Colonel Maharaj Prem Singh was an Indian polo player born in a polo-playing family on 15 November 1915.
Background
Maharaj Prem received most of his training from his father, Maharaj Kishen Singh, who himself was an excellent player and had received training from the famous Major-General Delisle. He received early encouragement to play polo from his Principal, A. P. Cox, at Chopasani School and eventually joined his father’s regiment, the Jodhpur Lancers in 1937.
Career
This was his first major victory. Thereafter, during the Second World War (1939-1945), he further enhanced his play skills and played tournaments in Peshawar and Risalpur. His handicap during this period was increased to +7 (the highest for any Indian at that time).
He reached the apex of his career in 1952-1953 in England when he was invited by L. Arthur Lucas to play for his team, the Woolmers Park.
In 1955, General Rafael Trujillo invited him to play in Dominican Republic where he spent a year and visited the United States of America for the first time. Thereafter, in 1959-1960, he played the North American Championship for ‘Oak brook’ on invitation by Paul Butler.
By the 1970s, Maharaj Prem had started spending considerable amount of time popularising and revitalizing polo in Calcutta, Madras and Mumbai. Several industrial families supported him through his endeavours which included industrialists like Shyam Sunder Jalan in Calcutta, Hansraj Mariwala in Mumbai and A. C. Muthiah in Madras.
He also tried breeding and training horses for polo at his farm, after which he often named his polo team ‘Karnisar’.
He wrote poetry in Urdu and Marwari (some of which can be found displayed at the Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur) and spent considerable amount of time developing schemes to bring water to his erstwhile jagir Rajlani to improve living conditions of people in the area. He died after a long spell of illness in January 2000 in Jodhpur.
Membership
In the 1980s, he was actively coaching teams which included the Cambridge and Woolmers Park Polo Club teams, the Indian Army team, members of Delhi Polo Club and others