“Education, industry, and culture were the three pillars upon which Raj Darbhanga stood — and upon which Bihar once dreamed of standing tall.”
Just about a year ago, while laying the foundation stone of AIIMS Darbhanga, Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi recalled the generosity of Maharaja Dhiraj Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga. As a member of this family, and the great-grandniece of Maharaja Kameshwar Singh, I must admit, with great disappointment, that this is one of the rare instances that a person of influence in India has remembered the legacy of Raj Darbhanga and its Maharajas, who made an immense contribution towards development of social, political, educational and religious thought in India. Just six decades after his death, his name barely appears in Bihar’s political discourse or India’s educational policy narrative.
Born into immense wealth and responsibility, Maharaja Kameshwar Singh inherited not just an estate but a centuries-old intellectual lineage. The Raj Darbhanga family had long been patrons of Sanskrit learning, Tantric systems and Maithili culture. Kameshwar Singh carried this tradition forward into the modern age — merging classical knowledge with scientific progress. His guiding belief was simple yet profound: “Education is the truest form of service to society.”
As Bihar celebrates the establishment day of Patna University, it is an opportune moment to remember one of the state’s greatest visionaries — Maharaja Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga (1907–1962). His name today barely surfaces in the fading walls of palaces-turned-campuses, but his vision for education was far ahead of its time. With elections approaching, when promises of development and empowerment echo across the plains of Mithila, it is worth asking: what can Bihar learn from Raj Darbhanga’s model of education-led nation-building?
Some of these are donations of Darbhanga House (Navlakha Palace), financial contributions e.g. Rs.1,20,000 in 1930 for development of vernacular languages, getting Maithili introduced as a subject (significant in recognition of regional and linguistic identity and in broadening access to non-English or non-Urdu/Hindi forms of instruction); establishment of Patna Medical College in 1920 (links closely with the broader educational/academic and public health ecosystem) and many other contributions that have broadly gone unacknowledged or flown out of public memory thanks to political apathy and inability of the descendants of the Maharaja to keep their legacy alive. The shutdown of Bihar’s leading newspapers The Indian Nation and Aryavart, owned by Raj Darbhanga, was the final nail of the coffin of the memory of Raj Darbhanga and the part it played in nation building.
In an era when colonial education was primarily urban and elitist, the Maharaja sought to democratize access to knowledge in Bihar’s hinterland. His philanthropy transformed Calcutta, Darbhanga, Benares, Allahabad, Patna universities, each into an educational nucleus — a precursor to what we today call “regional knowledge hubs.”
In the grand narrative of India’s intellectual renaissance, few figures bridge the classical and modern worlds as gracefully as Maharaja Kameshwar Singh. A scholar, statesman, and patron of Sanskrit learning, the Maharaja embodied a vision of education that was deeply anchored in the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) — centuries before the term became fashionable in policy circles. He recognized what the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 now articulates: that India’s development cannot be divorced from its civilizational roots. Long before the state spoke of “Bharatiya Jnana Parampara,” Raj Darbhanga had already institutionalized it.
The Maharaja established the Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University in 1961 (with donation of Anand Bagh Palace), as a member of the Court and Syndicate of Calcutta University and Benares Hindu University, they made substantial endowments to promote education in Sanskrit, Philosophy, Languages and Science. Maharaja Kameshwar Singh funded numerous intermediate colleges and schools across North Bihar — including CM Science College, Darbhanga and Darbhanga Medical College through family patronage. He was a member, Indian Universities Commission (1948), post-Independence, served on committees advising on national education policy, emphasizing integration of classical and technical education.
After Independence, Kameshwar Singh transitioned from royal governance to democratic participation. As a member of the Constituent Assembly and the Indian Universities Commission (1948), he advocated for integrating Indian Knowledge Systems into modern curricula. His belief — that Sanskrit and science must coexist — is now echoed in national discussions on cultural education and AI-linguistic research.
