Conquering the maharajas

India’s princely states and the end of empire, 1930–50

Harrison Akins

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781526167859
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526167842
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

The position of India's princely states is a relatively under-studied aspect of the British withdrawal from India and the early years of Indian and Pakistani independence. Far from playing second fiddle to events in the British Indian provinces, the princely states played an integral role in the transfer of power in 1947. Under the British Raj, the princely states were politically autonomous, and the rulers of each state had to be cajoled and, in some cases, forced to accede to India or Pakistan. The princes' commitment to preserving their sovereignty not only threatened the territorial integrity of both South Asian countries but brought them to the brink of war on multiple occasions. Conquering the maharajas tells the often overlooked history of Princely India through the tumultuous end of empire in South Asia and the early years of Indian and Pakistani independence.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of maps
• Introduction: Conquering the maharajas
• 1 British paramountcy and the princely states
• 2 The nationalist movement and the princely states
• 3 The All-India Federation, or the first failed accession
• 4 The debates over India’s constitutional future
• 5 The princes’ resistance to accession
• 6 Jammu and Kashmir: ‘The Switzerland of the East’
• 7 Hyderabad: The Nizam’s gambit
• 8 Junagadh: Between the sea and a hard place
• 9 Kalat: Pakistan’s frontier challenge
• Conclusion: The false promise of autonomy
• Bibliography
• Index