Sir Hari Singh Bahadur (September 1895 – 26 April 1961) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir of the Dogra dynasty.
Hari Singh was the son of Amar Singh and Bhotiali Chib. In 1923, following his uncle's death, Singh became the new Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. After Indian Independence in 1947, Singh wanted Jammu and Kashmir to remain as an independent kingdom. He acceded to the Dominion of India to get the support of Indian troops against an invasion by tribal armed men and the Pakistan Army into his state. Singh remained the titular Maharaja of the state until 1952, when the monarchy was abolished by the Indian government. After spending his final days in Bombay, he died on 26 April 1961.
Singh was a controversial ruler. He faced an agitation in Kashmir in 1931 and successful rebellions in Poonch and Gilgit-Baltistan in 1947. He was complicit in the 1947 Jammu massacres.
Early life
Hari Singh was born in the Dogra Rajput royal family in September 1895 at the Amar Mahal, Palace, Jammu. He was the only surviving son of Raja Amar Singh,General Sir Raja Amar Singh Jamwal : 14 January 1865 – 26 March 1909 the brother of Maharaja Pratap Singh, then the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. Since the Maharaja had no issue, Hari Singh was heir presumptive to the throne of Jammu and Kashmir.
In 1903, Hari Singh served as a page of honour to Lord Curzon at the grand Delhi Durbar. At the age of 13, he was sent to Mayo College in Ajmer. A year later, in 1909, his father died and the British took a keen interest in his education, appointing Major H. K. Barr as his guardian. After Mayo College, Hari Singh went to the British-run Imperial Cadet Corps at Dehradun for military training.
He was appointed the commander-in-chief of the State Forces in 1915 by Maharaja Pratap Singh. In the 1918 New Year's Honours list, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).
Beyond Borders: A Year in Europe Hari Singh made history by boarding the SS Loyalty, owned by Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd., which departed from Bombay on 5 April 1919—the first international voyage by an Indian-flagged merchant ship to the United Kingdom. This milestone is commemorated annually in India as National Maritime Day since 1964. Hari Singh disembarked at Marseille and took a train to Paris, where he stayed for a few days before arriving in the U.K. on 29 May 1919. He was first received by King George V at Sandringham House, a monarch he had initially met during the Delhi Durbar Coronation, initially he stayed at the Hyde Park Hotel in Knightsbridge. In August, at the Dublin Horse Show, he spent £950,000 purchasing racehorses and ponies, hired well trained staff from County Kildare to tend to them—all of which were later sent to Kashmir. In September, he took up residence at Douglas Castle in Lanarkshire, Scotland, where he hosted refined hunting gatherings and tested his newly acquired automobiles for speed and endurance. Among the three high-powered cars he had earlier procured in London was a 60 kW all-electric Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, a symbol of both innovation and prestige before eventually settling at 27 Curzon Street in Mayfair for the winter. On 12 December 1919, Hari Singh was received by the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) at St James's Palace during his study tour, which focused on understanding the functioning of government, particularly in the areas of transport, industry, education and sanitation. He later returned to India from Marseille on 28 March 1920, eventually reaching Kashmir in May 1920.
In March 1922, the Prince of Wales undertook a reciprocal visit to Kashmir, arriving by train in Jammu on the 2nd. He was received at the railway station by Maharaja Pratap Singh and Raja Hari Singh, and was then escorted to the Maharaja's cantonment camp at Satwari, as Jammu city was in the grip of a plague outbreak. After traveling through the region, he concluded his journey through the princely state and reached Peshawar by the 6th of March.
Reign
Following the death of his uncle Pratap Singh on 23 September 1925, Hari Singh served as the second Prime Minister (1925–1926) of Jammu and Kashmir. Hari Singh ascended the throne of Jammu and Kashmir in February 1926 under British intervention, who overruled Pratap Singh's choice of an adopted son, Raja Jagat Dev Singh of Poonch.
Hari Singh's coronation from 22 to 28 February 1926 was divided into two separate ceremonies - the first few days for the religious ceremonies and official programme in the latter part was set aside for hosting the European attendees.
After becoming the ruler, Hari Singh conducted free elections and formed the Praja Sabha Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly to rule with laws implemented under Ranbir Penal Code (R.P.C) which Praja Sabha decreed. In April 1932, as per recommendations of the Glancy Commission, the Praja Sabha was established, made up of 75 members – 12 government officials, 16 state councillors, 14 nominated, and 33 elected (21 Muslims, 10 Hindus and 2 Sikhs). By September 1934 the elected members started making laws under the Praja Sabha which made Jammu and Kashmir a forerunner state for other Princely Indian States. On 7 September 1939 Maharaja Hari Singh and his law and Revenue Minister, Justice Sir Lal Gopal Mukherjee, a former judge of the Allahabad high court (1926–1934) who had served the state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1935 to 1940, produced a written constitution for Jammu and Kashmir which was the "pioneer" in the annals of Asia's constitutional history; despite the fact that it was anything but a people-friendly "Magna Carta" for the state. He made primary education compulsory in the state, introduced laws prohibiting child marriage, and opened places of worship to low caste subjects.
