HH Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh, who died aged 79 on April 17, 2011, was the last recognized Maharaja of Jaipur.
The Telegraph
Sawai Bhawani Singh Bahadur was born on October 22 1931 to Sawai Man "Jai" Singh II (Maharaja of Jaipur from 1911) and Marudhar Kanwar of Jodhpur. Given the nickname "Bubbles" by his British nanny because of the gallons of champagne consumed at his birth, Bhawani Singh became 39th head of Kachwaha clan of Rajputs and Maharaja of Jaipur following the death of his father, Sawai Man "Jai" Singh II, at a polo match in Cirencester in 1970.
The Crown Prince was educated at the Doon School, Dehradun, and later at Harrow. As a young man he served in the Indian Army, becoming commanding officer of the elite Commando formation: the 10th Parachute Regiment in 1968. During the 1971 war with Pakistan, he led his troops deep into Pakistani territory, attacking and destroying several enemy posts including the Indus Rangers HQ at Chachro. During the fighting, he was said to have duped Pakistani troops into believing that a formation of Indian tanks was advancing on their position when in reality the vehicles were revving jeeps. For this, he was awarded the Mahavir Chakra, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier in 1974.
However the Maharaja's services to his country were soon forgotten as Indira Gandhi's rewriting of the Indian constitution in 1971 signalled a new and ugly phase in Indian politics. During the 1960s, the Maharaja's formidable stepmother, Gayatri Devi, had joined the anti-Congress Swatantra Party and, in 1962, won a seat in the Lok Sabha in the world's largest electoral landslide. In July 1975 both she and her stepson were arrested and incarcerated in Tihar Jail near Delhi, one of the worst prisons in India. No serious charges were ever laid against either the Maharaja or his stepmother, and after protests from Lord Mountbatten and senior Indian Army officers, he was released on bail. Styled Rajmata Gayatri Devi after the death of her husband, and freed a few months later, Jaipur's beloved people's princess passed away in 2009.
In Jaipur, the Maharaja continued to behave very much in the old Indian princely spirit – if not with quite the same regal opulence. He held regular durbars at which people could come for help and advice and took a full traditional part in Hindu festivals. Many villagers in Rajasthan continued to regard him as a king. The Maharaja served as president of Rajasthan Polo Club and, during his retirement, as Indian High Commissioner to Brunei from 1994 to 1997.
In 1966 he had married Princess Padmini Devi of Sirmour, the daughter of his father's polo-playing friend Rajendra Singh. Among the scandals in this royal family was the marriage of his daughter within the Kachwaha clan, which though consistent with modern law went against Rajput tradition. In 2002 the Maharaja, who had a daughter but no son, stunned his family by announcing his intention to adopt his three-year-old grandson, Padmanabh Singh, as his heir, overriding the claims of his stepbrothers. Thus, while he passed away as the last recognized Maharaja of Jaipur, Bhawani Singh leaves behind his name and properties to his daughter's son whom he adopted in 2002, and who is also a Kachwaha Rajput on his father's side of the family.HH Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh gets a state funeral
The body, draped in the Tricolour, was kept on a gun-carriage and driven in a procession through the Walled City localities such as Hawa Mahal (below photo), Tripolia, Bari Chaupad and Gangauri Bazaar on way to the royal crematorium. Thousands of residents paid floral tributes to the departed Maharaja even as the attendants threw consecrated rice into the ranks of mourning people. The procession was accompanied by caparisoned and decorated elephants and horses marching in tandem with the tunes of a military band. The elephants and horses were bereft of riders as a mark of bereavement.
The Hindu
Acting Rajasthan Governor Shivraj Patil and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot joined the mourners at Chandra Mahal in the City Palace before the procession started, while soldiers belonging to Brig. Bhawani Singh's 10 Para Commando battalion carried his body and put it on the gun carriage. All government offices in the entire Jaipur district were closed following a public holiday and two-day State mourning declared to condole the former ruler's death. The national flag at Government buildings flew at half-mast across the desert State.
At the cremation ground, Brig. Bhawani Singh's 12-year-old grandson and adopted heir Padmanabh Singh lit the pyre amid chanting of Vedic hymns. Hindu priests recited mantras from ancient scriptures as the Maharaja's mortal remains were consigned to flames. According to the royal family's traditions, Padmanabh Singh will now ascend the titular throne of Jaipur.
