Tehri Garhwal

Rulers named in the sources

• Sudarshan Shah 1815–1859

Princely states of India

When the British Crown took over from the East India Company in 1858, it did not rule all of India directly. About two-fifths of the subcontinent stayed under Indian princes: maharajas, nawabs, the Nizam of Hyderabad and hundreds of minor chiefs. Many of their states had signed 'subsidiary alliances' with the Company, giving up control of foreign affairs and accepting British troops in return for protection. After 1858 the Crown inherited these treaties and claimed 'paramountcy': the rulers ran their own internal affairs, but Britain controlled their defence and foreign relations, kept a Resident or Political Agent at their courts, and could depose a ruler for misrule. In 1947 there were 565 recognised states, from Hyderabad and Kashmir, each larger than many European countries, to estates of a few villages. When British rule ended, paramountcy lapsed and each ruler was asked to join India or Pakistan. Most signed Instruments of Accession by 15 August 1947. Junagadh's Nawab chose Pakistan, but India took over in November 1947; Kashmir's Maharaja acceded to India in October 1947 during a tribal invasion; Kalat joined Pakistan in March 1948; and Hyderabad was taken over by the Indian Army in September 1948.

South Asian kingdoms, 1550–1857

From the fall of Vijayanagara's capital to the Revolt of 1857, beside the Mughal, Maratha, Durrani and British realms and a few successor states, many kingdoms ruled themselves. In the south: Travancore, Cochin, the Zamorin's Calicut, the Keladi Nayakas, the last Aravidu kings of Vijayanagara, the Nayaks of Gingee, and Mysore through the Wodeyar, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan periods. In the Deccan and centre: the Gond kingdoms of Garha-Mandla, Deogarh and Chanda, Bastar, Ratanpur, Hyderabad after 1799, Nagpur, Satara, and the Holkar, Scindia and Gaekwad states after 1818. In the north: the Rajput kingdoms and Jat Bharatpur after the Mughal collapse, Rohilkhand, the reduced Awadh of 1803–56, Kumaon, Garhwal, Ladakh and Sikkim. In the east: the Ahom, Koch, Kachari, Jaintia, Manipur and Tripura kingdoms. In the west: Kutch and the Khanate of Kalat.