As a Member Constituent Assembly of India, he was one of the few royals who contributed intellectually to India’s constitutional framing, advocating cultural autonomy in education and the preservation of Sanskrit heritage.
Maharaja Kameshwar Singh had a personal collection of over 20,000 manuscripts, rare books, and Sanskrit texts that were later donated to public repositories. He financed research on Mithila painting, Maithili language, as well as Tantric and Nyaya philosophy, ensuring the continuity of indigenous knowledge systems. He believed India’s future lay in harmonizing the rational and the spiritual, the scientific and the scriptural. His voice remains strikingly contemporary at a time when policymakers are rediscovering Sanskrit, Ayurveda, and Indic epistemology in national education frameworks.
Maharaja Kameshwar Singh’s contribution to Indian education was not just about institutions — it was a philosophy of enlightened leadership. He envisioned education as the bridge between India’s civilizational wisdom and modern progress. At a time when public discourse calls for reviving Indian Knowledge Systems and regional education empowerment, reviving Raj Darbhanga’s educational legacy is not nostalgia — it’s a policy necessity. In today’s context, this model of leadership represents a bridge between heritage and modernity. His life demonstrates how philanthropic action can complement public policy, especially in states like Bihar where private wealth, heritage assets, and educational needs intersect.
Today, Bihar’s youth remain its greatest yet most underutilized resource. Despite being home to some of India’s oldest universities, the state suffers from educational outmigration, poor infrastructure, and limited research investment. Reviving Raj Darbhanga’s vision is not about nostalgia — it’s a roadmap for inclusive development.
Imagine if Bihar’s grand heritage structures — Anand Bagh Palace, Nargona Palace, Darbhanga House — were fully restored and converted into centers of innovation, art, and public scholarship. This would align perfectly with the Union Government’s “Dekho Apna Desh” and heritage economy policies, while creating jobs and preserving cultural pride.
Policymakers could also institute a “Maharaja Kameshwar Singh Fellowship” for research in Sanskrit, education policy, and regional development — a symbolic yet substantive act of recognition. Similarly, a “Raj Darbhanga Knowledge Corridor” connecting Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, and Patna could decentralize higher education and promote cultural tourism, echoing the Maharaja’s original vision.
For Bihar, a state often associated with migration and brain drain, Maharaja Kameshwar Singh’s model offers an antidote: rooted aspiration. He believed that when learning is tied to local culture, people stop leaving — they start leading.
As the state heads toward elections, the rhetoric of “development” should remember that no road, bridge, or industry is sustainable without the human mind that imagines it. The real infrastructure of progress is intellectual, not material. And in that sense, the Maharaja Dhiraj Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga remains Bihar’s most forward-looking policy architect.
The time has come for Bihar — and India — to reclaim the intellectual and cultural inheritance of Raj Darbhanga. Maharaja Kameshwar Singh’s successors should partner with scholars, and policymakers to transform his vision into a living policy agenda, with initiatives like:
- Establish a Mithila Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems
- Digitize and democratize the Darbhanga Manuscript Collections
- Archeological Survey of India, with UNESCO restore, revive and develop the temples, heritage buildings and palaces of Raj Darbhanga in multiple cities in India
- The Darbhanga Royal family participation in temple trusts of Kamakhya, Kashi, Kolkata etc. where Raj Darbhanga made significant contribution
If India is serious about becoming a “Vishwa Guru”, it must remember those who quietly lived that ideal. Maharaja Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga was one such visionary — who saw no divide between ancient wisdom and modern governance.
In reviving his ideals, we do not just honor a ruler — we resurrect a philosophy of learning that can once again guide India’s future.
(In Collaboration with Shiv Nath Jha, a Veteran Journalist)
Vasudha Jha
Vasudha Jha is the Great-Granddaughter of Smt. Lakshmi Daiji, Elder Sister of Maharaja Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga
