On 12 May 1952, coincidentally Jodhpur Foundation Day, Hanwant's son, the four-year-old Gaj Singh II, was anointed Maharaja in a time honoured dynastic ritual. The ceremony was performed by the Thakur of Bagri, descendant of Jodha's elder brother Akhairaj, who celebrates his ancestor's noble renunciation in Jodha's favour by anointing the forehead of the prince with his blood after nicking his thumb with his sword.
The ceremony took place on the eighteenth century Shringar Chowki in Mehrangarh, and Gaj Singh II was officially recognised as the Maharaja of Jodhpur by the Government of India. This "recognition" was taken away by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1971 who moved Parliament to amend the Constitution. The former rulers of India were "de-recognised" and their privy purses and privileges withdrawn.
For the people of Marwar, however, the fifty three year old Gaj Singh II remains their Maharaja. He, on his part, continues to discharge his manifold social, cultural, charitable and religious duties. The Eton and Oxford educated Maharaja and his family still reside in Umaid Bhawan, now partly a luxury hotel, and Mehrangarh, still in private possession, is today undoubtedly the country's finest fort-museum.
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