A Revised and Enlarged Account of the Bobbili Zemindari/Chapter 11/1901
1901
On the morning of the 23rd January a telegram was received conveying the very sad news of the demise of Her Majesty, the Queen Empress Victoria, the Great and Good. All the Offices and the High School were closed; all the usual items of music, even those of the Temple, were stopped, and a salute of 31 guns was fired. From that day to the day of Her Majesty's funeral, the flag was half masted, all the daily items of music in the palace were stopped, and no one was allowed to come to the palace wearing any sort of head dress as a mark of full mourning. The Maharajah and all the officers wore crape till the end of public mourning. The Maharajah sent two messages of sympathy and regret, one to H. E. the Governor and the other to the Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales (the present King).
The following are the replies to the above-mentioned messages:—
(I)
From
- P. S., MADRAS.
To
- THE HON. MAHARAJAH OF BOBBILI.
(II)
No. 3382
"From
- A. WILLIAMS, Esq.,
- Deputy Secretary to the
- Government of India.
- Deputy Secretary to the
To Maha-Rajah Saheb Meharban-I-Dostan
- Maha-Rajah, Sri Rao the Hon'ble
- Sir VENKATA SWETHACHALAPATI
- RANGA-RAO BAHADUR GARU,
- K.C.I.E., MAHARAJAH OF BOBBILI.
Home Department
Public.
"Sir, I am directed to inform you that the Government of India have received intimation from the Secretary of State for India of the receipt of your telegram, and to express the sincere thanks of the Government of India for the expressions of sympathy and condolence which you have been good enough to convey upon the occasion of the lamented death of Her late Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, Empress of India. The message has been graciously received by His Majesty.
On the day of Her late Majesty's funeral, 1,200 poor were fed, and the Royal Salute of 101 guns was fired, the last gun being fired at sunset.
The Maharajah also instructed his London Agent to place a wreath beside the Queen's coffin as a last token of his loyalty to the late Sovereign.
At Her late Majesty's Memorial meeting at Bobbili, the Maharajah delivered the following speech:—
"Gentlemen,
"Though it is a melancholy object for which we have met here now, yet it is a loyal duty for us all to come here and to express our deepest sympathy and profound grief at the death of our good, beloved, and venerable Queen Victoria, the Empress. She was born on the 24th May, 1819, succeeded to the throne on the 20th June, 1837, reigned for 63 years, 7 months, and two days, and was called by the Almighty to the Heaven at 6-30 P.M. on the 22nd January of this year at Osborne. Her loss has been felt by all classes of people with deepest regret. Even in a small town like this, where many people know so little of her virtues, the lamented news was heard by everyone with profound grief. Her virtues as a Sovereign, as a wife, and as a mother are known to us to be so rare that few could beat her. In the Hindu Sastras it is said that if a person lives over 1,000 months, he or she is considered to be a holy one to whom the others should go and make their worship. In the explanation it is clearly said that months means Lunar months. According to this calculation Her Majesty lived for 1,010 months. When it is said that any person who lived over 1,000 months is to be revered, how much more respect should we show to her, who not only lived for 1,000 months, but is also the best Sovereign that India has ever possessed in this Kaliyuga. In the Tretayuga Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, distinguished himself in his duties and virtues as a king, as a son, and as a husband. In my opinion, in which many of you, I am sure, would join, our late Empress, must have been an Incarnation of Lakshmi, born in this world to become a model to others as a Sovereign, as a wife, and as a mother.
Gentlemen, I deplored Her Majesty's loss more than any one of you present here, because, in accordance with the first and chief of my five ambitions of which I told you the other day, I went Home and had the high privilege of being presented to our beloved mother at Windsor Castle.
Lately, the Public at Madras held a meeting at the Town Hall and resolved to perpetuate her memory in a fitting manner which would hereafter be decided by the Committee specially formed for it. Therefore it is my wish that we should all come forward and subscribe to the National Memorial to show our loyalty, devotion, admiration, and love to our most revered Sovereign. But I do not like to see our historical town being left without any memorial of such a benign Sovereign. Gentlemen, do not think that I would also ask you to subscribe for it. I shall provide it for you. It will be the Victoria Memorial Library, and it will be kept in one of the rooms of the Victoria Town Hall here."
As the Maharajah had reigned nearly twenty years during Her late Majesty's time, he contributed twenty thousand rupees to the different Memorials to the late Queen-Empress, and distributed the amount in the following manner:—
I.— All-India Memorial Fund, Rs.5,000.
II. — The Madras Provincial Fund, Rs.5,000.
III. — Lady Curzon's Midwife Scholarship Fund, Rs. 1,000.
IV.— The Queen Victoria Memorial Beds to be endowed in the Caste and Gosha Hospital, Madras, Rs.2,000.
V. — The Victoria Memorial Library at Bobbili, Rs.2,000.
VI. - The Victoria Diamond Jubilee Town Hall at Vizagapatam, Rs.5,000.*[1] In connection with the above contributions the Maharajah received the following letter from the Private Secretary to H. E. the Governor of Madras:
Government House,
April 10th, 1901.
"My dear Maharajah,
"His Excellency the Governor desires me to thank you for your letter of the 4th April and to say that he highly appreciates your generous intention to subscribe Rs.20,000 to the different Memorials to the late Queen-Empress Victoria.
- Believe me,
- Yours sincerely,
The Kumara Rajah was blessed with a son on the 20th February. Of course he is the first grandson of the Maharajah. His name is Raja Swetachalapati Ramakrishna Ranga-Rao. While the Maharajah, his family and his people were rejoicing over the birth of a son and heir to the Kumara Rajah, the Maharajah's most beloved grand-daughter died after a short illness at the end of March; and the whole family was thrown into deep mourning. Consequently the Maharajah could not be present at the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of the Victoria Diamond Jubilee Town Hall at Vizagapatam on the 3rd April, nor could he attend the Budget Meeting of the Legislative Council held in that week.
In sending the Sannad conferring upon him the title Maharajah, the Collector and Agent of the District wrote the following letter:—
Waltair,
April 2nd, 1901.
"My dear Maharajah,
"As you request, I have to-day handed over to your Manager the Sannad conferring on you your title. I regret that I have not been able to deliver it to you personally.
"I have already offered my congratulations and I now repeat them.
"I hope that you may live long to bear the title as worthily as I have no doubt you will, and that you will value it as a token of the Government of India's appreciation of your high personal and public character as well as of the ancient fame of your family.
"I am leaving in a few days for England, so this must be farewell for the present, but I hope to renew our acquaintance on my return to this district next year.
- With sincere good wishes,
- Believe me,
- Yours very sincerely,
The Maharajah went to Ootacamund in August to attend the meeting of the Legislative Council, when the Court of Wards Amendment Bill was first introduced into the Council and he gave his support to the Bill.
In October Mr. W. B. Ayling unveiled the life-size oil-painting picture of Her late Majesty at the Victoria Town Hall, Bobbili. It was painted in London and was presented by the Maharajah in memory of Her late Majesty's Diamond Jubilee. The Hall was crowded, and a salute of 31 guns was fired when the curtain was withdrawn. He also presented a silver-plated Gajavahanam to Venugopalaswami of the local temple in memory of the occasion of his being honoured with the title Maharajah by the Government.
At the request of the people, the Maharajah opened the Tandra Papaya Hall, which was built by public subscriptions in memory of Tandra Papaya, the famous hero of the Bobbili Battle of 1758.
- ↑ * This is an additional amount granted to this Town Hall, which he built at Vizagapatam.