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{{Short description|Maharaja of Jaipur (1833–1880)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox royalty
|title=[[Maharaja]] [[Sawai (title)|Sawai]] of [[Jaipur State|Jaipur]]| image = Ram Singh II of Jaipur.jpg
| alt = Ram Singh II
| caption =
| succession = [[Maharaja of Jaipur]]
| reign = 1835 – 10 August 1881
| predecessor = [[Jai Singh III]]
| successor = [[Madho Singh II]]
| birth_place =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1833|9|28|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1881|08|10|1833|9|28|df=y}}
| father = [[Jai Singh III]]
}}
'''Sawai Ram Singh II''' (28 September 1833<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Thomas|first=G.|date=1986-07-01|title=Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II of Jaipur, photographer-prince|journal=History of Photography|volume=10|issue=3|pages=181–191|doi=10.1080/03087298.1986.10443107|issn=0308-7298}}</ref> – 17 September 1880) was the [[Maharaja]] of [[Jaipur State|Jaipur]] from 1835 until 1880, succeeding after the death of [[Jai Singh III]].{{sfn|Sarkar|1994|p=338}}<ref name=":0" /> He became the ruler of Jaipur at the age of 16 months after his father's death. During his reign, he implemented various reforms, influenced by Western ideals and British preferences. He established new departments, reorganized the police force, and constructed roads to promote economic progress. Additionally, he aimed to transform Jaipur into a modern city, introducing schools, colleges, gas lights, and piped water supply. Ram Singh also focused on women's education, building schools and hospitals for their empowerment. Ram Singh was also an avid photographer. His reign marked a period of significant transformation and progress in Jaipur.

==Reign==
Ram Singh ascended the throne of Jaipur in 1835 after the death of his father [[Jai Singh III]]. He was 16 months old at the time of accession. Initially, a regent was appointed to him. The regency continued for 16 years until he turned 18.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Rosie Llewellyn-Jones |author-link1=Rosie Llewellyn-Jones |title=Portraits in Princely India, 1700–1947 |date=2008 |publisher=Marg Publication |isbn=9788185026862 |page=103}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

He is generally considered as a pro-reforms ruler, who was influenced by Western ideals.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NK1MhWq-9VkC|title=The Cat and the Lion: Jaipur State in the British Raj|last=Stern|first=Robert W.|date=1988|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004082830|pages=114–164|language=en}}</ref> However, Rober Stern argues that much of his pro-reform stances derived from a tendency to acquiesce to British preferences in exchange for titles and honors, thus ensuring his seat of power.<ref name=":0" />

Between 1854 and 1855, the ''[[dewan]]'' and ''[[bakshi]]'' were given charge of revenue and army respectively. Subsequently, the duties of the prime minister lightened. During this period, Ram Singh established four new departments – education, police, medical, and survey and settlement. In 1856, he built his own private secretariat. The kingdom was divided into five districts. Each district had a separate magistrate, judge, collector and police chief. In 1867, Ram Singh founded a Royal Council which consisted of eight members. To prevent any corrupt practices, two to three ministers were given charge of each portfolio.{{sfn|Sarkar|1994|p=354}}

Ram Singh reorganized the police department of his state. The police departments consisted of two separate units – rural police and general police. While the rural police consisted of ''chowkidar''s (night watchmen) and [[sepoy]]s, the general police was directly under the control of the respective minister. Previously criminals were imprisoned within the fort. Ram Singh built the Jaipur Central Jail in 1854 where the prisoners were kept.{{sfn|Sarkar|1994|p=355}}

According to [[Jadunath Sarkar]], the greatest contribution of Ram Singh was "to the cause of economic progress was the construction of metalled and bridged roads, with good staging bungalows at intervals". These bungalows were necessary for road travel. He built {{convert|127|mile|km}} of the [[Agra]]–[[Ajmer]] road. The road connected the western and the eastern parts of his kingdom and his capital [[Jaipur]] was located at the road's midway. He also built the {{convert|48|mile|km}} long Jaipur–[[Tonk, India|Tonk]] road.{{sfn|Sarkar|1994|p=358}} The [[Karauli]] to [[Mandawar, Rajasthan|Mandawar]] road built by him became an important route of trade.{{sfn|Sarkar|1994|p=359}}

