Death of Raja Gagadhar Rao

Days passed by and the baby was unwell and died when he was just four months old.there were mourning everywhere.Both Raja and Rani could not come out of this sorrow.Gangadhar rao was unwell as could not bear this loss and he was worried as there was no heir to his throne after his death.Due to this situation Raja and Rani adopted Damodar Rao as their son and Rani bore more love and affetion towards his adopted son. The raja was heartbroken, and became increasingly eccentric and soon began to be consumed by repeated episodes of bloody diarrhea.
. Dalhousie and the Doctrine of Lapse
Dalhousie was perhaps the most ambitious of the governor generals in India. He was the first to destroy the power of the Punjab, and annex it. He ordered fresh enlistment in the army for expeditions into Burma. His final stroke was the annexation of Oudh, reasons being gross mismanagement by the Nawab. But his most audacious gamble was to proclaim the doctrine of lapse, which in Major Bell’s words “a disastrous and rapacious policy.”

According to this promulgation, the British government would directly annex any state whose king left no natural heirs, although traditional Hindu law allowed kings to adopt sons, to continue their rule and lineage. Surprisingly, the so called British fairplay was nowhere in sight, as not even a single question was raised in the British parliament against this move of Dalhousie. Blinded by greed, and the 4 million pounds in excess revenue generated in its wake, the queen and the British public left no stone unturned in eulogizing Dalhousie and deluging him with congratulatory texts. Indeed, at that moment, Britain for all its intellectual traditions, betrayed its real worth as a parochial nation of shopkeepers.

Satara, a kingdom in Maharashtra became the first victim of this farcical policy. It was soon followed by Jaitpur and Sambalpur in 1849. The next in line was the kingdom of Jhansi.

The Fate of Jhansi
Gangadhar Rao’s condition progressively worsened, and sensing the approaching danger, and to prevent the state from lapsing into British hands, he decided to adopt Damodar Rao, a child of around five, from the same family tree of the Nevalkar family. The deed was done in the presence of the principal nobles of his court and Major Ellis, political agent of Jhansi and Captain Martin, officer commanding Jhansi contingents [7] the king asked the British to remember his fidelity towards them, and treat the child and the widow to whom he had vested administrative rights with utmost kindness. Gangadhar Rao died in November, 1853, and rendered Lakshmi Bai, widow and queen possibly under the illusion that ‘native fidelity would be rewarded’ by the British masters.