| Hira Singh | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Reign | 9 June 1871 – 24 December 1911 |
| Born | 18 December 1843 Badrukhan,Jind State,Gosal (now district Sangrur) |
| Died | 24 December 1911 (age 68) |
| Spouse | Jasmir Kaur |
| Father | Maharaja Sukha Singh Nabha |
SirHira SinghGCSIGCIE (18 December 1843 – 24 December 1911) was the ruler ofNabha State from 1871 to 1911. Nabha was one of thePhulkian states in thePunjab.[1]
Hira Singh was born atBadrukhan,Jind, on 18 December 1843, the second son of Sukha Singh (died 1852), from a distant branch of the royal SikhPhulkian dynasty ofPatiala,Jind andNabha. He was a descendant of Raja Gajpat Singh of Jind, being the great-grandson of his grandson. Little is known about his early life. He was the head of a village until he was called upon to succeed the throne of Nabha.[2]
In 1871, the line of the Phulkian dynasty which had ruled Nabha, a small 11-gun state, since 1718 became extinct upon the death fromtuberculosis of the young Raja, Bhagwan Singh (1842–1871). The remaining two lines of the dynasty-the rulers of Patiala and Jind-in conjunction with the British government fixed upon Hira Singh Gosal as the successor to the Nabhagadi (throne). Hira Singh ascended the throne of Nabha on 9 June 1871 and began a long and successful reign that would usher Nabha into the modern era. Great monuments and public buildings were erected, roads, railways, hospitals, schools and palaces were constructed and an efficient modern army established that saw service during theSecond Afghan War and theTirah Expedition. As well, agriculture flourished with the construction of an irrigation canal at Sirhind, and Nabha soon produced bountiful harvests of wheat, sugarcane, pulses, millet and cotton, thus enabling the state to increase the value of its land revenue assessments.
As a result of Hira Singh's improvements, in 1877 Nabha was raised to a salute of 13-guns and Hira Singh himself was decorated with theEmpress of India Gold Medal and knighted two years later with the GCSI.
In 1894, Hira Singh was granted the title of Raja-i-Rajagan and in 1898 was granted a 15-gun personal salute. He attended the 1903Delhi Durbar to mark the succession ofEdward VII as Emperor of India, where he played an important part as one of the senior ruling princes present.[3] He received the honorary rank ofColonel in the Army and was appointed a Knight Grand Commander of theOrder of the Indian Empire (GCIE) in the1903 Durbar Honours on 1 January 1903.[4][5][6] He was made a Colonel of the 14th King George's Own Ferozepore Sikhs in theBritish Indian Army in 1904.
Only a fortnight before his death, Hira Singh was raised to the rank of Maharaja of Nabha. Hira Singh died at the Hira Mahal on Christmas Eve 1911, aged 68 after a four-decade reign. He was succeeded by his only son,Ripudaman Singh.
Valentine Cameron Prinsep stated the following on Hira Singh after his death:[2]
On Wednesday I had my last sitting of Nabha, and in that afternoon of Thursday went to bid him [Hira Singh] adieu. He was most polite, and set me on his throne of state, while he occupied a lowly chair by my side. He was not born in the purple [royalty], and was once only the head of a village, till called to theguddee [throne] by the death of his cousin. This accounts for his modesty and a certain manliness not found in porphyrogenitous rajahs
— Valentine Cameron Prinsep, Imperial India, An Artist's Journals (1879), page 257
Hira Singh married four times and had two children, a son and a daughter