<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Today part of </Td> <Td> Madhya Pradesh, India </Td> </Tr> <P> Bhopal State (pronounced (bɦoːpaːl) (listen)) was a tributary state in 18th century India, a princely salute state with 19 gun salute in a subsidiary alliance with British India from 1818 to 1947, and an independent state from 1947 to 1949 . Islamnagar was founded and served as the State's first capital, which was later shifted to the city of Bhopal . </P> <P> The state was founded in 1707 CE by Dost Mohammad Khan, an Pashtun soldier in the Mughal army, who became a mercenary after the Emperor Aurangzeb's death and annexed several territories to his fiefdom . It came under the suzerainty of the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1723 shortly after its foundation . In 1737, Marathas defeated the Mughals and the Nawab of Bhopal in the Battle of Bhopal, and started collecting tribute from the state . After the defeat of the Marathas in the Third Anglo - Maratha War, Bhopal became a British princely state in 1818 . Bhopal State was the second largest state in pre-independence India, with a Muslim leadership, first being Hyderabad State . The state was merged into the Union of India in 1949 as Bhopal . </P> <P> The State of Bhopal was established by Dost Mohammad Khan (1672--1728), an pashtun soldier in the Mughal army . After the death of the emperor Aurangzeb, Khan started providing mercenary services to several local chieftains in the politically unstable Malwa region . In 1709, he took on the lease of the Berasia estate . Later, he usurped the Rajput principality of Mangalgarh and the Gond kingdom of Rani Kamlapati, after the death of their female rulers to whom he had been providing mercenary services . He also annexed several other territories in Malwa to his state . </P>

When was bhopal state merged in the indian union