KurtisDelapena9 at 04:59, 9 December 2025

2025-12-09T04:59:16Z

New page

{{Short description|Institution of the rulers of the princely states of India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2015}}
[[File:Chamber of Princes 17-03-1941 detail.png|thumb|Chamber of Princes meeting in March 1941]]
{{Princely States topics}}
The '''Chamber of Princes''' (''Narendra Mandal'') was an institution established in 1920 by a [[royal proclamation]] of [[King of the United Kingdom|King]]-[[Emperor of India|Emperor]] [[George V]] to provide a forum in which the pro-British rulers of the [[princely state]]s of [[British Raj|India]] could voice their needs and aspirations to the colonial government of British India. It survived until 1947.<ref>Vapal Pangunni Menon (1956) ''The Story of the Integration of the Indian States'', Macmillan Co., pp. 17-19.</ref>

== Overview ==
The Chamber of Princes was established in 1920, by King-Emperor George V's proclamation on 23 December 1919, after the [[Government of India Act 1919]] was given [[royal assent]]. The creation of the chamber 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.<ref>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) p. xix</ref>

The Chamber first met on 8 February 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 like the [[Maratha]]-ruled states of [[Baroda State]], [[Gwalior State]] and [[Indore State]] declined to join it .<ref name=cambridge>John Allan, Wolseley Haig, Henry Dodwell, ''The Cambridge Shorter History of India'' (1969), p. 1065</ref>

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 from its princely ranks a permanent officer styled the Chancellor, who chaired the Standing Committee.<ref name=cambridge/>

The chamber convened at the [[Old Parliament House, New Delhi|Parliament House]]. Today the hall is used as the parliament's library.

== Concerns about post-independence constitution ==
[[File:Lord Mountbatten addressing the Chamber of Princes.jpg|thumb|Lord Mountbatten addressing the Chamber of Princes as Crown Representative in the 1940s]]
On 12 March 1940, the Chamber resolved:
{{blockquote|The Chamber of Princes, while welcoming the attainment by India of its due place among the [[British Dominions|Dominions]] of the [[British Commonwealth]] under the [[The Crown|British Crown]], 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 and unfair play|fair play]]; And that, in any negotiations for formulating a constitution for India, whether independently of the [[Government of India Act 1935]], or by revision of that [[Act of Parliament in the UK|Act]], representatives of the States and of this Chamber should have a voice proportionate to their importance and historical position.<ref>[[Nicholas Mansergh]], ''Documents and Speeches on British Commonwealth Affairs, 1931–1952'' (Oxford University Press, 1953) p. 606</ref><ref>Verma, ''Chamber of Princes, 1921–1947'', p. 170</ref>
}}

== Chancellors ==
[[File:British Indian Empire 1909 Imperial Gazetteer of India.jpg|thumb|Map of British-ruled India with the princely states coloured in yellow]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! Title !! Years
|-
| Major-General Sir [[Ganga Singh]]
| [[Maharaja]] of [[Bikaner State]]
| 1921–1926
|-
| Adhiraj Major-General Sir [[Bhupinder Singh of Patiala|Bhupinder Singh]]
| Maharaja of [[Patiala State]]
| 1926–1931
|-
| Colonel Sir K.S. [[Ranjitsinhji]]
| rowspan=2|Maharaja of [[Nawanagar State]]
| 1931–1933
|-
| Colonel Sir [[Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja|K.S. Digvijaysinhji]]
| 1933–1943
|-
| [[Yadavindra Singh]]
| Maharaja of Patiala
| 1943–1944
|-
| Major-General Sir [[Hamidullah Khan]]
| [[Nawab]] of [[Bhopal State]]
| 1944–1947
|-
|}

== See also==
* [[Durbar (court)]]
* [[List of Indian princely states]]
* [[Salute state]]

== References ==
<references/>

== Further reading ==
* S. M. Verma. {{Google books|af8yAAAAIAAJ|Chamber of Princes, 1921–1947}}. {{ISBN|81-85135-44-4}}
* {{Google books|gHoxHAAACAAJ|Proceedings of the Meetings of the Chamber of Princes (Narendra Mandal) Held at New Delhi on 14 and 15 October 1943}}
* R. P. Bhargava, ''The Chamber of Princes'' (Northern Book Centre, 1991, 351 pp.) {{ISBN|81-7211-005-7}}
* 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 Press]], Cambridge Studies in Indian History & Society, 2002)

== External links ==
{{commons category-inline}}
* [http://snapjudge.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/india-60-nehru-indira-congress/maharaja-bikaner-king-gwalior-nawab-bhopal-raja-patiala-in-the-chamber-of-princes-britain-bidding/ Image of the chamber in session]

{{Legislatures of India}}

[[Category:1920 establishments in British India]]
[[Category:1947 disestablishments in British India]]
[[Category:Defunct upper houses]]
[[Category:Historical legislatures in India]]
[[Category:Legislatures of British India]]
[[Category:Princely states]]

Chamber of Princes - Revision history

KurtisDelapena9 at 04:59, 9 December 2025