Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur Life and Legend

by R.P. Singh and Kanwar Rajpal Singh

"Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur: Life and Legend" is the story of how fate catapulted Kanwar Mor Mukut Singh of Isarda to the throne of Jaipur, a state that he ruled as Sawai Man Singh II for 27 years before its merger with independent India.

From being a ruler to serving as India's ambassador in Spain, he lived through a period of Indian history marked with glory and upheavals.

Flamboyant, debonair and elegant, he had two overriding passions-polo and his third wife, Maharani Gayatri Devi. His polo team ravaged England in 1933 winning all major tournaments- a feat yet unparalleled. His romance with Gayatri Devi, the stunningly beautiful princess from Cooch Behar, is the stuff of legends.

Sawai Man Singh's dream was to die ‘….in a polo field, in the midst of a chukka, with my friends around me, my pony under me, my polo stick in my hand, and my boots on.'

On 24 June 1970 at Cirencester, England, his dream was fulfilled, plunging the world into grief.