Princely state
A princely state was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British Indian government, but rather by an indigenous ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to a subsidiary alliance and the suzerainty or paramountcy of the British Crown.
In 1920, the Indian National Congress party under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi declared swaraj for Indians as its goal and asked the princes of India to establish responsible government. Jawaharlal Nehru played a major role in pushing Congress to confront the princely states and declared in 1929 that "the only people who have the right to determine the future of the Princely States must be the people of these States". In the 1937 Indian provincial elections, the Congress won in most parts of India, excluding the princely states, where there were no elections, as they were not provinces; it started to seek to intervene in the affairs of the states. In the same year, Gandhi played a major role in proposing a federation involving a union between British India and the princely states, with an Indian central government. In 1946, Nehru observed that no princely state could prevail militarily against the army of independent India.
At the time of the British withdrawal, 565 princely states were officially recognized in the Indian Subcontinent, apart from thousands of zamindari estates and jagirs. In 1947, princely states covered 40% of the area of pre-independence India and constituted 23% of its population. The most important princely states had their own Indian political residencies: Hyderabad of the Nizams, Mysore, Pudukkottai and Travancore in the South, Jammu and Kashmir and Gwalior in North and Indore in Central India. The most prominent among those – roughly a quarter of the total – had the status of a salute state, one whose ruler was entitled to a set number of gun salutes on ceremonial occasions.
The princely states varied greatly in status, size, and wealth; the premier 21-gun salute states of Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir were each over in size. In 1941, Hyderabad had a population of over 16 million, while Jammu and Kashmir had a population of slightly over 4 million. At the other end of the scale, the non-salute principality of Lawa covered an area of, with a population of just below 3,000. Some two hundred of the lesser states even had an area of less than.
After 15 August 1947, most of the princely states soon acceded to India or Pakistan, or were conquered, as in the case of Hyderabad; but for some years many continued to exist within them, until suppressed.
History
The princely states at the time of Indian independence were mostly formed after the disintegration of the Mughal Empire. Many princely states had a foreign origin due to the long period of external migration to India. Some of these were the rulers of Hyderabad, Bhopal and Janjira. Among the Hindu kingdoms, most of the rulers were Kshatriya. Only the Rajput states, Manipur, and a scattering of South Indian kingdoms could trace their lineage to the pre-Mughal period.The standard list of Princely States, the Alqabnamah, began alphabetically with Abu Dhabi. The list also features Bhutan, Bahrain, and Ajman as "Protectorates" of the Viceroy, and features Nepal as an "independent state", with the Aga Khan also appearing as a prince without any land.
British relationship with the princely states
consisted of two types of territory: British India and the native states or princely states. In its Interpretation Act 1889, the British Parliament adopted the following definitions:
The expression "British India" shall mean all territories and places within Her Majesty's dominions which are for the time being governed by Her Majesty through the Governor-General of India or through any governor or other officer subordinate to the Governor-General of India.
The expression "India" shall mean British India together with any territories of any native prince or chief under the suzerainty of Her Majesty exercised through the Governor-General of India, or through any governor or other officer subordinate to the Governor-General of India.
In general the term "British India" had been used also to refer to the regions under the rule of the East India Company in India from 1774 to 1858.
The British Crown's suzerainty over 175 princely states, generally the largest and most important, was exercised in the name of the British Crown by the central government of British India under the Viceroy; the remaining approximately 400 states were influenced by Agents answerable to the provincial governments of British India under a governor, lieutenant-governor, or chief commissioner. A clear distinction between "dominion" and "suzerainty" was supplied by the jurisdiction of the courts of law: the law of British India rested upon the legislation enacted by the British Parliament, and the legislative powers those laws vested in the various governments of British India, both central and local; in contrast, the courts of the princely states existed under the authority of the respective rulers of those states.
Princely status and titles
The Indian rulers bore various titles including Maharaja or Raja, Emir, Raje, Nizam, Wadiyar, Agniraj Maharaj for the rulers of Bhaddaiyan Raj, Chogyal, Nawab, Nayak, Wāli, Inamdar, Saranjamdar and many others. Whatever the literal meaning and traditional prestige of the ruler's actual title, the British government translated them all as "prince", to avoid the implication that the native rulers could be "kings" with status equal to that of the British monarch.File:British Residency in Kollam.jpg|right|thumb|An old image of the British Residency in the city of Quilon, Kerala
More prestigious Hindu rulers often used the title "Raja", or a variant such as Raje, Rai, Rana, Babu, Rao, Rawat, or Rawal. Also in this 'class' were several Thakurs or Thai ores and a few particular titles, such as Sardar, Mankari, Deshmukh, Sar Desai, Istamuradar, Saranjamdar, Raja Inamdar, etc. The most prestigious Hindu rulers usually had the prefix "maha-" in their titles, as in Maharaja, Maharana, Maharao, etc. This was used in many princely states including Nagpur, Kolhapur, Gwalior, Baroda, Mewar, Travancore and Cochin. The state of Travancore also had queens regent styled Maharani, applied only to the sister of the ruler in Kerala.
