‘Partition robbed Kapurthala of heritage’

Neha Saini

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 16

Kapurthala, also known as the Paris of Punjab owing to its beautiful French architecture, bore the brunt of Partition and its impact head on. Seventy years later, the ninth titular Maharaja of Kapurthala, Brig Sukhjit Singh, shared the aftermath of Partition that left the state and its last ruler Maharaja Jagatjit Singh heartbroken.

He was speaking at an event organised by the Partition Museum on the impact of Partition on Kapurthala along with architect curator Cynthia Meera Fredrick.

“One of the direct impacts of Partition on the state of Kapurthala was that it was bereft of its heritage, culture and aesthetics. 60% of the population of Kapurthala at that time was Muslim. It talks about how Muslims left their homes, estates not knowing that they will never return. The refugees from Western Punjab who came and settled later in Kapurthala were unfamiliar to its culture landscape. It took three generations for them to identify themselves with the state,” he says.

Brig Singh and Fredrick have collaborated on a book Prince, Patron and Patriarch: Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala that was released earlier this year by Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. The book is an ode to Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala by his grandson. “He was a progressive administrator,” says Brig Sukhjit Singh.

Fredrick, who wanted to document the legacy of Maharaja Jagatjit Singh, said the book gives an intimate knowledge about his life and ideology. “His life was remarkable in many aspects. My immediate interest was piqued when I visited Jagatjit’s palace that is built in French style architecture, with double roof that was a norm in Europe at that time and not in India. Also, the migration of Muslims from Kapurthala during Partition affected Maharaja Jagatjit immensely,” she said.

She elaborated, “He was also called the Shahjehan of Kapurthala because of his love for the architectural aesthetics. He loved anything French, the reason Kapurthala had a lot of buildings in French architecture, cultural spaces and parks.”