A Political Biography of Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha: Paramountcy, Patriotism, and the Panth

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Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha (1883-1942) was an exceptional ruler, a princely 'rebel' who resisted the paramount power in different ways. Forced to abdicate in 1923 ostensibly on account of 'maladministration', Ripudaman Singh was sent to Kodaikanal in 1928, where he died after 14 years in captivity without any recourse to judicial appeal.

Set against the backdrop of Indian nationalism, Sikh resurgence, and British paramountcy, Grewal and Banga trace the Maharaja's political career, revealing the devious ways in which the British dealt with traditional nobility. They explore his career, education, and upbringing to explain his ideological stance, appreciation for Indian nationalism, and his active involvement in the Sikh reformist movement.

Moved by Panthic and nationalist concerns, the Maharaja of Nabha bridged 'Indian India' and British India through the concerns he affirmed, reforms he introduced, and the causes he espoused as a patriot.

J.S. Grewal is former professor and vice chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India, and director and later chairman of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, India.

Indu Banga is professor emerita of history, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, and was professor of history at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India, from 1982 to 1990.

Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha (1883-1942) has been a much misunderstood figure in the history of the early twentieth-century India. This volume reconstructs Ripudaman Singh's public career in terms of his relations with the paramount power, his increasing interest in nationalist causes, and his growing involvement in issues related to the Sikh Panth.

A vast corpus of unpublished archival sources enables us to see the life of the Maharaja as a continuous and more or less consistent whole, informed by certain ethical values and guided by certain political ideas. What comes out clearly in this study is his sympathy with the Singh Sabha movement, appreciation of the struggle of the Akalis for Gurdwara legislation, and his association with the political movements and causes of his time. Probably no other Indian ruler showed so much resistance to the paramount power, and sacrificed so much in pursuit of his convictions, as the Maharaja of Nabha.

Consistently challenging the paramount power with his own interpretation of treaty rights, Maharaja Ripudaman Singh sought to undermine the importance of symbols, rituals, and the semantics of paramountcy. He could enlist active support of the British Left against the diehard imperialists, exemplifying a complex form of resistance to colonial rule. Its complexity was heightened by a deep sense of patriotism, strengthened by his strong Sikh identity, and informed by his consistent concern for reform.

Thus, this political biography of Maharaja Ripudaman Singh is placed in three overlapping contexts: paramountcy, patriotism, and the Sikh Panth. In other words, this book has equal relevance for an integrated history of British colonialism, Indian nationalism, and Sikh politics.

In the pursuit of this study for over a decade we became indebted to a number of institutions and individuals, including the persons at Nabha and Kodaikanal whom we interviewed. We are thankful to them all.

Paramountcy and Its Historiography

Biographies are placed within specific contexts, unravelling 'multiple layers of historical change. The present volume is not a traditional biography in the sense of reconstructing details of personal life. It treats the history of an exceptional ruler and of his response to a changing political context. His consistent resistance to British colonialism illustrates what a prince could do in a crucial period of Indian history. Out of the three contexts relevant for his political biography-Indian nationalism. Sikh resurgence, and British paramountcy-the last is the least known and also the most important. To understand Maharaja Ripudaman Singh, it is necessary to understand paramountcy and its historiography.

Paramountcy at Work

Paramountcy under the British was a continuation of the suzerain- vassal relationship, which was an old feature of Indian polity. Known widely in the seventh century, it was systematized by the Mughal emperor Akbar (1556-1605), who gave considerable autonomy to the vassal chiefs. The British adopted this political arrangement in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and allowed nearly 600 subjugated Indian rulers to continue as protected chiefs (Map 1.1). Their role during the Mutiny of 1857 earned them a permanent position in the British Indian empire. Their relations with the para- mount power were defined by treaties or sanads. However, the British interpreted the treaties in accordance with their own interests. This process culminated in the claim of the paramount power to exercise unfettered authority over a subordinate ruler.

The system of controls devised by the British increasingly restricted princely options but enhanced the formalities of their relationship with the British monarch and her representatives in India.