Throughout the course of History, Chivalric Orders and Knighthoods have been the fancy of many hardworking subjects. It often acted, at least for the recipient’s psychology in some cases as a status elevator and in some other more deserving scenarios, as a true sign of admiration and respect from one's monarch or leader post the completion of an objective or post achieving something worthy of being awarded. While the origin of the 'Chivalric orders' and 'Orders of Merit' can be considered a European concept, but it may be noted that the South Asian Kingdoms were experimenting with their own 'Orders' even prior to the First War of Independence in 1857.
The Back Ground
India's early brush with British & European chivalric orders started with a dream. On one hand the dream to create an European supported governance and militia system by the Punjab Empire and on the other hand a dream of the young Indian Nawab Nazim of Bengal, Humayun Jah, to build himself a magnificent palace, The Hazardoari or the palace of the Thousand Doors. As a token of respect, the young prince Humanyun Jah sent a model of his Palace to the British Monarch HM King William IV, who in return awarded him the Royal Guelphic Order. This was around 1836 and he was in all probability the first Indian to receive an European Chivalric Order. Following this in the early 1840s Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy became the first Indian to be knighted by the British monarch for his philanthropy (He later also became the first Indian to be made a Baronet). But beside the British Honors, there existed Indian Honours created by Indian Monarchs throughout the 19th and 20th Century. Here we will be talking about few of them.
The Indian Orders
One of the earliest Western Style Chivalric Order system was established by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire between 1822 and 1837, which included the Order of the Propitious Star of Punjab and the Order of Guru Govind Singh. They were believed to be in three classes each and in recent past, a badge of the first stated order was featured in the auction list of a major UK based auction house. The Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir, who belonged to a Dogra ruling house which had previously served the Sher-i-Punjab's court, too ended up establishing European styled medals for his troops from 1863 but one of the most interesting awards of his state was the Hunza Nagar Badge which was awarded in the form of a plaque(worn in a probable similar way how a chivalric star is worn).
The princely state of Rampur, in present day Uttar Pradesh, with its progressive Nawabs, had two important decorations as well and they were the Nishan-i-Hamidiya and Nishan-i-Iqbal. The Flamboyant & Francophile maharaja of Kapurthala, HH Sir Jagatjit Singh, too entered the scene in 1898 with the establishment of the Nishan-i-Shahi. He further went on to establish the Nishan-i-Iftikhar and the Nishan-i-Askari (Military). Another unique order established by him involved the wearing of an miniature oval portrait of the Maharaja on the left breast of the recipient. On the other hand, the Maharaja of Dewas(Senior) established the Jaripatka Decoration in three classes along with a separate Maharaja's Medal in a single class. The Maharajadhiraj of Patiala, Lt General His Highness Sir Bhupinder Singh was not behind and between 1911 and 1937 he instituted multiple orders which included the Order of the Phul, The Royal Phulkian Family Order, The Order of Krishna, The Order of the Holy Saint and also an Order of Merit.
The princely state of Mysore, boasted of the Gandabherunda Badge, a multi rank order with attached titles for its recipients. The state also had the Mysore Distinguished Service Order which was established in 1913. In the eastern part of the nation, Order of Tripura with its titled ranks of Mahamanyabar and Manyabar was established by HH Maharaja Sir Bir Bikram Kishore Deb Burman of Tripura. In Gujarat, the Shaktimant Makhapraphulla Order of Jhalavad of the 11 Gun Salute Princely State of Dhrangadhra was considered a respected order and was awarded to other ruling princes as well.
Towards the twilight of the Empire, in the early 1940s General His Exalted Highness Nizam Sir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur of Hyderabad & Berar established the Osmani Crescent in a single class, while the Khusrow-i-Deccan medal was established by him in three classes. The later and another decoration, called the 'Asafia Medal' which too was awarded in three classes shared an unique characteristic and that being that each of these classes had a limitation on the number of individuals it could be awarded to.
Conclusion
Having mentioned about the above Orders it should be noted that it is just the tip of the iceberg as there were about 565 princely states in India during the time of independence with some quasi-raja zamindars taking the number even north. Thus, the exact number of orders, knighthoods and medals, which came into existence during that phase is little difficult to arrive to without a deep, dedicated and large-scale research.
But in spite of this it cannot be forgotten that many of this orders at one point of time enjoyed a far different status and also earned the respect, desire and jealousy of the respective local populations they were entitled to and then again it should be noted that some of these orders are probably somewhat alive as Dynastic Orders, if not as Royal Orders and thus their legacy and heritage should be understood and documented for the generations to come.
