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Maharaja Sir Lakshmeshwar Singh Bahadur, Maharaja of Darbhanga, GCIE (25 September 1858 to 16 November 1898) was the King of Darbhanga in State of Bihar, India. His philanthropic works, administrative abilities and management of his estate (Raj Darbhanga) were highly appreciated and lead to development of his estate. ==Biography== Lakshmeshwar Singh was the eldest son of Maharaja Maheshwar Singh of Darbhanga, who died when Lakshmeshwar was aged two. The British Raj placed the estate of Darbhanga under the control of the Court of Wards because the heirs to the estate were minors. He was placed under the tutorship of Chester Macnaghten, who later served as the founding Principal of the oldest Public school in India, the Rajkumar College, Rajkot from 1870 to 1896. For the next 19 years, till he attained majority, he was caught in political one-upmanship between his mother, who was supported by family priests, and the Tutors appointed by the British Government, who wanted him to be free from ''Zenana'' influence. He along with his younger brother Rameshwar Singh (who became Maharaja of Darbhanga after Lakshmeshwar Singh's death) received a western education from Government appointed tutors as well as a traditional Indian education from a Sanskrit Pandit, one of his uncles, a Maulvi and a Bengali gentleman. During the period when Lakshmeshwar Singh was under the guardianship of the Court of Wards, he received a monthly allowance of Rs.5 a month even though the annual income of his estate was equivalent to a six digit figure in pounds sterling.〔Biography of an Indian Patriot: Maharajah Lakshmishwar Singh of Darbhanga – Author Jata Shankar Jha〕 On attaining his majority, Lakshmeshwar Singh devoted himself entirely to public duties of his position. He was appointed and served as a Member of the Legislative Council of the Viceroy, and took a leading part in the debates of that body. During the lengthened discussions on the important Bengal Tenancy Bill, he acted (in conjunction at first with the lamented patriot, Kristodas Pal, and subsequently with the Raja Piari Mohan Mukharji, (C.S.I.) as the representative of the landowners of Bengal and Behar and received warm recognition of the ability and moderation he brought to bear on this and other questions from successive Viceroys. He was also a member of the Royal Commission on Opium of 1895, formed by British Government along with Haridas Viharidas Desai who was the Diwan of Junagadh. Royal Opium Commission consisted of 9 member team of which 7 were British and 2 were Indians and its chairman was Earl Brassey.〔^ Royal Opium Commission, First Report of the Royal Commission on Opium: with Minutes of Evidence and Appendices, Eyre & Spottiswolde for HM Stationery Office, 1895〕 Lakshmeshwar Singh championed freedom of speech, personal and political rights. In 1898, he and W. C. Banerjee, were the only prominent Indians to publicly criticise and fight against the proposed widening of scope of section 124-A and 153-A of the Indian Penal Code that was meant to suppress freedom of press in reporting news that could be deemed seditious in nature or against Government policy and insertion of section 108 in Indian Penal Code that gave right to postal authorities to seize any material that was suspected of containing matter obnoxious to section 124-A and 153-A of Indian Penal Code.〔All India Political Parties, (major groups, A-Z) at page 244. Author – O. P. Ralhan〕 Lakshmeshwar Singh died on 17 December 1898. He did not have any children and thus his younger brother, Rameshwar Singh, succeeded him as Maharaja 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lakshmeshwar Singh」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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