Is it the royal turban?
From Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, Nov 6 — Even as the Wall Street Journal has claimed that Patiala ruler Maharaja Bhupindar Singh’s royal turban has been auctioned in London for $1.70 lakh the members of the royal family today told The Tribune that no such special turban ever existed.

Even as present scion of the Patiala Royal House Capt Amarinder Singh is in London, his wife Parneet Kaur when contacted over the telephone at Delhi, said no royal turban could exist as Maharaja Bhupindar Singh used to get his turban tied ever day.

“I have never seen any such turban since my wedding into the royal family”, Mrs Parneet Kaur said while claiming her family had nothing to do with the sale. “We also did not know about it,” she added.

Mrs Parneet Kaur said all state jewellery had got left with the state and there was no question of the reported turban being in the family’s possession. She however, said she had not seen the state jewellery fully.

Mrs Parneet Kaur said moreover there was no question of any elaborate turban being worn by Maharaja Bhupindar Singh. She said the Maharaja wore an ordinary turban usually in the Patiala style and it was only on ceremonial occasions that rows of diamonds decorated the turban.

It could be that few such 'rows' went on sale at the Indian jewellery auction organised by Christie International at London recently, she added.She said Maharaja Bhupindar Singh also did not have a regular crown.

She said she knew that her father-in-law Maharaja Yadavindra Singh used to wear something akin to a tiara on his turban but even then there was no special turban.

Mrs Harpriya Kaur, who is the wife of Capt Amarinder Singh's younger brother Raja Malvinder Singh, also expressed complete ignorance of the matter when contacted in Patiala.

She said this was something she had heard about only from the papers and that even her husband did not know about the existence of any such turban.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Capt R.S. Randhawa, who is an avid royal watcher as well as an art aficionado, when contacted said old photographs of Maharaja Bhupindar Singh showed him with rows of diamonds and rubies on his turban with a plume atop it.

He however said there was no question of a set turban as the Maharaja had special persons for the purpose and took pride in his perfect turban on which the Patiala turban style is patterned. He said the Maharaja's normal turban was sans any decoration.