Vikramaditya anointed next head of erstwhile Bushahr princely state

Tribune News Service

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Rampur, July 10

It was a somber occasion. The tilak ceremony of Vikramaditya Singh (31), son of Virbhadra Singh, was completed amidst the chanting of mantras by priests, anointing him the 123rd titular head of the erstwhile Bushahr princely state.

The ceremony took place in a small room adjoining the Darbar hall of Padam Palace around 8 am. The brief ceremony was completely a private affair, away from public gaze and media glare. Barring Vikramaditya and his wife, no other member of the immediate family was allowed to enter the palace. Virbhadra’s wife Pratibha Singh, his daughters and close relatives sat outside in the Darbar hall where the Raja’s body was kept for people to pay their homage. Alongside the body was the silver handcrafted throne, the ‘gaddi’ which was used till the rule of Virbhadra’s father Raja Padam Singh, who was the last ruler of Bushahr; he died in 1947.

The ceremony was performed in the family after a span of almost 74 years. People close to Virbhadra’s family said that Vikramaditya was against the ‘raj tilak’ stating that “India is a democracy where such titles do not exist”. However, on the insistence of old-timers, he relented.

As per the tradition, the cremation of the Raja cannot take place till his heir, the Yuvraj succeeds him and is made to sit on the ‘Raj gaddi’ after a special puja. As such, Vikramaditya, who was till now addressed as ‘Tikka Sahib’, will now become the head of the state.

The ‘raj tilak’ was performed in the presence of ‘bajantris” from the villages of Lalsa, Dansa, Shingla and Shaneri, as has been the century-old tradition. With the brief ceremony over, Vikramaditya took the blessings of his mother and other family elders.

Prior to shifting their base to Sarahan, the seat of the Bushahr estate was at Kamroo in the Sangla valley of Kinnaur where the ancient fort of the family still stands. Even now most of the ceremonies of the family are performed at the fort.