When India became free, there
were over 200 princely States in Saurashtra alone! It would be interesting to
know how the British made inroads into Saurashtra and gained supremacy over the
States in Saurashtra. The following excerpts from the book ‘Saurashtra no
itihas – 1807 - 1948’ (History of Saurashtra), by A.V. Jani, published
by Darshak Itihas Nidhi (Darshak history fund), gives some idea of the
same.
“…In the 18th century,
first the Mughals and then the Marathas, in order to collect Khndni
(tribute) from Saurashtra, instead of keeping a permanent army [in the region], adopted the
system of Chadai - invasion with army. This system was called Mulakgiri…
…The army of the Gaekwad came often to Saurashtra to
collect Khndni (tribute/money)…
…By 1770, the Maratha rule
had been established in Gujarat. As per the treaty of distribution of regions
between Peshwa and Gaekwad, the work of collecting Khndni was done
by their collective armies. Many a times they would invade every year…they
had also increased the amount of Khndni a lot, they used to collect Khndni
with force and threats…the Sates that refused to give Khndni or
opposed used to be destroyed by them…
…The expense to maintain an
army for such invasions was very high…the Mulakgiri army turned the
regions through which it passed barren and the farmers suffered heavy losses…
the sole purpose of the Maratha Mulakgiri army was to collect maximum Khndni…
as a result, for the people [of Saurashtra] it was ‘pay up or invite
destruction.’…
…The
British Government was aware that a large portion of the income of the Gaekwad was
the Khndni collected from Saurashtra. [It so happened that] A part of
the Khndni amount due to the Gaekwad remained outstanding. To collect
that, help of British army was needed. Therefore they [Gaekwad] entered into a
treaty with the British Government and kept three platoons of British auxiliary
army and had also decided to send one platoon to Saurashtra if required…
…earlier too…in 1771, the
British East India Company with the help of the Bhavnagar Maharaja had defeated
the pirates of Talaja…in 1800 as per the British guarantee, collection of Peshwa’s
Khndni from Ahmedabad and Saurashtra was given exclusively to the
Gaekwad. In the mean time, due to the Vasai treaty, the British Government
power became supreme in Gujarat. With that, the British got a foot hold in
Saurashtra as Gaekwad’s friend and colleague…
…by the beginning of 19th
century, the Gaekwad and the Peshwa too did not remain very effective before
the wide powers of the British…
…Likewise many of the smaller States of Saurashtra for having suffered
due to the army of the Peshwa and Gaekwad who collected Khndni and also
fearful of the atrocities by the bigger States like Bhavnagar, Junagadh,
Jamnagar, had requested the British
company to provide protection and rescue them from such unjust - oppressive
situation…
…in 1807, it was found that getting involved in the matters of Saurashtra
was beneficial to the British and so Mumbai’s British Government gave them [British]
permission to go to Saurashtra…
…Keeping in mind various scenarios,
it was decided in 1807 that British resident Col. Walker along with British
army and Gaekwad’s army with its commander in chief Vitthalrao would go to
Saurashtra. The right to decide how much Khndni should each State of
Saurashtra pay…was given to Col. Walker…
…The Maratha army of the
Gaekwad and the British army under the leadership of Col. Walker came to
Saurashtra in the year 1807 and they made
continues efforts for a year to enter into a treaty regarding collection
of Khndni with the royalty of Saurashtra and in the end, in the month
of May 1808, they met with success…
…as per the special rules of
inheritance of the Rajputs the total of Khndiya Kings was coming to153 [153
States liable to pay Khndni]…The treaty regarding the payment of Khndni
with the 153 talukedars [revenue officers] is known as Walker treaty…with
this treaty the total amount of Khndni [tribute to be paid every year]
was Rs.9, 79,882 [there is no mention of how much of this was the share of the
British]…
…Like this, with the
exception of two States from all of Saurashtra, all the other states paid Khndni
to the Gaekwad. These two States were Diu under the Portuguese and Jafrabad
under the rule of Sidis of Janjira [Janjira is in today’s Maharashtra which has
a famous fort]…
…Col. Walker lived in
Saurashtra till the year 1809…He lived as British resident in Vadodara from
1802 to 1809…After him Capt. Kanark was appointed as the new resident of the
British in Vadodara…After the departure of Col Walker, the administration of
Saurashtra was under the Gaekwad’s commander in chief Vitthalrao Devaji. He was
appointed as Saurashtra’s revenue commissioner…In Saurashtra the capital city of
the Gaekwad was Amreli…
…Between 1807 to 1820, in the matters
of larger States of Saurashtra like Porbander, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Jamnagar,
there remained interference of the Gaekwad and the British power and the situation
was such that only with the help of the collective armies of both (British and
Gaekwad) it was possible [ for the larger States] to continue to retain their own
power. They had to take the help of this collective army in order to drive out
their enemies from their States. Therefore the British and the Gaekwad
authority had become very effective in Saurashtra. It was likely that the power and the region of anyone opposing it could be snatched away…
…In 1816, the Peshwa
accepted the British’s auxiliary army project and in return for the expense of
that army, gave up all their rights regarding Saurashtra through Pune treaty
(1817) to the British. As per the condition of the treaty, Peshwa forfeited their
rights over the Gaekwad by accepting the past dues of Rs 4 lacs and handed over
their [share of] Saurashtra Khndni to the British. This is how Gaekwad
became an independent King by separating from the Peshwa…
...moreover Peshwa were
defeated by the British in 1818…the British became the rulers of the Peshwa
States…the British became more powerful and the strength and powers of Gaekwad
reduced…In spite of having collected a lot of wealth through Mulakgiri, they [Gaekwad
state] had become a State with debt… a situation arose where in they too [Gaekwad]
had to depend on the British mercy and help. Therefore in the end, in the year
1820, the Gaekwad gave away their right to collect Khndni from
Saurashtra to the British powers...
...This is how the British became all powerful
in Saurashtra. Later Junagadh too gave up its right to collect Jortalbi (tribute)
to the British. As remuneration for the work of collection, the State of
Junagadh gave 25% of the amount collected to the British…this is how British
power became supreme in Saurashtra...
...This is how in 1820, the
complete powers that Gaekwad enjoyed in Saurashtra came into the hands of the
British. Therefore to look after the work of Saurashtra, the British Government
established British agency in Rajkot and appointed as its first political agent
Capt. R. Barnvel…
(Excerpts translated
by me from Gujarati)
