Synopsis This book reassesses the place of the Indian princely states within the history of South Asia and weaves together hitherto uncharted areas. It employs a multi-disciplinary approach and critiques some of the received paradigms of conventional historiography about princely India, leading the reader into new realms of discussion such as literary constructions, aspects of political economy and legitimacy, military collaborations, gender issues, peasant movements, health policies and the mechanisms for controlling and integrating the states. The contributors focus on a range of states in different regions and base their analyses on hitherto unused or underused archival sources.

The collection will appeal to scholars of South Asia and students of transnational histories, cultural and racial studies, international politics, economic history and social history of health and medicine.