The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1880-11-27
The Betrothal Of a prince.

His Highness the Gaekwar Of Baroda
was, as is we'll known, married last jan
uary, and the Times of India says: s'The
story of his courtship is as thoroughly
Eastern as anything in the Arabian
Nights The young Maharajah himself
Loyalty felt or feigned that he had no
right whatever to meddIe in such q mat
ter as the selection of consort for him
self, matter which exclusively belonged
to his affectionate mother. And Her
Highness the Maharani Jumnabai Sa-
heb, as the head of the Gaekwar family,
had to desire the Dewan himself to lend
his utmost assistance in this delicate
business. Matchmaking, says Sir Ma
dave 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
emissaries started from Baroda and went
to divers countries, some travelling in
disguise, and others with pomp and cir
cumstance. In short time descriptive
letters, illustrative photographs and COM
plete horoscopes wonderfully showing
all the planets on their best behavior,
| poured in upon the Maharani in almost
A0 biSooAi6
of the tutelary deities was devoutly in
| voked, the goodwill of the priests was
propitiated, and astrologers in solemn
conclave were hidden to unerringly in
terpret the mystic influences of the 20
diac. But the Maharani was also de-
sirous of fulfilling more prosaic condi-
tions, and she had to satisfyIin her choice
such worldly persons as the Governor
n and {ho narvan IF fl,n
State.
'.Marathi girls are, however, almost
always married young, and as the Gaek-
he was II years old, it was not only
necessary that his bride should be
young lady of high family, of health and
beauty, education and accomplishments,
but that she must be of adolescent age.
1t was almost impossible to find girl
approaching to the required ideal who
was still unmarried or still unengaged.
Even when the poorest parents were APP
preached they were proud enough not to
send their daughters to Baroda, as if on
inspection, even on the chance of being
married to the first Maratha Prince in
India. Things came to dead lock, and
the Queen Mother had to press the De-
wan to relinquish high politics for
time, and set out for the Deccan in
search of an eligible lady. Accompan.
led by band of the Maharant's relatives
and dependents, he started for Poona on
this curious quest. 1T had been ar
ranged 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
Il Of
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 avsila
BILE had been exhausted. The
marriage of the Maharaiah
could not be postponed be-
yond the next season; and yet the most
plastic Shastrees of the palace could not
cite authority to perform the marriage
without a bride. Her Highness, there
fore directed the Dewan to extend the
politico-msthetic exploration beyond the
Bombay Presidency. This was, of
course, done; and the predestined sharer
of the young Gaekwar's fortunes was at
last found on the banks of the Canvery.'
The Tanjore family, to which the bride
belongs, had long been intimately con-
nected with Sir Madava Row, and the
marriage, so far as those who were pres
ent at Baroda during the marriage fes-.
tivities could possibly judge, was de-
cided popular among the Sirdars and
Marstha people generally, while the En-
glish 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
thorough English education"