In 1930, Hari Singh attended the First Round Table Conference in London. He suggested that the Indian Princely states should join an "All India Federation" and pleaded for equal status for Indians in the British Commonwealth of Nations. While replying to the inaugural address by King-Emperor George V, Hari Singh said:
Partition and accession
In 1947, after India gained independence from British rule, Jammu and Kashmir had the option of joining one of the new dominions, India and Pakistan, or remaining independent. Hari Singh opted to remain independent for the immediate future since the dominions were beset with partition violence and he needed time to weigh the options in the context of his Muslim-majority population. He signed a standstill agreement with Pakistan on 14 August 1947 and urged India to do the same, but India did not comply. On 6 October 1947, he faced an armed uprising in Poonch instigated by the Muslim Conference party, followed by Pakistan-backed Pashtun tribal invasion at Muzaffarabad on 22 October 1947.
After attack Hari Singh appealed to India for help following the invasion. India's British Governor-General, Lord Mountbatten, advised the Maharaja to accede to India before India could send its troops. The Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947, joining the princely state to the Dominion of India.Justice A. S. Anand, The Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir (5th edition, 2006), page 67Kashmir, Research Paper 04/28 by Paul Bowers, House of Commons Library, United Kingdom. , page 46, 30 March 2004 India sent troops to repel the invaders, which soon evolved into the first Indo-Pakistan War.
Pressure from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel eventually compelled Singh to appoint his son and heir, Yuvraj (Crown Prince) Karan Singh, as Prince Regent of Jammu and Kashmir in 1949, although he remained the titular Maharaja of the state until 1952 when the monarchy was abolished by Nehru's government. He was also forced to appoint the popular Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah as the prime minister of Kashmir. He had a contentious relationship with both Nehru and Abdullah. Karan Singh was appointed 'Sadr-e-Riyasat' ('Head of State') in 1952 and Governor of the State in 1964.
During World War II
In 1944, Maharaja Hari Singh had the honour of meeting Winston Churchill in England, for three months he attended several official meetings and inspected wartime efforts. His return journey in June took him through Iran aboard his Avro Anson, where units of the J&K State Forces were stationed, he was warmly welcomed in Srinagar by representatives of both major political parties — the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference and the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference; Sheikh Abdullah garlanded him and presented the New Kashmir draft. That same year, the National Conference adopted the manifesto with mass public support, while Jinnah's attempt to sway Abdullah toward the two-nation theory failed.
Final years and death
After signing the instrument of accession with India, Hari Singh was banished from Jammu and Kashmir. He departed from Jammu on April 28, 1949, for New Delhi and never came back again, there on June 9, 1949, he signed a proclamation appointing his 18-year-old son, Yuvraj Karan Singh, as the Regent of Jammu and Kashmir. On June 20, 1949, his son arrived in Jammu as Regent, while the Maharaja left for Bombay the same day and settled there for the rest of his life.
Maharaja Hari Singh's letter to President Rajendra Prasad dated 16–17 August 1952 from exile in Poona, poured out his anguish, a passionate defence of his legacy, an indictment of broken promises, and a plea for justice amidst political betrayal.
He died on 26 April 1961, after fourteen years of banishment. As per his will, Hari Singh's ashes were flown to Jammu in a chartered plane, scattered across Jammu and Kashmir, and immersed in the Tawi River at Jammu, with funds he had personally allocated for the purpose.
After abdicating, Singh moved to Bombay with a $100,000 annual allowance and raised polo ponies. He famously kept one apartment under constant construction, fearing a prophecy that he'd die once it was finished.
Legacy and memorials Tributes and memorials
On 13 April 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi inaugurated Amar Mahal Museum and Library in Jammu exhibiting 120 kg 'Dogra Gold Throne' on which Hari Singh once reigned. The French designed cheâteau constructed in 1890 was donated by Dr Karan Singh to Hari-Tara Charitable Trust on 15 January 1970, displays permanent painting galleries and encompasses 25,000 books of antique value. In 1983 Hari Singh's jewellery, which includes crowns, ceremonial swords, necklaces, bracelets, rings, bangles, robes, daggers, watches, and even toys stored in trunks to be turned into a museum, was revealed by Srinagar's Treasury office. In November 1995, the Maharaja Hari Singh Memorial Cup was founded by Vikramaditya Singh, Chairman of the Royal Kashmir Polo Foundation which hosted the event till 2018. It was sanctioned by the Indian Polo Association as a 10–14 goal tournament and was held primarily during Delhi's Fall and Spring polo seasons, at New Delhi, Jaipur and with occasional events in Jammu and Kashmir. Top teams included Jindal Panther, Army, Mundota Fort, Sahara Warriors and Royal Kashmir Polo. On 24 January 2000, Captain Dewan Singh and Padma Shri Punam Suri President D.A.V. College Managing Committee unveiled a bust of Hari Singh at Maharaja Hari Singh Agricultural Collegiate School MHAC, formerly Hari Singh's polo and horse racing ground. In 2007, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad inaugurated the 'Hari Singh Janana Park' for women. It is landscaped by the Gardens and Floriculture Department at New Secretariat. On 1 April 2012, the occasion of Ram Navami, Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and MP Karan Singh unveiled a statue of Hari Singh near the Tawi bridge in Jammu.