From kingdom to citizen in twenty-four years
Before 1947: the rulers of Rajputana governed their own states under British protection, with courts, armies, coins and nobles of their own.
1947 to 1949: the rulers signed instruments of accession, and their states merged in stages into Rajasthan. Greater Rajasthan was formed on 30 March 1949, still marked as Rajasthan Day.
- Under the British
- Rajputana, by treaty from 1818
- Accession
- 1947, to the Indian Union
- Greater Rajasthan
- Formed 30 March 1949
- State complete
- 1956, with Ajmer and Abu
- Privy purses abolished
- 1971, by constitutional amendment
- The bargain: rulers kept their titles, their private palaces and an annual allowance from the government, the privy purse.
- 1971: a constitutional amendment ended the privy purses and the official recognition of rulers. Maharaja, Maharana and Rawal became courtesy titles.
- The hard choice: palaces built for a court of hundreds now had no kingdom to pay for them. Families sold land, opened museums or turned their homes into hotels.
- What did not change: in their old cities, many families kept the affection of people who still call them Hukum, roughly my lord. That respect is personal, never legal.
- Read the background: our short history of Rajasthan and our guide to the Rajput dynasties give the dates and the clans.
What the old families do now
Hotels: from Rambagh Palace, a hotel since 1957, to small forts with a handful of rooms, the heritage hotel movement grew directly out of 1971.
Museum trusts: several great palaces are cared for by trusts the families set up, with curators, conservation labs and education programmes.
- Festivals: some public ceremonies still leave from the palace gates with the family taking part, in front of the whole city.
- Polo and horses: Jaipur and Jodhpur still field teams, and many noble families breed the Marwari horse.
- Public life: members of several houses have stood for election and served in Parliament, the state assembly and government.
- Crafts and music: many families still support the painters, weavers and hereditary musicians their ancestors patronised.
- Schools and charities: education, water, women's work and heritage conservation are common causes.
- Ordinary work: others are bankers, lawyers, designers, farmers and teachers, and live much like anyone else in India.
Jaipur and the Kachwahas
The house: Kachwaha Rajputs, who ruled from Amer before Sawai Jai Singh II founded Jaipur on the plain.
Where they live: in the seven-storeyed Chandra Mahal of the City Palace, while the rest of the palace is a museum.
- Clan
- Kachwaha Rajputs
- Old capital
- Amer, for centuries before 1727
- Family home
- Chandra Mahal, City Palace
- Palace hotel
- Rambagh, since 1957
- Polo
- A Jaipur team still plays
- The head of the family: Sawai Padmanabh Singh, who succeeded his grandfather in 2011, is best known in public as a polo player who leads the Jaipur team.
- In government: Diya Kumari, of the same family, served in Parliament and in 2023 became one of Rajasthan's deputy chief ministers.
- The polo years: Man Singh II and Maharani Gayatri Devi made Jaipur famous for polo. Our journal on polo in Jaipur tells that story.
- On festival days: the Gangaur and Teej processions leave the City Palace and pass through Tripolia Gate, watched by the whole city.
- More: our journal on the Jaipur royal family goes further into the house's history.
Jodhpur and the Rathores
The house: Rathore Rajputs, who founded Jodhpur and Mehrangarh under Rao Jodha in 1459.
A boy king: Maharaja Gaj Singh II came to the title in 1952 at the age of four, after his father, Maharaja Hanwant Singh, died in an air crash.
- The museum trust: in the early 1970s he set up the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, which turned the fort into one of India's finest museums.
- Public service: he has served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament, and as an Indian diplomat abroad.
- Three lives in one palace: at Umaid Bhawan Palace, the family lives in one wing, a hotel fills another and a museum a third.
- Music and polo: the Rajasthan International Folk Festival is held at Mehrangarh each autumn, and Jodhpur polo was revived in the 1990s under the family's patronage.
- More: read our journal on Maharaja Gaj Singh and our Jodhpur guide.
