Bhadesar (Choondawat), a town 90 km. northeast of Udaipur, near Avri Mata in the Chittorgarh District; jagir of the descendants of Bhim Singh of SALUMBAR. Bhim's second son, Bhairav Singh, received the estate of Bhadesar and the title of 'Rawat'. When, during the civil war in Maharana Ari Singh II's time, the army of Sindhia marched towards Mewar, Bhairav fought against them at Bassi, 4 km. from Salumbar and died there. He had no male issue, so Rawat Sardar Singh's second son, Hamir Singh was adopted from CHAVAND. In the next generation, when the Pathan plunderer, Amir Khan, attacked and conquered Bhadesar, he merged it into the estate of NIMBAHERA. Hamir Singh of Bhadesar, who was also Jagidar of Raipur (near Sahada) attacked Amir Khan's forces and threw them out of Bhadesar and reclaimed his thikana. Hamir died in 1855 and was succeeded by Umaid Singh, who had no male issue. Thus, in 1861, he adopted Bhupal Singh, son Sabhag Singh of Chavand. Bhupal constructed palaces at Bhadesar.

Genealogy: Bhairav Singh; Hamir Singh; Umaid Singh; Bhupal Singh; and Takhat Singh. Bhupal had three sons: Man Singh, Tej Singh, and Indra Singh. Tej Singh was adopted by Jodh Singh of Salumbar, but died during Jodh Singh's lifetime. Later on, the Salumbar family adopted Man Singh, and third son, Indra Singh was adopted from the Bhainsrorgarh family. A later descendant, Takhat Singh was adopted from the Chavand family.

Bhadu (Choondawat), a town, an offshoot of AMET. Maharana Raj Singh II granted the jagir of Bhadu to Bharat Singh Choondawat.

Bhadur Singh, Kunwar, of Bhunas; eighth son of Maharana RAJ SINGH I (1653-1680), brother of Maharana JAI SINGH (1680-1698). See BHUNAS.

Bhagwan Das, Raja, of Amber, father of MAN SINGH. In September 1573, Emperor AKBAR sent Bhagwat Das as an envoy to Gogunda to discuss a peace treaty with Mewar's Maharana PRATAP SINGH I. Although Pratap was not opposed to a treaty, he refused to sacrifice his sovereignty and Mewar's independence. The negotiations failed.

Bhagwanpura (Choondawat), a town 180 km. from Udaipur, near Mandal in Bhilwara District. An offshoot of DEOGARH, whose Jagirdar, Swaroop Singh gave Bhagwanpura as a jagir to his third son, Jaswant Singh. Their title is 'Rawat'. In the early 1700s, when Mers were plundering a number of Mewar villages, the notorious Kalu Khan Mer occupied Bhagwanpura and neighbouring villages. Swaroop Singh killed Kalu Khan near Mandal, and established himself at Bhagwanpura on April 25, 1743. Maharana Ari Singh II gave him the jagir of Jojawar and fifteen other villages. When Mewar annexed the Godwar area, Swaroop Singh refused the Sovereignty of Marwar and his jagir was confiscated. Nevertheless, during Maharana Ari Singh's reign, Swaroop played an important role in the ongoing battle with the Marathas. His son, Jorawar (Zorawar) Singh, succeeded him. When Maharana Bhim Singh (1778-1828) went to Nahara Magra to meet Madhavrao Scindia (1791), Jorawar Singh went with him. To avenge the death of his relative, Kalu Khan Mer, Samsher Khan attacked Jorawar Singh when he was on a journey to Devgadh. Jorawar killed Samsher Khan, and Maharana Bhim Singh rewarded him with the village of Thana. Later, a band of Mers forcibly stole the cows of Thana village. Jorawar pursued the bandits, but was killed in the ensuing battle. Today, he is worshipped as a local hero.

