I have read that there were more than 500+ princely states during the independance of India and Pakistan.
I have the following questions:
How did the British manage SO MANY different entities without fainting? It must have caused the top person in charge, like the Prime Minister extreme mental anguish trying to micro-manage or even simply manage all these. Even thinking of it even if played like Civilization games is making me faint.
What laws (civil, criminal, otherwise) applied to these Princely States?
Why didn't the Princely States and their Princes, protest or fight for their sovereignty and instead joined India? Why didn't the British or the international community rush to help them?
Why did the Princely States exist in the first place? Why weren't they absorbed by the previous Mughals, the French, Portuguese or the British?
I will try to answer each of your question.
#Question 1
Most princely 'states' were states only in name. A city or a few clusture of villages was often what constituted a 'princely state' in many cases. So the 500 number is not actually as daunting as it seems
The British had a system called 'subsidary alliance system'. Under this system, A ruler handed over his foreign policy over to British and gave his consent to the permanent deployement of British troops inside his kingdom. In return, the princely state wont be annexed and the ruler would recieve a regular pension to maintain his lifestyle
Most rulers of these so called princely states were sheiveled up shadow of their past ancestors. They did not have the military might to even stop a cattle robbery, much less challenge british power
The Britiish had also enacted a policy under which rulers who did not have their own kids could not appoint adopted kids as heir. If a ruler did not have his own flesh and blood to inherit his kingdom, then the british would swoop in on his death and appoint a puppet
[To be continued]