Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh was revered as an icon in Rajasthan
Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh, the last Maharajah of Jaipur, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, has died.
Brigadier Singh, who continued to be revered as a social and cultural icon after India abolished royal titles, died after a long illness. He was 79.
He took over as the Maharajah after the death of his father in 1970, but royal titles were abolished shortly after.
Former royals are still associated with the wealth and glamour of the past and attract a lot of interest in India.
Jaipur was one of scores of kingdoms which existed in India until the country's independence from Britain in 1947.
The Rajasthan government has announced two days of mourning.
Funeral procession
Brigadier Singh was cremated with full state honours after a funeral parade through the city.
The funeral cortege was accompanied by bejewelled elephants and thousands of mourners
Huge crowds gathered to pay their respects to the deceased Maharajah, adorning his body with garlands of flowers, before his 12-year-old grandson lit the funeral pyre.
Brigadier Singh, who served in the Indian army, received the Mahavir Chakra award for gallantry for leading troops into Pakistan in the 1971 war.
- Published18 November 2010
