The complex web of India's 'Royal' marriages

Though stripped off royalty and associated privileges, and relegated to common citizenry, India’s royals still perserve their martial lineage through marital alliances

Columns
By P. V. Ramana
Apr 24, 2025

Godavari Musings is a column authored by Dr P.V. Ramana, through which he will reflect upon many socio-political, historical and policy issues, which will be of readers’ interest. In this first edition of the Godavari Musings, Dr Ramana traces the complex web of marriages that bond the royal families in India, and in the neighbourhood, which has helped in perserving their martial lineage.

Photos courtesy: Indian Rajputs, Royal Jaipur, Wikicommons

At the time of independence, India was a nation comprised of around 565 sovereign princely states. The onerous task of uniting all the states under the union involved the royals of the princely states ceding their sovereignty to the nation—a process that has been eloquently described in V.P. Menon’s Integration of the Indian States.

The Privy Purses Sums of Rules, as enshrined in Article 291 of the Indian Constitution, ensured that the Royals were guaranteed a hefty sum for maintenance by the Indian government. This system continued until December 1971, when the Indian Government under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi omitted the Article through the Twenty-Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, which also removed all the special privileges enjoyed by the royal families of the princely states.

The removal of the Privy Purse and special privileges might have turned the royals into ordinary citizens but have not left them bereft of their eloquence and opulence as most royal families continue to hold sway over an enormity of wealth, estates and assets. Over the years, the royals have integrated with the social and political mainstream of the country when many of them also joined politics, entered the Parliament and became ministers.

While many of the royal families continue to be revered as Prajapathis in their erstwhile domains, it is noteworthy that the royal lineages continue to be preserved, not through martial but marital alliances that have united royals not merely from across peninsular India but also across the border into the Himalayan ranges.

From Gwalior to Baroda and Jaipur to Cooch Behar, the royal web of marital knots has extended into Singrauli, Tripura, Tanjavur, Pithapuram, Nuzvid and Kathmandu.

Here is a low down on this complex web of royal marriages and how they create a monarchical fraternity in the sub-continent.

Maharani Gayatri Devi of the royal family of Cooch-Behar was married to Maharaja Sawai Mansingh II, the last Maharaja of Jaipur, as his third Maharani Consort. She was a diva with Beaton, an avid photographer, describing her as one of the most beautiful women in the world during her time.

Polygamy was an accepted practice in India during those times (the 1940s) until it was declared unlawful by the Government of India. Her father was Raja Jitendra Narayan of Cooch-Behar, its last ruler.

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Gayatri Devi’s mother, Indira Raje of royal House of Baroda, was the only daughter of Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwad II. Maharani Gayatri Devi is related to Keshab Chandra Sen – a prominent figure during the Bengal renaissance movement and freedom fighter – through her maternal grandmother Maharani Indira Devi.

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Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III was the Maharaja of Baroda State, also its last Maharaja. He was married to Shrimant Lakshmibai Mohite of Tanjore. Maharaja Gaeakwad III founded the Maharaja Siyaji Rao University in Vadodara, Gujarat, which emerged as one of India’s premier universities. Several distinguished persons from various walks of life are its alumni.

Maharani Jamnabai, the widow of Maharaja Khanderao Gaekwad, adopted Prince Gopalrao, son of Maharaja Kashirao Dadasaheb, to be the heir apparent to the throne of Baroda.

When social reformers in India were still figuring out ways to go about educating the untouchables, Maharaja Sayajirao had already opened separate schools for them. He had pushed through the Divorce Act, the Widow Remarriage Act and the Caste Intermarriages Act. When the so-called untouchables were prevented from drawing water from public wells, he had thrown open all wells to them.

An editorial of the time noted, “The most remarkable thing about Baroda is that [it] is much in advance of British India in the matter of social legislation.”

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Usha Raje Scindia is the daughter of Maharaja Jiwaji Rao Scindia, the last Maharaja of Gwalior. She is married to the Ranas of Nepal. Her husband is Pasupati Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, who joined politics, was elected and served as minister in the Nepal government.

Her brother is Madhav Rao Scindia, who was a Congress stalwart having served in Rajiv Gandhi’s Cabinet and died in an air crash in September 2001.

An uncouth Rana Prime Minister usurped the ‘royal seal’ from King Tribhuvan. He then took refuge in Varanasi (earlier known as Benares) as the house guest of the Maharaja of Varanasi. Therefore, the Maharaja enjoyed the first place in the pecking order of protocol, next to the Maharaja of Nepal.

Also, he is among the few Indians permitted into the sanctorum of the Pasupati shrine in Kathmandu. The others are the President, Prime Minister and the Ambassador of India.

Maharaja Jiwaji Rao Scindia donated his retreat in Tekanpur to the Border Security Force, India’s first line of defence. The building itself is in the shape of a ship, reminiscing the now-defunct Scindia Steam Ship Company.

Senior Command courses, Commando training, and dog training are conducted from this place. Dogs are also trained here for the benefit of foreign countries. These dogs hold a rank, are awarded military honours and are pensioned-off with dignity. Tekanpur also houses India’s only tear gas shell manufacturing unit. The products are also sold to friendly foreign countries.

Scindia House, a famous landmark in Connaught Circus, New Delhi also belonged to the Scindia’s. Gwalior is also home to the famous Scindia School, founded by Maharaja Modho Rao Scindia in 1897, whose alumni belong to royal as well as affluent families.

In 1872, Maharaja Jayajirao Scindia loaned Rs 75 lakh for the construction of the Agra-Gwalior portion of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway. He constructed many new buildings, reconstructed the Koteshwar Mandir, and donated Rs 15 lakhs for the reconstruction of Gwalior Fort’s boundary wall and the broken parts of Man Mandir, Gwalior.

