RAS question
Baji Rao II signed the Treaty of Bassein (1802) with:
Correct answer: (B) The British.
Baji Rao II signed the Treaty of Bassein in 1802 with the British.
Explanation
Peshwa Baji Rao II signed the Treaty of Bassein with the British on 31 December 1802 after Jaswant Rao Holkar defeated Sindhia and the Peshwa at Pune, forcing Baji Rao to flee to Bassein and seek British help. Britannica describes the treaty as a pact between Baji Rao II, the Maratha Peshwa of Poona, and the British. Its terms made the Peshwa dependent on British power: he accepted a British subsidiary force, ceded territory for its upkeep, excluded other Europeans from his service, and agreed to consult the British in foreign relations. This client status weakened the Maratha confederacy and led to the Second Maratha War.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Tipu Sultan cannot be the treaty partner because he died in 1799, before the 1802 Treaty of Bassein.
- (C) The treaty was not with the French; its terms specifically required the Peshwa to exclude Europeans other than the British from his service.
- (D) The treaty was not with the Nizam; Britannica identifies it as a pact between Baji Rao II and the British.
Concept
This tests subsidiary alliance politics and the decline of the Maratha confederacy under British expansion. It recurs in RAS because treaties such as Bassein link factual chronology with larger questions on colonial consolidation in India.