princely state
- Also called:
- native state
- Related Topics:
- India
- principality
What were princely states in colonial India?
What was the policy of subsidiary alliance?
What happened to princely states after India’s independence?
princely state, nominally autonomous territory in colonial India, subject to indirect rule by the East India Company and, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, by the British crown. British-controlled India was divided into provinces, which were directly administered by colonial authorities, and princely states, which were nominally ruled by Indian monarchs. Princely states occupied some two-fifths of the Indian subcontinent. More than 500 of these principalities existed when British India achieved independence in 1947, and all eventually integrated into either India or Pakistan, which was created as a separate country by the partition of India. Prominent princely states included Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Gwalior, Baroda, and Mysore.
Background
The princely states differed in size, population, wealth, and status. The rulers used various titles—maharaja was a common appellation for Hindu monarchs and nawab for Muslim rulers. Exceptions included the nizam of Hyderabad, whose state was one of the most prominent states. Several principalities predated the rise of the Mughals (1526–1857); some, such as the states that formed the Sikh empire (among them Jammu and Kashmir), emerged during the Mughal period.
Status under the East India Company
As the Mughal Empire began to disintegrate in the politically turbulent 18th century, the states became engaged in a contest for political supremacy. Several entered alliances with the East India Company, which had gained ascendancy after defeating the nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The company’s imperialist ambition was initially commercial in nature and later evolved to political.
Policy of subsidiary alliance
The East India Company’s early treaties with states secured them trade concessions and allowed them to station a resident (or agent for groups of states known as agencies) in each state to protect the company’s commercial interests. This stance shifted to include political intervention, particularly with the policy of subsidiary alliances followed by Lord Wellesley (governor-general of Bengal from 1798 to 1805). Rulers who signed treaties under this policy agreed to recognize the supreme authority of the East India Company, which would oversee defense and external affairs. The residents began interfering in governance and played decisive roles in questions of succession and other internal affairs.
The East India Company made severe revenue demands on princely India, depleting exchequers and forcing rulers to introduce crippling levels of taxation in their states. Over time the Company annexed several principalities, such as Awadh in 1856.
Doctrine of lapse
The company’s attitude toward princely India changed again with the doctrine of lapse policy, by which the British annexed states where the ruler died without a male heir. Lord Dalhousie (governor-general of India from 1838 to 1849) brought seven states under direct company rule by this method, causing widespread discontent. One such state was Jhansi, which Dalhousie annexed by refusing to recognize the adopted son of Maharaja Gangadhar Rao and Queen Lakshmi Bai as the legitimate ruler after Rao’s death. Lakshmi Bai became a rallying figure in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 along with Nana Sahib, Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II’s adopted son, who had been similarly disregarded.
Status in the British raj
Princely Burma
In the 1800s the British gained control over Burma (now Myanmar). Principalities collectively known as the Shan and Karenni states formed an administrative division called the Federated Shan States. These were regarded as the Burmese equivalent of the Indian princely states.
The British crown assumed control of India after the Rebellion of 1857, during which several rulers had attempted to extinguish uprisings within their states. The doctrine of lapse was abandoned after the transfer of power, and princely India agreed to submit to the paramountcy of the crown. In turn, the new British dispensation’s outlook toward Indian royalty was favorable.
During the Imperial Durbar of 1877, in which Queen Victoria assumed the title of empress of India, a proclamation declared that the monarch would:
respect the rights, dignity and honor of native princes as our own
The status of the princely states varied according to the incumbent viceroy’s inclination. Lord Canning (viceroy from 1858 to 1862) ensured dynastic succession by granting 150 certificates legitimizing adopted heirs. Lord Curzon (viceroy from 1898 to1905), on the other hand, forbade foreign travel for the rulers and deposed several. The dominance of the British raj in princely India was almost absolute. Rulers had limited internal autonomy and had to surrender control of the railway system and other modes of communication. British Indian laws were applied in combination with decrees by the rulers. The states continued to labor under severe financial strain. Land tax in princely India significantly exceeded taxation rates in the provinces, and very few states progressed in economic and social development.
