Ganga Singh

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Ganga Singh around 1910

Sir Sri Ganga Singh Bahadur (born  October 3, 1880 in Bikaner , †  February 2, 1943 in Bombay ) was the 21st Maharajah of Bikaner , one of the princely states of the Rajputs in today's Rajasthan , at that time part of British India .

Live and act

James Guthrie : Sri Ganga Singh Bahadur. Portrait study for Statesmen of World War I.

Sri Ganga Singh Bahadur was the third and youngest son of Sri Lal Singh (1831-1887). After the death of his brother Dungar Singh (1854-1887), who succeeded the Maharajah Sardar Singh (1818-1872), he became Maharajah of Bikaner at the age of seven, but only took full rulership at the age of 18. Ganga Singh was initially taught privately. From 1889 to 1894 he attended Mayo College in Ajmer . From 1895 to 1898, under the direction of Sir Brian Egerton , he was familiarized with administrative processes, including government work. During the great famine of 1899-1900, he traveled through the famine-stricken areas to assess people's needs and suffering and to take effective countermeasures. Queen Victoria awarded him the Kaiser-i-Hind gold medal for this .

For his military training he joined the local regiment in Deoli in 1898 , which was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Bell and enjoyed an excellent reputation. From 1901 he commanded the Bikaner Camel Corps as part of the British troops. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the Maharajah's military career reached its climax when he fought the Ottoman Empire with his Bikaner camel corps for Great Britain in Egypt and Palestine and was appointed major general in the British Army in 1917 . He was also used on the Western Front in France . Ganga Singh was eventually appointed to the Imperial War Cabinet (Imperial War Cabinet) in 1917 and participated in the Empire Conferences in part (Imperial Conferences) of 1917 and the 1918th

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 he represented the Empire of India and was a co-signer of the Versailles Peace Treaty in 1919 . He can also be seen in two well-known group portraits from this period: Statesmen of World War I by James Guthrie and The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles by William Orpen . In 1921, Ganga Singh took over the presidency of the Chamber of Princes as Chancellor , which had been created as an advisory body in British India. In the wake of the Home Rule movement, he was able to persuade the British government to admit India to the League of Nations , although India was not an independent state at the time. After joining the League of Nations in 1924, he led the Indian delegation at the meetings.

In 1913 Ganga Singh had established a Supreme Court in Bikaner, which was headed by a Chief Justice with two assessors. In 1922, a senior public prosecutor with two assistants was added to the Supreme Court. Ganga Singh was the first maharajah to voluntarily limit his power through a supreme court. Ganga Singh was considered a progressive ruler who promoted the water supply, railways, hospitals and schools. He initiated the expansion of a railway network, which in 1935 already covered more than 1,000 miles. In 1925, work began on a canal for an irrigation system that was supposed to supply the desert region with water from the neighboring Punjab rivers. Completion took place in 1927 and turned Bikaner from a city plagued by hunger and poverty into a thriving trading center.

Lalgarh Palace

From 1900 Ganga Singh had the Lalgarh Palace built according to the plans of the architect Samuel Swinton Jacob (1841-1917). The building, which was constructed from red sandstone , has elements of Rajput, Muslim and British styles. From 1920 the palace was the residence of the ruling family until they converted the building into a hotel in the 1960s.

Ganga Singh with his son 1914

Ganga Singh was married to Vallabh Kumariji from 1897 to 1906. After her death, he married two more times. His second wife was Krishna Kanwariji, who died in 1922. He and his third wife, Sri Bhatiyaniji, had four sons and two daughters. Ganga Singh died in 1943 at the age of 62 after a reign of 56 years. His successor as Maharajah of Bikaner was his son Sadul Singh (1902–1950).

Awards

He received numerous awards for his political and military engagement:

literature

  • Tej K. Mathur: Selected Speeches of Maharaja Ganga Singhji of Bikaner (1880-1943). Dev Publishers & Distributors 2014, ISBN 9789381406281 .
  • Hugh Purcell: The Maharaja of Bikaner. Rupa Publications India 2014, ISBN 9788129124685 .
  • Laxman Singh Rathore: The Regal Patriot: Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner. Lotus Collection, Roli Books 2007, ISBN 9788174365057 .

Web links

Commons : Ganga Singh  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Singh, Ganga
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Singh Bahadur, Sri Ganga
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Maharajah of Bikaner
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Bikaner
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1943
Place of death Bombay