Vidya Singh at the shooting range during the Vizianagram Cup at Bisley, UK
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Rudyard Kipling believed that Providence had created maharajas just to offer mankind a spectacle. Their vices and virtues, lives and loves, parties and passions became inextricably woven into the fabric of Indian folklore. That fairytale dimmed with Independence, but the legend lives on.
Vidya Gajapati Raju Singh, Chennai-based entrepreneur and member of the erstwhile royal family of Vizianagaram, found herself in the midst of such a story in July 2024 that travelled back in time to the British Raj in India and in Britain.
The fountain at Hyde Park, London
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“Two years ago, I was in Tanjore as part of an international women’s meet and made friends with Sara Burgess, an Englishwoman, at breakfast,” says Vidya. “We got talking and I mentioned that more than a hundred years ago, my family had installed a fountain in London that stood in Hyde Park from 1867 to 1964. She seemed fascinated and asked if I knew of the Vizianagram Cup that was given to the winners of an annual shooting competition between the British Houses of Parliament. And that was how I discovered my family’s links to a premier championship in the UK, nearly a century-and-a-half after it was instituted.”
A plaque at the site of the fountain gifted by the Vizianagaram maharaja at Hyde Park, London
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Vizianagaram or Vijayanagaram as it is now known in Andhra Pradesh was the capital of the Pusapati dynasty, believed to have familial links with the royal house of Mewar. Madras of yore was dotted with monuments gifted to the people by the Pusapatis — such as the Vizianagaram fountain, once located where Anna Square now is. They were also patrons of education and the arts; the Lady Sivaswami Ayyar School in Mylapore was founded by the then maharaja of Vizianagaram, Vijayaram Gajapathi III, in 1869. The dynasty has also included among its ranks a well-known cricketer and a Union minister.
The National Rifle Association, Bisley
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When Vidya was in the UK last year, she travelled from London to Bisley in Surrey, home of the National Rifle Association founded in 1859. Bisley is dominated by the NRA’s many ranges, spread across 3,000 acres of heathland, where both military and civilians learn, practise and compete in shooting championships. One of the well-known events hosted at Bisley since 1860 is the Imperial Meeting first held on Wimbledon Common in South-West London. Queen Victoria fired the first shot inaugurating the competition between regular and military personnel using the service rifle of the day. The prize was and remains £250 given to the best individual marksman.
Among the competitions is the Vizianagram Cup, instituted in 1862, which has the House of Lords and the House of Commons compete each other. In 1875, Vijayaram Gajapati Raju, gifted a pair of silver trophies for the tournament that has been held unbroken for nearly 150 years except for the period of the World Wars.
Vidya Singh signing the visitors’ book, seated between the Vizianagram trophies
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According to Peter Cottrell, head of shooting and training, NRA, “The match between the Houses was started when the Speaker of the House of Commons challenged the Lord Chancellor to a competition. The trophies are 28 inches high and 15 inches across and weigh approximately 27 pounds (12 kilograms) each. The rifles used are bolt action target rifles in 7.62mm calibre.”
In a pleasant twist of fate, Vidya Singh was invited this year to present the trophies to the prize winners – the House of Commons team. A bonus was being listed on the team of the House of Lords to compete in the tournament. “After all these years, a piece of our family history was resurrected when I was invited to hand out the prizes. Earlier in the day, I was kitted out for the Lords’ team led by Lord Lucas. This was the first time I have ever fired a shot in my life but managed with the help of a coach. We were given 12 bullets each for three rounds where the targets were set at a distance of 300, 500 and 700 metres,” says Vidya.
The scoreboard
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And just as her ancestor left a record for all time at the NRA, Vidya did too – signing the visitors’ book at Bisley, closing a serendipitous moment that began at breakfast in a South Indian town.