In 1921 the British government established the Chamber of Princes, or the Narendra Mandal, an assembly that advocated for the interests of princely India. The states were later brought into the constitutional ambit of the British raj by the Government of India Act of 1935, which proposed the establishment of a federation consisting of the provinces and princely states. The states could send representatives to the federal legislature. However, these would be representatives of the ruler and not of the state populace.
Gun salute system
Imperial Service Troops
From 1888 onward princely states were expected to provide auxiliary troops to the Indian Army. These were called into service during the Boxer Rebellion (1900) in China. They were deployed in World War I (1914–18), fighting notable battles at Tanga in East Africa and Haifa in the Middle East. Engagements in World War II (1939–45) included the Battle of Imphal.
The East India Company incorporated the states into an imperial hierarchy, in which precedence was numerically denoted by the entitlement of gun salutes. The British raj continued this system, with the crown the highest in the order (101 salutes). Under this structure, princely India was divided into:
- Salute states: Rulers of the major states were entitled to a salute by the firing of guns or cannon. The greater the shots fired (up to 21), the greater the prestige of the state. Rulers of states entitled to 9 or more salutes were allowed to use the honorific “Highness.”
- Non-salute states: The majority of princely India was excluded from the ranking system, and most rulers were not entitled to a gun salute.
Participation in the Independence Movement
The Congress Party’s Resolution at Its Haripura Session (1938)
“The Indian National Congress stands for the same political, social and economic freedom in the princely states as in the interest of rest of India and considers the states as integral parts of India which cannot be separated.”
Rulers were expected to ensure the loyalty of their subjects to the crown. However, as the noncooperation and Khilafat movements gathered momentum in 1920, so did nationalist sentiments in the states. Localized praja mandals (people’s council) were formed (occasionally with the monarch’s encouragement, as in Rajkot) to demand political reforms and greater civil liberties within the states.
The praja mandals were initially prevented from associating political activity in the states with the anticolonial agitation of the Indian National Congress-led Independence Movement. However, the Congress Party’s stance changed over time. In 1927 several praja mandals and other state organizations coalesced into the All India States Peoples’ Conference (AISPC). By 1939 the praja mandals’ goals had aligned with the Congress Party’s demand for self-determination. That same year, the Congress Party passed a resolution removing its previous prohibitions with regard to states, and Jawaharlal Nehru was elected president of the AISPC. Residents of the princely states formally joined the freedom struggle in 1942, when the Quit India Movement was launched.
Post-independence integration
After the partition of India, the princely states had the choice of joining either India or Pakistan by signing Instruments of Accession or of becoming independent entities. Congress Party stalwart Vallabhbhai Patel embarked on a diplomatic mission of persuading the states to integrate with India. Several attempted to preserve their sovereignty, such as Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority principality ruled by Hari Singh, a Hindu. Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession with India in October 1947 after members of Pashtun tribes besieged the state’s borders, although Pakistan insisted that the accession be subject to a plebiscite. The plebiscite never occurred, and Hari Singh’s accession prompted the first of three wars fought by India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Hyderabad, the last princely state to join India, was compelled to do so in September 1948 by the application of military force.
The Constitution of India provided for the privy purse, or tax-free payments out of government funds to the erstwhile rulers. The privy purse was abolished, along with royal titles, by the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution in 1971.
Most states integrated with India, the deciding factor being geographical location. Junagadh, a Hindu-majority principality in the modern Gujarat state and ruled by a Muslim nawab, attempted to join Pakistan, prompting a rebellion within the state. Eventually, Junagadh acceded to India by a plebiscite in 1948. In all, about nine principalities joined Pakistan, the first being Bahawalpur (October 1947) and the last being Kalat, which acceded in March 1948 after facing intense pressure from Pakistani authorities.
The principalities were gradually absorbed into the restructured Indian states and Pakistani provinces. The Bundelkhand Agency and central Indian princely states such as Gwalior, for instance, are part of the modern-day Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan state comprises numerous principalities, such as Jaipur. Hyderabad is now in Telangana state. In Pakistan, Kalat is part of the province of Balochistan.