Maharaja Sir Kishan Singh, KCSI (1899–1929) was the ruling Maharaja of the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

of Bharatpur (1918–1929) and successor of Maharani Girraj Kaur. During Partition, the princely states of

Alwar Alwar (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �lʋəɾ is a city located in India's National Capital Region (India), National Capital Region and the administrative headquarters of Alwar district, Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. ...

and Bharatpur were the sites of a pogrom directed against the Muslim Meo community. The Meos are a distinctive Rajput Muslim community with a number of Hindu or Rajput practices. They also had a history of being assertive, and bearing arms. Both Jai Singh of Alwar and Kishan Singh of Bharatpur (1899–1929) provided official patronage to the

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj ( hi, आर्य समाज, lit=Noble Society, ) is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The samaj was founded by the sanny ...

and its

Shuddhi Shuddhi or Suddhi can refer to: * ''Shuddhi'' (film), a 2017 Indian Kannada-language film *Shuddhi (Hinduism) Shuddhi is Sanskrit for purification. It is a term used to describe a Hindu religious movement aimed at the religious conversion of ...

movement of conversion to Hinduism. The

Hindu Mahasabha The Hindu Mahasabha (officially Akhil Bhārat Hindū Mahāsabhā, ) is a Hindu nationalist political party in India. Founded in 1915, the Mahasabha functioned mainly as a pressure group advocating the interests of orthodox Hindus before the B ...

and the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...

(RSS) grew in importance with the patronage of their durbars. The Mahasabha's V. D. Savarkar set in motion a policy of courting Hindu princes. He officially changed the official script from Nastaliq to Nagari, and banned the teaching of Urdu and Persian in state schools. The Shahi Jama Masjid in Alwar was one of several important buildings that were converted by order of the government. Discriminatory taxation led to a tax revolt by the Muslim Meo population, in the course of which the state army opened fire on a crowd with machine guns at Govindgarh on January 7-8, 1933, and killed more than 30 people. Nevertheless, Ian Copland, examining census records, shows how the Muslim population which had been 26.2% of Alwar in 1941 and 19.2% of Bharatpur, dropped after the pogroms, conversions and flight, to 6% in both states. About two-thirds of their land was taken away.

Early life

Maharaja Kishan Singh was born at Moti Mahal, Bharatpur on 4 October 1899 in a Jat family. He was eldest son of Maharaja Ram Singh by his second wife, Maharani Girraj Kaur. He was educated at Mayo College,

Ajmer Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "''Aj ...

and

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

References

External links

Genealogy of the ruling chiefs of Bharatpur
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Kishan Jat rulers Jat Rulers of Bharatpur state Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India Grand Officers of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) 1899 births 1929 deaths