Page:The Imperial Durbar Album of the Indian princes, chiefs and zamindars.djvu/196

166 THE IMPERIAL DURBAR ALBUM. Babria Kolis. He died in the year 1772 A.D. and was followed by his son, Wakhat Singhji, who consolidated his dominions. The friendship with the English, which had begun in the reign of Akherji I, went on increasing. On the British Government coming in the place of the Peshwa, even more intimate relations were established between them and the Bhavnagar State.

Wakhat Singhji was succeeded by his son, Waje Singhji, in 1816 A.D. Soon after his succession to the throne, the Peshwa ceded to the British all his rights of levying tribute in Kathiawar, and this was followed in 1820 A.D. by the Gaekwar undertaking not to make any direct demand upon the chiefs of the Peninsula save through, and with the approval of, the British Government.

The forces of Bhavnagar crushed the Khumans of Kundla and other Kathi outlaws For a while there was peace, which Waje Singhji utilised in arranging administrative details. He died in 1 852 A D. and was followed by his grandson Akherji III., who died in 1854 A.D. without an heir. His brother, Jaswant Singhji. succeeded him. The British Settlement Officer taking advantage of the situation took possession, on the ground of "lapse", of 116 villages, which owned allegiance to the Thakor of Bhavnagar, but they were finally restored to the State in the year 1866 A.D.

Jaswant Singhji introduced several reforms in the State especially in regard to the administration of justice. He received in 1862 A.D. his due reward from the Paramount Power, both for his firm loyalty to it during the Mutiny of 1857 A.D. and for his earnestness to establish good government, by the grant of a sanad of adoption, and by the bestowal of the insignia of K.C.S.I. in 1867 A.D. Jaswant Singhji died in 1870 A.D. leaving behind him two sons, of whom the heir-apparent, Takhta Singhji, was only twelve years of age. The care of the State and its minor ruler were allowed to remain in the hands of the trusted minister of the State; and a British officer was selected by the Government to be his co'adjutor. Under the joint administration of these two officers, which continued for eight years, the material prosperity of the State steadily but surely increased, and a policy of administration calculated to secure the well'being of the subjects was laid down.

Young Takhta Singhji was entrusted with the full management of his State in 1878 A.D. and he successfully discharged the duties of a liberal but at the same time a firm ruler.

Maharaja Takhta Singhji was invested with the insignia ofX. C.S.I, in 1881 A.D., and again on New year's day of 1886 A.D. the dignity of a Knight Grand Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India was bestowed upon him by Her Majesty the late Queen-Empress Victoria. The University of Cambridge recognised the ardent love of the ruler of Bhavnagar for education by conferring upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. This industrious and gifted ruler died in 1896 A.D. after having earned "the veneration and the people's love".

Of the two sons of H. H. Sir Takhta Singhji, the elder, Bhav Singhji, was installed on~ the gadi in 1896 A.D. The early years of the reign of H. H. Maharaja Bhav Singhji were gloomy on account of the scarcity of food-stuffs in 1897 A.D. The young ruler coped with the problem by formulating a famine code and inaugurating a liberal- famine policy. The next famine, that of 1899 A.D., was severe and beyond any known precedent. The untiring energy displayed by the youthful Maharaja during this distressful calamity evoked a very high encomium from the representative of the Paramount Power.