British Rule in Madhya Pradesh | Course for MPPSC Preparation - MPPSC (Madhya Pradesh) PDF Download

British Rule in Madhya Pradesh

• The British expanded their dominion from their strongholds in Bengal, Bombay and Madras, they defeated the Marathas between 1775 and 1818 and entered into treaty relationships with their states and established paramountcy over them.
• Most of Madhya Pradesh, including the large states of Indore, Bhopal, Nagpur, Rewa and a number of small states came under British Empire.
• During 1853, the British annexed the state of Nagpur which included south- eastern Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra and most of Chhattisgarh which were combined with Saugor and Nerbudda Territories to form Central Province in 1861.
• The princely states of northern Madhya Pradesh were governed by the Central India Agency.
• In the early 19th century the area became increasingly agitated as Pindarirobber bands, composed of horsemen formerly attached to armies of Maratha chiefs, began to raid towns and villages from their hideouts in central India.
• The Pindaris, who received the tacit protection of the Sindhia and Holkar dynasties, had formed these autonomous bands beginning in the late 18th century, when the Maratha confederacy was weakening from internal dissension and from the growing military presence of the British.
• By 1818 British armies were able to suppress not only the Pindaris but also the various Maratha dynasties.
• In 1818 year the Nerbudda (now Narmada) Riverand Saugor (now Sagar) territories, containing much of northern Madhya Pradesh (including Gwalior and Indore of the Sindhia and Holkar dynasties), were ceded to the emerging British Empire.
• During the next 40 years the British consolidated their control over the area. In the early 1830s British armies were required to suppress the thugs, a fraternity of assassins and plunderers (dating from at least the 14th century) who were roaming across central India.
• By 1854 all of Madhya Pradesh had fallen under British control.
• The present borders began to take shape in 1861, when the Sagar and Narmada territories and the Nagpurplain to the south were merged to create the Central Provinces.
• In 1903, with the addition of the Muslim territory of Berar, the area was renamed the Central Provinces and Berar.
• This administrative unit, however, did not include those parts of the north and west of the present state (Malwa, Bundelkhand, and Baghelkhand) that from 1854 formed sections of the Central India Agency.
• The Muslim state of Bhopal, situated between the Central India Agency and the Central Provinces and Berar, remained a protectorate of the British

Zamindari System during British India

• Tax from the land was a main source of revenue for the kings and emperors from ancient times.
• But the ownership pattern of land had witnessed changes over centuries.
• During Kingship, land was divided into Jagirs, Jagirs were alloted to Jagirdars, these Jagirdars split the land they got and allocated to sub-ordinate Zamindars.
• Zamindars made peasants cultivate the land, in-return collected part of their revenue as tax.

The main features of the Permanent Settlement were as follows:

• Zamindari System was introduced by Cornwallis in 1793 through Permanent Settlement Act.
• It was introduced in provinces of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Varanasi.
• Also known as Permanent Settlement System.
• The zamindar was recognized as the owners of land as long as they paid the revenue to the East India Company frequently.
• The amount of revenue that the zamindar had to pay to the Company was firmly fixed and would not be raised under any circumstances.
• In other words the Government of the East India Company got 89% leaving the rest to the zamindars.
  • The realized amount would be divided into 11 parts. 1/11 of the share belongs to Zamindars and 10/11 of the share belongs to East India Company.
  • The ryots became tenants since they were considered the tillers of the soil.
  • This settlement took away the administrative and judicial functions of the zamindars.
• The Permanent Settlement of Cornwallis was bitterly criticised on the point that it was adopted with ‘undue haste’. The flagrant defect of this arrangement was that no attempt was made ever either to survey the lands or to assess their value. The assessment was made roughly on the basis of accounts of previous collections and it was done in an irregular manner.

Princely state of British Rule in Madhya Pradesh

• The Britishwere escalating their Indian dominions from bases in Bengal, Bombay, and Madras, and the three Anglo-Maratha Wars were fought between 1775 and 1818. The Third Anglo-Maratha War left the British supreme in India.
• Most of Madhya Pradesh, counting the large states of Indore, Bhopal, Nagpur, Rewa, and dozens of smaller states, became princely statesof British India, and the Mahakoshal region became a British province, the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories.
• In 1853 the British annexed the state of Nagpur, which included southeastern Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra and most of Chhattisgarh, which were combined with the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories to form the Central Provincesin 1861.
• The princely states of northern Madhya Pradesh were governed by the Central India Agency.

