Brahma, one of the Hindu godly triumvirate. He is known as the Creator, along with VISHNU the Preserver, and SHIVA the Destroyer and Reproducer. Originally Brahma was considered the greatest of the gods because he set the universe in motion. However, he faded in importance with the rise of Shiva and Vishnu. He is usually shown dressed in white robes and riding a goose. Although all three gods have four arms, Brahma has the added advantage of four heads to represent his all-seeing presence. The four VEDAS, which he carries, along with a sceptre and various other symbols, are supposed to have emanated from his mouths. His consort is Sarasvati.

Brahma Pol, Udaipur; one of the city's original gates, just north of Pichola Lake, on Brahm Pol Road. See also GATES (POLS) IN UDAIPUR.

Brahman (Brahmin), a member of the Hindu priestly caste.

Brahmin: see BRAHMAN.

British East India Company: see BRITISH, THE.

British Government of India: see BRITISH, THE.

British Political Agents and Residents in Mewar.

British Agent	Mewar Ruler
1818-22. Capt. James Tod	Maharana Bhim Singh
1822-23. Capt. Caff	Maharana Bhim Singh 1828. Maharana Jawan Singh
1830-34. Maj. Spear	Maharana Jawan Singh 1838. Maharana Sardar Singh
1839-45. Maj. Robinson	Maharana Sardar Singh 1842. Maharana Swaroop Singh
1850-1857. Lt. Col. Lawrence	Maharana Swaroop Singh
1857-1860. Capt. Showers	Maharana Swaroop Singh
1860-62. Maj. Taylor	Maharana Swaroop Singh 1861. Maharana Shambhu Singh
1862-65. Lt. Col. Eden.	Maharana Shambhu Singh
1865-67. Maj. Nixon	Maharana Shambhu Singh
1868-69. Lt. Col. Hutchinson	Maharana Shambhu Singh
1869-72. Lt. Col. Nixon	Maharana Shambhu Singh
1872-74. Lt. Col. Hutchinson	Maharana Shambhu Singh 1874. Maharana Sajjan Singh
1874. Maj. Bradford	Maharana Sajjan Singh
1874-75. Lt. Col. Wright	Maharana Sajjan Singh
1875-76. Col. Herbert	Maharana Sajjan Singh
1876-78. Lt. Col. Impey	Maharana Sajjan Singh
1878-79. Maj. Cadell	Maharana Sajjan Singh
1879-81. Lt. Col. Walter	Maharana Sajjan Singh

After 1881, Political Agents were called Residents.

British Resident	Mewar Ruler
1881-82 Dr. Stratton	Maharana Sajjan Singh
1882. Lt. Col. Euan Smith	Maharana Sajjan Singh
1882-85. Lt. Col. Walter	Maharana Sajjan Singh 1884. Maharana Fateh Singh
1885. Lt. Col. Biddulph	Maharana Fateh Singh
1885-86. Mr. Plowden	Maharana Fateh Singh
1886. Mr. Wingate	Maharana Fateh Singh
1886. Lt. Col. Euan Smith	Maharana Fateh Singh
1886-87 Lt. Col. Walter	Maharana Fateh Singh
1887-89 Col. Miles	Maharana Fateh Singh
1889. Lt. Col. Peacock	Maharana Fateh Singh
1889-90 Maj. Fraser	Maharana Fateh Singh
1890. Lt. Col. Peacock	Maharana Fateh Singh
1890. Lt. Col. Abbott	Maharana Fateh Singh
1890-93. Col. Miles	Maharana Fateh Singh
1893. Lt. Col. Martelli	Maharana Fateh Singh
1893-94. Lt. Col. Wyllie	Maharana Fateh Singh
1894. Col. Prideaux	Maharana Fateh Singh
1894-96. Lt. Col. Wyllie	Maharana Fateh Singh
1896-97. Lt. Col. Newill	Maharana Fateh Singh
1897-99. Lt. Col. Revenshaw	Maharana Fateh Singh
1899-1900. Lt. Col. Yate	Maharana Fateh Singh
1900. Lt. Col. Thornton	Maharana Fateh Singh
1900-02. Capt. Pinhey	Maharana Fateh Singh
1902. Mr. Blakesley	Maharana Fateh Singh
1902-06. Maj. Pinhey	Maharana Fateh Singh
1906. Capt. Drummond	Maharana Fateh Singh
1906-07 Mr. Claude Hill	Maharana Fateh Singh
1907. Capt. Chevenix Trench	Maharana Fateh Singh
1907-08. Mr. Claude Hill	Maharana Fateh Singh
1908. Capt. Chevenix Trench	Maharana Fateh Singh
1908-11. Mr. Holme	Maharana Fateh Singh
1911-13. Lt. Col. Kaye	Maharana Fateh Singh
1913. Mr. Holland	Maharana Fateh Singh
1913-14. Lt. Col. Kaye	Maharana Fateh Singh
1914. Mr. Glancy	Maharana Fateh Singh
1914-15. Lt. Col. Kaye	Maharana Fateh Singh
1915. Maj. Drummond	Maharana Fateh Singh
1915-16. Lt. Col. Kaye	Maharana Fateh Singh
1916. Mr. Russell	Maharana Fateh Singh
1916-19. Mr. Holme	Maharana Fateh Singh
1919-20. Lt. Col. Spence	Maharana Fateh Singh
1920. Lt. Col. Macpherson	Maharana Fateh Singh
1920-22. Mr. Wilkinson	Maharana Fateh Singh
1922-24. Mr. Wilkinson	Maharana Fateh Singh
1924-25. Maj. Pritchard	Maharana Fateh Singh
1925-27. Maj. Ogylvie	Maharana Fateh Singh
1927. Maj. Bisco	Maharana Fateh Singh
1927-28. Mr. Mackenzie	Maharana Fateh Singh
1928. Lt. Col. Grabier	Maharana Fateh Singh
1930-31. Mr. Lothian	1930. Maharana Bhupal Singh
1931-33. Lt. Col. Macnabb	Maharana Bhupal Singh
1933-35. Lt. Col. Garstin	Maharana Bhupal Singh
1935-38. Lt. Col. Batham	Maharana Bhupal Singh
1938-39. Lt. Col. Barton	Maharana Bhupal Singh
1940-41. Mr. Todd	Maharana Bhupal Singh
1941-42. Mr. Trevelyan	Maharana Bhupal Singh
1942-43. Lt. Col. Williams	Maharana Bhupal Singh
1943-47. Lt. Col. Kirkbridge	Maharana Bhupal Singh

