Maharaja Sir Kameshwar Singh (1907–1962) was the last ruler of the Darbhanga Raj, the vast estate of some 4,500 villages that was the largest zamindari of north Bihar — and he was reckoned among the richest men in India at independence. He served in the Council of State, the Constituent Assembly and the Rajya Sabha.
A munificent patron, he endowed universities, a medical college and Sanskrit institutions, donating palaces and lands to learning. Much of Mithila’s modern academic landscape — from the Sanskrit University that bears his name to L.N. Mithila University — grew from the Raj’s patronage.