<P> The Indian self - rule movement was a mass - based movement that encompassed various sections of society . It also underwent a process of constant ideological evolution . Although the basic ideology of the movement was anti-colonial, it was supported by a vision of independent capitalist economic development coupled with a secular, democratic, republican, and civil - libertarian political structure . After the 1930s, the movement took on a strong socialist orientation, owing to the influence of Bhagat Singh's demand of Purn Swaraj (Complete Self - Rule). The work of these various movements led ultimately to the Indian Independence Act 1947, which ended the suzerainty in India and the creation of Pakistan . India remained a Dominion of the Crown until 26 January 1950, when the Constitution of India came into force, establishing the Republic of India; Pakistan was a dominion until 1956, when it adopted its first republican constitution . In 1971, East Pakistan declared independence as the People's Republic of Bangladesh . </P> <P> European traders first reached Indian shores with the arrival of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498 at the port of Calicut, in search of the lucrative spice trade . Just over a century later, the Dutch and English established trading outposts on the subcontinent, with the first English trading post set up at Surat in 1613 . Over the course of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the British defeated the Portuguese and Dutch militarily, but remained in conflict with the French, who had by then sought to establish themselves in the subcontinent . The decline of the Mughal Empire in the first half of the eighteenth century provided the British with the opportunity to establish a firm foothold in Indian politics . After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, during which the East India Company's Indian Army under Robert Clive defeated Siraj ud - Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, the Company established itself as a major player in Indian affairs, and soon afterwards gained administrative rights over the regions of Bengal, Bihar and Midnapur part of Orissa, following the Battle of Buxar in 1764 . After the defeat of Tipu Sultan, most of South India came either under the Company's direct rule, or under its indirect political control as part a princely state in a subsidiary alliance . The Company subsequently gained control of regions ruled by the Maratha Empire, after defeating them in a series of wars . The Punjab was annexed in 1849, after the defeat of the Sikh armies in the First (1845--1846) and Second (1848--49) Anglo - Sikh Wars . </P> <P> English was made the medium of instruction in India's schools in 1835, and many Indians increasingly disliked British rule . The English tried to impose the Western standards of education and culture on Indian masses, believing in the 18th century racist notion of the superiority of Western culture and enlightenment . </P> <P> Puli Thevar was one of the opponents of the British rule in India . He was in conflict with the Nawab of Arcot who was supported by the British . His prominent exploits were his confrontations with Marudhanayagam, who later rebelled against the British in the late 1750s and early 1760s . Nelkatumseval the present Tirunelveli Dist of Tamil Nadu state of India was the headquarters of Puli Thevan </P>

Indian national movement 1857 to 1947 in telugu