Biography of an Indian Patriot Maharaja Lakshmishwar Singh of Darbhanga
Author: Dr. Jata Shankar Jha
First edition: 1972 published
by ‘Maharaja Lakshmishwar Singh Smarak Samiti.’
Second and revised edition: Edited by Vijay Deo Jha
Publisher: Esamaad Foundation
Publication year: 2022
Biography of an Indian Patriot
Maharaja Lakshmishwar Singh of Darbhanga is an internationally
acclaimed work of historical research by the Late Dr. Jata Shankar Jha
(1926-2021). This book was first published in 1972 by ‘Maharaja Lakshmishwar
Singh Smarak Samiti.’
This second edition is an
edited version by Vijay Deo Jha with the addition of several new pieces of information
and citation of rare documents. Thus, the revised edition has become quite
enriched in contents. Divided into six chapters with 19 appendices and over a
dozen rare photographs the book runs over 400 pages.
The book deals with the contribution
and achievement of Maharaja Lakshmishwar Singh (1858-1898) of Raj Darbhanga who
was a great scion of the Khandavala dynasty. Besides, this book gives an
in-depth understanding of India of that time that had lost its battle against
the British subjugation in 1857, but not the courage. This book also helps us
to understand the growth of the parliamentary system in India. That were the
formative years of the rise of nationalism which he nourished and strengthened.
With your kind permission, I
wish to explain some of the historically important facts about Maharaja
Lakshmishwar Singh mentioned in this book.
Support to the Congress and
other nationalist organizations for the cause of the nation
Maharaja Lakshmishwar Singh
was among the important personalities of Bengal Province who financially,
politically, and morally supported the Congress and many other organizations
which were fighting for the causes of the political rights of Indians at that
time. Like his ancestors, he boldly displayed his sense of patriotism and love
for the nation to the extent of annoying the British government. The official
correspondences of A. O. Hume with him throw light upon the Maharaja funding to
the Congress with the sole objective to create political awareness among people
to assert their rights. When in 1892 the British government created hurdles
before the Congress in organizing the conclave in Allahabad, he purchased the Lowther
Castle in Allahabad for the Congress to organize its session. He ensured that after his
death Raj Darbhanga continues to champion the cause of the nation in all
manner. He left his will for his successor, brother Rameshwar Singh asking him to
financially and politically support the Congress and the national movement.
Support to the family members
of principalities that fought India’s first revolt against imperial subjugation
The East India Company
ruthlessly quelled the 1857 revolt and permanently destroyed and clipped
principalities that participated in this national uprising. While his father Maheshwar
Singh refused to provide any military help to East India again his own people,
when Lakshmishwar Singh took assumed charge of his quasi-autonomous estate in 1878, he
extended asylum to Prince Zubairuddin Guragan, a grandson of the last Mughal
Emperor Bahadur Shah Jafar. But Guragan was not the first and the last person
of any royal family of British India connected with the 1857 revolt, whom he
gave protection against the wishes of the British government.
Lakshmishwar
Singh extended support to Mahatma Gandhi
People seldom
know that Lakshmishwar Singh had actively supported Mahatma Gandhi when he was
fighting for the rights of Indians in South Africa in 1897. When the Natal
Parliament passed the anti-Indian Bill in 1897, imposing a stringent
restriction on Indian immigration, he sharply reacted and shot a protest letter
published in The Times. He extended support to Mahatma Gandhi and had
regular correspondence with him. These are some of the untold stories about the
connection of Mahatma Gandhi with the Maharaja.
Lakshmishwar
Singh as a member of the Supreme Legislative Council
As a member of
the Supreme Legislative Council, he raised issues concerning people and the
country. He acted as a true
representative of his countrymen and examined all the Bills from a strictly
nationalist viewpoint. To cite some cases, he delivered some magnificent
speeches on the Sedition Bill. His speech in the Council in 1898 on the
amendment of the Indian Penal Code regarding sedition, has rightly been regarded
by some historians as one of the most significant contributions of the
Maharajah to the growth of nationalism in India. He had raised the question of
whether or not the freedom of the press will be restricted through that
amendment.
