India's last maharaja of Jaipur dies

India: The last maharaja of Jaipur, an ancient city in western India, has died at the age of 79, prompting two days of mourning in his former kingdom, reports said Monday.

Bhawani Singh, who held a brigadier's rank in the Indian army and was feted as a war hero, died of multiple organ failure after being hospitalised near New Delhi on March 29, relatives told the Asian Age newspaper.

The maharaja, partly British educated and a keen polo player, is survived by wife Padmini Devi and daughter Diya Kumari.

The state government of Rajasthan, an arid region of western India home to Jaipur and a number of similar historic cities that draw thousands of tourists each year, declared two days of state mourning.

Singh, who will be cremated in the city with full military honours later Monday, ascended the throne to become the 40th maharaja in 1970 following the death of his father, Man Singh.

A year later, India abolished all royal titles and removed their privileges.

Jaipur was one of hundreds of tiny royal kingdoms that dotted India until the country's independence from Britain in 1947.

The Jaipur king, who belonged to Hinduism's Rajput warrior caste, received the country's second highest military award, the Mahavir Chakra, for his role during India's second war with arch-rival Pakistan in 1971.

During the fighting, Singh apparently duped Pakistani troops into believing that a large formation of Indian tanks was advancing on their position while in reality the vehicles were a clutch of noisy jeeps.

Singh, who studied in two of India's most prestigious schools as well as in Britain's Harrow School, also served as New Delhi's ambassador to Brunei for four years from 1993.

New Delhi, Monday, AFP