Princely states | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 16/12/2018

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Princely states


00:03:47 1 History
00:05:55 2 British relationship with the princely states
00:07:57 3 Princely status and titles
00:10:27 4 Precedence and prestige
00:13:50 4.1 Salute states
00:16:37 4.2 Non-salute states
00:18:09 5 Doctrine of lapse
00:19:40 6 Imperial governance
00:22:01 7 Principal princely states in 1947
00:22:28 7.1 In direct relations with the Central Government
00:22:48 8 Burma
00:22:59 9 State military forces
00:25:25 10 Political integration of princely states in 1947 and after
00:25:38 10.1 India
00:28:53 10.2 Pakistan
00:30:01 11 See also



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SUMMARY
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A princely state, also called native state, feudatory state or Indian state (for those states on the subcontinent), was a vassal state under a local or regional ruler in a subsidiary alliance with the British Raj. Though the history of the princely states of the subcontinent dates from at least the classical period of Indian history, the predominant usage of the term princely state specifically refers to a semi-sovereign principality on the Indian subcontinent during the British Raj that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by a local ruler, subject to a form of indirect rule on some matters. In actual fact, the imprecise doctrine of paramountcy allowed the government of British India to interfere in the internal affairs of princely states and edict laws that applied to all of India when it deemed it necessary.
At the time of the British withdrawal, 565 princely states were officially recognised in the Indian subcontinent, apart from thousands of thakurs, taluqdars, zamindaris and jagirs. In 1947, princely states covered 40% of area of pre-Independent India and constituted 23% of its population. The most important states had their own British Political Residencies: Hyderabad, Mysore and Travancore in the South followed by Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim in the Himalayas, 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, Jammu and Kashmir were each over 200,000 km2 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 49 km2, with a population of just below 3,000. Some two hundred of the lesser states had an area of less than 25 km2 (10 mi2).The era of the princely states effectively ended with Indian independence in 1947. By 1950, almost all of the principalities had acceded to either India or Pakistan. The accession process was largely peaceful, except in the cases of Jammu and Kashmir (whose ruler opted for independence but decided to accede to India following an invasion by Pakistan-based forces), Hyderabad (whose ruler opted for independence in 1947, followed a year later by the police action and annexation of the state by India), Junagadh (whose ruler acceded to Pakistan, but was annexed by India). and Kalat (whose ruler declared independence in 1947, followed in 1948 by the state's annexation).As per the terms of accession, the erstwhile Indian princes received privy purses (government allowances), and initially retained their statuses, privileges, and autonomy in internal matters during a transitional period which lasted until 1956. During this time, the former princely states were merged into unions, each of which was headed by a former ruling prince with the title of Rajpramukh (ruling chief), equivalent to a state governor. In 1956, the position of Rajpramukh was abolished and the federations dissolved, the former principalities becoming part of Indian states. The states which acceded to Pakistan retained their status until the promulgation of a new c ...