Mewar and the Sisodias
The house: the Sisodias, who ruled from Chittor before Maharana Udai Singh II founded Udaipur in 1559.
The custodian idea: the ruler was the diwan, the minister, of Shiva as Eklingji. Many in Udaipur still speak of the house that way.
- The headship today: it has been disputed within the family since 2024 to 2025. We take no side, name no claimant and simply show guests the palace and its history.
- The palace: the City Palace museum, the courtyards and the views over Lake Pichola remain open to visitors.
- Palace hotels: Shiv Niwas Palace and Fateh Prakash Palace stand inside the complex, and the Taj Lake Palace floats across the water.
- Festivals: Gangaur processions to Gangaur Ghat and the Mewar Festival fill the lakeside each spring.
- More: our journal on the Mewar royal family and on Maharana Pratap and Haldighati.
Bikaner, Jaisalmer and the smaller courts
Bikaner
The house: a Rathore line founded when Rao Bika, a son of Rao Jodha, established Bikaner in 1488.
- The moderniser: Maharaja Ganga Singh, who ruled from 1887 to 1943, built canals, railways and Lalgarh Palace.
- Today: Junagarh Fort is a museum, and part of Lalgarh is the Laxmi Niwas Palace hotel.
Jaisalmer
Bundi and Kota
Dungarpur
- The house: the Ahara Guhilots, an elder branch of the Mewar line, who founded Dungarpur.
- Today: Udai Bilas Palace on its lake is still the family's home and a heritage hotel.
How Rajasthan feels about its old families
Affection where it was earned: families who cared for their cities, built schools or rescued their forts are spoken of warmly, often as if they were still in charge.
Memory of hard times: older villagers also remember forced labour and heavy dues under some estates. Both memories are true, and good guides tell both.
- The language of respect: Hukum for a member of the family, Bapji in Jodhpur, Darbar for a ruler. You will hear all three from staff and elders.
- Pride in the city: for many Rajasthanis the palaces belong to the town as much as to the family. A wedding photographed at the City Palace is a source of local pride.
- A modern view: younger Rajasthanis often admire the families' work in heritage and polo while seeing them simply as fellow citizens.
- Our own view: we grew up hearing both kinds of story from our grandparents, and we try to pass on both, without flattery and without sneering.
Below the rulers, the noble houses
The thikana: a noble's estate, granted by the ruler in return for loyalty and soldiers. Many stayed in one family for centuries.
Land reform: after independence the old estates lost their land revenue, and the noble families faced the same hard choice as the rulers.
- The family-run fort: many answered by opening their homes. Rohet Garh, held by its family since 1622, became a hotel in 1990.
- The painting houses: at Deogarh Mahal, the Rawats of one of Mewar's great noble houses keep alive the memory of a famous school of miniature painting.
- The country palace: Samode Palace, a hotel since 1987, is still run by the Samode family, nobles of the Jaipur court.
- Read more: our heritage hotels explained shows how these houses became hotels.
Seeing royal Rajasthan on a journey
Jaipur, two nights
- Morning: the City Palace at opening, then the trophies and portraits in the museum.
- Evening: tea on the lawns of Rambagh, where Man Singh II and Gayatri Devi lived.
A noble's fort, two nights
- Where: Samode, Rohet or Deogarh, so you see how the estates lived as well as the courts.
- Why two nights: the family, the village and the stories need an unhurried day.
Jodhpur and Udaipur
- Jodhpur: Mehrangarh with the trust's guides, then the museum wing of Umaid Bhawan.
- Udaipur: the City Palace museum, a boat to Jag Mandir and a last night beside the lake.
The museum trusts that keep palaces open
Mehrangarh, Jodhpur: run by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, with palanquins, arms, paintings and painted rooms, and care for Jaswant Thada below.
