5 Indian Royals Who Hold Incredible World Records
Indian royals are good at a lot of things, including inspiring filmmakers to make movies about them or shocking general non-royal humans with their bizarre spending habits.
But what many people don’t know is that there are many members of Indian royal families who have set new, or broken old, world records. From inspirational philanthropic activities to building a formidable collection of antiques, here are all the world records held by Indian royals.
Salar Jung Museum
World’s Largest One-Man Collection of Antiques by Salar Jung III
In 1951, Mir Yousuf Ali Khan (or Salar Jung III) inaugurated the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad and opened up his extensively curated collection of antiques to the rest of the world. While not technically a royal, The Salar Jungs were one of the most illustrious families of Hyderabad, with several men from the family, including Salar Jung III, serving as Prime Ministers (or dewans) of Hyderabad. Yousuf Ali Khan, reportedly, relinquished the post of Prime Minister in favour of devoting his life to collecting treasures of art and literature from all around the world, building the world’s largest collection of antiques by a single man.
From jade daggers belonging to Emperor Jehangir to pieces from the wardrobe of Tipu Sultan, the collection is varied and rich. Salar Jung Museum is one of the largest museums in the world.
Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar
World’s Largest Donation Of Sweaters’ and ‘Longest Line Of Hunger Relief Packages Provided’ by Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar
The Prince of Udaipur has a heart of gold, as evident by the six Guinness World Records he holds for his philanthropic ventures. Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar managed to collect all six records within a short span of four years. In 2019, the royal’s ‘Vastradaan’ campaign managed to collect 3,29,250 pieces of clothing for donation. Later that year, he set another record for donating 20 tonnes of stationery items to underprivileged students within 24 hours. In 2020, his ‘Vriksh Hi Jeewan Abhiyaan’ had 4,035 saplings being potted in 20 seconds, scoring him another record. In 2021, the Udaipur royal set the record for ‘Most Personal Hygiene Products Donated In Under An Hour’ when he managed to donate 12,508 menstrual health products. This year began with him setting two new records, one for the ‘Most Hunger Relief Packages Donated’ after he organised a food relief drive and fed over 2,800 people and the second one for his sweater donating spree to combat the severe impacts of the cold wave on many parts of Northern India.
Most People Dancing With Swords in honour of H.H Thakore Saheb Mandhatasinhji Jadeja of Rajkot
2,126 people came together to dance with swords to celebrate the coronation of H.H Thakore Saheb Mandhatasinhji Jadeja of Rajkot, setting a new world record for ‘Most Number of People (Men or Women) Performing A Group Dance With Swords’. Historically, the dance of swords was performed to welcome victorious soldiers returning from battle.
Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh's sterling silver jars
World’s Largest Single Objects Constructed Using Silver by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II
Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II of Jaipur was a devout Hindu man. Once the king had to travel to England to attend the coronation of Edward VII, and he decided to carry Ganga jal along with him because the water of England wasn’t good enough for his pure stature. So he commissioned his silversmiths to make two large vessels for him to carry the holy water with him to England.
The silversmiths melted 14,000 silver coins to create two large urns that the king happily carried along with him in his travels. The two silver urns hold the Guinness World Record for being the ‘Largest Single Objects Constructed Using Silver’ and weigh about 345 kg, stand 1.6 m tall, and could carry 4,000 litres of water (or Ganga jal, if you’re fussy).
World’s Wealthiest Man (During His Lifetime) by Mir Osman Ali Khan You might have heard of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the infamous Nizam of Hyderabad who used the 185 carats Jacob diamond as a paper weight. So it should come as no surprise to you that the royal was also the wealthiest man in the world (during his lifetime).
His net worth then, after being adjusted for inflation, falls at $230 billion (INR 17.74 lakh crores). To put things into perspective, the world’s richest man currently, Elon Musk, has a net worth of $286 billion.
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