Jagat Singh (raja of Isarda)


Raja Jagat Singh was the Raja of Isarda and the fourth and youngest son of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II, the Maharaja of Jaipur. He was the only child born to Maharani Gayatri Devi, third wife of the Maharaja. Jagat Singh was thus half-brother to the late Maharaja of Jaipur, Sawai Bhawani Singh of Jaipur.
Jagat Singh was born on 15 October 1949 in Jaipur. He was initially educated in Jaipur and briefly at the Mayo College in Ajmer, then studied at Harrow in the United Kingdom for four years beginning 1963. He catalogued and photographed many of the treasures of the royal palaces. He was later adopted by the childless Raja of Isarda.
Jagat Singh's father, Man Singh II, the then ruling Maharaja of Jaipur, was the second son of Thakur Sawai Singh of Isarda, a noble man belonging to the Kachwaha clan of Rajputs. He had been adopted at age of 11 into the royal house of Jaipur to become the Maharaja. His elder brother Bahadur Singh, who succeeded their actual father as Raja of Isarda, remained childless. Bahadur Singh decided to adopt a son of his younger brother, and thus Jagat Singh became the Raja of Isarda. This adoption also made him titular head of the Rajawat sub-clan, as held by Kachwaha custom.
On 10 May 1978, Jagat Singh married Mom Rajawongse Priyanandana Rangsit, the younger daughter of Prince Piyarangsit Rangsit and Princess Vibhavadi Rangsit of Thailand. They had two children; a daughter, Lalitaya Kumari, born in 1979, and a son Devraj Singh, born in 1981. The couple were divorced in 1987.
Jagat Singh died in London on 5 February 1997. His chhatri now stands at Gaitore in Jaipur. He was succeeded as titular Raja of Isarda by Devraj Singh.
Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls' School in Jaipur has a building called the 'Maharaja Jagat Singh Wing' as a tribute to Jagat Singh. The building is located adjacent to House Of Science.