| Bhawani Singh | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Titular Maharaja of Jaipur | |
| Reign | 24 June 1970 – 28 December 1971 |
| Predecessor | Man Singh II |
| Successor | Padmanabh Singh |
| Born | 22 October 1931 Jaipur, Jaipur State, British India |
| Died | 17 April 2011 (aged 79) Gurgaon, Haryana, India |
| Spouse | Padmini Devi |
| Issue | Diya Kumari |
| Father | Man Singh II |
| Mother | Princess Marudhar Kunwar of Marwar |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  India |
| Service/ |  Indian Army |
| Years of service | 1951–1975 (active service) |
| Rank | Brigadier |
| Unit | Presidents Bodyguards, 9th Battalion Para (Special Forces), 10th Battalion Para (Special Forces) |
| Battles/wars | Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 |
| Awards | Maha Vir Chakra |
Brigadier Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh MVC (22 October 1931 – 17 April 2011) was an officer in the Indian Army and an entrepreneur.
Singh served in the Indian army from 1951 to 1975. In the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he was decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra, the country's second-highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy. He later served as an advisor to the Indian forces in Sri Lanka. After retirement, he served as India's High Commissioner to Brunei. He oversaw the management of Rambagh Palace which had been converted into a hotel.
Singh was the son of Man Singh II, the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jaipur during the British Raj. Upon the death of his father on 24 June 1970, Bhawani Singh succeeded him in receiving an annual payment (the privy purse), certain privileges, and the use of the title "Maharaja of Jaipur" under terms accepted earlier when princely states were absorbed into independent India.[1] However, all were ended on December 28, 1971 by the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India.[2][3]
Bhawani Singh married Princess Padmini Devi of Sirmur in 1966. Their only child, a daughter, Diya Kumari, is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament. Bhawani Singh died at age 79 of multi-organ failure.[4]
- ^ Ramusack, Barbara N. (2004). The Indian princes and their states. Cambridge University Press. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-521-26727-4.
The crucial document was the Instrument of Accession by which rulers ceded to the legislatures of India or Pakistan control over defence, external affairs, and communications. In return for these concessions, the princes were to be guaranteed a privy purse in perpetuity and certain financial and symbolic privileges such as exemption from customs duties, the use of their titles, the right to fly their state flags on their cars, and to have police protection. ... By December 1947 Patel began to pressure the princes into signing Merger Agreements that integrated their states into adjacent British Indian provinces, soon to be called states or new units of erstwhile princely states, most notably Rajasthan, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, and Matsya Union (Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karaulli).
- ^ "The Constitution (26 Amendment) Act, 1971", indiacode.nic.in, Government of India, 1971, retrieved 9 November 2011
- ^ Schmidt, Karl J. (1995). An atlas and survey of South Asian history. M.E. Sharpe. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-56324-334-9.
Although the Indian states were alternately requested or forced into union with either India or Pakistan, the real death of princely India came when the Twenty-sixth Amendment Act (1971) abolished the princes' titles, privileges, and privy purses.
- ^ "Maharaja of Jaipur Bhawani Singh passes away". The Times of India. 17 April 2011. Archived from the original on 6 June 2012.