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Sindhia

Sindhia

:For the School in Gwalior, India, see Scindia School. The Scindia, also spelled Sindhia , Sindia, or Shinde are a prominent Maratha family in India. The dynasty was founded by Ranoji Rao Scindia, who the Maratha Peshwa, or chief minister, put in charge of the Maratha conquests in Malwa in 1726. Ranoji established his capital at Ujjain in1731; His successor Daulat Rao Scindia moved the Sindhia capital to Gwalior in 1766. The Sindhia state of Gwalior became a major regional power in the latter half of the eighteenth century; they figured prominently in the three Anglo-Maratha Wars, held sway over many of the Rajput states, and conquered the state of Ajmer. After the defeat of the allied Maratha states by the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1818, the Scindia were forced to accept local autonomy as a princely state within British India and to give up Ajmer to the British. The Scindia family ruled Gwalior until India's independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, when the Maharaja Jiyajirao Scindia acceded to the Government of India. Gwalior was merged with a number of other princely states to become the new Indian state of Madhya Bharat. George Jiyajirao served as the state's rajpramukh, or appointed governor, from 28 May 1948 to 31 October 1956, when Madhya Bharat was merged into Madhya Pradesh. In 1962, Rajmata Vijayraje Scindia, the widow of Maharaja Jiyajirao, was elected to the Lok Sabha, beginning the family's career in electoral politics. She was first a member of the Congress Party, and later became an influential member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Her son Madhavrao Scindia was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971 representing the Congress Party, and served until his death in 2001. His son, Jyotiraditya Scindia, also in the Congress Party, was elected to the seat formerly held by his father in 2002.

Scindia Maharajas of Ujjain and Gwalior


- Maharaja Ranojirao Scindia (1731 – 19 July 1745)
- Maharaja Jayapparao Scindia (1745 – 25 July 1755)
- Maharaja Jankojirao I Scindia (25 July 1755 – 15 January 1761). Born 1745.
- Dattaji, Regent (1755 – 10 January 1760). Died 1760.
- (15 January 1761 – 25 November 1763) vacant
- Maharaja Kadarjirao Scindia (25 November 1763 – 10 July 1764)
- Maharaja Manajirao Scindia (10 July 1764 – 18 January 1768)
- Maharaja Madhavrao I Scindia (18 January 1768 – 12 February 1794). Born c.1727, died 1794.
- Maharaja Daulatrao Scindia (12 February 1794 – 21 March 1827). Born 1779, died 1827.
- Maharaja Jankojirao II Scindia (18 June 1827 – 7 February 1843). Born 1805, died 1843.
- Maharaja Jayajirao Scindia (7 February 1843 – 20 June 1886). Born 1835, died 1886.
- Maharaja Madhavrao II Scindia (20 June 1886 – 5 June 1925). Born 1876, died 1925.
- Maharaja (later Rajpramukh) George Jiyajirao Scindia (Maharaja 5 June 1925 – 15 Aug 1947, Rajpramukh 28 May 1948 – 31 October 1956). Born 1916, died 1961.

External links


- [http://www.4dw.net/royalark/India/gwalior.htm Genealogy of the Scindia dynasty] Category:Scindia dynasty of Gwalior Category:Maratha Empire Category:Ruling clans of India



India

The Republic of India is a country in South Asia which comprises of the majority of the Indian subcontinent. India has a coastline which stretches over seven thousand kilometres, and shares its borders with Pakistan to the west, the People's Republic of China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, and Bangladesh and Myanmar on the east. On the Indian Ocean, it is adjacent to the island nations of the Maldives on the southwest, Sri Lanka on the south, and Indonesia on the southeast. India also claims a border with Afghanistan to the northwest. India is the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. It is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of over one billion, and is the seventh largest country by geographical area. It is home to some of the most ancient civilizations, and a centre of important historic trade routes. Four major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism have originated from India. Formerly a major part of the British Empire as the British Raj before gaining independence in 1947, during the past twenty years the country has grown significantly, especially in its economic and military spheres, regionally as well as globally. The name India , is derived from the Old Persian version of Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the river Indus; see Origin of India's name. The Constitution of India and general usage also recognises Bharat ( ), which is derived from the Sanskrit name of an ancient Hindu king, whose story is to be found in the Mahabharata, as an official name of equal status. A third name, Hindustan ( ) , or Land of the Hindus in Persian, has been used since the twelfth century, though its contemporary use is unevenly applied due to domestic disputes over its representiveness as a national signifier.

History

Stone Age rock shelters with paintings at Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh are the earliest known traces of human life in India. The first known permanent settlements appeared 9,000 years ago and developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation, which peaked between 2600 BC and 1900 BC. It was followed by the Vedic Civilisation. From around 550 BC onwards, many independent kingdoms came into being. In the north, the Maurya dynasty, which included Ashoka, contributed greatly to India's cultural landscape. From 180 BC, a series of invasions from Central Asia followed, with the successive establishment in the northern Indian Subcontinent of the Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian kingdoms, and finally the Kushan Empire. From the 3rd century AD onwards the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as ancient India's "Golden Age". Gupta dynasty built by emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC]] In the south, several dynasties including the Chalukyas, Cheras, Cholas, Kadambas, Pallavas and Pandyas prevailed during different periods. Science, art, literature, mathematics, astronomy, engineering, religion and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings. Following the Islamic invasions in the beginning of the second millennium, much of north and central India came to be ruled by the Delhi Sultanate, and later, much of the entire subcontinent by the Mughal dynasty. Nevertheless, several indigenous kingdoms remained or rose to power, especially in the relatively sheltered south. Vijayanagara Empire was notable among such kingdoms. During the middle of the second millennium, several European countries, including the Portuguese, Dutch, French and British, who were initially interested in trade with India, took advantage of fractured kingdoms fighting each other to establish colonies in the country. After a failed insurrection in 1857 against the British East India Company, popularly known in India as the First War of Indian Independence and most commonly known in the West as the Indian Mutiny, most of India came under the direct administrative control of the crown of the British Empire. British Empire, Orissa built in the 13th century, is one of the most famous monuments of stone sculpture in the world.]] sculpture in the 10th century AD.]] In the early part of the 20th century, a prolonged and largely non-violent struggle for independence, the Indian independence movement, followed, to be eventually led by Mahatma Gandhi, regarded officially as the Father Of The Nation. The culmination of this path-breaking struggle was reached on 1947-08-15 when India gained full independence from British rule, later becoming a republic on 1950-01-26. As a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, India has had its share of sectarian violence and insurgencies in different parts of the country. Nonetheless, it has held itself together as a secular, liberal democracy barring a brief period from 1975 to 1977 during which the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a "state of emergency" with the suspension of civil rights. India has unresolved border disputes with China, which escalated into a brief war in 1962, and Pakistan which resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, and 1971, and a border altercation in the northern state of Kashmir in 1999. India was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations. In 1974, India conducted an underground nuclear test, making it an unofficial member of the "nuclear club", which was followed up with a series of five more tests in 1998. Significant economic reforms beginning in 1991 have transformed India into one of the fastest growing economies in the world and added to its global clout.