British Raj, The: see BRITISH, THE.

British, The (The British Government in India). Apart from establishing a lucrative trade with India, merchants of the British East India Trading Company (the charter given to them by England's Queen Elizabeth I in 1600), had been overstepping their limitations. They formed an armed force and indulged in takeover battles in such places as Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Hyderabad, and Mysore. Usually the encounters were with local kingdoms that, like Mewar and the other Rajput states, did not welcome the incursion of a foreign power within its borders. They courted the Mughal emperors-Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb-and kept securing new trading posts with more substantial trading rights. They established Calcutta as the British capital on the banks of the Hooghly River in Bengal. Their powers were unlimited, after all they were not just a local power group like the Rajputs, the Marathas, or the Mughals; they had the support and resources of the world's largest empire at their command. This militarised trading force, John Company as it came to be called, finally went too far in its aggressive acquisition of local supremacy. The traders' army came to grief when the British Government in London suspected that members of the Company's upper echelon, particularly their military leaders, were abusing their powers through bribery and corruption to acquire personal fortunes as well.

Desirous of adding India to their Empire, the English Parliament replaced the East India Company with the British Government of India. This was in 1772 during the reign of Maharana ARI SINGH II. To bring their new prize-this 'Jewel in the British Crown'-into line with the Western world, they appointed a series of governors-general as indomitable heads of a vast company of administrators, not only in all major cities, but also in towns and villages. This was the British Raj (Rule). Until 1947, it was to dominate all of India, wearing two hats: first, as the British Government of India, overlords of the provinces which they had annexed, and second, as administrative watchdogs over the remainder, the 600-odd independent kingdoms, which came to be known as the Princely States. Britain introduced many modern reforms and facilities to all of India: a judicial system and penal code; a political procedure based on their own parliament; a postal and telegraphic service; national highways; and a national railway system. Later came the motor car and the telephone. Also, in this land of disparate dialects, they instituted English as the main language of communication, particularly in the education, legal and political arenas. They achieved what no other foreign power had achieved: the subjugation and unification of the entire subcontinent. For their rule to be effective, they needed stability, so their main priority was to re-establish order in a country that was rife with dissension. They enforced an end to wars between various principalities and to bitter family feuds, and attempted to return annexed land to the rightful owners.

The British moved into Rajputana during the height of the Maratha plague, their one remaining large problem. Through treaties and several pitched battles (the MARATHA WARS), they eventually drove the invaders back to their homeland. By 1818, with the British in control through a series of treaties that protected Rajputana from further aggression, the long-desired peace was finally restored. Political officers (Agents or Residents) represented the British Raj in the various states of Rajputana. Now merely nominal rulers, the Native Princes (as Queen Victoria would later call India's rulers) set about the onerous task of rebuilding their treasuries and their realms, with superior advice and guidance from their new overlords. The British continued to introduce reform measures: they made sati a criminal offence (1829); repressed the Thugs (murderous bandits); abolished inland transit duties (1835); added tea and coffee production to that of indigo; planned further roads and canals, and began building the Grand Trunk Road (1839). They encouraged river and ocean steamship lines and cut administrative costs in all sectors; inaugurated revenue settlement in the northwestern provinces; and gave more responsibility to Indian subordinate officials. However, they were still foreigners ruling India and, after a long campaign, led by nationalists such as Mahatma Gandhi, India won. In August, 1947, the British Raj, after dividing the subcontinent between majority Hindus and the minority Muslims (West and East Pakistan, the latter later becoming Bangladesh), the British quit India and the entire country was ruled by one all-Indian party for the first time in its history.

Bron-ka-Math: see BERO-KA-MATH.