Illustrated Encyclopaedia and Who’s Who of Princely States in Indian Sub-Continent

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Ever since the Indian independence it has been normally understood that the Indian States and Estates which numbered nearly six hundred on 15th August 1947 were the symbols of incompetence, oppression and vices. The States had a very peculiar status in the political theory which grew up in India in the nineteenth century. They did not form part of the British Indian Empire nor were they sovereign powers. The States were neither feudatories of the Government of India, nor protectorates, and nor merely allies either. In this publication of the biographical sketches of the Princes and leading officials and non-officials of the erstwhile States and Estates of Indian sub-continent, the editor and compiler of this work intends to show that they symbolised progressiveness and also the conservators of Indian social and cultural traditions. Some of the States showed a zeal for welfare and progress that left the work, that was being attempted in British India far behind and people enjoyed benefits and privileges unknown in the British administered areas. Socially the States had certainly been more backward than British India, but the trends of progress, though weaker, had been in the same direction. At least in the larger States there grew up a professional middle class, and private commercial enterprise created something of a modern economic system. One could hear a stirring of constitutionality and democracy from the princely governed territories. Some of the States set examples in enlightened advance for the Provinces to follow. The editor is sure that it is going to make a lively study for the laymen as well as serious students of history. The detailed introduction sets forth the historical context and an analytical framework.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR J C Dua

Dr. J.C. Dua, Reader, Department of History and TTM, Dyal Singh Evening College (University of Delhi), New Delhi, has had academic association with late Professor B.R. Grover since the IHC Session 1961. Professor Grover was his teacher, mentor and the one who taught him how to locate, decipher and analyse the sources on history. Dr. Dua has contributed a large number of research papers in national and international seminars and has published numerous books. The Peoples Republic of Bulgaria awarded him Georgi Dimitrov Gold Medal in 1983 and was also invited to deliver the prestigious Dr. Kalaignar Thiru M.Karunanidhi Endowment Lectures by Madras University, Chennai, in 1995.

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Bibliographic information

Title
Illustrated Encyclopaedia and Who’s Who of Princely States in Indian Sub-Continent
Author
Edition
1st ed.
Publisher
ISBN
8174790365
Length
538p., 29cm.
Subjects