This is a list of Indian princely states, as they existed during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

before 1947. Before the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

in 1947, hundreds of princely states, also called native or Indian states, existed in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. These states were not a part of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

but functioned as British protectorates under a

subsidiary alliance A subsidiary alliance, in South Asian history, was a tributary alliance between an Indian state and a European East India Company. Under this system, an Indian ruler who formed an agreement with the company in question would be provided wit ...

and some

indirect rule Indirect rule was a system of public administration, governance used by imperial powers to control parts of their empires. This was particularly used by colonial empires like the British Empire to control their possessions in Colonisation of Afri ...

. They were the parts of the Indian subcontinent which had not been conquered or annexed by the British, often former vassals of the Mughal ''badshah'' (emperor). The states are listed alphabetically; this list complements the list of princely states of British India, which is arranged by region and agency. Geographical and administrative assigning is indicative, as various names and borders have changed significantly, even entities (provinces, principalities) split, merged, renamed, ''etc''. Furthermore, criteria of statehood (used for inclusion) differ between sources. In some cases, several name variations or completely different names are included.

Sortable list of former princely states

Merged into British Raj

Merged into India or Pakistan

Sources and references

Indian Princely States Genealogy
''

Queensland University The University of Queensland is a public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone universities, an i ...

''
Flags of Indian Princely States

Sortable list of former princely states

Merged into British Raj

Merged into India or Pakistan

See also

Sources and references

Further reading