Kishan Singh of Bharatpur
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Maharaja Kishan Singh | |
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Maharaja of Bharatpur | |
Reign | 28 November 1918 – 27 March 1929 |
Predecessor | Maharaja Ram Singh (Ruler) Maharani Girraj Kaur (Regent) |
Successor | Maharaja Brijendra Singh |
Born | 4 October 1899 Moti Mahal |
Died | 27 March 1929 (aged 29) Agra |
Spouse | Maharani Rajendra Kaur |
Issue | Maharaja Brijendra Singh |
House | Sinsiniwar Jat Dynasty |
Father | Maharaja Ram Singh |
Mother | Maharani Girraj Kaur |
Maharaja Sir Kishan Singh, KCSI (1899–1929) was the ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Bharatpur (1918–1929) and successor of Maharani Girraj Kaur.[citation needed]During Partition, the princely states of Alwar 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 – who ruled from 1903 to 1933 – and Kishan Singh of Bharatpur(1899-1929) provided official patronage to the Arya Samaj and its Shuddhi movement of conversion to Hinduism. The Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (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 and Wellington[clarification needed].[citation needed]