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Winner of the 2024 British in India Book Prize.
'Conquering the Maharajas is a marvellous piece of scholarship that provides both nuanced empirical accounts and a sophisticated analysis of the integration of princely states into the sovereignty projects of both India and Pakistan. It provides a novel historical perspective of the dramas of nation-building in South Asia over two decades that spanned late colonial constitutional debates, Partition and immediate post-colonial statehood. By focusing on the politics of late colonial India from the standpoint of princely rulers and by analysing various “problem cases” in comparative perspective, Akins provides powerful lessons about the complicated and ambivalent processes involved in the making of modern South Asia.'
Adnan Naseemullah, Reader in International Politics, King’s College London
'Many histories of the accession of the Indian princely states following the lapse of British paramountcy focus solely on the elite actors. Harrison Akins’ accessible account gives an insight into the role of violence as a strategic tool and the pressures on the princes from below. The book is closely researched and combines narrative and sharp analysis in locating the end of princely India in the wider process of South Asian decolonisation.'
Ian Talbot, Emeritus Professor in the History of Modern South Asia, University of Southampton
Introduction: Conquering the maharajas
1 British paramountcy and the princely states
2 The nationalist movement and the princely states
3 The All-India Federation, or the first failed accession
4 The debates over India’s constitutional future
5 The princes’ resistance to accession
6 Jammu and Kashmir: ‘The Switzerland of the East’
7 Hyderabad: The Nizam’s gambit
8 Junagadh: Between the sea and a hard place
9 Kalat: Pakistan’s frontier challenge
Conclusion: The false promise of autonomy