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Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation
With
the coming of age of democratic India, and as a means of protecting and
honouring and continuing with a Maharana's inherited duties in
perpetuity, the
Late Maharana Bhagwat Singhji set in place Charitable Trusts and
Associations that would benefit the people of Mewar. This was especially
important in a period of history when principles were in imminent danger
of being annihilated not with the sweep of a sword, but with the stroke
of a pen. The Maharana Mewar Charitable Foundation was established in
1969 in an effort to preserve the age-old traditions and obligations of
the House of Mewar.
The primary objectives of the Maharana Mewar Charitable Foundation are
(a) To promote quality education, ancient and modern Indian languages &
Vedic studies (b) To research, conserve and promote Indian architecture,
all creative & performing arts, literature and culture (c) Protection
and development of our ecology and wildlife (d) To promote and encourage
excellence in various walks of life (e) To help the needy and deserving
irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or sex.
Philanthropy, benevolence, charity and trusteeship are the foundations
indeed the bedrock of Mewar. The MMCF was established to honour this
tradition. These charities do not benefit a Maharana in any personal
sense political, commercial or financial. To the Trust, the Late
Maharana Bhagwat Singhji had donated the main portions of the City
Palace, as well as a considerable endowment. The charities are also
financed from private donations and the Maharana's personal funds,
accrued through shrewd management and through the investment of personal
assets. Its funds derive both from interest on the original endowment
and from entrance fees to the City Palace Complex, now accommodating
several museums open to the public. In addition, the Foundation has set
up a number of subsidiary Trusts for religious and charitable purposes,
to give assistance without distinction of caste or creed or religion.
This form of philanthropy is not mandatory, especially in these changing
times. It is the visible and verifiable expression of the Maharana's
care and compassion for the well being of his people. It constitutes a
means of preserving a unique system of government, unique in the way it
works, unique for the fact that it does work and still works as it
always has done, for some fifteen hundred years.