Shailendra's Sphere

In 1947, the British decolonization plan for India required the partition of the subcontinent into two successor states, India and Pakistan. However, the partition plan was applicable only to the eleven provinces of "British India"   –   areas directly under British sovereignty as of June 3, 1947. In addition, the Indian subcontinent comprised some 562 "princely states" of varying size that enjoyed defense agreements with the paramount power and remained under the nominal control of their hereditary rulers. The State of Jammu and Kashmir was an example of the latter. The territory comprising it had been sold by the East India Company to Maharaja Gulab Singh for a sum of 7,500,000 rupees in 1846 in an agreement titled The Treaty of Amritsar . Between 1846 and 1947 Kashmir remained under the direct though nominal control of Gulab Singh and his successors as their hereditary possession. As British withdrawal from India became imminent, the princely state