ALWAR
BRIEF HISTORY
The family having recently risen to Royal status, together with the insecure succession, seemed to push the rulers towards great ostentation and public displays of wealth and power. Pratap Singh's successors consequently spent much time and effort in outdoing their more senior neighbours. They built a multitude of ornate forts and palaces in very picturesque locations, organised spectacular pageants and court rituals, and conducted very elaborately organised hunts. Unfortunately for their subjects, Alwar was a relatively poor state and a heavy tax burden paid for these "excesses", in the terminology of modern writers. Ironically, however, it is these same palaces, forts, collections of treasures and the industries built around the court, that provide much needed tourist income in a harsh economic environment in our times.
Sadly, it is Alwar, and one of its notorious rulers, Mahraja Jai Singhji, who provides much of the ammunition for that tittle-tattle genre of writing that passes for modern history. Some facts, and much fiction, employed to disembogue condemnation upon the entire Indian princely race. A man blessed with infinite charm, high intellect, brilliant, erudite, with a magnetic personality and enormous wealth, but who used his gifts for self-gratification instead of the benefit of his people. Stories about excesses of every kind abound, ranging from profligacy, to sadism and even self-deification. After a lifetime of employing his charm and connections to outwit British officials who sought to bring him to heel, he finally succumbed. A tortuous official enquiry confirmed so many of the charges against him that the government stripped him of ruling powers. Although not deposed, they forbade him from setting foot in Alwar again. He quietly lived out his remaining days in France.
Although Jai Singhji's successor, a distant cousin adopted because of the failure of a male heir, proved much more popular he too fell foul of the ruling authorities in Delhi. Maharaja Tej Singhji had been a distinguished military officer, loyal to the British, and not at all keen on the Congress Party in power. Without any shred of evidence, they arrested him following the death of Mahartma Gandhi, on the absurd grounds that he was involved in the assassination. The courts ordered his release forthwith, but not before the authorities had taken control of the state and busily begun searching every property for "hidden treasure".
Alwar merged with the other princely states in eastern Rajputana to form the Matsya Union on 18th March 1948. The union merged into Greater Rajasthan on 15th May 1949
The earlier loss of face suffered by the Congress government was not easily forgotten. Indira Gandhi took particular pleasure in bullying the family during her "emergency" government. The palaces and family properties were attacked again and searched. The Heir Apparent, Yuvraj Shri Pratap Singhji, being tragically killed in one of these investigations by "tax inspectors" in 1975. The exact cause of death remains a mystery, dark rumours of torture are often mentioned. His wife and son both entered politics, and have held considerable influence in Alwar and the surrounding areas.
CLAN:
Naruka Sept of the Kachhawa clan of Rajputs.
SALUTE:
15-guns.
ARMS:
Barry of five gules, vert, argent, azure, and or, between four katars in saltire hilted or a tower on a crag proper. Crest: A hand holding in bend sinister a branch of a kuchnar tree. Supporters: Sambur and tiger proper. Motto: "Garh Jite Sab Dhap". Lambrequins: Gules and or.
FLAG:
Rectangular with equal horizontal stripes of blue, white, green, yellow and red (top to bottom).
STYLES & TITLES:
The ruling prince: Raj Rishi Shri Sawai Maharaja (personal name) Singhji Veerendra Shiromani Dev Bharat Prabhakar Bahadur, Maharaja of Alwar, with the style of His Highness.
The consort of the ruling prince: Maharani Shri (personal name) Kunwar Baiji Lal Sahiba, Maharani of Alwar, with the style of Her Highness.
The Heir Apparent: Yuvraj Shri (personal name) Singhji Sahib.
The younger sons of the ruling prince: Maharaj Kumar Shri (personal name) Singhji Sahib.
The daughters of the ruling prince: Maharaj Kumari Baiji Lal (personal name) Sahiba.
The grandsons of the ruling prince, in the male line: Bhanwar Shri (personal name) Singhji Sahib.
RULES OF SUCCESSION:
Male primogeniture, with the right of adoption by the recognised head of the family on the failure of natural male heirs.
ORDERS & DECORATIONS:
None known.
SOURCES:
Alwar State Administration Report. 1938-1939, 1940-1941, 1943-1944, and 1944-1945. IOR (V/10). Oriental & India Office Collection. British Library, London.
Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. Burke's Peerage Ltd, London, 1900-1959.
Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage. Odhams Press Ltd, London, 1900-1959.
Chiefs and Leading Families in Rajputana, Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1894, 1903, 1916, 1935 and 1944.
Lt-Col. C.G.F. Fagan, Short Account of Alwar State. Revised Edition, I.L.M. Press, Delhi, 1902.
Sir Roper Lethbridge, KCIE. The Golden Book of India. Macmillan and Co., London, 1893.
Memoranda on the Indian States. Manager of Publications, Government of India, New Delhi, 1936-1945.
W.P. Percy, Gazetteer of Ulwar. Trubner & Co. Ltd., London, 1878.
Thacker's Indian Directory, Thacker's Press & Directories, Ltd., Caltutta 1863-1956.
A. Vadivelu, The Ruling Chiefs, Nobles & Zamindars of India. G.C. Loganadham Bros., Madras, 1915.
Waman P. Kabadi (ed.), Indian Who's Who 1937-38,Yeshanand & Co., Bombay, 1937.
Who Was Who, Vol. I to Vol. VII, A&C Black, London, 1915 - 1980.
Who's Who in India 1911.
Who's Who in India, Burma & Ceylon, Who's Who Publishers (India) Ltd., Bombay, 1940.
SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
Father Lawrence Ober, SJ.
Sukhjit Singh.
Copyright©Christopher Buyers, April 2004 - February 2009