Government

The Constitution of India states India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. India is a federal republic, with a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system. It has a three branch system of governance consisting of the legislature, executive and judiciary. The President, who is the head of state, has a largely ceremonial role. His roles include interpreting the constitution, signing laws into action, and issuing pardons. He is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The President and Vice-President are elected indirectly by an electoral college for five-year terms. The Prime Minister is the head of government and most executive powers are vested in this office. He (or she) is elected by legislators of the political party, or coalition, commanding a parliamentary majority, and serves a five-year term incumbent upon enjoying this majority. The constitution does not provide for a post of Deputy Prime Minister, but this option has been exercised from time to time. The legislature of India is the bicameral Parliament which consists of the upper house known as the Rajya Sabha, or Council of States, the lower house known as the Lok Sabha, or House of the People, and the President. The 245-member Rajya Sabha is chosen indirectly through an electoral college and has a staggered six year term. The 545-member Lok Sabha is directly elected for a five year term, and is the determinative constituent of political power and government formation. All Indian citizens above the age of eighteen are eligible to vote. The executive arm consists of the President, Vice-President and the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet) headed by the Prime Minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of either house of parliament. In India's parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature. India's independent judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India. The Supreme Court has both original jurisdiction over disputes between states and the Centre, and appellate jurisdiction over the High Courts of India. There are eighteen appellate High Courts, having jurisdiction over a large state or a group of states. Each of these states has a tiered system of lower courts. A conflict between the legislature and the judiciary is referred to the President.

Politics

Chief Justice of India For most of its independent history, India's national government has been controlled by the Indian National Congress Party. Following its position as the largest political organisation in pre-independence India, Congress, usually led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, dominated national politics for over forty years. In 1977, a united opposition, under the banner of the Janata Party, won the election and formed a non-Congress government for a short period after the unpopular 'emergency rule' imposed by Indira Gandhi in the previous Congress regime. In 1996, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a political party with a right wing nationalist ideology, became the largest single party, and established for the first time a serious opposition to the largely centre-left Congress. But power was held by two successive coalition governments, who stayed on with the support of the Congress. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) along with smaller parties and became the first non-Congress government to sustain the full five year term after it returned to power in 1999. The decade prior to 1999 was marked by short-lasting governments, with seven separate governments formed within that period. One however, a Congress government formed in 1991, lasted the full five years and initiated significant economic reforms. In the 2004 Indian elections the Congress party returned to power after winning the largest number of seats, by a narrow margin. Congress formed a government in alliance with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and with several mostly-regional parties called the United Progressive Alliance. The NDA, led by the BJP, currently forms the main opposition. All governments formed since 1996 have required party coalitions, with no single majority party, due to the steady rise of regional parties at the national level.

States and union territories

India is divided into twenty-eight states (which are further subdivided into districts), six Union Territories and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. States have their own elected government, whereas Union Territories are governed by an administrator appointed by the union government, though some have elected governments. India has had two scientific bases in Antarctica – the Dakshin Gangotri and Maitri, but has made no territorial claims so far.

Geography

Maitri in the north to Arunachal Pradesh in the far east making up most of India's eastern borders]] India's entire north and northeast states are made up of the Himalayan Range. The rest of northern, central and eastern India consists of the fertile Indo-Gangetic plain. Towards western India, bordering southeast Pakistan, lies the Thar Desert. The southern Indian peninsula is almost entirely composed of the Deccan plateau. The plateau is flanked by two hilly coastal ranges, the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats. India is home to several major rivers such as the Ganga (Ganges), the Brahmaputra, the Yamuna, the Godavari, and the Krishna. The rivers are responsible for the fertile plains in northern India which are conducive to farming. The Indian climate varies from a tropical climate in the south to a more temperate climate in the north. Parts of India which lie in the Himalaya have a tundra climate. India gets most of its rains through the monsoons.

Economy

monsoon India has an economy ranked as the tenth largest in the world in terms of currency conversion and fourth largest in terms of purchasing power parity. It recorded one of the fastest annual growth rates of 6.9% for the year ending March 2005. India's per-capita income by purchasing power parity is US$ 3,262, ranked 125th by the World Bank. India's foreign exchange reserves amount to over US$ 143 billion. Mumbai serves as the nation's financial capital and is also home to both the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India and the pre-eminent Bombay Stock Exchange. While a quarter of Indians still live below the poverty line, a large middle class has now emerged along with the rapid growth of the IT industry. The Indian economy has shed much of its historical dependence on agriculture, which now contributes to less than 25 % of GDP. Other important industries are mining, petroleum, diamond polishing, films, textiles, information technology services, and handicrafts. Most of India's industrial regions are centred around major cities. In recent years, India has emerged as one of the largest players in software and business process outsourcing services, with revenues of US$ 17.2 billion in 2004 to 2005. Many small-scale industries provide steady employment to workers in small towns and villages. business process outsourcing While India receives only around three million foreign visitors a year, tourism is still an important but under-developed source of national income. Tourism contributes 5.3 % of India's GDP. The actual employment generation, both direct and indirect, is estimated to be 42 million, or about 10 % of India's work force. In monetary terms, it contributes about US$4 billion in foreign exchange. India's major trading partners are the United States, Japan, China and the United Arab Emirates. India's main exports items include agricultural products, textile goods, gems and jewellry, software services and technology, engineering goods, chemicals and leather products while its main import commodities are crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, chemicals. For the year 2004, India's total exports stood at US$ 69.18 billion while the imports were worth at US $89.33 billion.

