IÂ’m consumed with history and cars, so I was gleefully surprised when AnkG pointed me towards this pop-up-laden Sify article; itÂ’s a fascinating look at the exalted place that Rolls Royces had in Royal old India.

The article discusses a title from appropriately-named Roli Books, Rolls-Royce and the Indian Princes. Written by Murad Ali Baig, the work details the myriad ways that India’s princely class pimped their rides—and let me tell you, no hip-hop star has anything on the ruler of Travancore (my hood!);

A 1933 Rolls-Royce that belonged to Maharani Sethu Parvati Bai of Travancore had a small stool on the floor. “On it sat a dwarf who massaged the queen’s legs while he remained invisible to onlookers,” said Baig.

Show-off. Other automobiles catered to any and every other whim, from special “Purdah” models that had drapes to hide modest Maharanis, to the Phantom II that was created in the exact shade of pink (as defined by his wife’s slipper!) that the Maharaja of Jamnagar wanted, to the 24-carat gold-plated appointments and solid silver door handles of the Maharaja of Baroda’s 1927 Phantom I.I was minorly astonished to learn that a solid fifth of pre-WWII Rolls Royces went to India. For those of you who are hung up on numbers, that would be four-thousand. Why so many?

Â…Stripped of their powers by British colonial rulers but still with colossal incomes, the only pursuit for many princes was one-upmanship which was displayed in their cars, said Baig.

“It was wealth without responsibility,” he said. “They spent their money competing with each other to display their pomp and circumstance.”

One of the biggest fleets belonged to the Nizam of Hyderabad, reckoned at the time to be the world’s richest man.

He had some 50 Rolls-Royces along with 12,000 servantsÂ…

The Maharaja of Alwar made me smile:

…the Maharaja of Alwar used his fleet for collecting rubbish after he felt he had been snubbed by a snooty salesman in London’s exclusive Mayfair district.

The maharaja demanded to see the manager and ordered seven cars which when they arrived he turned into garbage vans, said Baig.

Finally, if you think that seven is an auspicious number, youÂ’re in good company;

One of the then British-based company’s best customers was the Maharaja of Mysore who always purchased his Rollers in sevens. His buying habits passed into company lore as “doing a Mysore”.

Sepia Mutiny: we read and excerpt annoying web-sites, so your pop-up blocker can get some much-needed rest. 😉

P.S. If you were curious, that’s a picture of Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur and her swell ride.