Events in the year 1851 in India.

• James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie, Governor-General of India, 1848 to 1856
• Vyankatrao I Raje Ghorpade, Raja of Mudhol State, 20 February 1818-December 1854
• Muhammad Said Khan, Nawab of Rampur from 1840 to 1855, died on 1 April
• Ghulam Muhammad Ghouse Khan, Nawab of the Carnatic, 1825-1855
• Chintaman Rao I "Appa Sahib", founder and Rao of Sangli State, 1782–15 July 1851
• Dhundi Rao Chintaman Rao "Tatya Sahib", Rao of Sangli State, 15 July 1851-12 December 1901
• Gumansinhji, Maharawal of Chhota Udaipur State, 1822-1851
• Jitsinhji, Maharawal of Chhota Udaipur State, 1851-1881
• Ram Baksh, Prime Minister of Hyderabad, September 1849–April 1851
• Ganesh Rao, April 1851–June 1851
• Ratan Singh, Maharajah of Bikaner State, 25 March 1828-7 August 1851
• Sardar Singh, Maharajah of Bikaner State, 7 August 1851–16 May 1872

• The first experimental electric telegraph line, between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour, is opened for the British East India Company
• Oriental Bank Corporation chartered to allow competition with the East India Company's opium billing monopoly
• Naga raided the East India Company from 1851 to 1865
• The first train in India becomes operational on 22 December, for localised hauling of canal construction material in Roorkee^[1]
• British Indian Association, a pan-nationalist political group, established on 31 October
• Dadabhai Naoroji foundesthe Rahnumae Mazdayasne Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1 August
• Mongnawng State gained independence from Hsenwi State
• Murree established in the Punjab
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hyderabad established as Apostolic Vicariate of Hyderabad from the Apostolic Vicariate of Madras
• Holy Trinity Church, Bangalore built
• Government Museum, Chennai established

• The British Parliament passes the Lunatics Removal (India) Act 1851 and the Marriages, India Act 1851
• Indian Tolls Act
• Court of Chancery Act 1851 (British statute)

• Mahmud al-Hasan, a Deobandi scholar who actively campaigned against Britain's rule in India, born in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
• Jaswant Singh of Bharatpur, ruled Bharatpur State, born in Deeg on 1 March
• Henry George Impey Siddons, an Indian educationist, born in Indore
• Harry Charles Purvis Bell, British civil servant and a commissioner in the Ceylon Civil Service
• Henry Stephens Salt, British writer and social reformer, born on 20 September

• Ayya Vaikundar, also known as Historical Vaikundar, who effectively founded the Ayyavazhi religion, died on 3 June
• Chintaman Rao I "Appa Sahib", founder of Sangli State, died on 15 July 1851
• Ratan Singh, Maharajah of Bikaner State, died on 7 August 1851
• John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune, Anglo-Indian lawyer and a pioneer in promoting women's education, died on 12 August in Kolkata