What was the reason or ground for the British Empire to annex Sambalpur in 1850?

The British Empire annexed Sambalpur in 1850 under the 'Doctrine of Lapse' policy, which was aggressively implemented by Lord Dalhousie during his tenure as Governor-General (1848–1856) [2]. This doctrine declared that if an Indian ruler of a dependent princely state died without a natural male heir, the kingdom would 'lapse' and become part of the British East India Company's territory. In the case of Sambalpur, the ruler Narayan Singh died in 1849 without a direct male successor, leading to its formal annexation in 1850 [t2]. While other states like Awadh were annexed on grounds of misgovernment, Sambalpur specifically fell due to the absence of a legitimate heir. This policy ignored traditional adoption rights, causing significant resentment among Indian royalty and contributing to the eventual 1857 uprising [2][t1].

Sources

1. [2] https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/hess202.pdf