The Fall of the Princely House of Bhosle: A Three-part Drama in Letters

Abstract

The article examines the doctrine of lapse, which was actively used in the 1840-1850s by the British authorities in India. The status of princely state could be abolished and the land was transferred to the East India Company if the ruler was either manifestly incompetent or died without a male heir. In 1854, this was the fate of the Nagpur princely state, one of the largest political formations in the South Asian subcontinent. The liquidation of the court and princely privileges took several years and was accompanied by an exchange between Bhosle family and the British officials of memoranda, notes and letters, which reveal in detail the “kitchen” – practices and theoretical justifications – of this kind territorial annexations. Methodologically, the proposed analysis is localized in the field of Emotion Studies and is specifically devoted to imperial feelings that developed in the zone of interaction between different levels of the power hierarchy formed by the colonial situation. The Sepoy uprising of 1857-1858, which became one of the consequences of the “doctrine of lapse” policy and endangered the very existence of the British Raj, forced the British authorities to abandon the further territorial expansion and pay more attention to the sentiments of local rulers, many of whom sided with the rebels. Later establishing ties with local traditional elites, building emotionally trusting relationships with them became an important area of activity of the colonial administration, in which a lot of funds and efforts were invested.