RAS question
Maharana Fateh Singh of Mewar refused to attend which Durbar organized by the British, becoming a symbol of Rajput pride?
Correct answer: (B) Delhi Durbar of 1903.
Maharana Fateh Singh of Mewar refused to attend the Delhi Durbar of 1903, Viceroy Curzon's coronation durbar for Edward VII, and the boycott became a symbol of Rajput pride.
Explanation
The answer is the Delhi Durbar of 1903. The Alkazi Collection of Photography, Power and Resistance: The Delhi Coronation Durbars explains that the Delhi Durbars were coronation ceremonies for English monarchs as emperors or empress of India: Victoria in 1877, Edward VII in 1903 and George V in 1911. Maharana Fateh Singh of Mewar, Udaipur, turned back at Delhi railway station in 1903 and refused to attend Viceroy Curzon's Delhi Durbar as a vassal. Kesari Singh Barhath's poem Chetavani ra Chungatya inspired the boycott. That combination makes 1903 the decisive year, not merely another imperial gathering.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The 1877 Delhi Durbar was associated with Victoria, while Fateh Singh's refusal was at the 1903 Durbar for Edward VII.
- (C) The Shimla Conference of 1906 is not the event linked to Fateh Singh's act; his refusal was tied to Curzon's Delhi Durbar in 1903.
- (D) The coronation durbar sequence was Delhi in 1877, 1903 and 1911, and Fateh Singh's refusal was tied to the 1903 Delhi event rather than to a Calcutta Durbar in 1912.
Concept
This tests princely-state responses to British imperial ceremony in Rajasthan history: attendance at a durbar could signal subordination, while refusal could become a political statement. It recurs in RAS because it links Mewar, Rajput pride, Kesari Singh Barhath and the Delhi Durbar in one high-yield fact.