Boy king who wanted best of the West for Kolhapur

Time of India

3 days ago

KOLHAPUR: Had he lived a full life, Rajaram II of Kolhapur would have transformed his princely state.
His journey to Europe, the first by a Hindu monarch, filled his mind with new ideas __ English education for the people and compulsory learning for girls, a modern judicial system, industries, museums, research centres and banks.
But he died when he was 20. What he left behind is a rich account of his travels and experiences to Europe where he went on a study tour in 1870 and spent 150 days until his death in Florence in Italy.
The monarch's enthusiasm made him journal. The account he kept of what he saw and experienced during his stay came to life over 150 years later when a digitized version of a book based on his dairy surfaced a few years ago.
It was first published in 1872 as The Dairy of Late Rajah Of Kolhapoor-During His Visit To Europe in 1870, and edited by British official Edward West, who was in the prince's retinue.
What Rajaram II chronicled can now be widely read. Head of the English department, Rajaram College Kolhapur, Raghunath Kadakane, has translated the book into Marathi on the monarch's 175th birth anniversary.
Kadakane said despite a history of rebellion, Kolhapur's royalty and the British forged an alliance for the people.
'Rajaram II had vision and was eager to modernise his state after his return. His dreams were fulfilled by Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj more than 100 years later.
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Shahu Maharaj opened schools, built dams and developed a pro-people administration,' he said.
Shahu Chhatrapati, head of Kolhapur's royal family and a Congress MP, said they have the original copies of the dairy published by West but it is a private collection.
Who Was Rajaram II?
Born Nagojirao Patankar, he was adopted by the royal family of Karvir (Kolhapur) who are descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He was 16 in 1866 when he became king but like other princely states, Kolhapur was under the British crown.
Since the prince was a minor, political agent Colonel G S Andersen deputed West to run the administration.
After the 1857 war of independence, Kolhapur's ruler Chimasaheb or Shahu I was arrested and sent to Karachi where he passed away.
The crown approved the adoption of Rajaram II and he was coronated in Pune. West wrote, 'A Parsee graduate of Bombay University was selected to carry out tuition and a scheme of education was carefully drawn."
The Parsee graduate was Jamshetji Unwala.
During his schooling, Rajaram II was housed in a residency far from the Kolhapur palace. He grew up among Europeans and interacted with the company staffers from the residency.
Before he left for Europe, 20-year-old Rajaram II laid the foundation of an English medium school later named Rajaram High School. It also got a college with former acting president B D Jatti and other eminent people like Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Yashwantrao Chavan, N C Kelkar, Vinda Karandikar and actor R Madhavan as students.
Seeds of a voyage
When the Duke of Edinburgh came to Bombay in 1870 none of the native princes who flocked to meet him attracted more attention than, or created as favourable an impression, as Rajaram II, West wrote. It was here that the seeds of a voyage to Europe were sown.
Being a Hindu, he overcame the taboo attached to a 'sea voyage'. The British govt gave him permission and West, the Parsi tutor and 10 sevaks (staffers) and a hakim began the journey.
West wrote that Rajaram II was first Hindu reigning prince to visit Europe, and the first in the lineage of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Duleep Singh, the last
Sikh
ruler, visited Europe as an exile and was not the king at that time. Singh hosted Rajaram II at his Elveden Hall residence in London.
Witness to history
On June 23, ten days after he landed at Paris, Rajaram II witnessed the first telegraphic message sent from India to Britain.
"At 10pm, (I) went to Mr Pender's to see the telegraphic communication between England and India and America which was lately completed. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, and many ladies and gentlemen were present. I was struck at seeing that the Prince of Wales received the answer to his telegram from the Viceroy of India in five minutes," Rajaram II noted.
He was referring to John Pender who in 1869 founded British Indian Submarine Telegraph Company.
He used huge ships like Great Eastern to lay thousands of km of undersea cables. Earlier, telegraphic links, which existed since 1864 were overland cables.
