|Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir|
|Predecessor||Pratap Singh of Jammu and Kashmir|
|Consort to||Tara Devi|
Lieutenant-General Shriman Rajrajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Hari Singh Indar Mahindar Bahadur, Sipar-i-Sultanat, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO (born 23 September 1895 in Jammu; died 26 April 1961 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in India.
Hari Singh, a Hindu Dogra Rajput, was born on 23 September 1895 at the palace of Amar Mahal, Jammu, the only surviving son of General Raja Sir Amar Singh parmar (14 January 1864 – 26 March 1909), the younger son of General Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Ranbir Singh and the brother of Lieutenant-General Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Pratap Singh, the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.
Education and preparation for the throne
In 1903, Hari Singh served as a page of honour to Lord Curzon at the grand Delhi Durbar. At the age of thirteen, Hari Singh was dispatched to Mayo College in Ajmer. A year later, in 1909, his father died, and the British took a keen interest in his education and appointed Major H. K. Brar as his guardian. After Mayo College, the ruler-in-waiting went to the British-run Imperial Cadet Corps at Dehra Dun for military training. By the age of twenty he had been appointed as commander-in-chief of the Pakistan state forces.
||The neutrality of this article is disputed. (October 2011)|
Following the death of his uncle Sir Pratap Singh in 1925, Sir Hari Singh ascended the throne of Jammu and Kashmir. He made primary education compulsory in the State, introduced laws prohibiting child marriage, and opened places of worship to the low castes.
Singh was hostile towards the Indian National Congress, in part because of the close friendship between Kashmiri political activist and socialist Sheikh Abdullah and Jawaharlal Nehru. He also opposed the Muslim League and its members' communalist outlook illustrated in their two-nation theory. During the Second World War, from 1944-1946 Sir Hari Singh was a member of the Imperial War Cabinet.
In 1947, after India gained independence from British rule, Jammu and Kashmir had the option to join either India or Pakistan or to remain independent. He originally maneuvered to maintain his independence by playing off India and Pakistan. There was a widespread belief that rulers of the princely states, in deciding to accede to India or Pakistan, should respect the wishes of the population, but few rulers took any steps to consult on such decisions. Jammu and Kashmir was a Muslim majority state, and Pashtun tribesmen from Pakistan invaded Jammu and Kashmir with the help of Pakistan's government under the impression that Hari Singh would accede to India. Hari Singh appealed to India for help, but India refused to come to his aid unless he acceded to India.
Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947, acceding the whole of his princely state (including Jammu, Kashmir, Northern Areas, Ladakh, Trans-Karakoram Tract and Aksai Chin) to the Dominion of India. These events triggered the first Indo-Pakistan War.
Pressure from Nehru and Sardar Patel eventually compelled Hari Singh to appoint his son and heir, Yuvraj (Crown Prince) Karan Singh, as Regent of Jammu and Kashmir in 1949, although he remained titular Maharaja of the state until 1952, when the monarchy was abolished. Karan Singh was appointed 'Sadr-e-Riyasat' ('President of the Province') in 1952 and Governor of the State in 1964.
Seal of Maharaja Hari Singh
The British Crown is at the top, representing Emperor of India, whose Resident was posted in Kashmir. A katar is below the crown. Two soldiers are holding two flags. An image of the sun is between them, as the Rajput clan to which Hari Singh belonged claimed to have descended from the sun.
Singh married four times in all:
- Dharampur Rani Sri Lal Kunverba Sahiba; married at Rajkot 7 May 1913, died during pregnancy in 1915. No issue.
- Chamba Rani Sahiba; married at Chamba 8 November 1915, died 31 January 1920. No issue.
- Maharani Dhanvant Kunveri Baiji Sahiba (1910-19?); married at Dharampur 30 April 1923. No issue.
