The British colonial state in India ensured that
the princely states were picturised as backward enclaves that kept alive
an older feudal polity characterised by autocracy and underdevelopment,
while British India moved towards modernity and capitalist development.
However, the reality was that while the princes appeared superficially
to enshrine an exotic Oriental past in their courtly and private life,
the general development was carried out on the line of the colonial
model. The
ideological boundaries between the princely states and
British territories were fluid and there was visible cross-pollination
between the sociocultural and political issues and movements of the two
territories. In fact, the colonial state used a number of methods to
produce the effect of colonial power in the princely states. The coastal
Andhra ruling class has continued a similar strategy after the
formation of Andhra Pradesh state in order to subordinate the people of
Telangana.
