The Rao of Kutch who outwitted a Viceroy of India

When Rao Pragmalji’s clansmen threatened rebellion in response to his reform efforts and the Raj warned him to ease off or be deposed, he circumvented the Viceroy, enlisting the support of the UK’s secretary of state for India

- Rahul Sagar

“We have all different ways of beginning the day. The Englishman starts his day on bacon and eggs, the German on sausages, the American on cornflakes. His Highness prefers a virgin.”

So wrote KL Gauba of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala and his 350 concubines in His Highness (1930). A lacerating account of the excesses of the princely class, His Highness looked forward to India being rid of “medieval despotism”. Its tone was diametrically opposed to that of a book published when Gauba was born. This was Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901), in which Dadabhai Naoroji highlighted the “splendid prospect” held out by Mysore, which had transformed the sizable budget deficit left behind by British administrators into a healthy surplus — even while spending heavily on development.

These contrasting views come to mind because Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently laid the foundation stone for the Museum of the Royal Kingdoms of India, which is intended to redress “neglect” of the Native States by highlighting their role in shaping India’s “political identity”. This invites the question: Why did public opinion turn from admiration to dismissiveness? How did we go from Naoroji to Gauba?