Muslim rulers almost all used the title "Nawab" originally used by Mughal governors, who became de facto autonomous with the decline of the Mughal Empire, with the prominent exceptions of the Nizam of Hyderabad & Berar, the Wali/Khan of Kalat and the Wali of Swat.
Other less usual titles included Darbar Sahib, Dewan, Jam, Mehtar and Mir.
The Sikh princes concentrated at Punjab usually adopted titles when attaining princely rank. A title at a level of Maharaja was used.
There were also compound titles, such as rajadhiraj, Raj-i-rajgan, often relics from an elaborate system of hierarchical titles under the Mughal emperors. For example, the addition of the adjective Bahadur raised the status of the titleholder one level.
Furthermore, most dynasties used a variety of additional titles such as Varma in South India. This should not be confused with various titles and suffixes not specific to princes but used by entire castes. This is almost analogous to Singh title in North India.
Precedence and prestige
The actual importance of a princely state could not be read from the title of its ruler, which was usually granted as a favor, often in recognition for loyalty and services rendered to the British Raj. Although some titles were raised once or even repeatedly, there was no automatic updating when a state gained or lost real power. Princely titles were even awarded to holders of domains and even taluqdars and zamindars, which were not states at all. Most of the zamindars who held princely titles were in fact erstwhile princely and royal states reduced to becoming zamindars by the British East India Company. Various sources give significantly different numbers of states and domains of the various types. Even in general, the definitions of titles and domains are clearly not well-established.Image:Nawab junagadh1885.jpg|thumb|The Nawab of Junagadh Bahadur Khan III shown in an 1885 photograph with state officials and family
Image:Maharani sikkim1900.jpg|thumb|Photograph of the Maharani of Sikkim. Sikkim was under the suzerainty of the Provincial government of Bengal; its ruler received a 15-gun salute.
File:Group portrait of the Maharaja of Mysore and his brothers and sisters.jpg|right|thumb|An 1895 group photograph of the eleven-year-old Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, ruler of the princely state of Mysore in South India, with his brothers and sisters. In 1799, his grandfather, then aged five, had been granted dominion of Mysore by the British and forced into a subsidiary alliance. The British later directly governed the state between 1831 and 1881.
Image:Maharaja rewapalace govindgarh1870.jpg|right|thumb|The Govindgarh Palace of the Maharaja of Rewa. The palace which was built as a hunting lodge later became famous for the first white tigers that were found in the adjacent jungle and raised in the palace zoo.
In addition to their titles, all princely rulers were eligible to be appointed to certain British orders of chivalry associated with India, the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India and the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire. Women could be appointed as "Knights" of these orders. Rulers entitled to 21-gun and 19-gun salutes were normally appointed to the highest rank, Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India.
Many Indian princes served in the British Army, the Indian Army, or in local guard or police forces, often rising to high ranks; some even served while on the throne. Many of these were appointed as an aide-de-camp, either to the ruling prince of their own house or to British monarchs. Many saw active service, both on the subcontinent and on other fronts, during both World Wars.
Apart from those members of the princely houses who entered military service and who distinguished themselves, a good number of princes received honorary ranks as officers in the British and British Indian Armed Forces. Those ranks were conferred based on several factors, including their heritage, lineage, gun-salute as well as personal character or martial traditions. After the First and Second World Wars, the princely rulers of several of the major states, including Gwalior, Patiala, Nabha, Faridkort, Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jammu and Kashmir and Hyderabad, were given honorary general officer ranks as a result of their states' contributions to the war effort.
- Lieutenant/Captain/Flight Lieutenant or Lieutenant-Commander/Major/Squadron Leader
- Commander/Lieutenant-Colonel/Wing Commander or Captain/Colonel/Group Captain
- Commodore/Brigadier/Air Commodore
- Major-General/Air Vice-Marshal
- Lieutenant-General
- General