Rajkumar Dharampal Singh of Awagarh

Scion of Royalty | Shikari | Pioneer of Jungle Tourism

Rajkumar Dharampal Singh was born into one of the most illustrious princely families of Northern India. He was the second son of Raja Surajpal Singh of Awagarh, and the grandson of Raja Balwant Singh of Awagarh, a visionary ruler and educationist after whom the renowned Raja Balwant Singh College in Agra is named.

Educated at two of India’s premier institutions for the nobility — Mayo College, Ajmer, and The Daly College, Indore — Dharampal Singh grew up in an environment that emphasized both intellectual sophistication and traditional royal pursuits such as equestrianism, hunting, and land stewardship. His association with these institutions did not end with his student years; in time, he became a member of the Board of Governors of both The Daly College and Raja Balwant Singh College, reflecting his continued commitment to education and leadership.

But it was in the jungles of Central India that Rajkumar Dharampal Singh truly carved his own legacy.

In the princely town of Guna, Madhya Pradesh, he established and ran a successful Shikar company, which became well known among foreign dignitaries, British officials, and elite hunters from across the globe. This was no ordinary enterprise — it was a sophisticated operation, offering carefully planned tiger hunts, camping safaris, and authentic encounters with the Indian wilderness, at a time when such adventures were highly sought after by the colonial elite. The company reflected both his deep knowledge of the jungle and his impeccable sense of hospitality and organization. Hunters would stay in lavish camps and be guided through forests teeming with big game — especially tigers, which were the ultimate prize.

Rajkumar Dharampal Singh belonged to a time when hunting was not only a royal pastime but also a symbol of power and prestige. This worldview was also inherited from his maternal family — his maternal grandfather was the Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Surguja, a controversial and record-setting hunter believed to have killed 1,710 Bengal tigers in his lifetime. The Maharaja was also notoriously known for killing three of the last Asiatic cheetahs in India, and a 1947 photograph exists of him standing beside their lifeless forms — a chilling historical footnote marking the species’ extinction in the subcontinent.

Dharampal Singh’s marriage to Princess Lakshmi Kumari of Rajgarh further cemented ties among India’s princely states. The couple represented a merging of two powerful legacies — one rooted in Awagarh’s cultural patronage and education, and the other in Rajgarh’s feudal valor and grace.

While the ethics and impact of royal hunting have since come under scrutiny, it is important to contextualize Dharampal Singh’s life within the norms of his era. He was a product of his time — an age of fading empires, shifting borders, and a society transitioning from princely grandeur to democratic nationhood.

Today, his legacy lives on in a different form. His grandchildren, notably through the Wildcraft silk scarf enterprise, have redirected their family’s connection with wildlife from hunting to celebration and conservation through art. Through finely printed scarves featuring leopards, birds, and butterflies, they honor the untamed beauty that once enthralled their grandfather, albeit with a modern reverence for preservation.

In this way, Rajkumar Dharampal Singh’s story bridges two Indias — one of princely hunts and jungle camps, and one of artful tribute and ecological consciousness.