitation grew and on the other came new things such as railways, education and mills.
What happened before? George Clark, chief engineer of the Bombay government, got the idea of a Bombay-Thane railway in 1843 while visiting Bhandup. The first sod of the work was turned near Sion at the end of October 1850. And on 16 April 1853 at about 3.30 in the afternoon a train of 14 carriages carrying about 400 guests left Bori Bunder, pulled by three engines named Sahib, Sindh and Sultan, with a salute of 21 guns.
What happened next? The train covered about 34 km in roughly an hour and reached Thane; on the way it stopped at Sion to fill water in the engines. After this success railway companies, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway and the East Indian Railway, grew step by step.
What happened before? In Indian education there was a long quarrel between the ‘Orientalists’ (for teaching Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic) and the ‘Anglicists’ (for Western learning through English), and a decision was stuck for more than ten years. On 2 February 1835 Thomas Babington Macaulay presented his Minute on education.
What happened next? On 7 March 1835 Governor General Bentinck accepted it. In 1837 English replaced Persian as the official language of the courts and offices. In 1857 universities were started at Kolkata, Mumbai and Madras.
British revenue = land area + cash + land seized if unpaid.
It is only half true that the British did nothing but harm. Railways, telegraph and education later helped national unity, but these changes were made for their own benefit.
Memory clue: Railway 53, mill 54, universities 57.
Spot the difference
| Point | Before the British | In the British period |
|---|---|---|
| How tax was fixed | By the type of crop | By the area of land |
| In what form | Mostly in grain | Compulsorily in cash |
| If unpaid | Land was not seized | Land was seized |
Economic and social effects
In the app you can move this figure with your finger.
Open in the appPractice questions
- 1What is the commercialisation of agriculture?
- 2When did the first railway run in India?
- 3Who started the first textile mill and where?
- 4Who passed the Sati Prohibition Act?
- 5State two differences between the British revenue system and the earlier one.
- 6What was the result of the introduction of English education?
- 7What followed Macaulay’s Minute of 1835?
- 8What was the effect on craftsmen when traditional industries closed down?
Show answers (try them yourself first)
- 1Stressing profit-giving cash crops (cotton, indigo, tobacco, tea).
- 2On 16 April 1853.
- 3Kawasjee Nanabhoy Davar in Mumbai in 1854.
- 4Lord William Bentinck, in 1829.
- 5Earlier by crop, in grain, no seizure; later by area, in cash, land seized if unpaid.
- 6Indians learnt Western thought, reforms and science, and the reform movement got leaders.
- 7Bentinck accepted it on 7 March 1835, English became the official language in 1837 and universities came in 1857.
- 8Many craftsmen became unemployed.