Polo & More 2014
Polo & More 2014
The end of the war heralded the ‘Golden Years’ of Indian
polo which were dominated by the princely states; namely
Jaipur and Jodhpur, inextricably linked through marriage.
The Third Chukker: The Golden Years
One of the most memorable matches was played in 1922,
when the Heir to the throne of England, the Prince of Wales,
later Edward VIII, was touring India. A special tournament
was organized in his honour at Delhi, with all the best
teams in India competing for the prestigious tournament, it
promised to be a magnificent affair. And it was. Against the
backdrop of Shah Jahan’s Red Fort, a record crowd of over
100,000 gathered to watch, with giant winners Patiala and
Jodhpur playing a final pulsating with thrills and excitement.
Patiala had remained unbeaten since the war and were the
defending champions, having won the Prince of Wales’
Cup a year earlier. With two of India’s best players, Jaswant
and Joginder Singh playing off a handicap of +10, along
with Hira Singh and Chanda Singh, the team had over three
hundred ponies to choose from! Jodhpur, coached by Sir Pratap
himself, had Thakur Prithi Singh of Bera at position one,
Thakur Dalpat Singh of Rohet at two, Rao Raja Hanut Singh
at the pivotal number three, and Ram Singh at four. Jodhpur
beat Patiala in Delhi this faithful day to become champions of
all India; it was a match often described as the finest
ever. Rao Raja Hanut Singh scored in the last minute of
the last chukker to win. Jodhpur thus avenged in style their
defeat years earlier at the hands of Patiala. The magnificent
Bhupinder Singh, Maharaja of Patiala, let his horses loose in
the crowded by-lanes of the capital and ordered his team to
burn their sticks. They never entered the field again…
With the fall of one princely team, came the rise of another.
Polo was, in fact, Jodhpur’s gift to the Maharaja of Jaipur, the
suave Sawai Man Singh II, popularly known as the dashing Jai,
married Umaid Singh’s (The Maharajah of Jodhpur
from 1918 - 1947) sister and niece. With the help of the
legendary Sir P, Jaipur polo really took off . In a Rajput
home there is none more privileged than the son-in-law and
Maan Singh II returned to Jaipur with, as he desired, not only
sixty of the finest Jodhpur ponies and the Rathore Masterof-Horse, M.Amar Singh, but also the legendary brothers
(Hanut and Abhay who were married to daughters of the late
Maharaja of Jaipur, Sawai Madho Singh II).
The newly formed team went on to make history of sorts.
Between 1930 and 1938, they never lost an Open
Championship in England. They were victorious to the point
that Punch published a hilarious cartoon of the team, showing
them on elephant back, scattering their opponents about.
TOP: The Jodhpur polo team, c. 1898. Seated L to R: Mahtab Singh, Rup Singh, Narain Singh, Tank, Col. Cookson, Bhoorji. Seated on floor
Devi Singh, Sir Pratap Singh. Sir Pratap, younger brother of the Maharaja of Jodhpur and Prime Minister of Jodhpur State, was one of India’s
most colourful princes and a major driving force behind Indian polo and the father of the Jodhpur team. In 1889 he invited Col. Beatson of the
Bengal Lancers to help him raise the Jodhpur Lancers. It was with the Englishman that polo came to Jodhpur in its modern form. The Jodhpur
team, captained by Sir Pratap himself, produced some of the finest players of the sport. Only four years after it was formed, the Jodhpur team
won the Indian Polo Championship at the Challenge Polo Cup tournament in Poona in 1893
RIGHT: The Rajmata Gayatri Devi and her husband HH Man Singh II, the Maharajah of Jaipur in 1956
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