Ram Singh wanted to convert the city of Jaipur into a "second [[Calcutta]]" (capital of [[British India]]). He built modern schools, colleges and gas lights in streets of Jaipur. Piped water supply was also introduced. He built the [[Ram Niwas Garden]] after being inspired by the [[Eden Gardens]] of Kolkata. He built the [[Jaipur Zoo|Jaipur Zoological Gardens]] as a counterpart to the [[Zoological Garden, Alipore|Alipore Zoological Garden]]. The [[Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata|Calcutta Medical College]] found its Jaipuri counterpart in Mayo Hospital.{{sfn|Sarkar|1994|p=363}} He also constructed the Maharaja School for Girls in 1867 for the cause of women's education.<ref name=":0" />

== Personal life ==
[[File:Jaipur. Ram Singh (1835-1880) Dump type. In the name of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India. Sawai Jaipur mint.jpg|thumb|Coinage of Jaipur under Ram Singh. In the name of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India. Sawai Jaipur mint.]]
In 1853, Ram Singh initially chose as his first wife the daughter of the [[Rewa (princely state)|Maharaja of Rewa]], in spite of the custom that required him to marry the daughter of the [[Maharaja of Jodhpur]] as first wife.<ref name=":0" /> Under pressure from the British, he changed his mind while on the way to Rewa, and first married Rathorji Chand Kanwarji eldest daughter of Maharaja Takht Singhji of Jodhpur in addition to two other daughters of him namely Rathorji Indra Kanwarji and Lal Kanwarji & a daughter of his deceased brother Prithvi Singh of Ahmadnagar near Idar her name was Rathorji Kesar Kanwarji,taking Bagheliji Janak Kanwar daughter of Maharaja Bandhvesh Vishvanath Singh Ju Dev of Rewa as his fifth queen <ref name=":0" /> Ram Singh married 10 times in total.<ref name=":0" />

Ram Singh had no issue. He appointed [[Madho Singh II]], the second son of the ''[[thakur (title)|thakur]]'' of Isardha as his heir.{{sfn|Bose|2015|p=70}} On 17 September 1880, Ram Singh died. Madho Singh II also had no issue and appointed [[Man Singh II]] as his heir.{{sfn|Bose|2015|p=75}}

==Photography==
[[File:Self-portrait as a Shaivite by Sawai Ram Singh II.jpg|thumb|Self-portrait as a [[Shaivism|Shaivite]], c. 1870]]
[[File:Self portrait with dogs by Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II.jpg|thumb|Self portrait with dogs, c. 1870]]
Ram Singh was passionate about art and photography; he captured (and developed) numerous photographs of women, junior functionaries (like tailors) and nobles of his court.<ref name=":0" /> It is believed that Ram Singh was introduced to a camera in 1864 when photographer T. Murray visited [[Jaipur]]. After learning how to photograph, he used to carry his camera on all his trips. When western visitors came to his court, he used to learn photography from them.<ref name="Tribune">{{cite web|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/spectrum/arts/a-photographer-prince/376061.html|title=A photographer prince|date=12 March 2017|work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]|access-date=21 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308001418/https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/spectrum/arts/a-photographer-prince/376061.html|archive-date=8 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Many of the photographs taken by him were of elite women who so-far lived an entirely secluded private life in the [[zenana]]s of his palace; captured in a western artificial setting, consisting of elegant backdrops, Victorian furniture and Persian carpets.<ref name=":0" /> It has been since considered as a pioneer effort at portraying Rajput women behind the [[purdah]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gopal |first1=Vivek |title=Nobles at court |url=https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/nobles-at-court |work=[[The Caravan]] |access-date=21 April 2019 |date=9 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421165304/https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/nobles-at-court |archive-date=21 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Weinstein|first=Laura|date=2010-02-12|title=Exposing the Zenana: Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II's Photographs of Women in Purdah|journal=History of Photography|volume=34|issue=1|pages=2–16|doi=10.1080/03087290903283627|s2cid=191546287|issn=0308-7298}}</ref> Prior to Ram Singh's photographs, portraits of specific Rajput women were nearly unknown and artists mass-produced idealized representations of women based on a single model, to serve a variety of occasions, for centuries.<ref name=":0" /> Interestingly, the names of the photographed women were not mentioned and whether the ''Maharani''s allowed themselves to be photographed is unknown.<ref name=":0" />