Genealogy: Swaroop Singh; Jorawar Singh; Mokham Singh; Shivdan Singh; Sujan Singh. Hamir Singh (Shivdan's son) and Prithvi Singh (Shivdan's grandson) died during Shivdan's lifetime, thus his great-grandson, Sujan succeeded him.

Bhagwat Singh. Apart from (Maharana) Bhagwat Singh Mewar, there were several leading members of clans who had this name. They came from Amargadh (Kanawat); Kunthawas (Saktawat), and Peeladhar (Sisodia).

Bhagwat Singh Mewar, (Maharana) (b. June 6, 1921 at Shivrati-d. November 3, 1984 at Udaipur), 75^th ruler of the Mewar Dynasty (r. 1955-1984), and Founding Father of modern Mewar; ruled for twenty-nine years in Udaipur. His father was Prince Pratap Singh of Bhupalgarh, a distant relative of Maharana Fateh Singh of the same minor branch of the Sisodias (Mewar's royal family). Later, Bhagwat was adopted by Maharana BHUPAL SINGH (1930-1955) who had no heir. To ensure the boy would reach his majority before Bhupal's death, his age was "tampered with": when he was adopted it was listed as "seventeen and a half, or something like that", although his date of birth remained the same. At first, palace life terrified the country teenager. To help him adapt, he was allowed a weekly visit with his natural father. One year after joining his new family, Bhagwat (aged 19) was married to Princess Sushila Kumariji, sister of Maharaja Karni Singh of Bikaner in western Rajasthan. As was the custom, it was an arranged marriage, after which the Baoji Raj went back to school. He attended Mayo College in Ajmer, and played a lot of first-class cricket until essential administrative training at home demanded more of his time. During World War II he was attached to the Guards Regiment on the Northwest Frontier. In 1955, Maharana Bhupal Singh died, and Bhagwat, then aged 34, succeeded him (November 1).

At the time of his accession, Bhagwat Singh was the father of two sons, Mahendra and Arvind, and a daughter, Yogeshwari. Following the death of Bhupal Singh and the bleak future which came with Indian Independence in 1947, the fate of the House of Mewar now rested in the hands of his adopted son. But with the world still stumbling from the chaos of a massive world war, future security was tenuous, to say the least. As Bhagwat Singh would later comment, "His late Highness, my adoptive father, was getting old and he had an obsession there should be no minority administration of the State." Signs of future problems began to surface almost a decade earlier with Indian Independence (1947). The country's native princes (the rulers of the many independent kingdoms) relinquished their sovereignty (including income from taxing their States). However, each prince was given a privy purse, which was paid from public funds. In 1956, the ancient kingdom of Mewar was no more when all the kingdoms of Rajputana were merged as the new State of Rajasthan.

That same year, Indian Prime Minister Nehru paid Bhagwat Singh a significant compliment. Despite democracy having officially dispensed with Bhagwat Singh's position as the leading member of Rajasthani royalty, Nehru invited the Maharana to the Red Fort at Delhi. It was a two-way symbol of recognition. Since Maharana Amar Singh's vow in 1615, no ruler of Mewar had entered the capital while it was ruled by a foreign power. With his visit, Bhagwat Singh underscored his father's previously criticised patriotism of being the first Prince to join the Indian Union; Indians now governed in Delhi. For his part, Prime Minister Nehru graciously recognised the fact the Maharana of Mewar held a definite place of respect in the new democracy.