Demographics

India is the second most populous country in the world, with only China having a larger population. By 2030, India is expected to surpass China with the world's largest population, estimated at 1.6 billion. Language, religion, and caste are major determinants of social and political organisation within the highly diverse Indian population today. Its biggest metropolitan agglomerations are Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Delhi, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Chennai (formerly Madras). Chennai]] India's literacy rate is 64.8 % with 53.7 % of females and 75.3 % of males being literate. The sex ratio is 933 females for every 1000 males. Work Participation Rate (WPR) (the percentage of workers to total population) stands at 39.1 % with male WPR at 51.7 % and female WPR at 25.6 % inote|eu{inote|demostats{inote|religion{ref|languages{inote|tongues{see2|Christianity in India|Jews in India{seealso3|List of Indian languages by total speakers|List of cities in India|Religion in India{main|Culture of India{seealso4|List of World Heritage sites in India|Indian architecture|Indian family name|Cuisine of India{main|Sports in India{main|Holidays in India{Official Holidays of India{Topics related to India{portal{sisterlinks|India{wikitravel{wikicities|india|India{explain-inote{Web reference | title=India facts and figures | work=Embassy of India| URL= http://www.indianembassy.org/dydemo/indiaprofile/profile.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Forex reserves up by $1bn | work=Economic Times| URL= http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1093864.cms | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= India Economy | work=Travel Document Systems |URL= http://www.traveldocs.com/in/economy.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Services | work=India in Business| URL= http://www.indiainbusiness.nic.in/india-profile/ser-infotech.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Destination India: An Unpolished Diamond | work=Times of India | URL= http://timesfoundation.indiatimes.com/articleshow/819309.cms | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= US, UAE, UK, China, Japan among India's top trade partners | work=Indian Express| URL= http://www.indianexpress.com/news/business/20050102-0.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= CIA Factbook : India | work=CIA Factbook | URL= http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Provisional Population Totals 2001 Census| work=Census of India| URL=http://www.censusindia.net/results/resultsmain.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Debating India & India's literacy rate | work=Debating India | URL= http://india.eu.org/1963.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= India – Country profiles | work=indexmundi.com | URL= http://www.indexmundi.com/India/ India | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Census of India 2001, Data on Religion | work=Census of India | URL= http://www.censusindia.net/results/religion_main.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Languages of India | work=India image | URL= http://indiaimage.nic.in/languages.htm| date=August 14 | year=2005{Book reference | Author=K.M. Matthew | Title=Manorama Yearbook 2003 | Publisher= Malaya Manorama | Year=2003 | ID=ISBN 8190046187{mnb|afgh|1{mnb|LoC|2{South Asia{Asia{Commonwealth of Nations{SAARC{Life in India{Link FA|sv{Link FA|sv

Peshwa

The Peshwa (also known in Marathi as Peshwe) were Brahmin Prime Ministers to the Maratha Chattrapatis (Kings), who began commanding Maratha armies and later became the hereditary rulers of the Maratha empire of central India from 1713 AD to 1818 AD. They oversaw the greatest expansion of the Maratha Empire around 1760, and also its eventual annexation by the British East India Company in 1818.

Title

The word Peshwa may have originated in Persian, meaning "foremost", and was introduced in Deccan by the Muslim rulers. After his coronation as a Maratha Chhatrapati in 1674, the founder of the Maratha Empire, Shivaji appointed Moropant Trimbak Pingle as the first Peshwa. Duties and authorities of a Peshwa were equal to that of a Prime Minister.

Bhat Family

The position moved to the Bhat family of Shri Vardhan in the Konkan region, upon appointment of Balaji Vishwanath Bhat as Peshwa by the fourth Chattrapati Shahu in 1713. It was the appointment of his son, Baji Rao I as Peshwa in 1719 by Shahu that made the position hereditary in the Bhat family. Shahu, who also appointed Baji Rao's son as Peshwa in 1740, gave considerable authority to the Peshwas to command the Maratha armies, and they responded well during his reign. 1740 By the time of Shahu's death in 1749, the Bhat Peshwas were the effective rulers of the Maratha state, and they moved their administrative capital from Satara to the new city of Pune which they founded in 1736. Shivaji's descendants remained as the titular Raja of Satara, were called Swami (Marathi:spiritual leader) by the Peshwa who used to report to them, and seek guidance periodically.

Legacy

The first Bhat family Peshwa was Balaji Vishwanath Bhat, a chitpavan Brahmin. He was succeeded as Peshwa by his son Baji Rao I, who never lost a battle. Baji Rao and his son, Balaji Baji Rao, oversaw the period of greatest Maratha expansion (see map at right), brought to an end by the Maratha's defeat by an Afghan army at the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761. The last Peshwa, Baji Rao II, was defeated by the British East India Company in the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818. The Peshwa's territory in central Maharashtra was annexed to the British East India Company's Bombay province, and he was pensioned off.

Peshwa lineage

Category:Maratha Empire

1726

Events


- George Friderich Handel becomes a British subject.
- Jonathan Swift publishes Gulliver's Travels.
- The city of Montevideo was established.
- Mary Toft allegedly gives birth to 16 rabbits in England, later revealed to be a hoax.
- The Gujin tushu jicheng, an immense Chinese encyclopedia, is printed using movable copper type.

Births


- March 8 - Richard Howe, British admiral (d. 1799)
- April 5 - Benjamin Harrison V, signer of the American Declaration of Independence (d. 1791)
- April 12 - Charles Burney, English music historian (d. 1814)
- May 12 - Alexander Hood, British naval officer (d. 1814)
- June 3 - James Hutton, Scottish geologist (d. 1797)
- June 14 - Thomas Pennant, Welsh naturalist (d. 1798)
- August 7 - James Bowdoin, American Revolutionary leader and politician (d. 1790)
- August 9 - Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (d. 1778)
- September 1 - François-André Danican Philidor, French composer and chess player (d. 1795)
- October 16 - Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish painter (d. 1801)
- John Anderson, Scottish scientist (d. 1796)
- Jacques-Donatien Le Ray, French supporter of the American Revolution (d. 1803)

Deaths


- January 2 - Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (b. 1688)
- January 25 - Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1675)
- February 26 - Maximilian II Emanuel, elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
- March 5 - Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, English politician
- March 26 - John Vanbrugh, English architect and dramatist (b. 1664)
- April 28 - Thomas Pitt, British Governor of Madras (b. 1653)
- May 10 - Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier (b. 1670)
- June 18 - Michel Richard Delalande, French organist and composer (b. 1657)
- July 8 - John Ker, Scottish spy (b. 1673)
- July 31 - Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1695)
- November 23 - Sophia, Princess of Zelle, queen of George I of the United Kingdom (b. 1666)
- December 2 - Samuel Penhallow, American colonist and historian (b. 1665) Category:1726 ko:1726년

1731

Events


- Downing Streetbecomes the official residence of the United Kingdom's Prime Minister when Robert Walpolemoves in.

Births


- February - Charles Churchill, English poet (d. 1764)
- May 8 - Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London and abolitionist (d. 1809)
- June 21 - Martha Washington, First Lady of the United States (d. 1802)
- October 10 - Henry Cavendish, English scientist (d. 1810)
- November 9 -Benjamin Banneker, American surveyor of the District of Columbia (d. 1806)
- November 15 - William Cowper, English poet (d. 1800)
- December 12 - Erasmus Darwin, English scientist and grandfather of Charles Darwin (d. 1802)

Deaths


- January 6 - Étienne François Geoffroy, French chemist (b. 1672)
- January 21 - Thomas Woolston, English theologian (b. 1669)
- January 27 - Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments (b. 1655)
- February 22 - Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
- March 8 - Ferdinand Brokoff, Czech sculptor (b. 1688)
- April 24 - Daniel Defoe, English writer (b. 1660)
- May 1 - Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (b. 1677)
- December 26 - Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (b. 1672)
- December 29 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b. 1685) Category:1731 ko:1731년

1766

1766 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 1 - Bonnie Prince Charlie becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain as King Charles III and figurehead for Jacobitism.
- March 5 - Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.
- March 18 - American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act which was very unpopular in the British colonies. The persuasion of Benjamin Franklin is considered partly responsible. The Declaratory Act asserts the right of Britain to bind the colonies in all other respects.
- November 10 - The last Colonial governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, signs the charter of Queen's College (later renamed Rutgers University).
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart returns to Salzburg after touring Paris and London with his father
- Christian VII becomes King of Denmark
- Lorraine becomes French again on the death of Stanislaus I Leszczyński, King of Poland
- The Burmese begin to invade the Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya.
- What is now England's oldest surviving Georgian theatre constructed in Stockton-on-Tees.

