Salute state

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A Salute state is a princely state (i.e. reigned by a native ruler of princely rank) which the British colonial paramount ruler has granted a gun salute; i.e., the protocollary privilege for its ruler to be greeted -originally by Royal Navy ships, later also on land- with a number of gun shots, as recognition of the state's relative status.

Contents

[edit] British India's salute states and equivalents

[edit] Salute states in present India

The gun salutes enjoyed by the states that acceded to the Dominion of India on 14th of August 1947, were:

Hereditary salutes of 21-guns:

Although salutes with many more guns have been used for Western Monarchs (and dynastic and other associated occasions), the 21-gun salute has in modern times become customary for Sovereign Monarchs (hence also known as 'royal salute') and republics

Hereditary salutes of 19-guns (21-guns local):

Hereditary salutes of 19-guns:

Hereditary salutes of 17-guns (19-guns personal): only H.H. the Maharaja of Kotah

Hereditary salutes of 17-guns (19-guns local):

Hereditary salutes of 17-guns:

  • H.H. the Maharao of Bundi
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Cochin
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Karauli
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Rewa
  • H.H. the Nawab of Tonk

Hereditary salutes of 15-guns (17-guns personal): only H.H. the Maharaj Rana of Dholpur

Hereditary salutes of 15-guns (17-guns local): only H.H. the Maharaja of Alwar

Hereditary salutes of 15-guns:

  • H.H. the Maharawal of Banswara
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Datia
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Dewas Senior
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Dewas Junior
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Dhar
  • H.H. the Maharawal of Dungarpur
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Idar
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Jaisalmer
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Kishangarh
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Orchha
  • H.H. the Maharawat of Partabgarh
  • H.H. the Nawab of Rampur
  • H.H. the Maharaja of Sikkim (in the Himalaya; remained independent at India's independence, later annexed unilaterally)
  • H.H. the Maharao of Sirohi

Hereditary salutes of 13-guns (15-guns personal and local):

Hereditary salutes of 13-guns (15-guns local):

Hereditary salutes of 13-guns:

Hereditary salutes of 11-guns (13-guns local): only H.H. the Nawab of Janjira (formerly Thanadar of Jafarabad (Jafrabad) and Wasir of Janjira)

Hereditary salutes of 11-guns:

Hereditary salutes of 9-guns (11-guns personal):

Hereditary salute of 9-guns (11-guns local): only H.H. the Sar Desai of Savantwadi

Hereditary salutes of 9-guns:

Personal salute of 9-guns: only The Raja of Bashahr

Some of the rulers not listed above were granted increased gun salutes after the independence, e.g. the Maharana of Mewar (Hindu; at Udaipur, Maharajpramukh in Rajasthan) was raised to first place in the Order of Precedence, displacing the Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar (Muslim), and all 9-gun states were permitted the use of the style of Highness. However, it has not been possible to obtain complete details for all the rulers.

[edit] Salute states in present Pakistan

Twelve Muslim princely states in western India acceded on 14 August 1947 to the Dominion (a republic since 1948) of Pakistan as devised by independence from British India. Over time, they were amalgamated into larger federations and provinces culminating in the establishment of two large provinces, East and West Pakistan. Most of the princely states in the western part of the country merged into the Province of West Pakistan (the present Pakistan, the only other province then was East Pakistan, present Bangladesh) at is creation on 14 October 1955. Although some frontier states continued to be administered as separate units, these were eliminated in 1971; all styles and titles enjoyed by the former ruling families ceased to be officially recognised by the Government of Pakistan in January 1972.

The order of precedence of the Salute States that acceded to Pakistan in 1947 was as follows:

  • Hereditary salute of 19-guns: H.H. the Khan of Kalat
  • Hereditary salute of 17-guns: H.H. the Nawab (later styled Amir) of Bahawalpur
  • Hereditary salute of 15-guns: H.H. the Mir of Khairpur
  • Hereditary salute of 11-guns: H.H. the Mehtar of Chitral

After several promotions and two further post-colonial awardings -which India didn't do as a republic- the gun salutes enjoyed by the states in Pakistan were as follows in 1966:

  • Hereditary salute of 21-guns: only H.H. the Amir of Bahawalpur
  • Hereditary salute of 19-guns: only H.H. the Khan of Kalat
  • Hereditary salute of 17-guns: only H.H. the Mir of Khairpur
  • Hereditary salute of 15-guns:
    • H.H. the Mir of Hunza (granted this gun salute by President Ayub Khan in 1966, previously non-salute)
    • H.H. the Wali of Swat (also granted by President Ayub Khan in 1966, previously non-salute)
  • Hereditary salute of 11-guns: only H.H. the Mehtar of Chitral.

[edit] Salute dynasties on the Indian subcontinent without states

Personal salute of 11-guns: only H.H. the Aga Khan (in fact a religious leader of the Nizari Ismaili branch of Islam), the only salute not attached to any territorial principality.

Furthermore salutes were awarded to certain Political pensioners, notably:

  • 21 guns for Khudadad, i.e. Tippu Sultan's Muslim empire, starting from the usurped Mysore throne (also 21 guns), meant to replace Delhi's (Mughal) Padshah-i Hind
  • 19 guns (only personal and local) for the Nawab of Murshidabad, as heirs of greater Bengal (including present Bangladesh, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal)
  • 15 guns (until 1899) for HH the Nawab (later restyled Prince) of Arcot, i.e. the Carnatic
  • 9 guns for HH the Nawab of Banganapalle

[edit] Elsewhere

The information below (quite possibly incomplete) had to be puzzled from different sources, mainly one concerning the 1912 situation which seems to ignore the differences between hereditary, personal and local salutes.

  • 31 guns - This unusual class was reserved for truly sovereign and independent Absolutist oriental monarchies, not under full British control:
    • HH the Muslim King (styled Badshah or Emir) of Afghanistan (Durranni dynasty)
    • HH the Buddhist King of Siam (the present Thailand)
  • 21 guns:
    • HH the Sultan of Mascat [the Ibadi Imamate became a sovereign nation as Sultanate of (Muscat –the core, named after the capital, of modern- and) Oman]
    • HM (since?) the King (a Maharajadhiraja) of Nepal (sovereign, Hindu kingdom in the Himalaya)
    • HM (since?) the Sultan/Hami of Zanzibar (an East African sultanate on the islands now part of Tanzania, set up by a branch of the Omani sultans)
    • HM the native (Indian tribal) King of Mosquito Coast (in present Nicaragua; styled His Majesty, most unusual as HM is normally reserved for the Paramount Ruler and its (independent) peers; under British protectorate since 1688, formalized in 1749 with appointment of a resident Superintendent; Britain relinquished control in 1783-87; Nicaraguan sovereignty was recognized in 1860 under the Treaty of Managua, hence the King considered a mere Chief, in 1894 militarily driven into exile to Jamaica)
  • 19 guns: HH the Dalai lama of Tibet, a semi-sovereign theocratic -Buddhist- nation before annexation by the People’s Republic of China
  • 15 guns: HH the Druk Desi (since 1963 HM the Druk Gyalpo) & (since 1951) Maharaja of Bhutan [a sovereign Buddhist Himalayan nation]
  • 9 guns: the Kabaka (native, tribal king) of Buganda (in [Western] Uganda, granted after (?) 1912, before 1939 permanent grant)
  • 3 guns: all in peninsular Arabia: all in Trucial Oman, known as the ‘Pirate Coast’ (- ?no agency? Persian Gulf residency?; now all among the 7 constitutive emirates of the sovereign nation UAE):

[edit] Sources and references

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