Laura Weinstein, an acclaimed art curator argues that the photographs served as an important tool to engage in the widespread discourse about Indian women behind the purdah and they stood out as a rare group of photographs that did not mirror oriental conceptions of Indian domestic life. By appropriating the very European model of portrait photography – which emphasized the dignity and propriety of women, he infused dignity into the life of his photograph-figures unlike other concurrent attempts and refuted the colonial notion of the zenana-inhabitants being idle, unhygienic, superstitious, sexually deviant and oppressed.<ref name=":0" /> Rather than reforming the purdah system or associated woman issues, his photographs were modern tools that staunchly defended the tradition, much more than it breached, by portraying an apparent normalcy.<ref name=":0" />

Ram Singh had also commissioned numerous self-portraits in a variety of poses ranging from a Hindu holy man to a Rajput warrior to a Western gentleman.<ref name=":0" /> Vikramaditya Prakash, an art-historian had described them as "self-consciously hybridized representations [which] straddle and contest the separating boundary – between colonizer and colonized, English and native – the preservation and reaffirmation of which was crucial for colonial discourse".<ref name=":0" />

The glass negatives that produced the portraits, the [[albumen print]] photograph collection and his own self-portraits are now displayed at the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum in Jaipur.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="HT" /> He was also a life-time member of Bengal Photographic Society.<ref name="HT">{{cite web |last1=Dasgupta |first1=Kumkum |title=This Jaipur king so loved photography, he even took photos in the zenana |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/this-jaipur-king-so-loved-photography-he-even-took-photos-in-the-zenana/story-YYnvUmiuuwFVcY5XnNVYJI.html |work=[[Hindustan Times]] |access-date=24 April 2019 |date=2 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405174516/https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/this-jaipur-king-so-loved-photography-he-even-took-photos-in-the-zenana/story-YYnvUmiuuwFVcY5XnNVYJI.html |archive-date=5 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Unidentified women of the zenana, photograph by Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II.jpg|Unidentified women of the zenana
File:Untitled portrait of a ‘pardayat’.jpg|Untitled portrait of a ‘pardayat’
File:Untitled portrait of a ‘pāswan' and her ‘sakhi'.jpg|Untitled portrait of a ‘pāswan' and her ‘sakhi'
File:Untitled portrait of a ‘pāswan', photograph by Sawai Ram Singh II.jpg|Untitled portrait of a ‘pāswan'
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{commons category|Ram Singh II}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6dR0CgAAQBAJ|title=Royal Umbrellas of Stone: Memory, Politics, and Public Identity in Rajput Funerary Art|last=Bose|first=Melia Belli|publisher=Brill|year=2015|isbn=9789004300569}}
*{{cite book|title = A History of Jaipur: C. 1503 – 1938|last=Sarkar|first=Jadunath|author-link = Jadunath Sarkar | isbn = 9788125003335|date=1994|publisher=Orient Blackswan}}

{{Maharajas of Jaipur}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Ram, II}}
[[Category:Maharajas of Jaipur]]
[[Category:1830s births]]
[[Category:1880 deaths]]
[[Category:Photographers from Rajasthan]]

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