Births


- February 14 - Thomas Malthus, English demographer and economist (d. 1834)
- April 22 - Anne Louise Germaine de Stael, French author (d. 1817)
- July 8 - Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (d. 1842)
- August 6 William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist (d. 1828)
- September 6 - John Dalton, English chemist and physicist (d. 1844)
- October 23 - Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (d. 1847)
- November 2 - Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal (d. 1858)
- December 3 - Barbara Fritchie, U.S. patriot in Civil War (d. 1862)

Deaths


- January 1 - James Francis Edward Stuart, "The Old Pretender" (b. 1688)
- January 9 - Thomas Birch, English historian (b. 1705)
- January 13 - King Frederick V of Denmark (b. 1723)
- January 19 - Jean-Nicolas Servan, French architect and painter (b. 1695)
- January 21 - James Quin, English actor (b. 1693)
- February 5 - Leopold Josef Graf Daun, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)
- February 23 - Stanislaus I Leszczyński, King of Poland (b. 1677)
- April 4 - John Taylor, English classical scholar (b. 1704)
- April 7 - Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (b. 1685)
- May 5 - Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar
- May 8 - Samuel Chandler, English non-conformist minister (b. 1693)
- June 24 - Adrien-Maurice, 3rd duc de Noailles, French soldier (b. 1678)
- July 9 - Jonathan Mayhew, American minister and patriot (b. 1720)
- July 11 - Elizabeth Farnese, queen of Philip V of Spain (b. 1692)
- July 14 - František Maxmilián Kaňka, Czech architect (b. 1674)
- September 3 - Archibald Bower, Scottish historian (b. 1686)
- September 13 - Benjamin Heath, English classical scholar (b. 1704)
- November 9 - Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer, Dutch composer (b. 1692)
- December 12 - Johann Christoph Gottsched, German writer (b. 1700) Category:1766 ko:1766년 ms:1766 simple:1766

Ajmer

Ajmer, or Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in India's Rajasthan state. Its population was approximately 500,000 in 2001. The city gives its name to a district, and also to a former province of British India called Ajmer-Merwara, which, after India's independence, became the state of Ajmer until November 1, 1956, when it was merged into Rajasthan state. It is situated in 26° 27, N. lat. and 74° 44, E. long., on the lower slopes of Taragarh hill, in the Aravalli Range. To the north of the city is a large artificial lake called the Anasagar, whence the water supply of the place is derived. The city is well laid out with wide streets and handsome houses. Ajmer is at an important railway junction. The city is a trade center and has cotton mills and railroad shops. Manufactures include wool textiles, hosiery, shoes, soap, and pharmaceuticals. The chief object of interest is the dargah, or tomb of a famous Muslim sufi saint named Moinuddin Chishti. It is situated at the foot of the Taragarh hill, and consists of several white marble buildings arranged around two courtyards, including a massive gate donated by the Nizam of Hyderabad, a mosque donated by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the Akbari Masjid, and the domed tomb of the saint. To this place the emperor Akbar, with his empress, performed a yearly pilgrimage on foot from Agra in accordance with the terms of a vow he had made when praying for a son. The large pillars erected at intervals of two miles the whole way, to mark the daily halting-place of the imperial pilgrim, are still extant. The Adhai-din-ka-jhonpra, a Jain temple constructed in 1153 and converted into a mosque by Mohammed of Ghori after 1193, is situated on the lower slope of the Taragarh hill. With the exception of that part used as a mosque, nearly the whole of the ancient temple has fallen into ruins, but the relics are not excelled in beauty of architecture and sculpture by any remains of Hindu art. Forty columns support the roof, but no two are alike, and great fertility of invention is manifested in the execution of the ornaments. The city's Museum was once the residence of Emperor Akbar, and presently houses a collection of the Mughal and Rajput armour and sculpture. The summit of Taragarh hill, overhanging Ajmer, is crowned by a fort, the lofty thick battlements of which run along its brow and enclose the table-land. The walls are two miles in circumference, and the fort can only be approached by steep and very roughly paved planes, commanded by the fort and the outworks, and by the hill to the west. On coming into the hands of the British Raj, the fort was dismantled by order of Lord William Bentinck, and was converted into a sanatorium for the troops stationed at the British cantonment town of Nasirabad. Ajmer is also home to Mayo college, a boarding school founded by the British Raj in 1870 to educate the children of Rajputana's nobles on the lines of an English public school. Ajmer was founded in the tenth century by Raja Ajay Pal Chauhan, who established the dynasty which continued to rule the country (with many vicissitudes of fortune) while the repeated waves of Muslim invasion swept over India, until it was conquered by Mohammed of Ghori, founder of the Delhi Sultanate, in 1193. Its internal government, however, was handed over to the Chauhan rulers upon the payment of a heavy tribute to the conquerors. It then remained feudatory to Delhi until 1365, when it was captured by the ruler of Mewar. In 1509 the place became a source of contention between the chiefs of Mewar and Marwar, and was ultimately conquered in 1532 by the latter prince, who in his turn in 1559 had to give way before the emperor Akbar. It continued in the hands of the Mughals, with occasional revolts, till 1770, when it was ceded to the Marathas, from which time up to 1818 the unhappy district was the scene of a continual struggle, being seized at different times by the Mewar and Marwar rajas, from whom it was as often retaken by the Marathas. In 1818 the latter ceded it to the British in return for a payment of 50,000 rupees. Since then the country has enjoyed unbroken peace and a stable government.

References


-

Famous Places


- Mayo College
- Moinuddin Chishti Dargah

External links


- [http://www.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~islamarc/WebPage1/htm_eng/ajmer-eng.htm Ajmer at the Islamic Monuments of India Photographic Database]
- [http://www.investrajasthan.com/maps/ajmer.htm Map of Ajmer District (investrajasthan.com)]
- [http://www.zahuri.org/Ajmerindex.html Sufi sites in Ajmer (Zahuri Sufi web site)] Category:Cities and towns in Rajasthan

Third Anglo-Maratha War

The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817 - 1818) was a final and decisive conflict between the United Kingdom and the Maratha empire in India, which left the UK in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha territory by the British governor-general, Lord Hastings, in the course of operations against Pindari robber bands. The Peshwa of Pune's forces, followed by those of the Bhonsle of Nagpur and Holkar of Indore, rose against the British, but British diplomacy convinced the Sindhia of Gwalior to remain neutral, although he lost control of Rajasthan. British victory was swift, and resulted in the breakup of the Maratha empire and the loss of Maratha independence to the British. The Peshwa was pensioned off, and most of his territory was annexed to Bombay state, although the Maharaja of Satara was restored as ruler of a princely state until its annexation to Bombay state in 1848. The Bhonsle dominions were annexed to British India, and the states of the Maratha maharajas at Indore, Gwalior, and Baroda became princely states, acknowledging British control. The Third Anglo-Maratha War left the UK in control of virtually all of present-day India south of the Sutlej River. See also
- History of India
- Pindari
- Battle of Mahidpur

