Maharaja Gaj Singh and Yuvaraj Shivraj Singh of Jodhpur featured in the Hurlingham Polo magazine, back in October 2010. The close of the year traditionally marks the end of the Jodhpur polo season, and from the 26th to 30th December Jodhpur hosted the invitation only "Royal Salute Maharaja of Jodhpur Golden Jubilee Cup". Indian and international teams competed on the historic polo field beneath the magnificent Umaid Bhawan Palace. The sport of polo is the modern legacy of traditional equestrian skills and has been patronized by royalty and the military. "Polo was an ideal outlet during peace times and also provided for healthy competition with British regiments and other princely states," says Maharaja Gaj Singh.
Gaj Singh himself missed out on playing polo, and the sport lost royal patronage, because of the merger of princely states into Independent India. At the event Gaj Singh said, "Polo has been towards the last century part of Jodhpur's heritage and we took a downturn after the war when the states got merged in the late 40s and so I thought that's why I missed out on polo myself. I thought when I came back from England, I saw a lot of polo there, I'd like to revise things here, we got started and we set up this ground and my son took to it and now we've got a lot of young people coming forward and its encouraging to see them."
Gaj Singh with the winners of the Golden Jubilee Cup, the local Jodhpur Knights, who beat the Hyderabad Polo and Riding Club by 10 to 7 1/2 goals. This polo event also included the Royal Salute Golden Jubilee Ball and the Maharaja's exclusive New Year's Eve celebrations at the historic Merhrangarh Fort, attended by Indian and foreign patrons of polo, like the Duke of Argyll. Gaj Singh's son Shivraj had been responsible for polo's revival in Jodhpur.....sadly he suffered a serious head injury during a 2005 polo match.
One of the most significant events in Jodhpur last year was the wedding of Shivraj with Rajkumari Gayatri Kumari of Askote in Uttarakhand. The wedding took place on November 18, 2010, at the Rambagh Palace Hotel in Jaipur. In the photo below, by Anu Malhotra, a galaxy of former royals took part in the prince's barat procession.
Extreme left Nawab Kazim Ali of Rampur, third from left Yuvraj Vikramaditya Singh of J&K, Maharawal Brijraj Singh of Jaisalmer, Maharana Mahendra Singh of Mewar, Maharaja Gaj Singh of Jodhpur, King Gyanendra of Nepal, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Gaikwad of Vadodara, Maharana Mahipendra Singh of Danta (second row grey sherwani), Maharaja Brij Raj Singh of Kishangarh, Maharaja Vishvendra Singh of Bharatpur, and Maharaj Amar Singh of Idar.
