Chamber of Princes
Encyclopedia
The Chamber of Princes was an institution established in 1920 by a royal proclamation of the King-Emperor
to provide a forum in which the rulers of the Indian princely state
s could voice their needs and aspirations to the government of British India. It survived until the end of the British Raj
in 1947.
The Chamber first met in 1921 and initially consisted of 120 members. Of those, 108 from the more significant states were members in their own right, while the remaining twelve seats were for the representation of a further 127 states. That left 327 minor states, which were unrepresented. Also, some of the more important rulers declined to join it.
The Chamber of Princes usually met only once a year, with the Viceroy of India presiding, but it appointed a Standing Committee which met more often. The full Chamber elected an officer called the Chancellor, who chaired the Standing Committee.
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
to provide a forum in which the rulers of the Indian princely state
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
s could voice their needs and aspirations to the government of British India. It survived until the end of the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
in 1947.
Overview
The creation of the Chamber of Princes followed the abandonment by the British of their long-established policy of isolating the Indian rulers from each other and also from the rest of the world.The Chamber first met in 1921 and initially consisted of 120 members. Of those, 108 from the more significant states were members in their own right, while the remaining twelve seats were for the representation of a further 127 states. That left 327 minor states, which were unrepresented. Also, some of the more important rulers declined to join it.
The Chamber of Princes usually met only once a year, with the Viceroy of India presiding, but it appointed a Standing Committee which met more often. The full Chamber elected an officer called the Chancellor, who chaired the Standing Committee.
Concerns about post-independence constitution
On 12 March 1940, the Chamber resolved:"The Chamber of Princes, while welcoming the attainment by India of its due place among the Dominions of the British Commonwealth under the British CrownThe CrownThe Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
, records its emphatic and firm view that, in any future constitution for India, the essential guarantees and safeguards for the preservation of the
sovereignty and autonomy of the States and for the protection of their rights and interests arising from treaties, and engagements and sanads or otherwise, should be effectively provided and that any unit should not be placed in a position to dominate the others or to interfere with the rights and safeguards guaranteed to them, and that all parties must be ensured their due share and fair playFair and unfair playLaw 42 of the laws of the sport of cricket covers fair and unfair play. This law has developed and expanded over time as various incidents of real life unfair play have been legislated against....
; And that, in any negotiations for formulating a constitution for India, whether independently of the Government of India Act 1935Government of India Act 1935The Government of India Act 1935 was originally passed in August 1935 , and is said to have been the longest Act of Parliament ever enacted by that time. Because of its length, the Act was retroactively split by the Government of India Act 1935 into two separate Acts:# The Government of India...
, or by revision of that Act, representatives of the States and of this Chamber should have a voice proportionate to their importance and historical position."
Chancellors
- Ganga Singh, MaharajaMaharajaMahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a "great king" or "high king". The female equivalent title Maharani denotes either the wife of a Maharaja or, in states where that was customary, a woman ruling in her own right. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajamata...
of Bikaner (1921-1926) - MaharajaMaharajaMahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a "great king" or "high king". The female equivalent title Maharani denotes either the wife of a Maharaja or, in states where that was customary, a woman ruling in her own right. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajamata...
Adhiraj Bhupinder Singh, Maharaja of Patiala (1926-1931) - K. S. Ranjitsinhji, Maharaja of NawanagarNawanagarNavanagar was an Indian princely state, in Kathiawar region, situated on the south of the Gulf of Kutch. It was ruled by the Jadeja dynasty from its formation in c 1540 until 1948 when it succeed to newly formed, India. The district is now known as Jamnagar. It had an area of and a population...
(1931-1937) - K. S. Digvijaysinhji, Maharaja of Nawanagar - (1937-1944)
- Hamidullah KhanHamidullah KhanHajji Nawab Hafiz Muhammad Hamidullah Khan was the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal, which merged with the state of Madhya Pradesh in 1956. He ruled from 1926 when his mother, Begum Kaikhusrau Jahan Begum, abdicated in his favor, until 1949 and held the honorific title until his death in 1960...
, NawabNawabA Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
of BhopalBhopal (state)Bhopal State was an independent state of 18th century India, a princely salute state in a subsidiary alliance with British India from 1818 to 1947, and an independent country from 1947 to 1949...
- (1944-1947)
Further reading
- R. P. Bhargava, The Chamber of Princes (Northern Book Centre, 1991, 351 pp.) ISBN 8172110057
- S. M. Verma, Chamber of Princes, 1921-1947 (National Book Organisation, 1990) ISBN 8185135444
- Barbara N. Ramusack, The Princes of India in the Twilight of Empire: Dissolution of a Patron-client System, 1914–1939 (Ohio State University Press, 1978)
- Ian Copland, Princes of India in the Endgame of Empire, 1917-1947 (Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, Cambridge Studies in Indian History & Society, 2002)