Lakshmishwar
Singh, a lobbyist in the British parliament to safeguard the interest of India
He ensured that the voice of Indians must be heard in the British parliament for which he lobbied
in favour of Henry Fawcett who was elected in 1880 from the Hackney
constituency. On previous occasions also in 1875, the Maharaja had extended
monetary help to him through the British Indian Association of Calcutta. He
took a very keen interest to ensure that the British government formulate
policies for the benefit of Indians.
Indians must
join the Indian Civil Service to assert their voice in decision making
He wanted that
a large number of Indians should join the Indian Civil Service. At that time
there were no examinations held in India and a few Indians like Ramesh
Chandra Dutt, Surendra Nath Banerjea, and others had to go to England to study
and then compete at the examination. He demanded that the recruitment
examination of the Indian Civil Service should be held in India also. He was
opposed to the idea of making a stay in England compulsory for candidates. He
had proposed to Poona Sarbjanik Sabha that he would fund to send selected young
men out to England every year to study for the bar and the other lucrative
profession that was almost entirely monopolized by foreigners.
Lakshmishwar
Singh a philanthropist
Right from ‘Some
Eminent Bihar Contemporaries’ by Dr. Sachchidanand Sinha to other
contemporary historical records have mentioned him as a statesman,
philanthropist, legislator, and public leader. He is credited to have started
modern school education in undivided Bengal and made huge expenditures towards the development of infrastructure of public utility like a female hospital, general
hospitals, roads, bridges, railway, schools, canals etc. The contemporary
British records reveal that during the great famine of the years 1874 and 18997 he
spent lakhs to save the life of people which was acknowledged and appreciated by
people and the government.
A staunch Hindu
who was a pioneer of the cow protection movement
Yet another
widespread movement with which Lakshmishwar Singh was closely associated was
the Gorakshini (Cow protection) movement. Owing to his active interest in the
matter, Darbhanga was made the headquarter of the Goshala Association of India.
It had its branches all over the country. The Maharaja set apart 500 acres of
land as a pasture, besides an annual grant of Rs. 500. In 1888 he resolved to
donate two rupees per thousand of the income of his estate to the funds of the Cow
Protection Association. He refused to withdraw support from the cow protection movement
despite pressure from the British government.
Another association of Lakshmishwar Singh
Other than the
Congress he was associated with ‘Reception Committee to Welcome Swami
Vivekananda’ as chairman when Vivekananda returned to India after his famous
Chicago Speech, Bihar Landholders Association, British Indian Association,
Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, Indian Association, Cow-Protection Association, The
Calcutta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Chaitanya Library
and Beadon Square Literary Club and others.
Nation mourned
his death
The Maharaja remained
short-lived. 40 years is no age to die. Carrying no instinct and vice of the
aristocratic class, he lived and died as an uncompromising nationalist and
‘Yours truly’ for his people. Even within the family, he was considered a
revolutionary. The nation mourned his premature demise
The Congress
had placed on record its high appreciation of his ready and enlightened public
spirit and his liberal and catholic benefactions and expressed its feeling of
gratitude for the generous and unfailing support that the Congress movement
received at his hands.
Out of public
donations, a marble statue of Lakshmishwar Singh was set up in 1901 at Dalhousie Square in Kolkata. It was designed and made by the distinguished
sculptor E. Onslow Ford. The people of Darbhanga also raised a fund of Rs.
30,000 for setting up a suitable memorial at Darbhanga. A portion of the fund
was utilized for the Calcutta memorial, and a Dharmashala was erected at
Darbhanga.
Thus, with the
death of Maharaja Lakshmishwar Singh passed away one of the brightest
luminaries of the second half of the 19th century from the Indian scene. A
foremost nationalist of the time he always kept national interest uppermost in
his mind and never allowed his vision to be blurred by narrow regional or
sectarian considerations. He was proud of his country’s glorious past and
associated himself with the activities of the political organizations operating
in other parts of the country also.
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