The next day, Rajaram II met Queen Victoria in Windsor Castle. It was first of his two meetings with her.
"I was presented to the Queen by the Lord Chamberlain on the lawn. She made a graceful bow to me and asked me kindly whether this was my first visit to England. She appeared to be in good health, and to be a kind-hearted lady," Rajaram II wrote.
Here, he saw swords and daggers belonging to Tipu Sultan who died in 1799 in battle.
Rajaram II also visited East India Association debates over cotton from India being exported to Britain. Dadabhai Naoroji helped Rajaram II with insights.
His itinerary included visits to Royal Society, Oxford University where he interacted with vice-chancellor, the Royal Academy, the coach factory, the silk factory, the British Museum, cotton mills, the Royal Theatre and other places.
He learned that silk imported from India was woven into embroidered clothes and sold back in India. At Forbes Walton's Museum, Rajaram II saw Maharaja Ranjeet Singh's golden throne. Forbes told Rajaram II that he had so many artifacts from India that he had no room to keep them.
Death in florence and a connect with
shelley
Rajaram II's rheumatic condition worsened in Florence in Italy. It was November and the chill in the air made him worse. He had refused to see doctors and relied on his hakim.
But West brought in top Italian physicians to inspect Rajaram II. The last entry in his diary was about the snowfall that he saw for the first time in his life. He died on Nov 30, 1870.
"Congestion of the abdominal viscera, together with collapse of nervous power," was the cause of the death that doctors reported.
A cremation was not allowed since Italy was a Catholic state and forbade it. The only exception was made some 50 years ago for Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley who drowned on July 8, 1822, off the coast of Italy when his boat, the Don Juan, sank during a storm.
Shelley's body washed ashore near Viareggio in Tuscany. Quarantine laws and local customs led to his cremation on the beach on August 16, 1822, in the presence of friends, including fellow poet Lord Byron and Edward Trelawny.
West wrote that the question of the disposal of the Rajah's remains after his death gave rise to some difficulties. 'His Hindoo attendants shrank from the idea of the body being embalmed or disposed of in any way but that prescribed by their religion, namely, cremation.
On the other hand, cremation, except in the case of Shelley, had not been heard of in Italy for centuries, and the municipal law of Florence ordained, under penalty of two years' imprisonment, that whenever anyone died, the corpse should be buried in a coffin," he added.
Cremation approved
British minister Augustus Paget pushed for Rajaram II's body to be cremated as per Hindu tradition. The mayor of Florence Signor Peruzzi presented the matter before the council of ministers and upon conditions, permission was granted for a cremation post-midnight.
Early on Dec 1, Rajaram II's was cremated on the banks of Arno River with Mugnone stream passing by in Cascine Park.
The municipality expected only a few to attend but West recorded that a huge crowd had gathered, and security had to be placed.
Kadakane said that Rajaram II made a lasting impression on the people he met in Europe and therefore permission for a cremation was granted.
Shahu Chhatrapati said his ancestor Rajaram II had a good education and was fluent in English and western mannerisms.
His going to Europe to study had not been attempted by anyone in the lineage. His death in Europe did not stop his heirs from going there. But, it came after four decades when Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj visited. Later on, all the heads of the royal family made such trips.
'I have visited Florence to see his memorial which is well-maintained by the local administration. A bridge across Arno River too bears his name,' he said.
A monument in Indo-Saracenic style
Two years later a "Monumento all'Indiano," or Monument to the Indian, was erected with bust of Rajaram II under a cenotaph (Chhatri) built in Indo-Saracenic style.
At the time of his demise, the Italian unification was in progress and new thoughts were emerging. Reformists accepted cremation and by the end of the 19th century crematoriums opened in Italy and later in Britain as well.
West published Rajaram II's diary after returning to Britain in 1872. He died in Naples in Italy a few hours from Florence where Rajah he served as a companion too was cremated.
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