under the crown of many princely states but not all. There were princely states in pre- independent India and, the ‘gun salute’ system under the British rule was an open gesture to announce the level of affiliation of a princely state to the British East India Company. Therefore, there were two kinds of princely states: ‘Salute Princely States’ and ‘Non- Salute Princely States’. b) Salute States The ‘Salute States’ were States that had the British East India presence, and there were around to salute states.
So, the heads, rulers, or princes of these states, were greeted with gun salutes. The number of guns used to salute a particular head of a State reflected the level of honour and prestige granted to a ruler. A -gun salute was the highest honour granted to a ruler and rulers of lesser ranks received a minimum of -gun salute. Some of the rulers who received the -gun salute include: His Highness the Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior His Highness the Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda His Highness the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir His Highness the Maharaja of Mysore His Exalted Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar Some of the rulers who received -gun salutes include: The Nawab of Sachin The Maharaja of Patna The Maharana of Wadhwan The Nawab of Loharu c) Non-salute States Among the Princely States, only to were salute states, which implied there were many other States which were under the British rule or British Raj were non-salute states.
The reasons include: ( a) Some were not acknowledged as gun salute states b) Some princely states were considered of lower prestige c) Some princely states were obsolete but the rulers were permitted to their royal entitlements and even received pensions Princely States of India During the pre-independence phase, many princely states enjoyed the patronage of the British rule and were not eager to part with their privileges when the integration of States were proposed. Some of the rulers were