A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of British India during the British Raj that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to a subsidiary alliance and the suzerainty or paramountcy of the British Crown. Several of the states acceded to Pakistan between 1947 and 1948, becoming the princely states of Pakistan. A few of these retained their autonomy until the 1970s.