Maharaja Hari Singh was born in September 1895 and was the last ruling king of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. He reigned for 15 years between the years from 1925 and 1947. He was born to Raja Amar Singh who was the brother of erstwhile Maharaja Pratap Singh whom he later succeeded as the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.
In his early years he served as page of honour to Lord Curzon at Grand Darbar. At the age of 13, he was sent to Mayo College Ajmer. After completion of his schooling, he went to the British-run Imperial Cadet Corps at Dehradun for military training. After completion of his training, he was appointed as the Chief of State Forces in 1915 by Maharaja Pratap Singh.
During his reign as a king he made many efforts to improve the lives of his people. The first was the conduction of free and fair elections and the formation of Praja Sabha i.e. Jammu and Kashmir Legislative assembly. It was decided that this assembly would abide by the rules which were implemented under Ranbir Penal Code (RPC). This sabha was established in 1932 comprising 75 members which include 12 government officials, 16 state councilors, 14 nominated candidates, and 33 elected candidates. From 1935 to 1940 along with Justice Sir Lal Gopal Mukherjee, Maharaja himself prepared and produced a written constitution for Jammu and Kashmir which was the epitome of that period. He made primary education compulsory in the state and introduced laws prohibiting child marriage. He even opened places to worship for low-caste subjects which was a huge step considering the mentality of the society involved in that period. To help meet state expenses and to run his government, he introduced a system of land revenue. He also encouraged the development of tourism in his state.
In the year 1930, Hari Singh attended the First Round Table Conference in London. There, he proposed that the princely states should join an “All India Federation” which would be run by a legislative council in which the prince would share power with the representatives of the central and provincial governments. This proposal met with considerable opposition in the Congress and it did not gain the support of the heads of state in attendance at the conference.
In 1947 both India and Pakistan gained independence from the Britishers. In 1947, Jammu and Kashmir was partitioned into India and Pakistan. Its new territories were administered by the Government of India while the remainder remained under British control as part of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The dispute over the status of this territory led to wars between India and Pakistan in 1948. Post this, the king had only three choices either to join India or Pakistan or remain independent. Maharaja initially maneuvered to be independent by playing between both India and Pakistan. He was an unpopular ruler among the Muslim population and they feared that he would join India being a Hindu. This led to armed rising against the king in Poonch in 1947. Later the Pashtun tribe from Pakistan entered Kashmir and defeated the king’s forces. Maharaja appealed for help from India and then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru sent forces to help expel Pakistani forces from Kashmir. In this state of emergency, Maharaja signed the Instrument of ascension with India, joining the whole princely state with India. In retaliation, extremist Hindus and Sikhs entered Jammu and massacred and expelled Muslims from the region of Jammu which is also called the 1947 Jammu Massacre. These events trigger the first Indo-Pak war of 1947.
Pressure from the Indian side compelled the king to appoint his heir son and heir Yuvraj Karan Singh as Prince regent of Jammu and Kashmir as maharaja of the state till 1952 when the monarchy was abolished by the Indian Government. Later Karan Singh was also forced to make Sheikh Abdullah the Prime Minister of Kashmir. Karan Singh later became the head of the state in 1952 and in 1964 as soon as Abdullah was dismissed from his post and jailed by Karan Singh.
After signing the accession document, he was barred from entering Jammu and Kashmir and spent his last years in Mumbai. Furthermore, he was often in conflict with the leaders of the Indian Union and he gradually lost control over his kingdom. In the end, he was forced to abdicate his throne and his kingdom was annexed by India. He died on 26 April 1961 after 14 years of banishment. As per his last wish, his ashes were immersed in the Tawi river at Jammu.
