However, Britain is aware of this and will fight extremely hard to maintain her puppets, so influence technology is advised if you are to take this route. Alternatively, you can avoid the infamy from using "release puppet" if you become a Great Power as India, as sphereing the Indian puppet nations (plus Nepal) will eventually result in an annexation event.
#Crusader kings 2 plus india free
Once they are free, you have a free Restore Order Casus Belli on every one of them. Once Westernized, India will have to fight several wars against the United Kingdom to free the Indian minor puppet states. Taking over nations like Makran and Sindh once India has at least one of the first four military reforms will allow it to modernize very quickly.
The released India is uncivilized in 1836, but will have a relatively easy time westernizing thanks to the vast army it can field, and the much smaller foothold Great Britain will have in the region. The easiest way to play India is to release it from the UK at the beginning. With Avadhi, Bihari, Tamil and Kanauji as Accepted Cultures, India has a large pool of potential Capitalists to build up Industry with. It is not an easy task to form India but it is very lucrative and India can easily turn out to be the most powerful nation at 1936 with both an enormous population ( soldiers and craftsmen) and significant RGO production for both export and industrialization. Panjab and Sindh (and potentially other Indian nations) can form India if it gain access to all of its cores. Most of the India is initially controlled either by United Kingdom directly or the British puppets. Most of the Indian subcontinent are controlled either by the British directly or the British puppets.