MAHARAJAH'S THRONE

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6815, 19 January 1929, Page 15

MAHARAJAH'S THRONE

Australian Boy’s Loss of Rich Heritage

Very few people in Australia, even in Sydney,, know that a boy born in, tl'at, city,, and christened after that city, had a narrow escape from being child of the late Maharajah of Pudukan Indian State, says a writer in tho. Sydney Morning Herald. He is Prince Sydney Marthanda, the only son and child of the lgte Maharaja of Pudukkottai, his Highness Sir Marthanda Bhairana Thondeman Bahadur, G.C.I.E. who died in Paris some time ago, by his wife, Esme Marie, daughter of the late Mr W- P. Fink, of Melbourne. The marriage took place in 1915 and Prince Sydney was born in the following year. ' ■ Pudukkottai is one of the minor States, about 1179 square miles in area, with a population of 400,000 souls. On the deatH of tho' late Maharajah, Prince Sydney-' was to have ascended tho throne as the first Hindu-Christian. Aus-tralian-Indian King in the ancient country or Hindustan. , But from the beginning there was a controversy about the‘validity of the marriage of tho Maharajah and Miss Fink, and the legitimacy of the offspring of- that union, among the orthodox section of the Hindu community.' There was a loud clamour against the recognition of Prince Sydney as the heir-apparent ti the throne, even though he conformed to ’ all the religious observances of the Hindus,by. performing the obsequial ceremonies, etc., of . his father in the most orthodox manner . prescribed by that religion. It was thought that all this disputo would be set at rest by the pronouncement of the authorative opinion of | Lord Sinha, formerly a Judge of tho Privy Council, in-favour of the Prittco. I If there was any further doubt ■■ it; should have been completely removed after the sanction and'blessing' given by Sri Sankaracharaya, the supreme high priest of the Hindus, to the union of the ex-Maharajah of Indore with Miss Nancy Miller of U.S.A., which ' was celebrated about a year ago. Despite all tbesd favourable circumstances the people of the State, who are all Hindus, could never tolerate a king whose mother was born a Chrls- ;i tian, for, in spite of its apparent education and enlightenment, the cold, dead hand of custom and conservatism lies like an'incubus over India. The British Government, therefore, had to take into consideration the wishes of the subject's, how Over misguided, with the result that a few weeks ago a nephew of the late Maharajah by his sister, was proclaimed King of Pudukkottai.. . .Prince Sydney • has . thus ; a little unjustly been shelved. .He if new living with his mother in England, baulked of his rich inheritance.

The incident has more than a personall or individual interest, for there are a few Maharajahs like that of lvapurthala, who have married Christian ladies from Europe and America, and whose offspring will have to undergo the same exclusion.