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than a decade earlier, in 1922, would be unceremoniously ejected in this way.If this could happen to Maharaja Alak Narayan, the ruler of one of the wealthiest, and powerful zamindaris of the Raj, then it could happen to anyone. It was hence that the eyes of so many rajas, zamindars, and nawabzadas were awaiting the direction of the Madras High Court. Worse was to follow. Not just content with this, the Court of Wards decided that the four minor children were to be immediately taken away from their father and sent to England th to be educated there. The date was fixed - May 9 , 1936 and the passage was booked on an ocean liner. The children, then in Vizag, were to be put post-haste on a train to Madras. Many years later, the boy who would later become the ruler would reminisce %u201cthe years 1932 to 1937 were very difficult years for the family. There was mounting pressure from the British administration which culminated in the taking over of the Vizianagaram Estate by the Court of Wards in December 1935. The Government of Madras resorted to this course of action, not so much because of the bad ways-and-means position of the Estate, as the apprehension and dislike of late Maharaja Alak Narayan's anti-government activity%u201d.This is where Maharaja Alak Narayan came forward strongly. It was not so much his property or self, but the welfare of his dear children. Even as a multi-front legal battle ensued, the Maharaja's sole focus was to prevent the children from leaving the shores of their native soil. He rushed to the Subordinate Judge of Vizagapatam, as it was called then, to have an injunction against the children being moved. This 15