The school system in the US taught me approximately nothing about India, maybe only it's name and the fact that it's shape was British Empire colo~~u~~red in that one historic map, but those were more like background details for smart kids who can piece together clues and grand narratives on their own rather than say actual intentional history lessons.

I'm not even sure I learned who Gandhi was in school, I think I absorbed that from pop culture references/movies/motivational posters/pacifist propaganda.

I've never heard of anyone calling India a vassal state tho, I'm not even sure who the liege state would be.