Sawai (honorary title)
The honorary title Sawai has been given to high-ranking or special people in India since the 17th century. It comes from the Sanskrit language and literally means something like "one and a quarter"; it therefore referred to people who had a quarter more strength, bravery or intelligence than the average. Under the British the title became hereditary.
Title holder
- One of the first title holders was the only eleven-year-old Maharaja Jai Singh II of Amber (later Jaipur ), to whom the great mogul Aurangzeb gave this honorary name in 1699. The last holder of the title Sawai was Bhawani Singh (r. 1970-2011).
- The Maratha prince ( Peshwa ) Madhav Rao II carried the title at the end of the 18th century until his death in 1795.
- On the occasion of a celebration of Victoria's coronation as emperor in 1877, the British awarded the title Sawai to Ranjor Singh , ruler of the princely state of Ajaygarh .
- The British awarded the title to Khengarji III. , the Maharaja of Kutsch in 1885.
- The Maharaja of Orchha , Pratap Singh , was also awarded the hereditary title at the end of the 19th century.
See also
literature
- Jadunath Sarkar : A History of Jaipur. Orient Longman, New Delhi 1994, ISBN 81-250-0333-9 , p. 171