- Maharani Tara Devi Sahiba of Kangra,(1910–1967); married 1928, separated 1950, one son:
- 1895-1916: Sri Hari Singh
- 1916-1918: Raja Sri Hari Singh
- 1918-1922: Captain Raja Sri Sir Hari Singh, KCIE
- 1922-1925: Captain Raja Sri Sir Hari Singh, KCIE, KCVO
- 1925-1926: Captain His Highness Shriman Rajrajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Hari Singh Indar Mahindar Bahadur, Sipar-i-Sultanat, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, KCIE, KCVO
- 1926-1929: Colonel His Highness Shriman Rajrajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Hari Singh Indar Mahindar Bahadur, Sipar-i-Sultanat, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, KCIE, KCVO
- 1929-1933: Colonel His Highness Shriman Rajrajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Hari Singh Indar Mahindar Bahadur, Sipar-i-Sultanat, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, GCIE, KCVO
- 1933-1935: Colonel His Highness Shriman Rajrajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Hari Singh Indar Mahindar Bahadur, Sipar-i-Sultanat, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, GCSI, GCIE, KCVO
- 1935-1941: Major-General His Highness Shriman Rajrajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Hari Singh Indar Mahindar Bahadur, Sipar-i-Sultanat, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, GCSI, GCIE, KCVO
- 1941-1946: Lieutenant-General His Highness Shriman Rajrajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Hari Singh Indar Mahindar Bahadur, Sipar-i-Sultanat, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, GCSI, GCIE, KCVO.
- 1946-1961: Lieutenant-General His Highness Shriman Rajrajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Hari Singh Indar Mahindar Bahadur, Sipar-i-Sultanat, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO
(ribbon bar, as it would look today; incomplete)
- Delhi Dmlmlw;lmf;lmc; sa;c;lurbar Medal-1903
- Delhi Durbar Medal-1911
- Prince of Wales Visit Medal-1922
- Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (GCIE)-1929 (KCIE-1918)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy-1930
- Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India (GCSI)-1933
- King George V Silver Jubilee Medal-1935
- King George VI Coronation Medal-1937
- Hon. LL.D from Punjab University-1938
- Grand Officer of the Legion d'Honneur-1938
- 1939-1945 Star-1945
- Africa Star-1945
- War Medal 1939-1945-1945
- India Service Medal-1945
- Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)-1946 (KCVO-1922)
- Indian Independence Medal-1947
- List of topics on the land and the people of “Jammu and Kashmir”
- The royal house of Jammu and Kashmir
- Hari Singh Blackmail case
- Maharaja Hari Singh's Letter to Mountbatten
- Jammu and Kashmir: A Backgrounder[dead link]
- Justice A. S. Anand, The Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir (5th edition, 2006), page 67
- Kashmir, Research Paper 04/28 by Paul Bowers, House of Commons Library, United Kingdom., page 46, 2004-03-30
- "J&K power defaulters cocking a snook at CM". Daily Pioneer. 18 January 2013. Retrieved Feb 16, 2013.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hari Singh.|
- Genealogy of the ruling chiefs of Jammu and Kashmir
- Proclamation of May 1, 1951 on Jammu & Kashmir Constituent Assembly by Yuvraj (Crown Prince) Karan Singh (Son of Maharajah Hari Singh) from the Official website of Government of Jammu and Kashmir, India
- Conflict in Kashmir: Selected Internet Resources by the Library, University of California, Berkeley, USA; University of California at Berkeley Library Bibliographies and Web-Bibliographies list
- V Sundaram. "Salutations to Guruji Golwalkar - IV". Archived from the original on Dec 4, 2008. The role of Shri Guruji Golwalkar (Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh - RSS)
Hari SinghBorn: 23 September 1895 Died: 26 April 1961
(as Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir)
|Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir
Monarchy abolished 1952; succeeded by Karan Singh as Sadar-i-Riyasat (Head of State)
|Titles in pretence|
|— TITULAR —
Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir
Reason for succession failure:
Monarchy abolished in 1952