Princely Historian (Commemoration Volume of Maharajkumar Dr. Raghubir Sinh)

The Editorial Board of the ''Commemoration Volume" of Maharaj Kumar Dr. Ragbubir Singh is Presenting this Volume to the readers of guilt for the delay in bringing it out. Originally, it was planned to bring out a "Felicitation Volume" in Dr. Raghubir Sinh's life time only and it was for that purpose that that this Board had been constituted. The readers can well imagine the sadness felt by the Board the change of the nomenclature from "Felicitation" to "Commemorative" and join them in their sense fulfilment of duty at the completion and publication of this volume, to do honour to the late Maharaj Kumar Dr Raghubir Sinh and to perpetuate his memory He had been very chary in permitting the bringing out of a "Felicitation Volume" and it took a long time and a lot of persuasion on the part of his admirers to obtain his consent However, owing to the inevitable delay in planning and execution, the proposed "Felicitation Volume" could not be brought out during his life time, and on the 13th February, 1991, he left his mortal frame and ascended to his rightful place among the bright luminaries of learning hence he would scintillate as a beacon of light and inspiration to the succeeding generations of scholars and academicians.

It is in this background that those who planned the Felicitation Volume had to content themselves with bringing out this Commemoration Volume and in a sense performing the obsequies of one who has left an indelible mark, and has carved out a niche for himself in the world of learning Maharajkumar Dr. Raghubir Sinh had been a man of various interests in line with his equally distinguished ancestor, Maharajkumar Ratan Singh, who had been a scholar of Sanskrit and Persian languages and a distinguished poet and writer in his own right. Dr. Raghubir Sinh's scholastic achievements ought to make his dissidents proud Whatever sphere of life he was associated with, felt the impact of his personality-be it politics, administration or military services If in some of these areas he was less known, the reasons were either circumstantial or inherent in his nature Sitamau, whose administration fell to his lot, had been a very small State, which did not provide sufficient scope to his administrative abilities. That his military career he did not rise higher than the rank of a Major, was owing to his anti-British stands which did not escape the attention of the British authorities, and in politics though he performed his functions scrupulously and indefatigably as a Member of the Rajya Sabha for several years, the "king makers" of those days found him to be too uncompromising for their liking. Inspite of seeming non cognition, both his admirers and the critics were compelled to agree that he could not be accused of intellectual dishonesty Such a high standard of integrity he maintained throughout.

Making his debut in the literary world by with his writing he earned the acclaim of great writers and critics, particularly for creating a new literary genre of "prose-lyric" in Hindi.

His interest in history dated back to his school days His achievements as a historian are we confined only to a few books of history and politics like "Malwa in Transition", "Indian States and the New Regime", Durgadas Rathore, History of Jaipur State, Ratlam ka Pratham Raiya Purva Mallyakalin Bharat. Parva Adhunik Rajasthan, Maharana Pratap etc. He held decisive opinion on major historical controversies. He was always a devout votary of the use of history.

Such was the man-scholar, academician-the Princely Histories whose memory the publishers seek to honour. The members of the Editorial Board and this as a proud privilege to be associated with this noble undertaking in the performance of their duty they have been confronted with a difficult and somewhat unpleasant task for, when the invitations were issued for contributions to this value the response was so overwhelming that a process of selection had to be and considering the intended size of the volume. Selection implies elimination. A good many articles and reminiscences as well as letters do not find a place in this volume, not for room of their worth and value but for want of space, for which the Editorial Board candidly expresses regret. M/S A.Computers and Ku. Nupur Sharma took much interest in providing this volume in time.

When the publication of the Felicitation Volume was being planned, M/S Publication Scheme, Jaipur showed keen interest and eagerness to undertake the work of its publication, Therefore, when the Natnagar Shodh Samsthan decided to bring out the Commemoration volume, it was considered only proper to entrust the publication work to the M/S Publication Scheme, Jaipur. The publisher has done well in fulfilling the task, and our special thanks are due to Shri Siya Sharan Natani, who took great interest in the publication of this "Volume".