Some Princely State that ruled by British

Bhopal State

• Bhopal State(pronounced was a tributary state in 18th century India, a princely salute state with 19 gun salute in a subsidiary alliance with British India from 1818 to 1947, & as an autonomous state from 1947 to 1949.
• Islamnagar was founded & served as the State’s first capital, which was later changed to the city of Bhopal.
• The state was founded in 1707 CE by Dost Mohammad Khan, an Pashtun soldier in the Mughal army, who became a mercenary after the Emperor Aurangzeb’s death & annexed several territories.
• It came under the suzerainty of the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1723 shortly after its foundation.
• In 1737, Marathas defeated the Mughals & the Nawab of Bhopal in the Battle of Bhopal, & started collecting tribute from the state.
• After the defeat of the Marathas in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, Bhopal became a British princely state in 1818. Bhopal State was the second biggest state in pre-independence India, with a Muslim leadership, first being Hyderabad State.
• The state was merged into the Union of India in 1949 as Bhopal.

Gwalior State

• Gwalior Statewas an Indian kingdom & princely state during the British Raj. It was ruled as subsidiary alliance with the British by the Scindia dynasty of the Marathas & was entitled to a 21-gun salute.
• The state called its name from the old town of Gwalior, which, although never the actual capital, was an important place because of its strategic location & the strength of its fort.
• The state was founded in the early 18th century by Ranoji Sindhia, as part of the Maratha Confederacy.
• Under Mahadji Sindhia (1761–1794) Gwalior State became a principal power in northern India, & dominated the affairs of the confederacy.
• The Anglo-Maratha Wars brought Gwalior State under British suzerainty, so that it became a princely state of the British Indian Empire.
• Gwalior was the biggest state in the Central India Agency, under the political regulation of a Resident at Gwalior.
• In 1936, the Gwalior residency was separated from the Central India Agency, & made answerable directly to the Governor-General of India.
• After Indian Independence in 1947, the Sindhia rulers acceded to the new Union of India, & Gwalior state was absorbed into the new Indian state of Madhya Bharat

Rewa State

• Rewa State was a princely state of India, surrounding its eponymous capital, the town of Rewa.
• With an area of about 34,000 km2, Rewa was the biggest princely state in the Bagelkhand Agency & the second biggest in Central India Agency.
• The British political agent for Bagelkhand resided at Satna, on the East Indian railway.
• The Bagelkhand Agency was dissolved in 1933 & Rewa was placed under the authority of the Indore Residency.
• Rewa was the first princely state in India to declare Hindi as a national language, in the times of Maharaja Gulab Singh.
• He is also credited for declaring the first responsible government in modern India, providing citizens of Rewa state a right to question their monarch’s decisions.
• The state came under British paramountcy in 1812 & remained a princely state within the British Raj until India’s independence in 1947.

Indore State

• Indore State, also recognized as Holkar State, was a Maratha princely state in India during the British Raj.
• Its rulers belonged to the Holkar dynasty & the state was under the Central India Agency.
• Indore was a 19 Gun Salute (21 locally) princely state (a extraordinary high rank).
• Indore princely state was located in the present-day Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The capital of the state was the city of Indore.
• The state had an area of 24,605 km² & a population of 1,325,089 inhabitants in 1931.
• By 1720, the headquarters of the local pargana were transferred from Kampel to Indore, because of the increasing commercial activity in the city.
• On 18 May 1724, the Nizam accepted the rights of the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I to collect chauth (taxes) from the area.
• In 1733, the Peshwa assumed the full control of Malwa, & appointed his comm&er Malhar Rao Holkar as the Subhedar (Governor) of the province..
• On 29 July 1732, Bajirao Peshwa-I granted Holkar State by merging 28 & half parganas to Malhar Rao Holkar, the founder ruler of Holkar dynasty.
• His daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar changed the state’s capital to Maheshwar in 1767, but Indore remained an important commercial & military centre.
• After the defeat of the Holkar rulers in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, an agreement was signed on 6 January 1818 with the British & Indore State became a British protectorate.
• The Holkar dynasty was able to continue to rule Indore as a princely state mainly owing to the efforts of their Dewan Tatya Jog.
• The capital was moved from Maheshwar to Indore on 3 November 1818 & the Indore Residency, a political residency with a British resident was established in the city.
• Later Indore would be established as the headquarters of the British Central India Agency..
• During the period of Maharaja Tukoji Rao Holkar II (1852–86) efforts were made for the planned development & industrial development of Indore.
• During the reigns of Maharaja Shivaji Rao Holkar, Maharaja Tukoji Rao Holkar III & Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar business in Indore flourished thanks to the railways that had been started in the state in 1875.
• In 1926, Maharaja Tukoji Rao III Holkar XIII abdicated after being implicated in a murder case involving a court dancer & her love