At various times, the rulers of Indian States probably carried the British Gunmaking trade, certainly for DB rifles. As a consequence of the Recession precipitated by the "Wall Street Crash" of 1929, the British trade went into a decline from which it never fully recovered.

To illustrate this, Holland and Holland's records show an average number of "starts" of 500 guns in the 1910/11 period, but in the 1930's this was down to 176.

The Indian rulers were seemingly isolated from all this, and certainly during this period were the major customers for British DB rifles, so the vast majority were, in essence, "Maharaja Rifles".

My curiosity is why the Jefferey "Prowling Tiger" rifles are singled out for this this title? If a significant number can be shown to have different origins, then surely that puts the lie to this particular notion?

BTW - It is also a mistake to assume that the Indian rulers of the era were universally "Anglophilic". Some were totally opposed to British rule, to the point of refusing to buy British-made guns, preferring instead to purchase from European sources