He was born on 3 September 1840 to Ramdevji and his wife, the daughter of Gumansinhji, Maharawal of Chhota Udaipur.

[3] British Government in 1862 granted him a sanad, giving him and his successors the right to adopt under Hindu law if there was no natural heir.

[3][5] He found the arrangement of auctioning the British share of transit duties in his state annually to the highest bidder distasteful.

[5] Besides that, he proposed to make his own arrangements for collecting import and export duties to encourage freedom of trade.

[3] He attended the Delhi durbar of 1877, where he was presented with a banner bearing the state coat of arms[4] and was granted a personal salute of nine guns, along with the style of His Highness.