Crown Prince General Dhoj Narsingh Rana, adopted son of Sri Teen Maharaja Ranodip Singh (His biological father was Badri Narsingh Rana) had to go into exile with his family to India along with many of Jung Bahadur's surviving descendants. Many of Crown Prince General Dhoj Narsingh's children and family remained with Sri Teen Ranodip Singh's widow in Benares and were then relocated later relocated to Udaipur upon the invitation by Maharana Fateh Singh, who sought to give refuge to his Rana cousins. Out of seven sons and three daughters of Gen. Dwaj Narsingh three sons and one daughter moved to Udaipur on an invitation from the Maharana who graciously requested them to settle in Udaipur. While Neel Narsingh died at an early age the Rana princes Shri Narsingh & Dev Narsingh established themselves and carry on the family's name in the city of their forefathers. Their families established marital relations with the royal families and Thikanas like Jasmor (head of the Pundir clan), Banka, Gogunda, Samode, Neemrana (descendents of Prithviraj Chauhan), Mahendragarh, Medhas (From the family of Riyan which is the main seat of the Mertiya Rathores), Fatehnagar:Zorawar Singhji Ka Khera (From the family of the famous Chauhans of Kotharia) etc. The British government did not help any of the exiled princes whose fathers had saved the British and their empire in 1857. The shortest serving Rana was Deva Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana who ruled for two months in 1901, he was deposed by his brothers because of his open display of guilt for what has happened during the coup. Known as "The Reformist" for his progressive policies, he proclaimed universal education, began to building schools, took steps to abolish slavery, and introduced several other social welfare schemes[citation needed]. He also made improvements to the arsenal at Nakkhu (south of Kathmandu) and started The Gorkhapatra newspaper. Dev Shumsher felt guilty for what had transpired during the coup, also a key incident happened during the coup which affected him deeply. He was held at gunpoint by General Dhoj Narsingh Rana, but was allowed to live and forgiven. For this he felt a lot of guilt and asked for the exiled family members to return to Nepal. This brought him in clash with his immediate brothers. He was deposed by his relatives, where he settled in Jhari Pani, near Mussoorie, where his Fairlawn Palace once stood. A developer purchased the palace and tore it down, replacing it with cottages. All that remains are a few of the original gates and a small portion of the palace skeleton. Even the last Prime Minister of Nepal Maharaja Mohan Shamshere Rana, who later settled in Bangalore, exchanged letters with the Rana family in Udaipur which was definitely an effort to reunite with his estranged family. The Rana family in Udaipur has till date preserved all such letters along with some photographs of Mohan Shamshere. Under the British Raj, the Ranas were acclaimed and given much prestige and a 19-gun salute; all with the exception of Deva Shamsher received knighthoods. The Rana dynasty developed into a powerful family clan and are still very influential in the country today. The family formed a close alliance with the Shah dynasty via marriage and business alliances
Hi, I'm a curator at a museum in Canada. I have a marriage portrait of a Rana princess and Rajput prince that I need help identifying. Can you help? If so, pls send me you email ID so I can send a jpeg. I can be contacted at deepalid@rom.on.ca.
ReplyDeletethanks in advance,
Dr. Deepali Dewan
Curator, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto