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    Lord Dalhousie was the Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856. During his time, he widely applied the Doctrine of Lapse to annex princely states. The Doctrine of Lapse stated that if a princely state's ruler did not have a male heir, the state would become part of British India. Using this policy, Lord Dalhousie annexed several states including Satara, Jaitpur, Sambhalpur, Baghat, Jhansi, Udaipur, and Nagpur. The annexations caused unrest among Indian princes and contributed to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against British rule.

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    Lord Dalhousie was the Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856. During his time, he widely applied the Doctrine of Lapse to annex princely states. The Doctrine of Lapse stated that if a princely state's ruler did not have a male heir, the state would become part of British India. Using this policy, Lord Dalhousie annexed several states including Satara, Jaitpur, Sambhalpur, Baghat, Jhansi, Udaipur, and Nagpur. The annexations caused unrest among Indian princes and contributed to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against British rule.

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    1K views2 pages

    Doctrine of Lapse PDF

    Uploaded by

    simran yadav
    Lord Dalhousie was the Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856. During his time, he widely applied the Doctrine of Lapse to annex princely states. The Doctrine of Lapse stated that if a princely state's ruler did not have a male heir, the state would become part of British India. Using this policy, Lord Dalhousie annexed several states including Satara, Jaitpur, Sambhalpur, Baghat, Jhansi, Udaipur, and Nagpur. The annexations caused unrest among Indian princes and contributed to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against British rule.

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    of 2

    UPSC Civil Services Examination

    Modern Indian History

    Topic: Doctrine of Lapse


    The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy followed widely by Lord Dalhousie when he was
    India’s Governor-General from 1848 to 1856. It was used as an administrative policy for the extension
    of British Paramountcy. Important for IAS Exam, aspirants should know the facts about the Doctrine of
    Lapse from prelims and mains perspectives.

    This article will introduce the Doctrine of Lapse along with its feature and names of the states annexed
    under the policy.

    Who was Lord Dalhousie & What is the Doctrine of Lapse?

    Lord Dalhousie was Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856. He had been a famous Scottish
    statesman. In British India, there are various events that he witnessed as an administrator and executed.
    The doctrine of Lapse is one of the administrative policies used by the British to expand their dominion
    in India. Introduced, by Dalhousie, the Doctrine of Lapse has several features given below.

    Note:

    1. The doctrine of Lapse is not originated by Lord Dalhousie.


    2. Dalhousie, though is related to this policy as during his governor-generalship several important cases
    arose in which the ‘Doctrine’ could be applied.

    Features of Doctrine of Lapse

     According to this, any princely state under the direct or indirect (as a vassal) control of the East India
    Company where the ruler did not have a legal male heir would be annexed by the company.
     This was not introduced by Lord Dalhousie even though it was he who documented it and used it widely
    to acquire territories for the British.
     As per this, any adopted son of the Indian ruler could not be proclaimed as heir to the kingdom. The
    adopted son would only inherit his foster father’s personal property and estates.
     The adopted son would also not be entitled to any pension that his father had been receiving or to any of
    his father’s titles.
     This challenged the Indian ruler’s long-held authority to appoint an heir of their choice.

    The Doctrine of Lapse - States Annexed

    The states that were annexed under this policy are given below in ascending order:
    States Annexed by Doctrine of Lapse Year of Annexation
    Satara 1848
    Jaitpur 1849
    Sambhalpur 1849
    Baghat Jhansi 1850
    Udaipur 1852
    Jhansi 1853
    Nagpur 1854

     In 1824, before the time of Dalhousie, the princely state of Kittur was acquired by the East India
    Company by this doctrine.
     It was as per this policy that Nana Sahib, the adopted son of the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II was denied
    his titles and pension.
     The final moment came and Awadh was annexed to the English East India Company under the terms of
    the Doctrine of Lapse on the grounds of internal misrule on 7 February 1856 AD. This annexation was
    one of the reasons for Mutiny of 1857.

    Effects of Doctrine of Lapse

     Many Indian states lost their sovereignty and became British territories.
     This led to a lot of unrest among the Indian princes.
     A lot of people were unhappy with the ‘illegal’ nature of this doctrine and this was one of the causes of
    the Indian Revolt of 1857.
     Nana Sahib and the Rani of Jhansi had grievances against the British because the former’s pension was
    stopped by the British after his foster father died, and the Rani’s adopted son was denied the throne under
    the doctrine of lapse.
     Dalhousie returned to Britain in 1856. After the Indian Revolt broke out in 1857, his governance was
    widely criticised as one of the causes of the rebellion.

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