Baroda (State)

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Baroda
1721-1949
Flag of Baroda
Baroda coat of arms
Maharaja's flag 1936-47 coat of arms
Capital Baroda
Form of government Princely state (21 rounds salute)
surface 21,564 km²
population 2,900,000 (1941)
currency Siyāsi rupee
founding 1721
resolution May 1, 1949
State religion: Hinduism
Dynasty: Gaekwad
Map of Barodas (1909) [1]
Map of Barodas (1909)
Maharaja Sayaji Rao III. Gaekwad (1919)
Maharaja Sayaji Rao III. Gaekwad (1919)

Baroda ( Vadodara ) was a princely state of British India in what is now the state of Gujarat .

history

The state was founded by one of the Marathas military leaders , Pilaji Rao (1721–1732) of the Gaekwad clan , and the ruler, a maharaja , was commonly known as the Gaekwad of Baroda . After the Marathas had wrested large parts of Gujarat and the Kathiawar peninsula from the Mughal Empire , the Peshwa and Gaekwad divided the conquered areas among themselves in 1755. In 1780 Maharaja Fateh Singh Rao sided with the British against the Peshwa. From that year, and finally from the Treaty of 1820, and until 1947, Baroda was a British protectorate .

The Gaekwad state fell into debt through struggles for succession and had to cede some provinces to the British East India Company in 1805 and 1807 . Relations with the British remained tense for the most part. In 1817, in the Treaty of Pune , the Peshwa renounced his claim to sovereignty over Baroda. Numerous smaller states in the area of ​​the Mahi Kantha , Rewa Kantha and Kathiawar Agencies remained tributary to the Gaekwad; from 1820 the British took over the collecting of the tributes.

Malhar Rao Gaekwad (1870-1875) was dethroned on charges of a murder conspiracy against the British resident and by his nephew Sayaji Rao III. Gaekwad, who ruled until 1939, modernized the state and founded a university . A remarkable gesture of "civil disobedience" towards the British colonial power has also been passed down from this ruler. When he was supposed to pay homage to the British monarch couple at the proclamation of George V as Emperor of India on the Delhi Durbar in 1911, he did not appear in front of the king adorned with jewels, as stipulated in the protocol, but took off all jewelry beforehand, did not bow and returned to the royal couple then wordlessly the back. British officials were shocked by the Maharaja's behavior. He later apologized in writing for his behavior, which was caused by "nervousness". In his government, the Maharaja, who was himself an educated man and spoke five languages, showed a progressive attitude. He was the first Indian ruler on the subcontinent to introduce free compulsory education in 1906. Child marriages were banned and measures were taken to improve the situation of women and the underprivileged castes. In 1913 the Maharaja funded a scholarship that enabled Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar , who later became the first Justice Minister of independent India and one of the spiritual fathers of the Indian constitution , to study at the prestigious Elphinstone College in Bombay .

In 1941 Baroda had an area consisting of many parts with an area of ​​21,564 km² and 2.9 million inhabitants. Unlike other princely states of this size, it did not have its own state post , but belonged to the territory of the British-Indian Post Office .

Even before the end of the colonial era, the " attachment scheme " began in 1940 to dissolve numerous dwarf states . Baroda was one of the main beneficiaries of this measure, about 15,000 km² with about half a million inhabitants were gained. Pethāpur (Feb. 1, 1940), the Khatosan Thana with Deloli, Kalsapura, Maguna, Memadpura, Rampura, Ranipura, Tejpura, Varsora, the Palaj- Taluka and the two Ijpura states (June, July 1940) were absorbed. On July 10, 1943, the following states followed: Amlīyārā, Ghorasār, Ilol, Katosan, Khadāl, Patdi, Punādra, Ranāsan, Wasoda and Wao. There were also numerous small and tiny talukas in the region. On July 24, 1943, in addition to the state of Sachodar, numerous smaller areas that had no jurisdiction of their own were attached. In December the states of Bajana, Bhilka, Mālpur, Mānsa, Vadia followed.

When the British withdrew from India in 1947 (see History of India ), Baroda initially gained independence. On May 1, 1949, it was annexed to India and incorporated into the Indian state of Bombay . On November 1, 1956, all Indian principalities were abolished. Baroda (Vadodara) has been part of the state of Gujarat since 1960 .

currency

Baroda coined, since 1819 in his own name, the Siyāsi rupee (10.7–11.6 g), which also circulated in the surrounding areas. Before the silver crisis (1870–1895) their value was 56 pies (P.) of the imperial rupee . Compared to the copper coins of the states, their value fluctuated strongly between 70 and 90 P. Machine-minted, knurled coins were available from 1887. The minting of silver rupies ended in 1899. Mohure (6.2–6.40 g gold) were 1885–1898 and again Coined in 1938, but mostly served as collector's items. Around the turn of the century, ⅓ and ⅙ sections were also produced.

See also

literature

  • Andreas Birken : Philatelic Atlas of British India. CD-ROM. Birken, Hamburg 2004.
  • Baroda State. In: The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Volume 7: Bareilly to Berasiā. New Edition. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1908, pp. 25-78 .
  • George B. Malleson: An historical sketch of the native states of India. Longmans, Green & Co., London 1875, ( digitized version ).
  • Joseph E. Schwartzberg (Ed.): A historical atlas of South Asia (= Association for Asian Studies. Reference Series. 2). 2nd impression, with additional material. Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1992, ISBN 0-19-506869-6 .

Web links

Commons : Principality of Baroda  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Baroda State. In: The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Volume 7: Bareilly to Berasiā. New Edition. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1908, pp. 25-78 .
  2. ↑ The event is also recorded on film: The Great Coronation of Delhi Durbar 1911 , YouTube video
  3. ↑ Alastair Lawson: Indian maharajah's daring act of anti-colonial dissent. BBC News, December 10, 2011, accessed March 15, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Formerly states fourth grade in the Mahi Kantha Agency .
  5. ↑ John McLeod: Sovereignty, power, control. Politics in the State of Western India, 1916-1947 (= Brill's Indological Library. Vol. 15). Brill, Leiden et al. 1999, ISBN 90-04-11343-6 , p. 160.