No travel blog has pictured the colourful Princes of places you visit in Rajasthan or India, hence this post.......it won't be lost on the viewer how very exotic and colourful these Princes, who created the mystery and magic of an India of palaces, forts, havelis, dance forms and ballads, food and hospitality, ancient history, battles,, and much more........these or their ancestors ably fought off invaders or, as circumstances demanded, courted the new rulers from either Central Asia or Europe; some amassed great wealth but many did care for their subjects........but almost all left their mark on the culture and history of their princedoms, and on India; the pictures are courtesy of this link
The Princes pictured here are (from the top) the Maharajas of Kota (2 pics), group photo of senior Indian Princes at the Delhi Darbar to welcome King George V (1 pic), Maharajas of Jodhpur (4 pics), Mah. of Dholpur (1 pic), Mahs. of Bharatpur (2pics.), Mahs. of Bikaner (2 pics) and Mahs. of Alwar (3pics.)
some very colourful, strange and eccentric stories of these Princes:
(1.) a previous Maharaja of Jaipur, for his trip overseas to England, ordered two huge silver urns( see post on Jaipur below for picture) to carry with him, filled with water from the holy Ganges river, so he would not "pollute" himself with drinking plain waters of alien lands!
(2.) a Maharaja of North India, very pious and orthodox, was shown a sacred cow each morning outside his bedroom window as he rose from his stately bed- an act of piety and worship he would never miss!! On a visit to a neighbour princedom, he was accommodated in a first floor room for the night..........the next morning, knowing of his sacred obligations, the host Maharaja had arranged that a cow would be hauled up by a pulley to face the first floor bedroom window so the visiting Maharaja would not miss his morning worship!!!
(3.) The Maharaja of a princely state in the Punjab, on a visit to England, went shopping for Rolls Royce cars. A salesman at the car palaise/showroom was a little indifferent to his Majesty........the Maharaja bought several Rolls cars, ordered them packed off to India, and requested the indifferent salesman to work for him in India at an handsome salary...................when both were in India, with the salesman at his new job, the Maharaja strolled up to the salesman one day, ordered all the Rolls purchased be scrapped, and converted to be used as garbage-collection trucks!!!
But stories of bravery and valour were far more stirring and awesome: The Maharaja of Udaipur, Maharana Pratap Singh, a very brave and fearless warrior, with innumerable battles against the Mughals, with several injuries including the loss of one eye- he firmly decided he would never bow to Akbar, Moghul Emperor, ........see link on Pratap Singh .
There are several cases of "jauhar" in Rajasthan's history, where all the women, including the royal ladies would commit mass suicide by self immolation(!!!) rather than fall in the hands of invading/victorious Muslims- for example, in 1303, after losing the battle against Ala-ud-din Khilji, the Muslim ruler of Delhi, the womenfolk with Rani Padmini, widow of the slain Rajput king, Rana Ratan Singh, committed mass self immolation in the fort of Chittoor, then capital of the Udaipur kings.........an act of valour that has formed the defiant attitudes of the Kings of Udaipur to foreign rule. see link
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