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Bhoj. Apart from Rawal Bhoj and Crown Prince Bhoj, son of Maharana Sangram Singh I, there were a couple of leading members of clans who had this name. They came from Hamirgarh (Choondawat), and Roopnagar (Solanki). There was also Prince Bhoj Raj, the eldest of the seven sons and heir apparent of Maharana SANGRAM SINGH I (1509-1527); his mother was Rani Kunwar Bai of the Solanki clan. In 1516 he married the mystic poetess, Princess MIRA BAI of Merta. Bhoj Raj was killed in battle (1521) during his father's lifetime, at which time his younger brother RATAN SINGH (II) became the heir apparent.
Bhoj, Rawal, second ruler of the Guhilot Dynasty (r. ca 603-618), forerunner of the Mewar Dynasty; son and successor of GUHIL. He shifted his capital to the Bhomat district, still in Idar. He ruled for fifteen years, but little is known of his reign. His son, MAHENDRA (I), succeeded him.
Bhoop Singh. There were a couple of leading members of clans who had this name. They came from Kerya (Poorawat), and Marchya Kheri (Solanki).
Bhopal Singh, Maharana: see BHUPAL SINGH, MAHARANA.
Bhulol Lodi, Sultan of Delhi: see BAHLOL LODI, also UDAI SINGH I, MAHARANA.
Bhunas, a town between Kotri and Mandalgarh in Bhilwara District. It is the jagir of the descendants of Maharana Raj Singh I's eighth son, Bahadur Singh; their title is 'Maharaj (Baba)'. Bahadur Singh's great-grandson, Shiv Singh fought for Maharana Ari Singh II against the Maratha chieftain, Madhav Rao Sindhia.
Genealogy: Bahadur Singh; Abhey Singh; Devi Singh; Shiv Singh; Keshri Singh; Nahar Singh; Bagh Singh; Kishan Singh; Chatur Singh; Ekling Singh.
Bhupal Sagar, a lake near the village of KAREDA in the Kapasan district, 50 km. northeast of Udaipur. It covers an area of about 5 km., and provides canal irrigation to the village.
Bhupal Singh. Apart from Maharana Bhupal Singh, there were several leading members of clans who had this name. They came from Badesar (Choondawat); Bhindar (Saktawat); Bavlas (Sisodia); Kerya (Poorawat); Mangrop (Purawat); Moie (Bhati); Netawal (Ranawat); Roopnagar (Solanki), and Sihar (Saktawat).
Bhupal (Bhopal) Singh, Maharana (b. February 22, 1884, Udaipur-d. 1955, Udaipur), seventy-fourth ruler of the Mewar Dynasty (r. 1930-1955, but see below); succeeded his father Maharana FATEH SINGH; ruled from Udaipur. Bhupal was the first natural-born son of the Mewar family to succeed to the throne in almost one hundred years, after five consecutive adoptions. In 1900, at the age of 16, Bhupal Singh was diagnosed as having contracted tuberculosis (some sources say it was polio) and severe curvature of the spine. It came as a severe blow to his father, and the Maharana steadfastly refused to consult European doctors, with the result that the TB spread to Bhupal's lungs. His weight decreased alarmingly to just over 22 kg., and the palace doctor gave him one month to live. A distraught and desperate Fateh Singh relented, and called in the foreign physicians. Urgent treatment saved the boy's life. But that was only the beginning of the youth's misfortune. An ugly protrusion (a bone out of alignment) had appeared between his shoulder blades, and continued to grow. The disease and the spinal affliction left the lower half of his small, frail body completely paralysed. He was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his days, which were to be considerable and notable. When the British decided to restrict Maharana Fateh Singh's powers, they gave Crown Prince Bhupal Singh the powers to rule (on July 28, 1921 when he was 37). He was 46 when he finally ascended the throne on May 25, 1930 after the death of his father.
With Bhupal being a cripple, neither of his two wives had produced an heir, so Bhupal returned to precedent. In 1939, he adopted 17-year-old Bhagwat Singh who came from the same SHIVRATI branch of the family as Fateh Singh (he was Fateh's great-nephew and, at the time, was attending Mayo College, Ajmer). Often Bhupal's paralysis frustrated him when there was so much to achieve; but he never once resorted to self-pity, at least not publicly-his eyes often betrayed an inner melancholy. A formidable advocate of higher education, he established over a dozen schools and colleges in Mewar, and planned the building the Rana Pratap College at Chittorgarh. By 1940, Mewar's literacy rate had increased ten-fold. He was liberal in his support of all religions, giving cash and land not only to Hindu foundations, but also to Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. He founded medical institutions and, in 1932, the Municipal Board of Udaipur. With a programme of reforestation, he attempted to arrest the alarming destruction of Mewar's forests, fighting opposition from vested commercial interests and rural folk who were ignorant of the disastrous ecological consequences of a barren landscape.
