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 ...

Ripudaman Singh (4 March 1883 – 12 December 1942), later known as Sardar Gurcharan Singh, was the Maharaja of

Nabha State Nabha State, with its capital at Nabha, was one of the Phulkian princely states of Punjab (British India), Punjab during the British Raj in India. This state was ruled by the Sidhu clan belonging to the Sikhs, Sikh religion. History Orig ...

, a small princely state during 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 ...

, from 1911 to 1928, when he was deposed by the British. He later became an Indian revolutionary.

Early life

Ripu Daman Singh was born on 4 March 1883 at Nabha, the only son and heir of

Hira Singh Nabha Sir Hira Singh GCSI GCIE (18 December 1843 – 24 December 1911) was the ruler of Nabha State from 1871 to 1911. Nabha was one of the Phulkian states in the Punjab. Early life Hira Singh was born at Badrukhan, Jind, on 18 December 1843, the s ...

. From 1906 to 1908, he was a member of the

Imperial Legislative Council of India The Imperial Legislative Council (ILC) was the legislature of British India from 1861 to 1947. It was established under the Government of India Act 1858 by providing for the addition of six additional members to the Governor General Council for l ...

, where he spoke on behalf of the Sikh interest and pioneered reformist legislation. He represented Nabha in 1911 at the

coronation of King George V The coronation of George V and his wife, Mary, as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Thursday 22 June 1911. This was the second of four such events held during the 20 ...

Maharaja

Upon his father's death in 1911, Ripudaman Singh ascended the ''gadi'' of Nabha; though recognised as Maharaja, he refused to be crowned by the

Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...

as was then the norm for a senior ruling prince in India. Continuing his interest in legal affairs, he reformed the state judiciary and enacted numerous pieces of progressive legislation, including laws providing for female education and a progressive marriage act. He also established a legislature and an executive council to govern Nabha. A staunch Indian nationalist, Ripudaman Singh befriended

Lala Lajpat Rai Lala Lajpat Rai (28 January 1865 — 17 November 1928) was an Indian revolutionary, politician, and author, popularly known as ''Punjab Kesari (Lion of Punjab).'' He was one of the three members of the Lal Bal Pal trio. He died of severe tra ...

and other prominent leaders of the ''swaraj'' movement. During the First World War, he refused to contribute Nabha state force contingents for the British Indian Army. As a result, he was arguably the only Indian ruler who did not receive any British war service-related honours. Shocked by the events of the

Amritsar Massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre (), also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, British India, during the annual Baisakhi fair to protest against the ...

of Jalianwala Bagh in 1919, he publicly opposed the British, clashing with his distant cousin

Bhupinder Singh of Patiala Sir Bhupinder Singh (12 October 1891 – 23 March 1938) was the Maharaja of Patiala and a cricket player. Singh's reign as Maharaja of the princely state of Patiala, in British India, lasted from 1900 to 1938. He was a member of the Phulki ...

, who was a strong supporter of British rule in India. Ripudaman Singh was granted a local salute of 15-guns in 1921, but he would not stay in British favour for much longer. In 1923, he was forced to relinquish control of Nabha to a British administrator after he was suspected of kidnapping and attempted murder through poisoning.

Deposition

In 1923, Ripudaman Singh agreed to leave Nabha and to settle at

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

. For this he was granted by the British a large allowance. However, he continued to intrigue and attempt to regain control of Nabha to some degree. In 1927, he went on pilgrimage to Sri Abichal Nagar Hazur Sahib and retook the Khalsa initiation rites, taking the name of Gurcharan Singh. The next year, he was formally deposed by the British for sedition and succeeded by his eldest son,

Pratap Singh Nabha Sir Pratap Singh Nabha, KCSI (21 September 1919 – 22 July 1995) was the last ruling Maharaja of Nabha and a member of the Phulkian dynasty. After India's independence in 1947, Singh acceded to India and the state of Nabha was merged int ...

in 1928. He was stripped of his rank and titles and exiled to

Kodaikanal Kodaikanal () (English: ) is a municipality and hill station in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated at an altitude of in the Palani hills of the Western Ghats. Kodaikanal was established in 1845 to serve as a r ...

in the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

. Thereafter, he was known officially as Gurcharan Singh.