External link

[http://members.ozemail.com.au/~clday/pindari.htm Pindari Campaign on the Family History of India website] Category:Maratha Empire

1818

1818 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events


- January 3 21:52 UTC - Venus occulted Jupiter. It was the last occultation of a planet by an other planet before November 22nd, 2065. Unfortunately no observation reports from this event visible in the Pacific area are known.
- February 12 - Chile gains its independence from Spain
- March 11 - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is published
- March 22 - Easter Sunday falls on its earliest possible date. The next time Easter will fall this early: 2285.
- April 4 - The U.S. Congress adopts the flag of the United States as having 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 stars) with additional stars to be added whenever a new state is added to the Union.
- September 7 - Carl III of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.
- October 20 - A convention between the U.S. and the United Kingdom establishes the northern boundary as the forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains, also creating the Northwest Angle
- November 11 Establishment of Anglo-Chinese College
- December 3 - Illinois is admitted as the 21st U.S. state.
- December 24 - "Silent Night" composed by Franz Xaver Gruber and vicar Joseph Mohn when the church organs fail
- December 25 - The first performance of "Silent Night" (Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria).
- Karl XIV Johan becomes King of Sweden.
- Anglo-Chinese College founded by Robert Morrison in Malacca.
- Lord Hastings, governor-general of India, gives approval to Sir Stamford Raffles to establish trading station at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula (modern-day Singapore)

Births


- April 8 - King Christian IX of Denmark (d. 1906)
- April 29 - Emperor Alexander II of Russia (d. 1881)
- May 5 - Karl Marx, German political philosopher (d. 1883)
- June 17 - Charles Gounod, French composer (d. 1893)
- July 30 - Emily Brontë, British novelist (d. 1848)
- September 27 - Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, German chemist (d. 1884)
- October 8 - John Henninger Reagan, American Confederate politician (d. 1905)
- October 18 - Edward Ord, U.S. Army officer (d. 1883)
- November 9 (October 28 (O.S.)) - Ivan Turgenev, Russian writer (d. 1883)
- November 29 - George Brown, Canadian polititian (d. 1880)
- December 13 - Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (d. 1882)
- December 24 - James Prescott Joule, British physicist (d. 1889)
- Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist author and statesman (d. 1895)
- Angelo Secchi, Italian astronomer (d. 1878)

Deaths


- February 5 - Charles XIII/Charles II, King of Sweden and Norway (b.1748)
- February 15 - Friedrich Ludwig, Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, Prussian general (b. 1746)
- March 4 - Johann David Wyss, Swiss author (b. 1743)
- May 10 - Paul Revere, American patriot and silversmith (b. 1735)
- October 28 - Abigail Adams, First Lady of the United States (b. 1744)
- October 28 - Henry Jacques Guillaume Clarke, duc de Feltre, French marshal and politician (b. 1765)
- November 17 - Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen of George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1744) Category:1818 ko:1818년 ms:1818

British India

The British Raj (also simply known as the Raj) was a historical period during which the Indian subcontinent, or present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were under the colonial authority of the British; also included from 1886 was Burma. It lasted from 1858, when the rule of the British East India Company was transferred to the Crown, until 1947, when British India was partitioned into two fully independent states, India and Pakistan. Although Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) is on the Indian subcontinent, it is not counted part of the Raj, as it was ruled as a Crown Colony from London rather than by the Viceroy of India as a part of the Indian Empire. On the other hand, Burma, though not part of the subcontinent, was administered along with the Raj until the 1930s.

History

Burma The British first established a foothold in the Indian subcontinent when British soldiers led by Robert Clive and funded by the British East India Company defeated the Bengali Nawab Siraj Ud Daulah at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Bengal's riches were expropriated, the East India Company monopolized Bengali trade and Bengal became a British protectorate directly under its rule. Bengali farmers and craftsmen were obliged to render their labor for minimal remuneration while their collective tax burden increased greatly. As a consequence, the famine of 1769 to 1773 cost the lives of 10 million Bengalis. A similar catastrophe occurred almost a century later, after Britain had extended its rule across the Indian subcontinent, when 40 million Indians perished from famine amidst the collapse of India's native industries.

The Indian Mutiny

Main article: Indian rebellion of 1857 On May 10, 1857, soldiers of the British Indian Army (known as "sepoys," from Urdu/Persian sipaahi or sepaahi), drawn from the native Hindu and Muslim population, mutinied in Meerut, a cantonment eighty kilometres northeast of Delhi. The rebels marched to Delhi to offer their services to the Mughal emperor, and soon much of north and central India was plunged into a year-long insurrection against the British. Many native regiments and Indian kingdoms joined the revolt, whilst other Indian units and Indian kingdoms backed the British commanders and officers of the Empire.

Causes of the Rebellion

The uprising, which seriously threatened British rule in India, was undoubtedly the culmination of mounting Indian resentment toward British social and political policies over many decades. Until the rebellion, the British had succeeded in suppressing numerous riots and "tribal" wars or in accommodating them through concessions, but two factors – one a trend and the other a single event – triggered the violent explosion of wrath in 1857. The trend that was the policy of annexation pursued by Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, based mainly on his "Doctrine of Lapse", which held that princely states would be merged into company-ruled territory in case a ruler died without direct heir. This denied the native rulers the right to adopt an heir in such an event; adoption had been pervasive practise in the Hindu states hitherto, sanctioned both by religion and by secular tradition. The states annexed under this doctrine included such major kingdoms as Satara, Thanjavur, Sambhal, Jhansi, Jetpur, Udaipur, and Baghat. Additionally, the company had annexed, without pretext, the rich kingdoms of Sind in 1843 and Oudh in 1856, the latter a wealthy princely state that generated huge revenue and represented a vestige of Mughal authority. This greed for land, especially in a bunch of small-town and middle-class British tradesmen, whose parvenu background was increasingly evident and galling to Indians of rank, had alienated a large section of the landed and ruling aristocracy, who were quick to take up the cause of evicting the tradesmen once the revolt was kindled. The spark that lit the fire was the result of a very convincing, though untrue, rumour about a British blunder in using new cartridges for the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle that were greased with animal fat, rumoured to now be a combination of pig-fat and cow-fat. This was offensive to the religious beliefs of both Muslim and Hindu sepoys respectively, who refused to use the cartridges and, under provocation, finally mutinied against their British officers.

