Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c41.s1.172

v3.c41.s1.172

Raja Jagat Singh left no issue, legitimate or illegitimate, and no provision had been made for a successor during his life. But as the laws of Rajputana, political or religious, admit of no interregnum, and the funereal pyre must be lit by an adopted child if there be no natural issue, it was necessary at once to inaugurate a successor [377]; and the choice fell on Mohan Singh, son of the ex-prince of Narwar. As this selection, in opposition to the established rules of succession, would, but for a posthumous birth, have led to a civil war, it may be proper to touch briefly upon the subject of heirs-presumptive in Rajputana, more especially those of Jaipur: the want of exact knowledge respecting this point, in those to whom its political relations with us were at that time entrusted, might have had the most injurious effects on the British character. To set this in its proper light, we shall explain the principles of the alliance which rendered Jaipur a tributary of Britain.