The conquest of territories and the expansionist policy of the British East India Company led to a series of rebellions by deposed kings or their descendants, uprooted zamindars and palayakkarars. Historians call this primary resistance. Independent of these were the uprisings of dispossessed peasants and tribals, hit by British changes in agrarian relations, the land revenue system and judicial administration. This chapter covers the resistance in south India and the Great Rebellion of 1857.
1. Rise of Haider Ali in Mysore
- Mysore was a small feudatory kingdom under the Vijayanagar Empire. After Vijayanagar fell in 1565, the Wodeyars asserted independence; Raja Wodeyar ascended the throne in 1578.
- The capital moved from Mysore to Srirangapatnam in 1610. The Wodeyars reigned until 1760, when real power passed to Haider Ali.
- Haider's father Fateh Muhammad was the Faujdar (garrison commander) of Kolar. By 1755 Haider commanded 100 horsemen and 2000 infantry men.
- He received the title "Fateh Haider Bahadur" ("the brave and victorious Lion"). In 1760 he allied with the French at Pondicherry against the English.
- After handling a Maratha plot he became Dalawai and the de facto ruler of Mysore. In 1770 the Mysore king Nanjaraja was poisoned and Haider's hand was suspected; thereafter the Wodeyars were only nominal rulers.