A Princely State (also called Native State or Indian State) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to a subsidiary alliance and the suzerainty or paramountcy of the British crown.
There were officially 565 princely states when India and Pakistan became independent in 1947, but the great majority had contracted with the Viceroy to provide public services and tax collection. Only 21 had actual state governments, and only four were large (Hyderabad State, Mysore State, Jammu and Kashmir State, and Baroda State). They acceded to one or other of the two new independent nations between 1947 and 1949. The accession process was peaceful except in the case of Jammu & Kashmir (which became bitterly divided between India and Pakistan) and Hyderabad. All the princes were eventually pensioned off.
Read more about Princely State: British Relationship With The Princely States, Princely Status and Titles, Precedence and Prestige, Doctrine of Lapse, Imperial Governance, Short List of Native States in 1909, State Military Forces, Political Integration of Princely States in 1947 and After, Other Princely States
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