THE COVETED JACOB DIAMOND—ALL OF 62 carats and used as a paperweight;
the mind-boggling beauty of the diamond necklace of Maharaja Pratapsingh Gaekwad of Baroda in which sparkled the famous ‘Star of the South’ and ‘The Star of Dresden’; the crystal collection at Shiv Niwas Palace in Bikaner—the largest in the world; the 27 Rolls Royces owned by the Maharaja of Patiala; the dog kennels in Harasar which were Fitted with electricity and telephones; the car collection in Udaipur which was used for ceremonial processions and collection of garbage (!); the jauhar committed by 40,000 women in Jaisalmer and Chittor—an unparalled land- mark in the annals of history.
The mirage becomes a reality when the reader recreates the awesome magic and scintillating wonder of a world gone by ... the stuff that fairy tales are made of—tales of heroism and valour, the pulsating excitement of secret liaisions, the dark intrigues of the zenana, the opulence and sheer beauty of princely treasures—the world of the Maharajas—a world immortalized by poets, painters and musicians ... a life away from common lives that was so near its subjects and yet, so far.
That world is no more. But its romance lives on, indelible and dreamlike. Nostalgic memoirs of the passions, idiosyncracies, visions and lifestyle of the princely order still fascinate and enthral.
The Maharaja & the Princely States of India captures the lives and times of the privileged few—those who were ‘born into greatness’. Even though they no longer wield the royal sceptre and have merged their heritage into the well-spring of democracy today, they remain ‘living legends’ of the exoticism of the India that was. This book is perhaps the last visual record of princely India. A cross-section of old and rare photographs juxtaposed with contemporary cameos make it a collector’s pride.