guardian of the temple of Badrinath in Garhwal. After serving on the Burma Front during the Second World War and retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel from the British Indian Army, Manabendra Shah ruled the 4,800-square mile only Tehri Garhwal State from 1946 until 1949, but was proud of having been one of the first to sign the Instrument of Accession, which he had helped to negotiate, with the Government of India. After the independence of India, he was a long-serving member of the Parliament of India, first as an Indian National Congress MP and later as a Bharatiya Janata Party MP. He represented Tehri Garhwal constituency eight times in the Lok Sabha. Manabendra Shah also served as Indian ambassador to Ireland from 1980 to 1983. His son Manujendra Shah campaigned unsuccessfully to succeed to his father's Lok Sabha seat representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2007. Manujendra Shah's wife, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, is the current BJP MP from Tehri Garhwal. In 2017, she and her husband, Manujendra Shah, passed on the royal baton to their daughter, Kshirja Kumari Devi in a ceremony on Vasant Panchami at the Ananda Palace in Narendranagar to anoint her as heir to the titular royal legacy. See also Garhwali language Garhwali people List of Hindu empires and dynasties List of Rajput dynasties Tehri Garhwal House Panwar Dynasty References The History of a Himalayan princely state: Change, conflicts, and awakening : an interpretative history of Princely State of Tehri Garhwal, U.P., A.D. 1815 to 1949 A.D., by Atul Saklani. Delhi : Durga Publications, 1987. Further reading Tehri Garhwal State Constitution: As Enacted by H.H. Maharaja Manabendra Shah Under the Rajagyan Dated 27 May 1946, by Tehri Garhwal (Princely State). Published by Mafasilite Print. Works, 1946. External links Genealogy of Tehri Garhwal (princely state) Garhwali songs and Uttarakhand folk songs A painting entitled Jerdair, A hill village, Gurwall'' by David Cox, engraved by Thomas Higham as an illustration to , a poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834. States and territories established in the 820s States and territories disestablished in 1804 States and territories established in 1816 States and territories disestablished in 1949 Princely states of India Rajputs Garhwal division History of Uttarakhand 9th-century establishments in India 823 establishments 1804 disestablishments in India 1816 establishments in India 1949 disestablishments in India