The British, whose role in the East India Company had until then been purely commercial, stepped in to pick up the pieces, presenting the maharana with a treaty of "perpetual alliance and friendship" in 1818. Guaranteeing protection from invaders and restoration of all its hereditary territories, this treaty and the support of the British helped to put Udaipur on the road to recovery. Yet the principle of refusing to bow down to a foreign power persisted and the maharanas never allowed the British to displace them.

The promises of "perpetual" protection had of course to be dissolved when Britain withdrew from India in 1947. The maharana of Udaipur spearheaded the movement by the princely states to join the new democratic and independent India, and was later at the forefront of a campaign to persuade Indira Gandhi's Congress government to retain the privy purses that funded the upkeep of Rajputana's historic monuments. Congress was, however, determined to reduce the Rajput princes to the status of normal citizens, and political recognition of royalty came to an end.

 

Centuries of loyalty between rulers and subjects have been kept alive by songs, stories and paintings; the maharana may now lack political power, but he remains as respected by the people of Udaipur as were his forefathers. His personal funding and income from tourism are invested in the Maharana of Mewar Trust, which subsidizes local hospitals and educational institutions, and supports environmental projects. Back

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