He also advanced Rs 75 lakh a similar amount was advanced for the Indore-Nimach section of the Rajputana-Malwa Railway.

Maharaja Ranoji Rao Scindia (1731AD -1745 AD) also donated money to reconstruct Mahakaleshwar Mandir that was destroyed by invading foreign rulers, as also the reconstruction of Man Mandir, Gujri Mahal and Johar Kund.

Shreenath Mahadji Shinde Maharaj of Gwalior cracked down against dacoits and thugs, thus establishing law and order.

Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia (1886 AD -1925 AD) formed an Archaeological Department in 1913. The decision to establish a museum was taken in 1914, which contributed to the formation of the Gujari Mahal Museum.

Maharaja Jyotiraditya Scindia, the incumbent union minister for civil aviation in the Narendra Modi government, is the titular head of Gwalior. He is married to Maharani Priyadarshini Raje Scindia.

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Padmavati Raje “Akkasaheb” Burman, daughter of Maharaja Jiwaji Rao Scindia, is married to Maharaja Kirit Deb Burman, the last ruling Maharaja of Tripura, while Usha Raje Rana, her sister is married into the Rana family of Nepal.

In 1870, Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya ascended the throne and began a series of political reforms in his kingdom, modelling his government on the British system. As a lover of the culture of Bengal, he adopted Bengali as a language in his court. He also donated huge sums to Shantiniketan, a premier university in Bengal founded by Nobel Laureate ‘Gurudev” Rabindranath Tagore.

Many accounts claim that Tagore had returned his Nobel Prize, like the Knighthood, following the Jalianwala Bagh massacre ordered by General Dwyer, who was later assassinated by Sardar Udham Singh after whom a district is named in Himachal Pradesh.

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Vasundhara Raje Scindia, former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, is married to Maharaja Rana Hemant Singh, the Raja of Dholpur, who she later divorced. A famous landmark in New Delhi is Dholpur House which is now the headquarters of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) that selects personnel for the All India Civil Services –– the permanent executive, or “steel frame” that is allegedly rotten and rusted these days.

The Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust, the Jaigarh Public Charitable Trust and the Princess Diya Kumari Foundation are some of the philanthropies of the Jaipur royal family (not connected to Vasundhara Raje). The sundial in Jaipur and in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, are also contributions of the Jaipur royalty.

They had also donated huge sums and land to construct the Jaipur University. It pioneered research in the Panchayat Raj System as well as South Asia Studies. Several distinguished persons are its alumni.

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The second wife of the Maharaja of Jaipur, Sir Sawai Mansingh is Marudhar Kunwar, known as First Her Highness, sister of Sumer Sigh of the Royal House of Jodhpur.

The land where Rashtrapati Bhawan was built belonged to the royal family of Jaipur. To celebrate Delhi’s status as the capital, Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh is said to have built the Jaipur Column in front of the Rashtrapati Bhawan, which was then the Viceroy’s House.

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Devyani Rana of the Nepalese Rana dynasty is married to Yuvaraj Aishvarya Singh, the son of Maharaja Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Singh and Maharani Veena Singh, who is the daughter of former Indian Human Resources Minister and Rajkumar of Churhat Thikana, Arjun Singh.

Arjun Singh was a union minister in various Congress governments including those headed by Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao. Indira Gandhi was married to Feroze Gandhi, a Parsi, who is said to have adopted the surname of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, as a tribute.

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Maharaja Rao Venkata Kumara Mahipati Surya Rau was the last head of Pithapuram Zamindari. He was adopted from the Chandragiri Zamindari. He was Brahmo Samoji, which was founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy – a social reformer. He is married to Chinnamamba Devi, who is the eldest daughter of Raja Meka Venkata Rangayya Apparao Bahadur, Zamindar of Kapileswar Mutta, Nuzvid.

Mahara Surya Rao was a philanthropist. He donated a considerable part of his wealth and helped found the Maharaja’s College and Maharaja’s High School in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. Several distinguished luminaries in India and abroad are its alumni.

While the felling of teak trees is illegal, he had disposed of trees to finance his philanthropy. Government officials initiated legal proceedings against him. An upright Indian Administrative Service official brought that to the notice of then Chief Minister of Andhra, Tanguturi Prakasam, who ordered the proceedings to be quashed.

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One of the associates of Maharaja was Koka Subba Rao. His granddaughter was married to Vikram Sood, who superannuated as the head of India’s external intelligence agency – Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) which was created after the Chinese aggression of 1962.

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Maharaja Meka Rangayya Appa Rao, the Zamindar of Nuzvid-Vuyyur, is married to Princess Sita Devi, the daughter of Maharaja Mahipati Surya Rao of Pithapuram.

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Maharani Sita Devi later converted to Islam to subsequently marry the Maharaja of Baroda, Sayajirao Gaekwad III. She is said to have later died in penury and heartbroken all alone in her opulent flat in the United States.

As they say, when you were born, you came alone and penny-lees. When you die, you leave this world alone and a penny less.

Disclaimer: This commentary is by no means meant to glorify royalty. Besides tracing royal marriages, it merely mentions their philanthropy. Many of their acts of commission (being despots) and omission (not allowing democratic institutions) are despicable. It also mentions their welfare activities and social reform initiatives. The Princely States have been abolished in India following the declaration of India as a Republic. Princely titles have been abolished by the Privy Purses Act of 1971 AD. These are used for local court affairs and have no legal sanction.