Despite his affliction, and as is often the case, Bhupal possessed an alert mind and a powerful and positive attitude to life. He needed every bit of that moral strength as he was to lead Mewar through the most turbulent period in India's history. Considering international violence and disorder, which also affected India, Bhupal's reign was extraordinary in the way he maintained a balance of opposing interests in Mewar. Definitely a man of the 20th century, he was well aware of the changes occurring, and determined to steer his people through them as wisely and as energetically as he could. With Mahatma Gandhi's national campaigns to make all Indians politically responsible for their future, Maharana Bhupal allowed the formation of a new political party in Mewar, the Praja Mandal. These political avant-gardes were demanding social improvements and democracy. At times Bhupal found the need to ban their demonstration marches and rallies, which tended to get dangerously out of control. In 1932, an organised disturbance reached the very gates of his private residence, Shiv Niwas Palace. However, he always lifted such prohibition after the civil unrest had settled. As World War II was coming to an end, all across India the message became loud and clear: India for Indians; the British must get out. Finally, in 1945, England's Socialist Government led by Clement Attlee decided that India was right: the British had to quit India.
It was one thing to hand over British India, but the fate of the hundreds of independent Princely States was another matter. Britain had treaties that protected their independence. In 1946, it was decided to abandon all such political arrangements. After establishment of the breakaway Muslim-ruled nations of Pakistan and East Pakistan (later Bangladesh), the priority was the peaceful unification of the subcontinent as one Hindu nation. The new Indian Government, headed by Nehru of the Congress Party, stated categorically that no Princely State could remain independent, though some did try, without success. Bhupal Singh showed great commonsense in realising the overall benefits-not to mention the inevitability-of such unification. Leading up to Independence, a plot was hatched that was as unthinkable as the State of Hyderabad (which stretched almost across the whole of central India) wanting to become an independent Muslim country, virtually bisecting the new Hindu India. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, president-elect of the proposed Muslim country of Pakistan was in league with the Muslim Nawab of Bhopal to maintain his state as part of Pakistan. He had also persuaded the rulers of Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, on Pakistan's border, to join the move. However, he needed the cooperation of Mewar to join all states into one formidable Islamic arm penetrating deep into the heart of the Hindu nation. Jinnah requested the ruler of Jodhpur to act as emissary to get Maharana Bhupal Singh to join Pakistan. Bhupal Singh's written reply shows the true institutional spirit of the House of Mewar: "My decision was made by my ancestors. Had they faltered, we would have ruled as big a state as Hyderabad. They did not, nor shall I. I am with India."
Maharana Bhupal made Mewar one of the first out of about five hundred princely states to merge with the new Indian Union. His statesmanship was deluged with criticism, mainly that he was betraying his Rajput ancestry. At the time, the leading bard of Mewar wrote an unkind couplet:
Oh Eklingji, why was he incapacitated
in his legs?
It should have been in his hands,
So that he would have been unable to sign.
But Bhupal remained adamant in his decision: "India is independent. It brings to fulfillment the 1,400 years' struggle and endeavour of my forefathers. It becomes my holy duty to hand over this cherished and sacred Flame of Freedom." India gained its freedom on August 15, 1947. But the nation's celebrated and hard-won Independence was to lead to the greatest calamity ever experienced by the erstwhile Princely States, especially Mewar. With the British gone from India, the reborn nation, free from foreign domination for the first time in many centuries, began its search for a representative identity in the modern world. For Mewar and the other Princes, facing the future was a similar proposition-but with several frightening disadvantages. With Independence, the Indian Government took away the sovereignty and titles of India's Princes, supplanting them with the new courtesy of His Highness. Thus Bhupal Singh became the final Maharana of Mewar. Two years later, on March 31, 1949, twenty-two princely states merged to form the Union of Greater Rajasthan. Bhupal Singh was granted the superior, honorary title of Maharajpramukh, which made him titular head of the new State on all ceremonial occasions. The Princes' kingdoms had gone, except the family-owned properties. The Maharana had the foresight to legally assign the inalienable ownership of the Shiv Niwas and Shambu Niwas palaces to his adopted son and heir, Bhagwat Singh. Thus the Government could never appropriate them and so leave the Mewar family homeless. The most urgent concern of the Princes was that their income from State revenues had come to an abrupt end. However, the newly formed Indian Government gave a solemn undertaking to supplant the previous source of internal revenue with a pension, known as the Privy Purse, to help maintain their palaces and retainers. It was a far from adequate stipend, but had to suffice until the future was sorted out. However, the Government was looking after them to a degree, and they had certain privileges. Any positive need for self-preservation did not surface during Bhupal Singh's lifetime. This onerous task became the responsibility of his son, Bhagwat Singh. Bhupal Singh died in 1955 in Udaipur, aged 71. His adopted son succeeded Bhupal as BHAGWAT SINGH MEWAR, and subsequently preserved the title of Maharana legally (see MAHARANA).
Bhuvana Hill, Udaipur, in the northeastern sector of the city on the eastern side of Highway No. 8, the road to Nathdwara, Kankroli, Ajmer and Jaipur. Marble mines have been established here to supply product for local markets.
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