Even though he no longer had a kingdom to rule, Bhagwat Singh continued the religious observance of his ancestors as the Diwan of Lord Eklingji. However, he found a continual need to adjust his thinking to the many changes that were occurring both at home and abroad, at the same time maintaining the dignity of his House; he vowed never to compromise the family's self-reliance and self-respect. Then, in 1969, Parliament (led by a new Prime Minister, Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi) contravened the undertakings guaranteed by the Constitution of India and stripped the erstwhile Princes of the Privy Purse. The victims formed the Concord of Princes to take their case to the Supreme Court. Bhagwat Singh even sent a polite but well-formed letter of protest to Mrs. Gandhi, but the protest failed. Parliament rewrote the Constitution in 1971 to circumvent any possibility of the Supreme Court finding its action unconstitutional. In 1972, Bhagwat Singh became an ordinary citizen. His privileges and allowances ceased. Suddenly, he had to find an income, in part to maintain many large palaces, every one of them now a taxable asset, liable to estate duty. Naturally, all of Bhagwat's former royal colleagues were in the same boat. Many who lacked wisdom or fighting spirit, lived off their capital, selling off assets to survive, and went down with the boat. Others decided to swim. Some entered politics; others went into business for themselves. Bhagwat Singh was among the latter.

In anticipation, he had already taken action as early as 1956. At the time, his attention focussed on two major issues: how to make money, obviously from his only assets, the palaces, and, at the same time, how to preserve and continue the tradition and glory of the House of Mewar. In the first instance, his ancestors had built the huge palaces not only for themselves, wives, children, concubines, and royal guests with their retinues, but also to house the hundreds of servants and officials needed to run the extensive household, Mewar's Court, and a host of government departments. However, with no Court and no Government any more, and with the members and retainers of Bhagwat Singh's immediate family occupying only one dwelling, these magnificent edifices were virtually empty. The assets were now a great liability, and costing him money. As Arvind Singh remarked later, "Tourism was the most obvious and appropriate means of attracting the funds necessary to discharge the inherited obligations. There was no way of maintaining the palaces other than by making them generate their own income, and the best-and perhaps the only-way of achieving this was to convert them into hotels. The alternative was to sell off the properties, which was unthinkable ... (it) meant the dissolution of a priceless heritage, and the abandonment of events deeply significant, not only to us, but also to the people of Udaipur." Thus, in 1956, Bhagwat Singh's priority became the acquisition of funds to maintain these inherited properties and to put them to good use. He set up a Private Limited Company, the HRH GROUP (Historic Resort Hotels), to which he sold Jag Niwas (Nivas), Jag Mandir, Fateh Prakash and other lands around the shores of Pichola Lake. The HRH Group then adapted the palaces to luxury hotels to attract the world's growing tourist trade. The two most impressive were SHIV NIWAS and the resplendent JAG NIWAS in the middle of Pichola Lake, which was renamed the Lake Palace Hotel. FATEH PRAKASH also became a first-class hotel, undergoing a complete face-lift with Imperial suites. The huge Durbar Hall, with its dazzling chandeliers, and high walls hung with portraits of the dynasty's Maharanas, became an elegant venue for weddings, conventions and large formal dinners. The gallery that ran along its western side was transformed into the GALLERY RESTAURANT with a marvellous view of Pichola and the Lake Palace. Fateh Prakash also houses the now-famous Crystal Gallery, opened to the public in 1944. Overlooking the Durbar Hall, it displays the amazing CRYSTAL COLLECTION. Today, Fateh Prakash is one of the most exclusive Palace Resorts in the country. The colonial style Household Transport Centre that originally housed the palace cars is opposite the Gulab Bagh (Rose Garden) near Shiv Niwas. This was transformed into the GARDEN HOTEL to house pilgrims visiting shrines around Udaipur. For centuries, SHIKARBADI on the on the western shore of Goverdhan Lake, in the southern sector of Udaipur, was the Mewar royal family's hunting lodge. Bhagwat's main problem was the sprawling City Palace; begun in 1570, it was now showing its considerable age. Rather than find the vast funds required for its repair and preservation, he gave the entire complex to the Government of Rajasthan to turn into a national monument. However, the State Government could not find the funds either, and lost enthusiasm for the project. Bhagwat Singh persuaded them to return the palace, and began the restoration himself.

