2-981-838 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Begum of Bhopal and the Maharajah of Puttiala, 1876. Engraving from a photograph by Shepherd and Bourne. 'The reigning family of Bhopal is Mohammedan and of Affghan race, with the title of Nawab; but during the last half century the widow of a Nawab has more than once been permitted to succeed, and the inheritance of the last Nawab passed to an infant daughter. The people nominally under her sway are of mixed race, but chiefly Hindoo, and their number exceeds half a million...Mohender Singh, the Maharajah of Puttiala, G.C.S.I., the wearer of a splendid jewelled head-dress...[is] sitting beside the Begum...The province ruled by this important Sikh chieftain, subject to a British protectorate, is in the Sirhind region, to the south of the river Sutlej, a thousand miles from Calcutta...[The Maharajah is] noted for courtesy and liberality, and for his friendliness to the English in India'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.