MYSORE MAHARAJA LOANED RS. 15 LAKH TO MAHARAJA OF JODHPUR IN 1898 to finance their Railway projects
I read with a bit of curiosity and a lot of envy about your A Memorable Journey on Wheels - 3 in SOM dated Mar.13! But your recurring juxtaposing of what you saw with Mysuru left me exasperated! Nevertheless I owe it to Mysureans to do a bit of focus correction!
In the very first para, you have stated that trains were introduced in Rajasthan in 1870. In old Mysore Kingdom, trains were introduced in 1882......
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Rajputana State Railway’s initial construction in 1873 and 1874 was to link Delhi to Agra via Alwar and Bandikui. In 1875, the line had extended as far as Ajmer with the aim to reach Ahmedabad and to connect to the broad gauge of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway. As you can infer, none of the big Princely States were connected by this Railway line. In any case, they were not initiatives of the rulers of these States.
However, Mysore was administered by British Commissioners from 1831-1881. The great Indian famine of 1876-78 also affected Mysore State and Mysore-Bangalore Railway work was initiated as part of the relief and rehabilitation work. But the work got impetus only after 1881 and was completed in 1882.
Now coming to Jodhpur, which was your first memorable halt, got its Railway Station only in 1885. Jodhpur Railway Station was opened in 1885 under the jurisdiction of New Jodhpur Railway. The first train ran from Jodhpur to Luni on March 9, 1885. The New Jodhpur Railway was later combined with Bikaner Railway to form Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway in 1889. A Railway line was completed between Jodhpur and Bikaner in 1891.
More interestingly, there is a historic Mysore connection too! Mysore State financed some of the Railway projects of Jodhpur and Bikaner State. In 1898 Mysore Maharaja loaned Rs. 15 lakh to the Maharaja of Jodhpur and again in 1908 Mysore extended a loan of Rs. 12 lakh to the Maharaja of Bikaner to finance their Railway projects at 4 percent interest.
Starting from a deficit in 1881 when the State floated a loan of Rs. 20 lakh at 5% interest to start the Bangalore-Tiptur Railway to the healthy position of extending loan to other Princely States is a remarkable turnaround and something all Mysureans should justifiably be proud of even at this distance of time.
Hope this puts the issue in correct perspective than your mischievous one liner!
—Raja Chandra, Bengaluru
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