"Waiting is the great vocation of the dispossessed "
-Mary Gordon, American Writer
After the abolition of the 'privy purses' and stripping away of land, authority, and prized possessions post-Independence, multiple lineages of royal families in India live in poverty today. Struggling to stay afloat, they have sold off piles of jewellery, fleets of Rolls-Royces, and armouries of heirloom rifles. However, some have found their way. Many have turned family palaces into hotels that sell hazy memories of the British Raj. Others are professional celebrities, lending their names to polo tournaments and frequenting newspaper pages. However, not all have been able to escape the grips of their destiny and today live in devastating circumstances.
Raja Brajraj Kshatriya Birbar Chamupati Singh, The Mahapatra of Tigiria, is the last surviving descendant of the princely Tigiria State of Orissa and was once the life of India's royal party circuit. He had a fleet of 25 luxury cars and lived in a palace with 30 servants. He was known for his prowess as a hunter, who had shot down 13 tigers and 28 leopards. However, his fortunes vanished after Indian Independence, when he lost his state's tax revenues to the Government and was given a privy purse of ₨. 12,487 a year instead. He was forced to sell his palace in 1960 for Rs. 73,416 and later separated from his wife. In 1975, the Government withdrew the last remaining royal privileges, making him lose his annual income. Today he lives at the mercy of the villagers who bring him rice and lentils for lunch in a mud hut of dilapidated condition, covered in cobwebs. His words which he conveyed to the Telegraph, indicate that despite his spectacular fall from grandeur, he remained happy. "Then I was the king. Now I'm a pauper. But I have no regrets whatsoever."
Living in anonymity in a lower middle-class locality in Chanchalguda, Y Ziauddin Tucy, the sixth generation descendant of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, struggles to make ends meet. Living in a rented house with his two unemployed sons, Tucy still believes that the Government should release the properties of the erstwhile Mughals to the legal heirs. Tucy's residence is not easy to locate, with even the shop owner opposite his house unaware that a Mughal descendent is living next door. At home, portraits of the Mughal emperor are his only possessions reflecting his royal lineage, along with the stationary he uses with Mughals of Hindustan imprinted on them. After retirement from Government service, Ziauddin survives on a pension but retains an interest in poetry like Bahadur Shah Zafar himself. Tucy says, "We want justice to be done so that at least our children's welfare would be ensured, for poverty has corroded our destiny."
In the impenetrable ridge forest behind Buddha Jayanti Park in Delhi reside the purported descendants of the rulers of Awadh. Princess Sakina and Prince Riaz call Malcha Mahal their home, a dilapidated structure cohabited by bats, lizards and snakes. The lodge has no electricity connection or water supply, but the royal siblings have not abandoned it since they were allotted this place in the 1980s. After the Government occupied the Nawab's palace in Lucknow, their mother led a long struggle for reclamation. She housed herself and her two kids in the New Delhi Railway Station. After nine long years, the Government finally gave in and allotted her the Malcha Mahal, besides a paltry sum of Rs 500 at the end of every month. However, sunk in the sadness of losing her royal property and lifestyle, she drank crushed diamonds and died on 10 December 1993. A few years later, members of a forest tribe attacked the lodge in search of the hidden royal treasure. The siblings, frightened out of their wits, dug up their mother’s grave and consigned the mortal remains to fire. When enquired about Princess Sakina and Prince Riaz by the guards, they informed that they frequently came down for water and supplies. A guard even commented, "With this reclusive lifestyle, they may die a death as lonely as their mother and not a soul would come to know."
These are just a few stories of India's dying royal lineage. The families that lay among riches now lie among rags.
Bibliography:
Pramod, Prakhar. "8 Indian Royal Families That Were Once Wealthy But Are Struggling To Survive Today". ScoopWhoop. 5 May, 2020. Web. 21 Jul, 2022. <https://www.scoopwhoop.com/inothernews/indian-royal-families-that-are-struggling-today/>
Adak, Baishali. "Cut off and forlorn in Malcha Mahal". DeccanHerald. 30 Apr, 2014. Web. 21 Jul, 2022. <https://www.deccanherald.com/content/403039/cut-off-forlorn-malcha-mahal.html>
Very well written and informative, did not know this!