Question

what was the doctrine of lapse and how did it affect the rulers of india?

Answer 1

Hey mate,

The Doctrine of Lapse was designed by Lord Dalhousie. According to The Doctrine of Lapse, if an Indian ruler died without a male successor, the kingdom would end and hence would come under the control of the Company.

Many kingdoms were occupied by the Company by implementing this doctrine.

Satara, Nagpur, Sambalpur, Udaipur and Jhansi were annexed.

At last, Awadh was also annexed by the British which made people furious and led to the Great Revolt of 1857.

Hope this answer will help you

Answer 2

Dalhousie who arrived in India as the governor general in 1848 made an attempt to integrate Indian princely States with the British empire. he adopted Doctrine of lapse policy whereby the adopted children of Indian Kings were refused of their right to throne.
according to this policy "If any Indian ruler dies without children, then their adopted children had no legal right over the throne". and such States gets merged with the British empire.
EFFECTS:
many Indian states lost their soverginity and came under the British territories.
princely States like satara, Nagpur, sambalpur, Udaipur, Jhansi, Jaipur came under this policy.
as the governor general knew the condition of these states, he used this policy as a political weapon.
a lot of people were unhappy with the illegal nature of this policy and this was one of the main cause of Indian revolt of 1857.
their love for their Kings and sense of loyalty fuelled this rebellion further.
this resulted in the Sepoy mutiny of 1857.