Instrument of Accession

The British Empire in the East, 1919, showing the princely states coloured green. The areas controlled by the British directly are coloured red.

Princely state
Salute state Chamber of Princes Doctrine of lapse Privy Purse British paramountcy Instrument of Accession
Individual residencies
Hyderabad Jammu and Kashmir Travancore Sikkim
Agencies
Bagelkhand Baluchistan Baroda and Gujarat States Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States Bhopawar Bundelkhand Central India Deccan States Eastern States Gwalior Madras States Mahi Kantha Malwa North-West Frontier Palanpur Punjab States Rajputana Rewa Kantha Western India States
Lists
States by region States by name

The Instrument of Accession was a legal document first introduced by the Government of India Act 1935 and used in 1947 to enable each of the rulers of the princely states under British paramountcy to join one of the new dominions of India or Pakistan created by the Partition of British India.