Background
He was the adopted son of Ram Singh II, Raja of Jaipur. He was born Kaim Singh, the second son of the Thakur of Isardha, a petty chieftain related to the ruling house of Jaipur.
He was the adopted son of Ram Singh II, Raja of Jaipur. He was born Kaim Singh, the second son of the Thakur of Isardha, a petty chieftain related to the ruling house of Jaipur.
He found work as a risaldar in the cavalry of the Nawab of Tonk. His fate was altered by his encounters with the guru Baba Brahmachari, whose disciple he became, and with the ruling Ram Singh World War II When Ram died in 1880, he had no heir, and chose on his deathbed to adopt the 18-year-old Kaim, who was crowned under the name Madho. As ruler of the large and prosperous state of Jaipur, Madho Singh embraced modern ideas on education and sanitation.
He built schools, colleges, hospitals and a museum.
When famine struck in 1896–1897 and 1899–1900, he used state funds to feed the population. He also appealed to the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, to start a permanent Famine Relief Fund, which Singh began with a gift of £133,000 (equivalent to £12,852,177 in 2016).
Singh was exceptionally loyal to the British crown, and sent his troops and horses to assist the British side in fighting in Chitral in 1894–1895, the Tirah Campaign in 1897–1898 and in the South African War. In the First World War, he again sent his men and machine guns to assist in the Mesopotamian campaign at his own expense.
Singh was made an honorary Major-General, and was further rewarded with honours.
In 1921, he adopted the second son of the the Thakur of Isarda.
