The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-10-30 00:00:00

A STORY OF A BETROTHAL.

His Highness the Gaekwar of Baroda was, as is well
known, married last January, and the Times of India
says " the story of his courtship is as thoroughly
Eastern as anything in the Arabian Nights.' rhe
ryoung Maharajah himself loyally felt or feigned that
'fie had no right whatever to meddle in such a matter
as the selection of a consort for himself, a matter
which exclusively baonged to his affectionate mother.
And her Highness the Maharani Jumnabai Saheb,
as the head of the Gaekwar family, had to desire the
Dewan himself to lend 'his utmost personal assistance'
in this delicate business. Match-making,' says Sir
Madava Row, in his account of the progress of the
State of Baroda, 'is fraught with pleasant anxieties for
any mother, and in the present instance the mother is
one of the highest ladies of the land. Trusted emis-
saries started from Baroda and went to divers
countries, some travelling in disguise and others with
pomp and circumstance. In a short time, descrip-
tive letters, illustrative photographs, and complete
horoscopes wonderfully showing all the planets on their
best behaviour, poured in upon the Maharini in almost
embarrassing abundance. The blessing of the tutelary
deities was devoutly invoked, the goodwill of the
priests was propitiated, and astrologers in solemn con-
clave were bidden to unerringly interpret the mystic
influences of the zodiac. But the Maharani was also
desirous of fulfilling more prosaic conditions, and she
had to satisfy in her choice such worldly persons as the
Governor-General's agent and the Dewan of the State.
Marathi girls are, however, almost always married
young, and as the Gaekwar's marriage had been de-
ferred until he was 17 years old, it was not only
necessary that his bride should be a young lady of
high family, of health and beauty, education and
accomplishments, but that she should be of adolescent
age. It was almost impossible to find a girl approach-
ing to the required ideal who was still unmarried or
unengaged. Even when the poorest parents were
approached they were proud enough to disdain to
send their ciaughtor to Baroda, as if on inspec-
tion, even on the chance of being married to
the first Maratha prince in India. Things came
to a dead-lock; and the Queen Mother had to press
the Dewar to relinquish high politics for a time,
and sit out for the Deccan in search of an eligible
lady. Accompanied by a band of the Maha-
rani's relatives and dependents, he started for Poona
on this curious quest. "It had been arranged, he
says, 'that just at that time several girls reported
eligible should happen by pure accident to be present
at Poona. We saw them; but we could not decidedly
approve of any.' The rest of the story must still be
told in the words of the same high authority This
result perplexed her Highness not a little. The ,
quarters supposed available had been exhausted. The
marriage of the Maharajah could not be postponed
beyond the next season; and yet the most plastic
Shastrees of the palace could not cite authority
to perform the marriage without a bride. Her High-
ness, therefore, directed the Dewan to extend the
politico-iesthetic exploration beyond the Bombay Pre-
sidency. This was, of course, done; and the pre-
destined sharer of the young Gakewar's fortunes was at
last found on the hooks of the Canvery.' The Tanjere
family, to which the bride belongs, had long been in-
timately connected with Sir Madava Row, and the
marriage, so far as those who were present at Baroda
during the marriage festivities could possibly judge,
was decidedly popular among the Sirdars and Maratha
people generally, while the English residents of Baroda
were pleased to find in the orphaned niece of the
Princess of Tanjore a young lady who had enjoyed
all the great advantages of a thorough English educa-
tion:"