"From a long term point of view, the collapse of Hyderabad was a significant event in the history of India, for the Nizam’s rule was the last and the most outworn relic of the Mughal Empire. ... The Nizams would have been thrown on the scrap-heap of history by the Marathas long before the end of the 18th century… After 1857, the British Crown kept them… in power as a potential reservoir of strength in the event of a country-wide anti-British outburst. Later, the Nizams were the most glittering pendants to the Imperial Crown, as also counter-weights against mili­tant nationalism. The Nizam’s Hyderabad had, therefore, lived because the British rulers were interested in main­taining them, though the people of the State had to pay a heavy price for it."