Death

Ripudaman Singh died at Kodaikanal (

TamilNadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

) on 12 December 1942, aged 59.

Family

Ripudaman Singh married three times, twice to ladies of royal blood and once morganatically: *1. Jagdish Kaur (1884-20 February 1925). Married at Nabha in 1901. They had a daughter: ** Amar Kaur (8 October 1907-) *2. Sarojni Devi (1898-19?). Married at Nabha 10 October 1918 and had issue: **1. Kharak Singh, who succeeded as Maharaja of Nabha **2. Kharak Singh (d. 1970 in Canada) **3. Gurbaksh Singh (d November 1963) Married in 1950 Princess Chandra Prabha Kumari of

Rajpipla Rajpipla is a town and a municipality in the Narmada district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was the capital of the former Kingdom of Rajpipla. Name Bhil population gave it the name Rajpipla for the ruler resided first under a pipal t ...

(11 November 1932 – 22 October 2012, daughter of Vijaysinhji I of Rajpipla). They had one son and two daughters: *** Viveck Singh *** Krishna Kumari (1951–1994) *** Tuhina Kumari **4. Kamla Devi Sahiba **5. Vimla Devi Sahiba *a. Gurcharan Kaur (1904–1983). Married Gurcharan Kaur in 1923 and had issue: **1. Narinder Singh (1924-). A son and a daughter. **2. Fateh Singh (1935-). Two sons. **3. Jasmer Singh **4. Shamsher Singh **5. Vijay Kaur **6. Charanjeet Kaur. Two sons. **7. Nandhem Kaur

Titles

*1883-1911:

Sri Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Assamese, Meitei ( Manipuri), Marathi, Malay (including In ...

Tikka Tikka may refer to: * Tikka (food), a type of South Asian food * Tikka (forehead mark), a mark made on the forehead by Hindu Indians * Tikka (name), list of people with the name * Tikka (brand), a brand of hunting rifles manufactured formerly by ...

Sahib Sahib or Saheb () is a term of address originating from Arabic (). As a loanword, ''Sahib'' has passed into several languages, including Persian, Kurdish, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Tajik, Crimean Tatar, Urdu, Hi ...

Ripudaman Singh *1911-1927:

His Highness Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address Your Highness) is a formal style (manner of address), style used to address (in grammatical person, second person) or refer to (in grammatical person, third person) certain members of a reigning or formerly ...

Farzand-i-Arjumand, Aqidat-Paiwand-i-Daulat-i-Angrezistan, Brar Bains Sarmour, Raja-i-Rajagan,

Shri Ripudaman Singh Malvinder Bahadur,

Nabha Nabha is a city and municipal council in the Patiala district in the south-west of the Indian state of Punjab. It was the capital of the former Nabha State. Nabha is also a sub-division city which comes under Patiala district. Geography Nabha ...

*1927-1928: His Highness Farzand-i-Arjumand, Aqidat-Paiwand-i-Daulat-i-Angrezistan, Brar Bains Sarmour, Raja-i-Rajagan, Maharaja Shri Gurcharan Singh Malvinder Bahadur, Maharaja of Nabha *1928-1942:

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar (, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royal family, royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other Aristocracy (class), aristocrats. It ha ...

Gurcharan Singh

Honours

Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

(FRGS) *

Delhi Durbar Medal Delhi Durbar Medals were instituted by the British Raj, United Kingdom to commemorate the Delhi Durbar where the new Emperor of India was proclaimed, in 1903 for Edward VII, and in Delhi Durbar Medal (1911), 1911 for George V. On both occasions t ...

-1903 *

King George V Coronation Medal The King George V Coronation Medal was a commemorative medal instituted in 1911 to celebrate the coronation of King George V, that took place on 22 June 1911. Award It was the first British Royal commemorative medal to be awarded to people who w ...

w/Delhi Durbar Clasp-1911