The Indian Princes and their StatesAlthough the princes of India have been caricatured as oriental despots and British stooges, Barbara Ramusack's study argues that the British did not create the princes. On the contrary, many were consummate politicians who exercised considerable degrees of autonomy until the disintegration of the princely states after independence. Ramusack's synthesis has a broad temporal span, tracing the evolution of the Indian kings from their pre-colonial origins to their roles as clients in the British colonial system. The book breaks ground in its integration of political and economic developments in the major princely states with the shifting relationships between the princes and the British. It represents a major contribution, both to British imperial history in its analysis of the theory and practice of indirect rule, and to modern South Asian history, as a portrait of the princes as politicians and patrons of the arts. |
Contents
| 1 | |
CHAPTER 2 PRINCELY STATES PRIOR TO 1800 | 12 |
CHAPTER 3 THE BRITISH CONSTRUCTION OF INDIRECT RULE | 48 |
CHAPTER 4 THE THEORY AND EXPERIENCE OF INDIRECT RULE IN COLONIAL INDIA | 88 |
CHAPTER 5 PRINCES AS MEN WOMEN RULERS PATRONS AND ORIENTAL STEREOTYPES | 132 |
ADMINISTRATIVE AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURES | 170 |
SOCIETY AND POLITICS | 206 |
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administration alliances allies Alwar annexation areas argued Awadh Baroda became Bhopal Bhupinder Singh Bikaner Bombay brahman British India British Indian provinces British officials British policies Cambridge cent central India chief claimed colonial communal Congress cultural Curzon Delhi diwan dominant durbar economic elites Empire ezhavas federation gaekwad Gandhi groups Gwalior Hindu History Hyderabad Ian Copland Ibid imperial Indian nationalists Indian princes Indian rulers indigenous indirect rule Indore internal jagirdars Jaipur Jeffrey Jodhpur Khan Kingship land revenue leaders Lee-Warner London Lord Madho Maharaja major mandal Maratha Marwar military minister Mughal emperor Muslim Mysore Nawab Nawanagar negotiations nizam organisations paramountcy Patiala patronage peasant peshwa political activity political officers political service popular political praja mandal protection Punjab railways raja Rajasthan Rajput Rajputana Ramusack reforms regional religious resident ritual Sayaji Rao Scindia Sikh social sought sovereignty successor territory Travancore treaty viceroy western India women