State of Bikaner
बीकानेर रियासत
1465–1947
Flag of Bikaner State
Flag
Coat of arms of Bikaner State
Coat of arms
Motto: "Jai Jungaldhar Badshah"
Victory to the king of deserts
Bikaner State with Rajputana, in the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1909).
Bikaner State with Rajputana, in the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1909).
Official languagesRajasthani and Hindi
Religion
Hinduism (state religion)[1]
Demonym(s)Bikaner
History 
• Established
1465
1947
Area
• Total
60,391 km2 (23,317 sq mi)
Population
• 1931 estimate
936,218
 Succeeded by
India
Today part ofRajasthan, India
Bikaner Laxmi Niwas Palace
Maharaja Anup Singh of Bikaner hunting elephants
Honorific insignia in gold offered to the Maharaja of Bikaner by the Mughal Emperor.
Raja Karan Singh of Bikaner, Aurangzeb's ally and enemy.
Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner with his son Sadul Singh in 1914.
Bikaner Camel Corps
Board of combat daggers at the Darbar Hall

Bikaner State was a princely state in the Rajputana from 1465 to 1947. The founder of the state, Rao Bika, was the eldest son of Rao Jodha, ruler of Jodhpur. Rao Bika chose to build his own kingdom instead of inheriting his father's. Bika defeated the Jat clans of Jangladesh along with his uncle Rao Kandhal and his adviser Vikramji Rajpurohit and founded his own kingdom. Its capital was the city of Bikaner in the northern area of present-day Rajasthan State in India. Karni Mata has been designated as the kuldevi of the royal family of Bikaner.

The state was noted for the Bikaner style of painting.[2]

Covering an area of 60,391 km2 (23,317 sq mi), Bikaner State was the second largest state under the Rajputana Agency after Jodhpur State with a revenue of Rs.26,00,000 in 1901.[3] Heeding the 1947 call of Vallabhbhai Patel to integrate the princely states into the new independent India, Bikaner's last king, Maharaja Sadul Singh, advised by his dewan K. M. Panikkar, a respected historian, was one of the first rulers of a princely state to display willingness to join the Indian Union. By issuing a public appeal in April 1947 to his fellow princes to join the Constituent Assembly of India, the Maharaja of Bikaner set an example for other heads of the native states to follow.[4]

History

Main article: History of Bikaner

The state of Bikaner was founded in 1465. It became a British protectorate on 9 March 1818. They were accorded a 17 gun salute by the British authorities. Around the time of Indian Independence and the partition of India, the territory of the state of Bikaner came to share a border with Pakistan. The accession to the Indian Union was signed by the Maharaja on 7 August 1947.[5]

Rulers

The rulers were Rathor Rajputs and related to the ruling family of Jodhpur.[6]

Rao/Raja's

Maharajas

Titular Rulers

Dewans

The Dewans and Chief Ministers of the state were:

Chief ministers

Dewans

The post of Dewan was reinstated in 1927.

Family tree of the rulers of Bikaner

[citation needed]

[7]

Orders of chivalry

The Royal House of Bikaner awards two dynastic orders, the Order of the Star of Honour and the Order of Vikram Star. Maharaja Ganga Singh established the Order of the Star of Honour in six grades in order to "mark his golden jubilee on the throne".[8] The Order of the Vikram Star was established in 1944 by Maharaja Sadul Singh of Bikaner in five grades "to recognize services to the state." The first grade (Grand Commander) includes a cordon with jewel, along with a breast star.[8] The breast star features "Twelve alternate petals of gold and silver overlapping and radiating from a central motif showing the Goddess Karni blessing Rao Bikaji who is standing with lance in hand next to his horse."[9] A red enamelled diamond in the center of the breast star, which is surrounded by a wreath, contains the inscription in the Devanagari script Shri Karni Aasisadi Bikatothirraj (Blessing by Karni Mati for his Perpetual Rule).[9]

See also

Bikaner State is located in South Asia
South Asia
1525 CE
Bikaner within Rajputana, and main South Asian polities circa 1525 CE, on the eve of the establishment of the Mughal Empire.[10][11]

References

  1. ^ "Bikaner State, Part I, Vol-I, Rajasthan – Linguistic Survey Of India" (PDF). LSOI. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  2. ^ Harle, J. C., The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press. (Pelican History of Art). ISBN 0300062176.
  3. ^ "Imperial Gazetteer2 of India, Volume 8, page 214 – Imperial Gazetteer of India – Digital South Asia Library".
  4. ^ Ramachandra Guha, India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. HarperCollins, 2007.
  5. ^ William Barton, The princes of India. Delhi 1983
  6. ^ "Imperial Gazetteer2 of India, Volume 8, page 204 – Imperial Gazetteer of India – Digital South Asia Library".
  7. ^ "Raviraj Singh Bhati's Health Deteriorated In Jaipur In The Morning, Breathed His Last In SMS Hospital, Last Rites In Bikaner Tomorrow". Dainik Bhaskar. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  8. ^ a b Haynes, Ed (2014). "The Awards of the Indian Pincely States: A Survey in a Broad Historical Context". JOSMA. 65 (5): 29–30.
  9. ^ a b McClenaghan, Tony (1996). Indian Princely Medals: A Record of the Orders, Decorations, and Medals of the Indian Princely States. Lancer Publishers. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-897829-19-6.
  10. ^ Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (1978). A Historical atlas of South Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 39, 147. ISBN 0226742210.
  11. ^ "Historical Atlas of India" by Charles Joppen (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1907)

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bikanir". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

28°01′N 73°18′E / 28.01°N 73.3°E / 28.01; 73.3

Gun salute princely states (salute states) during the British Raj
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