Death of the Maharaja of Dhrangadhra-Halvad
The last Knight of the Order of Indian Empire has died, aged 87
His Highness the
Maharaja of Dhrangadhra-Halvad, who died on August 1 aged 87, was the last of the Indian princes who ruled their own states before India became independent in 1947.
On acceding to the
gadi (throne) on his father's death in 1942, he launched an economy programme, ordered the State Council to meet once a week and enacted a series of modernising laws. These affirmed his subjects' fundamental rights, ending the segregation of the "untouchable" castes, and permitting women to hold property and to remarry. Compulsory free primary schooling was introduced as well as village and municipal self-government.
As Independence became inevitable, Dhrangadhra threw himself into the task of creating what he saw as the "free" India. Recognising that the amalgamation of his state with the larger Saurashtra was in the greater interest, he was among the first princes to sign Mountbatten's Instrument of Accession, thereby losing his ruling powers.
After being received in a private audience by King George VI and witnessing the final reading of the Indian Independence Bill in the Commons, he became deputy governor of Saurashtra, presiding over its first elections. He was briefly president of the state bank, and was a member of the body planning the constitution.
The Maharaja of Dhrangadhra was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1948, and was the last surviving KCIE. He was president of Rajkumar College in Rajkot; and a life member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association; of the World Wildlife Fund; the International Phonetic Association; and the Heraldry Society. He was also a member of the Cricket Club of India, the Fencing Association of Great Britain and the Bombay Masonic Lodge.
He married, in 1943, Brijraj Kumari Sahiba (daughter of the Maharaja of Jodphur), who survives him with their three sons. The eldest, 66-year-old
Sodhsalji, prefers to be recognised as the head of Jhala clan, but is still popularly known as the Maharaja.
The Telegraph obituary
Wiki article
.