The Nishan-i-Iftikhar () was a military and civilian decoration of

Kapurthala Kapurthala () is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent b ...

Description

This order was instituted in 1914 by

Jagatjit Singh Colonel Maharajah Sir Jagatjit Singh Sahib Bahadur (24 November 1872 – 19 June 1949) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Kapurthala during the British Raj in India, from 1877 until his death, in 1949. He ascended to the ...

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 ...

. It was awarded in three classes: first, second, and third. The First Class was awarded to premier state officials and members of the household staff. The Second Class was conferred upon First Class state officials and commissioned officers of the state forces. The Third Class was reserved for other deserving individuals. All three classes of the Order were likely designed by the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

-based firm Arthus-Bertrand. The Order

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

was ''Pro Rege et Patria'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "For the King and Country").{{Cite book , last=Sainty , first=Guy Stair , url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/World_Orders_of_Knighthood_Merit/WiYYAQAAMAAJ , title=World Orders of Knighthood & Merit , last2=Heydel-Mankoo , first2=Rafal , date=2006 , publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry , isbn=978-0-9711966-7-4 , pages=1221–1222 , language=en

References

Awards established in 1914 1914 establishments in India Orders, decorations, and medals of former countries Kapurthala State