King Dibya Sing Deb (earlier known as prince Bijay Keshari Ray) after his coronation at Patia on Monday. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 4: The princely estate system might have abolished more than 60 years ago, but princely traditions still continue in many royal families across India.

One such family where the princely traditions are still followed is the royal family of Patia on the outskirts of the capital.

Following the death of 95-year-old Patiagarh king Krushna Chandra Deb on Sunday night, his elder son, Bijay Keshari Ray (now King Dibya Singh Deb) was crowned as his successor the next morning. Hundreds of villagers stood witness to an elaborate coronation ceremony that took place near the single-storeyed, dilapidated palace of the royal family. The new king was made to sit on a square platform demarcated exclusively for the royals. Legend has it that if a commoner ventures into that space, it would spell doom for the entire kingdom.

After the ceremony got over, the king ordered the priest to perform the last rites of his dead father. “After the coronation, the king has to give the consent for performing the rituals. But he is not obliged to observe them. He becomes a separate entity. The younger son cremated his body in the royal crematorium. Only his family has to observe the rituals,” said raj purohit Girija Prasad Tripathy. “He is survived by two sons and grandchildren. The queen had passed away four years ago,” he added.

A retired school headmaster of the “kingdom”, Pratap Chandra Jena said the deceased king succeeded his maternal uncle Madhusudan Deb in 1967.

“King Madhusudan Deb was unmarried, and therefore the title went to his nephew, who was widely acclaimed for his hunting skills. However, he could hardly enjoy the status of a king in a democratic country which does not recognise royalty. But the tradition must continue and the crown has to be passed on,” said Jena.

The royal family has no regular source of income and had sold off all the land that belonged to them for their survival, said Tripathy. “Just 15 days before his death, the king had sold a huge plot of land to some builders on a sharing basis,” he said.