Hanwant Singh

Hanwant Singh
Maharaja of Jodhpur
Maharaja of Jodhpur
Period 1947 - 1952
Predecessor Umaid Singh
Heir apparent Gaj Singh
Born (1923-06-16)16 June 1923
Jodhpur, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, India
Died 26 January 1952(1952-01-26) (aged 28)
Issue Gaj Singh
House Rathore-Jodhpur
Father Maharaja Umaid Singh of Jodhpur
Religion Hinduism

Raj Rajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Shri Hanwant Singh Rathore of Jodhpur (16 June 1923 – 26 January 1952) was the ruler of the Indian princely state of Jodhpur from 1947 until 1952. He was a polo player and was world polo champion. He succeeded his father as Maharaja of Jodhpur on 9 June 1947, and held the title till his death in a plane crash on 26 January 1952.[1]

Family life

He married, in 1943 to Maharani Krishna Kumari Ba Sahiba of Dhrangadhra by whom he had a son Gaj Singh Rathore, daughter, Sailesh Kumari married in Banswara and daughter, Chandresh Kumari Katoch of Kangra,[2] also the former Indian National Congress MP from Jodhpur. In 1948, he met Maharani Sundra Devi Rathore (formerly Sandra McBryde). Later he married the Muslim actress Zubeida converted to Hinduism as Vidya Rani Rathore, by whom he had a son named Hukum Singh Rathore (Tutu Bana)but soon after their marriage they were disowned by the royal family and as a result he left Umaid Bhawan Singh palace and started to live in Mehrangarh Fort.From her first marriage she had a son, Khalid Mohammed, a film critic and director.[3][4]

After their death, his son Tutu was brought up by Rajmata of Jodhpur, later went to study Mayo College in Ajmer. He married Rao Rani Rajeshwari Kumari Rathore, daughter Rao Raja Daljit Singh, of Alwar. The couple had one son, Parikshit Singh Rathore (b. 1974) and one daughter, Jainandini Kanwar (b. 1975). However, on 17 April 1981, he was beheaded and found on the streets of Jodhpur.[5][4]

Final years

After Indian independence and formation of Rajasthan as a state within India, he formed a new political party Akhil Bhartiya Ramrajya Parishad in 1952. Campaigning in both the Indian general and state Assembly elections scheduled for February 1952, Hanwant Singh would have won a majority in his region. After only four hours of sleep he took off in a small aircraft with his wife, Zubeida on 26 January 1952. The plane crashed killing him at the age of 28. Zubeidaa also perished in the accident.[5][6]

In 2011, wreckage of the aircraft, Beechcraft Bonanza, a light six-seater aircraft, was discovered inside Jodhpur Central Jail.[6] Subsequently, in 2012, the Mehrangarh Fort Museum founded in 1972 by Maharaja Gaj Singh, formally asked the jail to transfer the wreckage to the museum.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "HH The Maharaja Hanwant Singh". Maharaja Jodhpur website. Archived from the original on 25 August 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 July 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  3. ↑ "Zubeidaa's secret". The Times of India. 11 July 2003. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  4. 1 2 "Jodhpur Genealogy". royalark. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  5. 1 2 Anvar Alikhan (17 January 2001). "The Real Zubeidaa". rediff.com, Movies. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  6. 1 2 "Jodhpur's Maharaja and his wife's aircraft wreckage discovered inside jail". India Today. 11 July 2011. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  7. ↑ "Rajasthan museum seeks maharaja's plane crash wreckage". BBC News. 24 February 2012. Retrieved 2014-06-16.


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