HH Gaj Singh II | Maharaja of Marwar | Jodhpur

 HH Gaj Singh II Maharaja of Marwar Jodhpur

Marwar mubarak ho! I give you Marwar!" softly proclaimed Thakur Bhairon Singh of Bagri, in Akhairaj's voice, as he anointed the forehead of his four-year-old prince with his blood. And the four-year-old king replied, as had his ancestors before him, "Bagri bhadara se inayat! I grant you Bagri!" It was the morning of the 12th of May,1952, coincidentally Jodhpur Foundation Day, and in a courtyard in Mehrangarh, seated upon the white marble Shringar Chowki built by Maharaja Bakhta Singh, surrounded by senior clansmen and family priests, Gaj Singh had just been anointed the thirty-eighth Rathore Chief of Marwar. Mehrangarh had never looked happier, festooned with saffron and Panchranga flags, the nagaras beat jubilantly, cannons boomed defiantly (the last time they would), the chant of the Brahmins ascended a higher plateau of practiced fervor, the State Band broke out into Dhooso Baje ….. and high above, the cheels seemed to approve too...

Born on 13th January,1948 to Their Highnesses, the Maharaja Hanwant Singh and Maharani Krishna Kumari, princess of Dhrangadhra State, Gaj Singh was destined to succeed his father at the tender age of four. In those dramatic years between his birth and his father's tragic and fatal air accident in 1952, the Rathore State of Marwar-Jodhpur had merged into the Union of India, contributing an area of 36,000 Sq Miles and a history of upwards 700 years. The young head of the Rathore clan was recognized The Maharaja of Jodhpur by Presidential decree, the thirty-eighth of his dynasty.

The Maharaja's early years were spent in the care of his mother, the Regent Rajmata, the Queen Mother, in Pune and Jodhpur, before, at the age of eight, he was launched into a classical liberal english education; Prep School at Cothill, on to Eton College, to finish with a Batchelor's Degree in Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE) from Christ Church, Oxford. Holidays, however, were always spent in Jodhpur, in the performance of social duties and the exploration of a glorious heritage.

In 1970, after finishing from Oxford, when the Maharaja returned to Jodhpur to assume control of his vast inheritance as well as the manifold social and cultural responsibilities that accompanied it, he encountered, on the one hand, a tumultuous and unprecedented welcome from the citizens of Marwar; an unbridled display of love and respect that, he recalls vividly, touched him to the core and was forever to leave him with an indelible sense of humility and responsibility.

On the other hand, in New Delhi, the Princes of India found themselves pawns in a power-game, through which the Prime Minister, Mrs.Indira Gandhi would emerge supreme in Indian politics. By and by, in the December of 1971 the Constitution was amended and the Princes "de-recognized", their privy purses and privileges summarily withdrawn.

A period of traumatic adjustment followed; in a totally unfamiliar, and indeed hostile, political environment beset with hardship, Maharaja Gaj Singh II faced adversity with a dignity and resolve beyond his years and personally lead the re-organization of his affairs and estates; laying the foundations of his future existence through social and political re-alignments, commercial enterprise and the creation of charitable foundations and trusts.

Today the Rathore colors fly proudly once again. The Maharaja's major thrust has been in tourism, a sector with widespread benefits which has emerged the life-line of modern day Marwar, indeed Rajasthan. Besides the conversion of his own palaces into hotels, foremost among them the Umaid Bhawan, one of the great palace hotels in the world, and the Mehrangarh Fort into an internationally acclaimed museum, the Maharaja has provided dynamic leadership to the innovative Heritage Hotel movement, undoubtedly the future of tourism in Rajasthan. The Maharaja has also served, until recently, as the Chairman of the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation, Government of Rajasthan. The preservation of traditional arts & crafts, the arts and music, sport, particularly equestrian sport, and the conservation of our natural and man-made heritage remain other areas of strong interest and activity.

The Maharaja is currently on the Governing Council of the Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage (INTACH) besides being the Convenor of it's Rajasthan Chapter. In these capacities he has made a significant, and indeed pioneering, contribution to architectural restoration and conservation in Rajasthan as well as in spreading a greater awareness on environmental and other connected issues. His own forts, Mehrangarh (15th C) in Jodhpur and Ahhichatragarh (12th C) in Nagaur, both managed by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, are outstanding examples of conservation and restoration work in the country. The Mehrangarh Museum Trust also actively promotes the arts, music and other cultural traditions of Marwar. Other Charitable Foundations settled by the Maharaja are involved in the education of girls, the re-habilitation of defense personnel and families, environmental projects in rural areas, the medical care of weaker sections, the management of ancestral temples...; an impressive array of activity through which he fulfills, in no small measure, his personally perceived responsibility to the peoples of Marwar-Jodhpur.

The intervening years have also seen Gaj Singh II serve as India's High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago as well as a term in the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament in New Delhi.

Running fifty three years now, a long way down the road from that hazy day in January,1952, Maharaja Gaj Singh II, universally known as Bapji or Father, can look back at his life with a measure of satisfaction; the journey into manhood as one of India's midnight's children, the transition from Kingship to Trusteeship of an unparalleled heritage, and from Maharaja at four to a productively involved and beloved democrat, has been an absorbing adventure that may well have daunted his warrior ancestors.