As Europeans fanned out to conquer the world, they quickly learned that the most effective way to establish and maintain sovereignty was to work through native rulers, but determining just who comprised this category proved unexpectedly problematical. Colonizing powers had several alternatives. In India, for example, the British suppressed some existing entities and brought them under direct rule, establishing new states for services rendered and promulgating sanads (charters) as necessary to maintain a semblance of continuity.
Throughout this process, native informants proffered formal declarations about the past, especially concerning affairs immediately prior to the imposition of colonial rule. Colonial officials relied heavily on those data whenever they suited their own changing political aims. Struggles over legitimacy could persist for decades, generations, even centuries. The alacrity with which the conquered people absorbed and enthusiastically advanced the arguments that appeared to be most appealing to the colonizers is telling. Such occasions became...