ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>RIPUDAMAN SI&#7748GH MAH&#256R&#256J&#256 (1883-1942)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="RIPUDAMAN,SIDGH,MAHRJ,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279RIPUDAMAN SI&#7748GH, MAH&#256R&#256J&#256 (1883-1942), ruler of the princely state of N&#257bh&#257 from 1912 to 1923, was born at N&#257bh&#257 on 22 Ph&#257gun 1939 Bk/4 March 1883, the only son of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh (1843-1911) and Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jasmer Kaur. His father having resisted British advice to send his heir to one of the newly established Chiefs' Colleges modelled on English public schools, &#7788ikk&#257 (heir apparent) Ripudaman Si&#7749gh was educated by private tutors including L&#257l&#257 Bishan D&#257s and Sard&#257r (Bh&#257&#299) K&#257hn Si&#7749gh, celebrated Sikh scholar and lexicographer. He was married in 1901 to Jagdish Kaur (1884-1927), daughter of Sard&#257r Gurdi&#257l Si&#7749gh M&#257nn, a Punjabi judicial officer and owner of tea gardens near Dharams&#257l&#257 (now in Him&#257chal Pradesh). A daughter, Amrit Kaur, born to them on 8 October 1907, was later (in 1925) married to R&#257j&#257 Ravi Sher Si&#7749gh of Kals&#299&#257 state.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1906 &#7788ikk&#257 Ripudaman Si&#7749gh was appointed as additional member to the Imperial Legislative Council in Calcutta for a two-year term. During this period he joined hands with nationalist leaders such as Gop&#257l Krishna Gokhale and Madan Mohan M&#257lav&#299ya in their opposition to restrictive legislation such as the Press Act of the Government of India. He also introduced the Anand Marriage Bill sought to legitimize Sikh marriages conducted according to their simple religious rites known as <i>anand</i>. His interest in social reform was further evidenced when he presided over the Indian National Social Conference held at Lahore in 1909. In 1910, he went abroad for medical treatment. He attended the coronation of King George V at Westminster on 22 June 1911. He was in France when the news reached him of his father's death on 25 December 1911.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He came back to India, and ascended the throne of N&#257bh&#257 on 24 January 1912. A man of independent views, the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 alienated the British at the very outset by contesting their right to confirm his succession to the throne with a formal investiture of a <u>kh</u>ill'at (robe of honour). Mah&#257r&#257j&#257, citing a precedent of an installation ceremony in 1863, wanted only the necklace to be placed on him. Although the matter was amicably settled and the ceremony did take place on 20 December 1912, and later during the Great War (1914-1918), the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 liberally contributed to the British war effort, the British always looked askance at him. His overt support to the Gurdw&#257r&#257 Reform movement in the Punjab led to further alienation. Meanwhile, an acrimonious dispute had arisen between Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ripudaman Si&#7749gh and the ruler of the neighbouring state of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Bh&#363pinder Si&#7749gh. Among the welter of charges and countercharges, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 accused N&#257bh&#257 of the kidnapping of officials and other violations of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257's sovereignty, while N&#257bh&#257 sought the extradition of a woman allegedly employed by Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257's secret police but accused of theft in N&#257bh&#257. After efforts at conciliation between the two rulers had proved futile, the British launched an enquiry by one of their own officers who found N&#257bh&#257 guilty of serious transgressions. Even some of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ripudaman Si&#7749gh's own former confidants had deposed against him.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Partly under British pressure and partly persuaded by one of his former officers, Captain O'Grady, he signed a letter of voluntary abdication on 7 July 1923, and the British government formally deposed him on 9 July 1923. He was sent to Dehr&#257 D&#363n on an annual pension of Rs 300,000. His son, Prince Prat&#257p Si&#7749gh, born on 22 September 1919 of his second marriage in 1918 to Sarojin&#299 Dev&#299, daughter of Major Prem Si&#7749gh Garew&#257l, of the Hyder&#257b&#257d State Army, was proclaimed ruler of N&#257bh&#257 and the state was placed under a British administrator during the prince's minority.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Mah&#257r&#257j&#257's deposition and expulsion from N&#257bh&#257 led to strong popular protest. In a series of demonstrations and meetings people demanded the restoration of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257. The protest soon took the form of a religious movement which came to be known as Jaito <i>morch&#257</i>. The <i>morch&#257</i> or agitation was led by the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee. It became intensified after the state authorities had interrupted an <i>akha&#7751&#7693 p&#257&#7789h</i>, continued reading of Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, the Sikh Scripture, at Gurdw&#257r&#257 Gang Sar at Jaito, a small market-town. The agitation, while successful in winning freedom of worship in <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i>, failed in its political aim, i.e. the restoration of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 to his throne. He was instead removed in 1926 from Dehr&#257 D&#363n to Ko&#7693&#257&#299kan&#257l, in the far South. Two years later his pension was reduced to Rs 1,20,000 per annum, and many other concessions were withdrawn. His effort to regain his <i>gadd&#299</i> through lobbying with some prominent nationalist leaders, lawyers and journalists proved abortive. But he remained unbent and unrepentant. Early in 1927 he went on pilgrimage to Sr&#299 Abichalnagar Haz&#363r S&#257hib, N&#257nde&#7693, where he took the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 <i>p&#257hul</i> (initiation rites) a second time and was renamed Gurcharan Si&#7749gh. He died at Ko&#7693aikan&#257l on 13 December 1942.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Ganda Singh, ed., <i>Some Confidential Papers of the Akali Movement</i>. Amritsar, 1965<BR> <li class="C1"> Mohinder Singh, <i>The Akali Movement</i>. Delhi, 1978<BR> <li class="C1"> Syngal, Munnalal, <i>The Patriot Prince : Or the Life Story of Maharaja Ripudaman Si&#7749gh of Nabha who Died as a Martyr</i>. Ludhiana, 1961<BR> <li class="C1"> Ramusack, Barbara N., "Incident at Nabha : Interaction between Indian States and British Indian Politics," <i>Journal of Asian Studies</i>. May 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, &#8220The Plight of a Patriotic Prince of the Punjab," in <i>The Sunday Statesman</i>,5 July 1970<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Barbara Ramusack<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>