Chitrangada Singh (princess)

Chitrangada Singh (née Raje Scindia; born 1967) is an Indian businesswoman and a descendant of the former ruling family of a major princely state during the British Raj in India.

For the actress, see Chitrangada Singh.

She is the eldest child of the late Madhavrao Scindia, an Indian politician and a granddaughter of Jiwajirao Scindia, the last ruling Maharaja of Gwalior. Her wedding in 1987 to the grandson of Hari Singh the last ruling Maharaja of Kashmir—an extravagant social event in a drought-ridden India—was covered widely in the Indian and international press.[1][2][3][4][5] She is the co-manager of two heritage hotels: Karan Mahal in Srinagar and Taragarh Palace in the Kangra valley.[6][7]

Background

Chitrangada Raje Scindia was born in Oxford, England, in February 1967. Her father was studying at the University of Oxford at the time; her parents and she lived in a two-bedroom cottage that had no central heating—her parents doing the housework including chopping wood.[8] After her parents' return to India, Chitrangada enrolled in Welham Girls' School in Dehradun.

Wedding

Chitrangada's mother Madhaviraje Scindia and paternal grandmother Vijayaraje Scindia both hailed from the Rana family of Nepal, and Maharaja Yasho Rajyalakshmi of Jammu and Kashmir, wife of Maharaja Karan Singh also hailed from the same family. The two families were therefore well known to each other, and they arranged the wedding of their children in the usual Indian way. This is despite the fact that, whereas the Dogra dynasty of Kashmir belong to the Jamwal Rajput community of the far north of India, the Scindias belong to the Maratha community of western and central India. Considerations of community background were set aside because Maharaja Karan Singh, a philosopher and politician, was known for his progressive views, and because the Scindias had already received two generations of Rajput brides from Nepal anyway.

On 11 December 1987, Chitrangada Raje married the politician Vikramaditya Singh, the son of Karan Singh, a philosopher and politician who was the first Sadr-i-Riyasat of Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and also the son of Hari Singh, the last ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.[9][10]

References
  1. Hussain, Masood (10 April 2019), Raja and Maharaja, Kashmir Life
  2. Tefft, Sheila (17 December 1987), India's ex-royalty still draws crowds – and votes, The Christian Science Monitor, o most Indians, Madhavrao Scindia, member of Parliament and railways minister, is just another politician. But to Meera Shivahari, he is the maharajah. Last week Mr. Scindia, whose family ruled this Indian city for more than 100 years, married his daughter to the son of the former maharajah of Kashmir. Mrs. Shivahari, a 35-year-old mother of two, came from her village 30 miles away to watch Scindia, dressed in gold and jewels, preside over the lavish ceremony. 'I voted for him,' the woman said. 'I still consider him my king.' The Gwalior royal wedding, attended by tens of thousands of people, was a national event. The festivities, which reportedly cost $4 million, stirred bitter controversy as India has been grappling with economic hard times and its worst drought in years.
  3. Tempest, Rhone (16 December 1987), "A Passage in India: Ex-USC Student's Princely Wedding Bows to a Lavish Past and a New Order", Los Angeles Times, The tiny, nervous bride was practically carried to the altar by jewel-encrusted female relatives who gripped her firmly by the elbows. She was covered head to knee by a red veil spun of gossamer Benares silk as fine and sheer as a spider's web, so translucent that it barely dulled the brilliant sheen from her saree. 'Only' 40,000 Spectators. The wedding of Prince Vikramaditya Singh, a 23-year-old former polo-playing student at USC, and Princess Chittrangada Raje, 20, may have seemed grand to outsiders, but by the standards of Indian royalty, it was fairly intimate--only 40,000 or so folks gathered in front of a 455-room palace to see the offspring of two of India's noble families joined in wedlock.
  4. Weisman, Steven R. (13 December 1987), "India Is Agog At a Wedding in Full Regalia", New York Times, The slim young prince arrived in a silver carriage, wearing a scarlet and gold tunic draped with pearls, diamonds and rubies. The princess emerged from an immense fairy tale palace that shimmered with strands of white lights. Then, as 20,000 guests applauded, the son and daughter of two of India's wealthiest and most influential former maharajahs were married under a red and gold canopy in an outdoor ceremony as rich in political and social controversy as it was in pageantry.
  5. Tefft, Sheila (16 December 1987), Royal Wedding: Splendor Reigns Amid the Poverty, Chicago Tribune, Maharajahs, industrialists, foreign leaders, officials, journalists and villagers watched in a drizzling rain, considered a sign of good fortune, as the bejeweled groom and the bride, diamonds glistening on her wrists, ears and nose, met under the silk canopy. And when they exchanged the symbolic garlands, enthusiastic cheers spread across the palace. 'Despite all our troubles,' said Nirmala Palherkar, a teacher in Gwalior, 'we have come to see the marriage of our princess.'
  6. Urvashi-Singh (22 January 2021), Srinagar's Karan Mahal: History reinvented, The Daily Guardian
  7. The Xennial (26 June 2021), Home Tour: Inside the home of the royal family of Kashmir, Yahoo!sport
  8. Kidwai, Rasheed (2021), The House of Scindias: A Saga of Power, Politics, and Intrigue, Delhi: Roli Books, p. 109, ISBN 9788195124886
  9. Inderjit Badhwar (31 December 1987). "History came to life at the wedding of Chitrangada Raje Scindia and Vikramaditya Singh". India Today.
  10. Mita Kapur (December 2007). "People - Nothing Is Forever..." Verve. Vol. 15, no. 12.

Further reading
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