Course of the Rebellion

The rebellion soon engulfed much of North India, including Oudh and various areas that had lately passed from the control of Maratha princes to the company. The unprepared British were terrified, without replacements for the casualties. The rebellion inflicted havoc on Indians and the community suffered humiliation and triumph in battle as well, although the final outcome was victory for the British. Isolated mutinies also occurred at military posts in the centre of the subcontinent. The last major sepoy rebels surrendered on June 21, 1858, at Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), one of the principal centres of the revolt. A final battle was fought at Sirwa Pass on May 21, 1859, and the defeated rebels fled into Nepal. Although the rebellious sepoys fought with great bravery, the British were victorious due to superior leadership and organization, as well as the fact that the majority of the sepoys remained loyal to the British. The Sikh sepoys were the most reliable of all the native troops, partly because they had no affinity with the Hindus and Muslims and were somewhat suspicious of the mutineers. Another reason was that they had a long tradition of miliary service, such that they felt bound to follow the orders of those they had pledged their service to. Most areas ruled by native princes remained largely untouched by the rebellion; in particular, Rajasthan and the maratha states of central India, with the exception of Gwalior, remained calm. Punjab was another major area loyal to the British throughout the rebellion, and the main source of supplies and fighting men for them. Significantly, the rebellion also did not spread to other parts of the subcontinent, most notably the south, which was a bastion of British power. There has been much subsequent debate about the correct labelling of this event in the history of the Raj. Although it has gone down in the imperial annals as "the Indian Mutiny" or the Sepoy Rebellion, many modern-day Indians, and others besides, feel that this is an inappropriate term for what they see as the first serious independence movement in India. The spontaneous and widespread rebellion later fired the imagination of the nationalists who would debate the most effective method of protest against British rule. For them, the rebellion represented the first Indian attempt at gaining independence.

Post-rebellion developments

The rebellion was a major turning point in the history of modern India. In May 1858, the British exiled Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II (r. 1837-1857) to Burma, after executing most of his family , thus formally liquidating the Mughal Empire. The remaing rebels were hunted down, they and their families tortured and humiliated, to teach the rest of India not to rebel again. Cultural and religious centers were closed down, properties and estates were confiscated. At the same time, they abolished the British East India Company and replaced it with direct rule under the British Crown. In proclaiming the new direct-rule policy to "the Princes, Chiefs, and Peoples of India," Queen Victoria (who was given the title Empress of India in 1877) promised equal treatment under British law, but Indian mistrust of British rule had become a legacy of the 1857 rebellion. Many existing economic and revenue policies remained virtually unchanged in the post-1857 period, but several administrative modifications were introduced, beginning with the creation in London of a cabinet post, the Secretary of State for India. The governor-general (called viceroy when acting as representative to the nominally sovereign "princely states" or "native states"), headquartered in Calcutta, ran the administration in India, assisted by executive and legislative councils. Beneath the governor-general were the provincial governors, who held power over the district officials, who formed the lower rungs of the Indian Civil Service. For decades the Indian Civil Service was the exclusive preserve of the British-born, as were the superior ranks in such other professions as law and medicine. The British administrators were imbued with a sense of duty in ruling India and were rewarded with good salaries, high status, and opportunities for promotion. Not until the 1910s did the British reluctantly permit a few Indians into their cadre as the number of English-educated Indians rose steadily. The Viceroy of India announced in 1858 that the government would honour former treaties with princely states and renounced the "doctrine of lapse," whereby the East India Company had annexed territories of rulers who died without male heirs. About 40 percent of Indian territory and 20-25 percent of the population remained under the control of 562 princes notable for their religious (Islamic, Hindu, Sikh and other) and ethnic diversity. Their propensity for pomp and ceremony became proverbial, while their domains, varying in size and wealth, lagged behind sociopolitical transformations that took place elsewhere in British-controlled India. A more thorough reorganization was effected in the constitution of army and government finances. Shocked by the extent of solidarity among Indian soldiers during the rebellion, the government separated the army into the three presidencies. British attitudes toward Indians shifted from relative openness to insularity and xenophobia, even against those with comparable background and achievement as well as loyalty. British families and their servants lived in cantonments at a distance from Indian settlements. Private clubs where the British gathered for social interaction became symbols of exclusivity and snobbery that refused to disappear decades after the British had left India. In 1883 the government of India attempted to remove race barriers in criminal jurisdictions by introducing a bill empowering Indian judges to adjudicate offences committed by Europeans. Public protests and editorials in the British press, however, forced the viceroy George Robinson, First Marquess of Ripon, (who served from 1880 to 1884), to capitulate and modify the bill drastically. The Bengali Hindu intelligentsia learned a valuable political lesson from this "white mutiny": the effectiveness of well-orchestrated agitation through demonstrations in the streets and publicity in the media when seeking redress for real and imagined grievances. Post-1857 India also experienced a period of unprecedented calamity when the region was swept by a series of frequent and devastating famines, among the most catastrophic on record. Approximately 25 major famines spread through states such as Tamil Nadu in South India, Bihar in the north, and Bengal in the east in the latter half of the 19th century, killing between 30-40 million Indians. The famines were a product both of uneven rainfall and British economic and administrative policies, which since 1857 had led to the seizure and conversion of local farmland to foreign-owned plantations, restrictions on internal trade, heavy taxation of Indian citizens to support unsuccessful British expeditions in Afghanistan (see Second Anglo-Afghan War), inflationary measures that increased the price of food, and substantial exports of staple crops from India to the United Kingdom. Some British citizens such as William Digby agitated for policy reforms and famine relief, but Lord Lytton, son of the poet Edward Bulwer-Lytton and the governing British viceroy in India, opposed such changes in the belief that they would stimulate shirking by Indian workers. Native industries in India were also decimated in the aftermath of the 1857 rebellion, particularly during the three decades from 1870 to 1900. The famines continued until independence in 1948, with the Bengal Famine of 1943-44 -- among the most devastating -- killing 3-4 million Indians during World War II.

Beginnings of self-government

The first steps were taken toward self-government in British India in the late 19th century with the appointment of Indian counsellors to advise the British viceroy and the establishment of provincial councils with Indian members; the British subsequently widened participation in legislative councils with the Indian Councils Act of 1892. The Government of India Act of 1909 -- also known as the Morley-Minto Reforms (John Morley was the secretary of state for India, and Gilbert Elliot, fourth earl of Minto, was viceroy) -- gave Indians limited roles in the central and provincial legislatures, known as legislative councils. Indians had previously been appointed to legislative councils, but after the reforms some were elected to them. At the centre, the majority of council members continued to be government-appointed officials, and the viceroy was in no way responsible to the legislature. At the provincial level, the elected members, together with unofficial appointees, outnumbered the appointed officials, but responsibility of the governor to the legislature was not contemplated. Morley made it clear in introducing the legislation to the British Parliament that parliamentary self-government was not the goal of the British government. The Morley-Minto Reforms were a milestone. Step by step, the elective principle was introduced for membership in Indian legislative councils. The "electorate" was limited, however, to a small group of upper-class Indians. These elected members increasingly became an "opposition" to the "official government." Communal electorates were later extended to other communities and made a political factor of the Indian tendency toward group identification through religion. The practice created certain vital questions for all concerned. The intentions of the British were questioned. How humanitarian was their concern for the minorities? Were separate electorates a manifestation of "divide and rule"? For Muslims it was important both to gain a place in all-India politics and to retain their Muslim identity, objectives that required varying responses according to circumstances, as the example of Muhammed Ali Jinnah illustrates. Jinnah, who was born in 1876, studied law in England and began his career as an enthusiastic liberal in Congress on returning to India. In 1913 he joined the Muslim League, which had been shocked by the 1911 annulment of the partition of Bengal into cooperating with Congress to make demands on the British. Jinnah continued his membership in Congress until 1919. During this dual membership period, he was described by a leading Congress spokesperson as the "ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity."

