Princely States Of India - Tapa dura

In both magnitude and length of time the Princely States of India represented both the paradigm for, and acme of, the British imperial policy of Indirect Rule, whereunder the 'traditional' ruling classes were expected to assume the burden of administration. By Independence in 1947 the Government of India recognised nearly 600 entities varying from the size of the United Kingdom, to several that consisted of a single village within less than a square mile. In providing a carefully assembled chronology of the leaders of the 290 most significant of these states, the author makes available a new and valuable tool for all scholars of South Asia, (includes Sikkim and the kingdom of Bhutan), in the colonial period.