Meanwhile, he had established a charitable trust, the MAHARANA MEWAR FOUNDATION, as a means to achieve the objectives of preserving the age-old traditions and obligations of the institute of Maharana (see MAHARANA). It encouraged and preserved the spirit of self-reliance and self-respect in Man; and to assist man to realise his special status in the hierarchy of God's creations. Primarily, the Foundation's main purpose was to redevelop the main portions of the City Palace as a grand public museum of Mewar's history. Ongoing funding would come from bank interest on the original investment and from entrance fees to the museum. The money earned from this trust was to devolve to social welfare and education, and run the City Palace complex. Bhagwat Singh also instituted another trust called the MAHARANA MEWAR INSTITUTE of which the Managing Trustee was to be his second son, Maharaj Kumar Arvind Singh. Bhagwat Singh's focus for the future was a magnificent dream that came true. Actually, it had two aims: welfare and inspiration. Although his lifestyle had changed from inherited sovereignty to businessman, he was determined not to forego the charter handed to the dynasty's founder, Bappa Rawal, part of which was to care for the welfare of his subjects in the name of Eklingji. The mere fact that, legally, he no longer had any subjects as such was of no import. Tradition dies hard, and the people of Mewar still considered Bhagwat Singh as their leader, their Maharana; and he still felt responsible for their well being. So, he utilised monies earned by the original Maharana Mewar Foundation to set up several subsidiary Trusts for social welfare, education, religious and charitable purposes, for all castes and creeds.

In 1972, an outpatients' dispensary was opened. The old staff quarters, barrack, storerooms and stables of the City Palace were converted, and the Vidyadan Trust (the Charity of Knowledge) set up the Maharana Mewar Public School and a Students' Hostel, both of which were opened in 1974. A well-stocked Library was established in the City Palace complex for students interested in historical research. That took care of welfare for the time being. The inspirational aspect of his second dream was a follow-on from preservation of the past. The City Palace Museum and its contents celebrated the Mewar Dynasty's 1,400-year history and the role his ancestors played in developing its greatness. Nevertheless, Bhagwat Singh knew there was a need to inspire future generations to greatness, as well. With laudable pre-vision, the Maharana Mewar Foundation inaugurated a series of annual financial awards that recognised the achievement of individuals for services rendered to society, and in promoting Udaipur and Rajasthan. The fields included art, music, dance, journalism, historical research, education, and bravery in the course of duty. Originally, recipients were from India. However, a special prize (the Colonel James Tod Award) was added later for work by an international achiever. Today, these awards are nationally famous. With deep reverence to the family traditions and obligations inherited from the teachings of HARIT RISHI, Bhagwat Singh ceaselessly strived to evolve new measures which would enable him to perpetuate the traditions of service to society in whatever form and to whatever degree it became possible in the prevailing circumstances. This led to his setting up the MAHARANA MEWAR RESEARCH INSTITUTE to house the dynasty's archives. It was located next door to the Zanana Mahal (Queen's Palace). All remaining assets, including the royal residence Shambhu Niwas Palace, were also donated to the Trust. Bhagwat Singh made a considerable financial donation (11 lakhs, or Rs 1,100,000) to get the Foundation up and running. Quite a lot of the money came from selling off valuable family jewels, garments, furniture, and other antiques.

Unfortunately, in 1983, his first-born son, Crown Prince Mahendra Singh, possibly concerned that his long-established inheritance was being sacrificed at a time of financial crisis, filed a civil suit seeking to partition the family inheritance. By this act he effectively severed himself from the family and subsequently, when his father died it was discovered that his will unequivocally disinherited Mahendra Singh and named his second son, Arvind Singh as his heir, appointing him Managing Trustee of the family's businesses. On November 8, 1984, Bhagwat Singh passed away at the age of 63, two days after the assassination of his past antagonist, Indira Gandhi. The people of Udaipur were in double shock: not only had they lost their Prime Minister in an act of violence, they had also lost the man they still revered as their Maharana. They congregated in their thousands to pay their last respects to this great visionary who had done so much for the common man, and for Mewar's future.

Bhagwat Singh Special Library: see MAHARANA MEWAR SPECIAL LIBRARY.