History of Alwar
The royal house belongs to the Naruka clan of Rajputs, descended from the ancient rulers of Amber. Originally a feudatory noble of the Jaipur Maharajas, Pratap Singh, Thakur of Macheri, became a distinguished soldier of fortune, who eventually entered the Imperial service. He gained many victories against the Jats, receiving Imperial recognition of dominion over some of the territories he conquered. He established an independent state in 1770, and assumed the title of Maharao Raja of Alwar after successfully conquering the famous fort of that name. He had no son of his own, so adopted a distant relative from a junior branch of the family as his heir and successor. As it turned out, this was an unfortunately omen for the new state. Successive rulers died without sons, making adoption a recurring feature of the Alwar succession.
The family having recently risen to Royal status, together with the insecure succession, seemed to push the rulers towards great ostentation and public displays of wealth and power. Pratap Singh’s successors consequently spent much time and effort in outdoing their more senior neighbours. They built a multitude of ornate forts and palaces in very picturesque locations, organised spectacular pageants and court rituals, and conducted very elaborately organised hunts. Unfortunately for their subjects, Alwar was a relatively poor state and a heavy tax burden paid for these “excesses”, in the terminology of modern writers. Ironically, however, it is these same palaces, forts, collections of treasures and the industries built around the court, that provide much needed tourist income in a harsh economic environment in our times.
Sadly, it is Alwar, and one of its notorious rulers, Mahraja Jai Singhji, who provides much of the ammunition for that tittle-tattle genre of writing that passes for modern history. Some facts, and much fiction, employed to disembogue condemnation upon the entire Indian princely race. A man blessed with infinite charm, high intellect, brilliant, erudite, with a magnetic personality and enormous wealth, but who used his gifts for self-gratification instead of the benefit of his people. Stories about excesses of every kind abound, ranging from profligacy, to sadism and even self-deification. After a lifetime of employing his charm and connections to outwit British officials who sought to bring him to heel, he finally succumbed. A tortuous official enquiry confirmed so many of the charges against him that the government stripped him of ruling powers. Although not deposed, they forbade him from setting foot in Alwar again. He quietly lived out his remaining days in France.
Although Jai Singhji’s successor, a distant cousin adopted because of the failure of a male heir, proved much more popular he too fell foul of the ruling authorities in Delhi. Maharaja Tej Singhji had been a distinguished military officer, loyal to the British, and not at all keen on the Congress Party in power. Without any shred of evidence, they arrested him following the death of Mahatma Gandhi, on the absurd grounds that he was involved in the assassination. The courts ordered his release forthwith, but not before the authorities had taken control of the state and busily begun searching every property for “hidden treasure”.
Alwar merged with the other princely states in eastern Rajputana to form the Matsya Union on 18th March 1948. The union merged into Greater Rajasthan on 15th May 1949. The earlier loss of face suffered by the Congress government was not easily forgotten. Indira Gandhi took particular pleasure in bullying the family during her “emergency” government. The palaces and family properties were attacked again and searched. The Heir Apparent, Yuvraj Shri Pratap Singhji, being tragically killed in one of these investigations by “tax inspectors” in 1975. The exact cause of death remains a mystery, dark rumours of torture are often mentioned. His wife and son both entered politics, and have held considerable influence in Alwar and the surrounding areas.