The Real Story of Zubeidaa: Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur
- Editorial Team
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
When the movie Zubeidaa by legendary Director, Shyam Benegal, released in 2001, it raised several questions on the Jodhpur dynasty, thanks to real life story of Zubeidaa Begum. Her story, largely erased from official records, captures the complexity of love across religious and class divides in post-independence India.
It was the late 1940s when Zubeidaa Begum, a young woman from an upper-middle-class Muslim family in Bombay, crossed paths with Maharaja Hanwant Singh Rathore of Jodhpur. She was in her early twenties, vibrant and beautiful, with a brief association with the early Indian film industry. The Maharaja and Zubeidaa met in the 1940s at a party eventually making them fall in love. Zubeidaa's life before meeting the Maharaja had its own share of difficulties. Her stern father had arranged her marriage to a "suitable man," but the union was unhappy and ended in divorce shortly after the Partition. From this marriage, she had a son named Khalid Mohamed, who would later become a journalist and filmmaker.
The romance between Zubeidaa and Hanwant Singh faced tremendous opposition. She was everything society frowned upon for a royal match—an actress, a divorcee, and Muslim. He was Hindu royalty with existing marriages and political ambitions in newly independent India.
Hanwant Singh was already married to Maharani Krishna Kumari since 1943, an arranged marriage that had produced three children—one son and two daughters. He had also briefly married a Scottish nurse named Sarah McBryde, making Zubeidaa potentially his third wife.
In a profound demonstration of her commitment, Zubeidaa chose to convert to Hinduism. On December 17, 1950, a secret conversion ceremony was performed in Beawar, Rajasthan. Eyewitness Brijraj Arya later described her as "a stunning beauty who came freshly-baked and attired in Ghangra and lehenga." The ceremony was conducted by Pandit Vrihaspati and organized discreetly by pehlwan Nanak Ram in an area under direct central government control; a strategic choice given the controversial nature of their relationship.
Following her conversion, Zubeidaa and Hanwant Singh married according to Hindu customs in 1950. Their union sent shockwaves through royal circles and both their families. The newlyweds were immediately ostracized for their "love marriage." They moved from the grand Umaid Bhawan Singh palace to Mehrangarh Fort; still in Jodhpur but symbolic of their relative isolation from the royal family proper.
For Zubeidaa, life as the Maharaja's junior wife brought both joy and isolation. While deeply in love, she struggled to navigate the strict protocols of royal life and faced subtle resistance from the palace establishment. Their happiness was briefly crowned with the birth of a son, Rao Raja Hukum Singh (affectionately called "Tutu"), in 1951.
As India transformed in its early years of independence, Hanwant Singh harbored political ambitions. In 1952, he formed a political party named Akhil Bhartiya Ramrajya Parishad in the newly formed state of Rajasthan. He was a favorite to win in the upcoming Indian State and Assembly elections scheduled for February 1952.
Tragedy struck on January 26, 1952. After getting only four hours of sleep, Hanwant Singh and Zubeidaa boarded their private aircraft. The plane crashed in Godwar, Rajasthan, killing them both instantly. Their love story, which had defied conventions and crossed boundaries of religion and class, ended just as suddenly as it had begun. After their deaths, Maharani Krishna Kumari became regent until their son came of age. She dedicated her life to women's education and charitable work in Jodhpur until her death in 2018.
The couple's son from his first marriage, Gaj Singh, became the next Maharaja. He was educated at Eton, studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later entered politics, serving in the Indian Parliament. Zubeidaa and Hanwant's son Tutu was raised by the Rajmata of Jodhpur and educated at Mayo College in Ajmer. He married Rao Rani Rajeshwari Kumari Rathore and had two children. In a shocking turn of events that remains unsolved, in 1981 he was found beheaded in the streets of Jodhpur at the age of 28.
Perhaps the most poignant aspect of Zubeidaa's story is how thoroughly she was erased from official records. Her son from her first marriage, Khalid Mohamed, grew up with almost no knowledge of his mother. Years later, as a journalist and filmmaker, he pieced together fragments of her life through painstaking research, eventually co-writing the 2001 film "Zubeidaa" as a tribute to his lost mother.