The Indian States in India

Abstract

India under the British was divided into two distinct entities, i.e., British India and what was loosely called Indian India — the Indian States ruled by the Princes. Direct British administration was confined to eleven British Indian Provinces and six Provinces administered by the Chief Commissioners. The rest of India was subdivided into about 565 principalities. Together they comprised 45.3% of the surface of India, inhabited by 99 million people. Some of them were big enough to attract attention, most were small. These two entities, i.e., British India and the India of the Princes, had different relationships with the British Government. In the former case the authority of the British was direct and control was exercised through the British Parliament, the Secretary of State for India, the Governor-General in Council, and the Provincial Governors, in that order. Whereas in the latter case the relationship was determined by a variety of treaties, engagements and sanads (and even usages and sufferances), which the East India Company and later the Crown and the States contracted with each other at various stages of their mutual relations. Historically viewed, before the British took over, nearly all of them were tributaries to the Moghul empire, the Mahratta Confederacy, or the Sikh kingdom. Some of them were rescued by the British Government while a few were, in fact, British creations. We shall first take up the history of the Indian States; British India will receive attention at a later stage.