Lord Hardinge (1844-48), Governor General of India

His tenure of office was marked by the First Sikh War (1845). The English army occupied Lahore and dictated peace terms to the Sikhs (Treaty of Lahore, 1846). Hardinge introduced the principle of giving preference to English educated Indians in public employment- a policy which gave great fillip to English education but changed its character. He is also credited to have suppressed human sacrifice by the Khonds.

Position of Women in Vijayanagar Empire

Women occupied a very honourable position in the Viajayanagr society. Some of them were very learned and were eminent litterateurs. Monogamy was the general practice, but kings and nobility followed polygamous practices. Early marriages were common among the Brahmins. The plight of the widows was pitiable, but they could remarry. 

The state encouraged widow remarriage by not levying any marriage tax on their marriage. Women of the nobility and higher castes were carefully educated. Music and dancing formed an important part of their curriculum. Women were also wrestlers, astrologers, accountants, writers, musicians and even went to the battlefield. 

Another group of women were the courtesans who played a very important role in society. They were two classes: (a) those who were attached to the temples, and (b) those who lived independently. Their case was not homogeneous and it was open to women of any community to join their sisterhood. Courtesans were highly educated and cultured and no social stigma was attached to them. Most courtesans were very rich and enjoyed certain privileges.

During the Vijayanagar period, the Sati or Sahagaman was performed only by royal women. 

Doctrine of Lapse of Lord Dalhousie

Lord Dalhousie (1848-56) is regarded as one of the greatest governor generals of India and his contribution to the building up of the British India is enormous. 

No other single governor general of India added even the half the extent of territories, which were incorporated into the British dominions during the administration of Lord Dalhousie. 

These were nearly twice the area of England and Wales. Dalhousie made these annexations by freely applying the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ which he termed as “Annexation of Peace’. 

 Rulers of the Indian states believed that their states were annexed not because of the doctrine of lapse but on account of the lapse of the morals o the par of the East Indian Company. The states annexed by the application of this doctrine of lapse were Satara, Jaitpur and Sambalpur, Baghat, Udaipur, Jhansi and Nagpur.

Veer Savarkar, Great Revolutionary of India

Popularly known as Veer Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was a great revolutionary and later on a leader of the Hindu Mahasabha. In 1899 he established the first revolutionary society the Mitra Mela (Friends Association), which was named as the Abhinav Bharat Society (New India Society) in 1904. In 1906 he went to England and became a member of the revolutionary group led by Shyamji Krishna Varma. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Revolt of 1857, he wrote a famous book in which he called the Revolt the First war of Indian Independence. In London he was a close associate of Madan Lal Dhingra who murdered Curzon Wyllie with a bomb.

In 1910 he was arrested in London, brought to India and tried in the Nashik Conspiracy case. He was sentenced to two consecutive life transportations, which meant fifty years. He spent ten years in the Andaman jail-from 1911 to 1921 and three years in other prisons. After his early release from prosin in 1924 he organised a movement of social reforms and also joined the Hindu Mahasabha. He was elected president of the Hindu Mahasabha for five consecutive years, 1937-42.

Veer Savarkar was tried for his role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi but he was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.