After World War I

India's important contributions to the efforts of the British Empire in World War I stimulated further demands by Indians and further response from the British. The Congress Party and the Muslim League met in joint session in December 1916. Under the leadership of Jinnah and Pandit Motilal Nehru (father of Jawalharlal Nehru), unity was preached and a proposal for constitutional reform was made that included the concept of separate electorates. The resulting [http://www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A032&Pg=2 Congress-Muslim League Pact] (often referred to as the Lucknow Pact) was a sincere effort to compromise. Congress accepted the separate electorates demanded by the Muslim League, and the Muslim League joined with Congress in demanding self-government. The pact was expected to lead to permanent and constitutional united action. In August 1917, the British government formally announced a policy of "increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration and the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire." Constitutional reforms were embodied in the Government of India Act of 1919, also known as the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (Edwin Samuel Montagu was the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for India; the Viscount Chelmsford was viceroy). These reforms represented the maximum concessions the British were prepared to make at that time. The franchise was extended, and increased authority was given to central and provincial legislative councils, but the viceroy remained responsible only to London. The changes at the provincial level were significant, as the provincial legislative councils contained a considerable majority of elected members. In a system called "dyarchy," based on an approach developed by Lionel Curtis the nation-building departments of government -- agriculture, education, public works, and the like -- were placed under ministers who were individually responsible to the legislature. The departments that made up the "steel frame" of British rule -- finance, revenue, and home affairs -- were retained by executive councillors who were often (but not always) British, and who were responsible to the governor. The 1919 reforms did not satisfy political demands in India. The British repressed opposition, and restrictions on the press and on movement were reenacted. An apparently unwitting example of violation of rules against the gathering of people led to the massacre at Jalianwala Bagh in Amritsar in April 1919. This tragedy galvanized such political leaders as Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) and Mohandas Karamchandas Gandhi (1869-1948) and the masses who followed them to press for further action. The Allies' post-World War I peace settlement with Turkey provided an additional stimulus to the grievances of the Muslims, who feared that one goal of the Allies was to end the caliphate of the Ottoman sultan. After the end of the Mughal Empire, the Ottoman caliph had become the symbol of Islamic authority and unity to Indian Sunni Muslims. A pan-Islamic movement, known as the Khilafat Movement, spread in India. It was a mass repudiation of Muslim loyalty to British rule and thus legitimated Muslim participation in the Indian nationalist movement. The leaders of the Khilafat Movement used Islamic symbols to unite the diverse but assertive Muslim community on an all-India basis and bargain with both Congress leaders and the British for recognition of minority rights and political concessions. Muslim leaders from the Deoband and Aligarh movements joined Gandhi in mobilizing the masses for the 1920 and 1921 demonstrations of civil disobedience and non-cooperation in response to the massacre at Amritsar. At the same time, Gandhi endorsed the Khilafat Movement, thereby placing many Hindus behind what had been solely a Muslim demand. Despite impressive achievements, however, the Khilafat Movement failed. Turkey rejected the caliphate and became a secular state. Furthermore, the religious, mass-based aspects of the movement alienated such Western-oriented constitutional politicians as Jinnah, who resigned from Congress. Other Muslims also were uncomfortable with Gandhi's leadership. The British historian Sir Percival Spear wrote that "a mass appeal in his Gandhi's hands could not be other than a Hindu one. He could transcend caste but not community. The Hindu devices he used went sour in the mouths of Muslims". In the final analysis, the movement failed to lay a lasting foundation of Indian unity and served only to aggravate Hindu-Muslim differences among masses that were being politicized. Indeed, as India moved closer to the self-government implied in the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, rivalry over what might be called the spoils of independence sharpened the differences between the communities.

Further reform

The political picture in India was not at all clear when the mandated decennial review of the Government of India Act of 1919 became due in 1929. Prospects of further constitutional reforms spurred greater agitation and a frenzy of demands from different groups (See Nehru Report) . The Simon Commission headed by Sir John Simon, who recommended further constitutional change, but it was not until 1935 that a new Government of India Act was passed. The Indian Round Table Conferences 1931-1933 were held in London, at which a wide variety of interests from India were represented. The major disagreement concerned the continuation of separate electorates, which Gandhi and Congress strongly opposed. As a result, the decision was forced on the British government. Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald issued his "communal award," which continued the system of separate electorates at both the central and the provincial level. The principal result of the act was provincial autonomy. The dyarchical system was discontinued, and all subjects were placed under ministers who were individually and collectively responsible to the former legislative councils, which were renamed legislative assemblies. (In a few provinces, including Bengal, a bicameral system was established; the upper house continued to be called a legislative council.) Almost all assembly members were elected, with the exception of some special and otherwise unrepresented groups. After the elections, provincial chief ministers and cabinets took office, although the governors had limited emergency powers. Sindh was separated from Bombay and became a province. The 1919 reforms had earlier been introduced in the North-West Frontier Province. Balochistan, however, retained special status; it had no legislature and was governed by an "agent general to the governor general." At the centre, the act essentially provided for the establishment of dyarchy, but it also provided for a federal system that included the princes. The princes refused to join a system that might force them to accept decisions made by elected politicians. Thus, the full provisions of the 1935 act did not come into force at the centre.

World War II and the End of the Raj

At the start of World War II an agreement was reached between the British government and the Indian independence movement whereby India would be granted independence once victory was gained over the Axis Powers, in exchange for India’s full co-operation in the war. Millions of Indians joined the military; it was the largest all-volunteer army in the history of the world. At midnight on August 14, 1947 Pakistan (then also including modern Bangladesh) was granted independence. India was granted independence the following day. Most people would give these dates as the end of the British Raj. However, some people argue that it continued until 1950 in India and 1956 in Pakistan, when those countries adopted republican constitutions (India a secular one and Pakistan later becoming a state with defined role of Islam) and the British monarch ceased to be their head of state.

