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Merging the 554 princely states with the Indian state was one of the most structurally monumental tasks that the Indian administration faced after Independence. V.P. Menon worked closely with Sardar Patel to help integrate the princely states with India. The book details the negotiations he carried out with each of these states. He has taken up the case of each state and shown how they were persuaded to sign the Instrument of Accession which made them a part of the Indian union. He also shows how various states were grouped together to form new administrative units. This reissue of the volume has a new Introduction that contextualizes it for contemporary readers. It gives us a brief account of the author, the book and the background in which it was written. It tells us how the process of carving out states from the jigsaw puzzle that India was after Independence is something that continues. Table of Contents: List of Photographs, Cartoons and Maps Preface Introduction Setting the Stage Spokes in the Wheel The Parting Gift Prelude to Chaos Stopping the Gap Junagadh The Orissa and Chhattisgarh States Saurashtra The Deccan and Gujarat States Vindhya Pradesh Madhya Bharat Patiala and East Punjab States Union Rajasthan Travancore-Cochin Mysore A Miscellany of States Hyderabad I Hyderabad II Hyderabad III Jammu And Kashmir State Baroda Administrative Consolidation Incorporation of the States Forces into the Indian Army Financial Integration Organic Unification The Cost of Integration Retrospect and Prospect