Subsidiary alliance

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A subsidiary alliance, in South Asian history, was a tributary alliance between an Indian state and a European East India Company.

Under this system, an Indian ruler who formed a treaty (agreement) with the company in question would be provided with protection against any external attacks. In return, the ruler was required to:

• keep the company's army at the capital of their state,
• accept the British as the supreme power,
• give either money or territory to the company for the maintenance of the troops,
• expel all other Europeans from their state, based on criteria of whether they were employed in the army or in the civil service,
• keep a British official called 'resident' at the capital of their state who would oversee all negotiations and communications with other states, meaning that the ruler was to have no direct correspondence or relations with other states, without the resident's approval.^[1]

The ruler was also forbidden from maintaining a standing army. Agents from the East India Company were hired to live in the places. They later started interfering in the internal affairs of the state, such as the next ruler or nawab.