Provinces

At the time of independence, British India consisted of the following provinces:
- Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Assam
- Baluchistan
- Bengal
- Bihar
- Bombay Province - Bombay
- Central Provinces and Berar
- Coorg
- Delhi Province - Delhi
- Madras Province - Madras
- North-West Frontier Province
- Panth-Piploda
- Orissa
- Punjab
- Sindh
- United Provinces (Agra and Oudh) Eleven provinces (Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Central Provinces, Madras, North-West Frontier, Orissa, Punjab, and Sind) were headed by a governor. The remaining six (Ajmer Merwara, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Baluchistan, Coorg, Delhi, and Panth-Piploda) were governed by a chief commissioner. There were also several hundred Princely States, under British protection but ruled by native rulers. Among the most notable of these were Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mysore, and Jammu and Kashmir.

See also


- British Empire
- Imperialism in Asia
- Secretary of State for India
- India Office
- Governor-General of India
- Indian Civil Service
- Government of India Act
- Partition of India
- History of Bangladesh
- History of India
- History of Pakistan
- Anglo-Indian cuisine

References


- - [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/intoc.html India], [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/pktoc.html Pakistan]
- [http://www.houseofdavid.ca/Ind_uni.htm#Bibliography Bibliography] Category:British rule in India Category:Former monarchies

Maharaja

The word Maharaja (also spelled maharajah) is Hindi as well as ancient Sanskrit for "high king" (a karmadharaya from maha "great" and rajan "king"). Its use is primarily for Hindu potentates (ruler or sovereign). The female equivalent to Maharaja is Maharani (or Maharanee), a title used either by the wife of a Maharaja or, in the few states where that is possible, by a woman ruling in her own right. In Hindi, the suffix 'a' is silent so it is pronounced Maharaj.

Indian subcontinent

Use as a ruler's title

On the eve of independence in 1947, India (including present day Pakistan) consisted of more than 600 princely states (se that article for context), each with its own ruler, often styled Raja or Thakur (if the ruler were Hindu) or Nawab (if he was Muslim); there was a host of less current titles as well. The British directly ruled 1/3rd of India, the rest was under indirect rule by the above mentioned princes under the considerable influence of British representatives, such as Residents, at their courts. The word maharaja may be construed to be simply "king" (as in Jammu and Kashmir), in spite of its literal translation as "great king". This was because only a handful of the states were truly powerful and wealthy enough for their rulers to be considered 'great' monarchs; the remaining were minor principalities, sometimes little more then towns or groups of villages. The word, however, still means emperor in contemporary Indian usage. The title of Maharaja was not as common before the gradual British colonization of India, upon and after which many Rajas were elevated to Maharajas, regardless of the fact that scores of these new maharajas ruled small states. Sometimes a Raja was elevated to the rank of Maharaja for some reason unrelated to the eminence of the state, for example support in World War I or World War II. Two rajas who became maharajas in the twentieth century were the Maharaja of Cochin and the legendary Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala. Variations of this title include the following, each combining Maha- "great" with an alternatiev form of Raja: Maharana (as in Udaipur), Maharawal (as in Dungarpur/Jaisalmer), Maharawat (Pratapgarh), Maharao (as in Kotah, Bundi), and Maharaol (as in Baria). "Maharajah" has taken on new spellings due to time change and migration. It has even been shortened to "Mahraj",and "Maraj" but the most common is, if course, "Maharajah" and "Maharaj."

Nobiliary use


- Some Hindu nobles in the major, Muslim realm of Hyderabad & Berar, without a state of their own, like the Diwan (Prime Minister) Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad, had this title also, not unlike peerage titles without an actual dukedom etc. in the UK.

Malay world

Malaysia

In Malaysia, the title of the monarch of the state of Johor from 1873 to 1885. The title sultan, considered of higher rank, was adopted later and is in current usage. Part of title was also used by Malay nobility, the most famous of whom was Bendahara Seri Maharaja Tun Mutahir of Malacca (executed 1509) and Datuk Maharaja Lela Pandak Endut of Perak (executed 1876). The palace marshal of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (king) of modern Malaysia is called Datuk Maharaja Lela Penghulu Istana Negara.

Indonesia

Aceh

Maharaja was also part of the titles of the Aceh nobility. In the past the title of Maharaja is given to leader of the unreigning noble family and the Prime Minister Maharaja Mangkubumi. The last Prime Minister of Aceh who was installed to be the Maharaja Mangkubumi was Habib Abdurrahman el Zahir. He also acted as the foreign affairs minister of Aceh. He was desposed to Jeddah by Netherlands in October 13 1878.

See also


- Brahmanical See

Sources and References


-
- [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/India.htm WorldStatesmen Here India (most in Princely States A-J & K-Z); see also Indonesia, Malaysia etc.]
- [http://4dw.net/royalark/ Royal Ark] select first present country, then state/dynasty Category:Heads of state Category:Monarchy Category:Noble titles Category:Titles in India

States and territories of India

India is subdivided into twenty-eight states, six union territories and the National Capital Territory.

History

Pre-independence

British India, which included all of modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan, but not Ceylon, was made up of two types of territorial divisions, provinces and Princely States.

Provinces

Provinces of India were ruled directly by British officials; a governor, chief commissioner, or Administrator, who were appointed by the Viceroy. By 1947 British India had fifteen provinces: Ajmer-Merwara, Assam, Baluchistan, Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Central Provinces and Berar, Coorg, Delhi, Madras, Northwest Frontier, Orissa, Punjab, Sind, and United Provinces.

Princely States

Princely states were ruled by local, hereditary rulers, who acknowledged British sovereignty in return for local autonomy and British India had hundreds of princely states, which varied greatly in size, from Hyderabad, with a population of over ten million, to tiny states. Most of the princely states were under the authority of a British political agent responsible to the governor of a province. Two divisions, the Central India Agency and Rajputana Agency, consisted of numerous princely states which were governed by a political agent appointed by the Governor-General of India, rather than the governor of a province, and the four largest princely states, Hyderabad, Baroda, Mysore, and Jammu and Kashmir, were directly under the authority of the Governor-General.

Other European Possessions


- Portuguese India included the coastal enclaves of Goa, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli,
- French India included five enclaves, Pondichery, Chandernagore, Yanaon, Karikal, and Mahe.
- Danish India (integrated into British India prior to independence

Post-independence

With the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, provinces and princely states were assigned to one country or the other, with two provinces, Punjab and Bengal, partitioned between India and Pakistan along religious lines. Hyderabad's Muslim ruler attempted to remain independent, but the Indian army intervened and Hyderabad was annexed to India. India and Pakistan contested for control of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir; the state had a Muslim majority, but its Hindu ruler acceded to India. The period from independence in 1947 to the beginning of the Indian republic in 1950 saw the consolidation of the former princely states into new provinces, usually governed by a rajpramukh, (governor) appointed by the Governor-General of India. In 1950, the Indian constitution took effect, the office of the Governor-General was abolished, and India created several different categories of states. Part A states, which were the former provinces, were ruled by an elected governor and state legislature. The nine Part A states were Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh (formerly Central Provinces and Berar), Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Uttaranchal, and Uttar Pradesh (formerly United Provinces). The eight Part B states were former princely states or groups of princely states, governed by a rajpramukh. They were Hyderabad,