City Palace, Jaipur: the museum galleries, the Mubarak Mahal and the painted gates of Pritam Niwas Chowk, with occasional tours of parts of the Chandra Mahal.
- City Palace, Udaipur: the palace museum, the Mor Chowk with its glass peacocks, and conservation work in the courtyards.
- Umaid Bhawan, Jodhpur: a museum wing on the last age of princely India, with art deco rooms, clocks and photographs. See our Umaid Bhawan Museum guide.
- Junagarh, Bikaner: a fort never taken by siege, its painted halls cared for by a family trust.
- Why it matters: your ticket pays for conservation, curators and craftsmen. The trusts also restore murals, train conservators and publish research.
Where the princes went to school
Mayo College: founded in Ajmer in 1875 to educate the sons of Rajputana's ruling and noble families, in a style that mixed Rajput and English schooling.
What it taught: riding, polo, cricket and administration, alongside the classics. Many future rulers learned to govern there.
- Today: it is a leading boarding school open to all, though old family names still appear on its honour boards.
- Why it matters for you: the polished English, the love of horses and the easy hospitality of many old families have roots in that schooling.
- For girls: Maharani Gayatri Devi founded a girls' school in Jaipur in 1943, now one of the city's best known.
Festivals where the old traditions are public
Gangaur in Jaipur: the goddess leaves the Zenani Deorhi of the City Palace in procession, with women in their finest dress lining the route.
Gangaur in Udaipur: images of the goddess are carried to the lake at Gangaur Ghat, and boats come out onto Pichola.
- Gangaur
- March or April, Jaipur and Udaipur
- Teej
- July or August, Jaipur and Bundi
- Dussehra
- September or October, Kota and beyond
- Dates
- Lunar, so we confirm them each year
- Teej: the monsoon festival of married women, with processions in Jaipur and the Kajli Teej fair in Bundi.
- Kota Dussehra: one of Rajasthan's great Dussehra fairs, on the banks of the Chambal.
- Holi in the palaces: several houses still light the Holika fire with old ceremony on the eve of Holi.
- How to watch: a good vantage point, a guide who explains each ritual, and a respectful distance. Never push for a photograph.
How to behave if you meet a family member
Greet with khamma ghani: the Rajasthani greeting, with folded hands or a slight bow, used for everyone.
Titles: Your Highness, or Maharaja Sahib or Rani Sahiba, is always safe for former rulers. Many will tell you what they prefer. Follow their lead.
- Stand for elders: if an elder of the family enters, stand. Everyone else will.
- Ask about the house: who built it, what the paintings show, how the restoration was done. Families love these questions.
- Leave alone: money, inheritance, disputes and politics, unless they raise them first.
- Photographs: ask before photographing family members, and never post pictures of private rooms or children.
- Our wider guide: etiquette and dress covers temples, homes and dinners.
What guests always ask us
Are they still royal?: by courtesy and affection, yes. In law, no. They are citizens like anyone else.
Do they have any power?: no legal power at all. Some have political influence as elected members, which is a different thing.
- Do they still live in the palaces?: many do, in a wing or a set of rooms, with the rest given to a hotel or museum.
- Can we meet one?: sometimes, naturally, at a family-run hotel. We never sell or promise a meeting. Read our journal on staying with a royal family.
- Why the flag?: in several cities a flag flies over the palace when the head of the family is in residence, as it has for generations.
- What about the nobles?: below the rulers were hundreds of noble estates, whose families often run the most personal hotels. See rawla and thikana explained.
What we never do
No promised meetings: families' time is their own, and plans change.
No staged royalty: no actors in turbans, no costumed thrones, no invented titles.
- No gossip: about marriages, inheritance or private lives. Our guides are briefed on this.
- No sides in disputes: in Mewar or anywhere else.
- Fair pay: hotels, trusts, guides and musicians are paid properly, and hospitality is never treated as free.
- The respectful version: our page on meeting the royal families explains what we do arrange, and our Royal Rajputana journey is built around it.