Beau Geste Digest

Hi there, and welcome to the latest installment of the Beau Geste Digest, keeping you up to date with the new releases from the Argentinian gloss figure masters. This month sees the release of a series of Delhi Durbar figures sets to add to their already extensive coverage of this most regal of events

Hello again
The New Durbar Group is ready: Two Escort Groups and Musicians for the Travancore Elephant. It took long, but they are finally here. So lovely :)

325 - Escort Guards from Travancore, Group A, Delhi Durbar, 1903

326 - Escort Guards from Travancore, Group B, Delhi Durbar, 1903

325, 326 and 200 - Escort Guards A and B with the Travancore Elephant

The Elephant of Travancore was in the Main Procession during the Delhi Durbar from 1903. The Maharaja on his elephant and his escorts were second in the right hand column, beside the Kashmir elephant at its left

The Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom (1729–1858) and Indian Princely State (1858–1947) with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum and it was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, the Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of Tamil Nadu. The state's flag was red with a silver, dextrally-coiled, sacred conch shell (Turbinella pyrum). Travancore was known for its relatively high literacy rate and its progressive government

The reign of Sri Moolam Thirunal Sir Rama Varma 1885–1924 saw the establishment of many colleges and schools. When Jawaharlal Nehru visited the area in the 1920s, he remarked that the education 
was superior to British India. The medical system was reorganised and a Legislative Council, the first of its kind in an Indian state, was established in 1888. The principle of election was established and women too were allowed to vote

 Several other reforms were also brought in by Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma in the fields of education, medicine, law and order, and the civil service. Sanitary Departments were opened and female education progressed. Changes were brought in the management of prisons and the Public Works department was reorganised

327 - Music Courtship from Travancore, Delhi Durbar, 1903

Sets 327, 326, 325 and 200 together: the Travancore Group in all its glory!!

Happy Hunting!