Maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

Bodhchandra Singh or Bodhachandra Singh (1908–1955) was the last ruler of the princely state of

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

under the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

as well as the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India, * * was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations existing between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. Until its Indian independence movement, independence, India had be ...

. He ruled between 1941 and 15 October 1949. During his term, India was decolonised by the British, receiving independence on 14 August 1947. The Maharaja presided over a transition to democracy, passing the

Manipur State Constitution Act 1947 Manipur State Constitution Act 1947 is an act which enabled the princely state of Manipur to have a ''de jure'' written constitution enacted by the last Maharajah of Manipur, Bodhchandra Singh. Under the constitution, a Legislative Assembly wa ...

. He signed the

Instrument of Accession The Instrument of Accession was a legal document first introduced by the Government of India Act 1935 and used in 1947 to enable each of the rulers of the princely states under British paramountcy to join one of the new dominions of Dominion ...

, joining India shortly before the British departure. In 1949, a few months before India became a republic, he signed a merger agreement, whereby Manipur became an integral part of India governed by the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

. He was granted a privy purse of Rs. 300,000 per annum.

Life

Bodhchandra Singh was born to Maharaja

Churachand Singh Maharaja Sir Churachand Singh , also known as Churachandra or Chura Chand (1886–1941), was a ruler of the princely state of Manipur under the British Raj. He was a great-grandson of Raja Nara Singh who had ruled up to 1850 prior to Raja ...

, the ruler of

installed in 1891. He was born to the second Rani of Churchand Singh on 24 July 1908. He was educated at

Rajkumar College, Raipur Rajkumar College (or RKC) in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, is one of the oldest K-12 foundations of India. It was founded by Sir Salman khan in the year 1882 at Jabalpur. The School functioned at Jabalpur till 1892 and thereafter, shifted to its present si ...

between ages 12 and 20. He was joined by his younger brother Priyobrata Singh at the college. He married Rajkumari Tharendra Kishori (Rajkumari Ram Priya Devi), a daughter of the Raja of Bodo Khimedi, in 1929. He divorced her in 1941, and subsequently married Iswari Devi, daughter of Prince Ramaraja of Ramnagar, who was a cousin of the King of Nepal.

Succession

The Maharaja retained his title for his lifetime and passed it on to his son and heir Okendrajit Singh. Afterwards, the royal titles were abolished by the Indian Parliament.

References

Bibliography

* ** (ebook) * Meitei royalty 1908 births 1955 deaths Ningthouja dynasty {{hindu-bio-stub

Life

Succession

See also

References

Bibliography