Maksudpur (Zamindari) - The History Bro : Maksudpur Zamindari

Maksudpur

Zamindari

This province belong to a Bhumihar Dynasty.

Dynasty : Bhumihar

Hindi Name : मकसूदपुर

Revenue : 600,000Rs

Village : 360

State : Bihar (Gaya Dist.)

Religion : Hindu

Present HEAD

Raja AJAI SINGH Bahadur, Raja Saheb of Maksudpur since 15th March 2001 and Custodian and Serving Sevait to the Gaddinashin Maharani Bhagwatiji, installed at Andar Mahal, Maksudpur. (Rajmandir Palace, Maksudpur Garh, Gaya – 823003, Bihar, India) born 29th May 1949 in Patna, educated at Welham Preparatory School and at The Doon School, Dehradun, at Hindu College, Delhi University; at Faculty of Law, Delhi University and the Lincoln School of Land Policy and Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; with the Indian Revenue Service 1972/2009; served in several positions, including: Chief Executive, Employees Provident Fund, India; Chairman, Technical Commission on Provident Funds and Allied Schemes at the International Social Security Association, Geneva; Director – General of Income Tax; Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes and Special Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India; Trustee and Chairman of the Maksudpur Raj Trust that administers the Maksudpur Estates owned by Goddess Bhagwatiji; he is involved in the restoration and rebuilding of large dilapidated buildings on the Estate and with the revival of traditional building techniques, is working to reposition the heritage buildings to serve public causes, he has revived public participation in traditional festivals and cultural events at Maksudpur; married 21st May 1973 in Patna, Rani Nalini Singh, daughter of Shri Shivaji Sinha, I.P.S. (1948), and great grand daughter of Rani Bhuvaneshwari Kuer of Tikari, educated at Sophia School, Mt. Abu; Women’s College, Patna; M.A. (English) St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi; Lecturer in English, Science College, Patna 1977/1983; heads the MIRENS Trust of Maksudpur and has been working since 1998 with village communities around Maksudpur in the area of primary healthcare, education, promotion of sustainable low cost building techniques of the Laurie Baker tradition and transfer of employable skills to local workmen; and has issue, one daughter and one son.

Rajkumari Arkaja Singh, born 21st May 1977, educated at Welham Girls School, Dehradun; National Law School, Bangalore and SOAS, London; currently works as Governance Consultant with GHK, London; married 21st November 2007 at Maksudpur to Shri Mathew John, son of Valsa and M. John, graduate of NLSIU, Bangalore; currently doing his Ph.D. at L.S.E., London.
Rajkumar Akshay Singh, born 16th December 1979, educated at The Doon School, Dehradun; Sri Venkateshwara College, Delhi University and AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi; freelance cinematographer based in Bombay.

History

The ancestors of this family established themselves as military chiefs in Utrein at the turn of the 17th century and rendered military service with the Mughal governers of the Suba. With the decline of central authority during the later years of Emperor Aurangzeb’s reign, the family occupied Pargana Sanaut as independent chiefs, consolidating their power and authority over the entire Magadh region by the 1730’s. They established their headquarters at Tikari Fort. After the battle of Buxar, with the British EIC being appointed Diwan by Emperor Shah Alam, the autonomy of the principality became curtailed to that of principal zamindar of Bihar Suba along with the Rajas of Tirhut and Shahabad. Pitambar Singh, the Raja of Tikari lost his Gaddi to his second cousin Mitrajit Singh of the cadet line for siding with Raja Chyet Singh of Benaras against the British EIC. In a subsequent compromise, a small part of Tikari State was carved out with its nucleus at Maksudpur Fort, and Pitambar Singh became the Raja of Maksudpur. Mitrajit Singh was recognized as the Maharaja of Tikari. Hence the Maksudpur history is the Tikari history prior to 1793.

GENEALOGY

Raja PITAMBAR SINGH Bahadur, 1st Raja of Maksudpur 1763/1824, reacting to the execution of his uncles and cousin in Munger at the hands of Nawab Mir Kasim, he led his troops from Murshidabad to the river Karamnasa to fight along with the British EIC against Nawab Mir Kasim and his allies in the Battle of Buxar in 1764, he finds mention in General Hector Munro’s dispatches for his personal bravery and prowess of his troops; later disillusioned with the growing influence of the British EIC in the Suba, he became the leader of resistance to British supremacy in Bihar, joining the rebellion of Raja Cheyt Singh of Benaras against Warren Hastings in 1781; he lost his patrimony with the consolidation of Pax Britannica in Bihar, the British EIC making the permanent settlement of 1793 on his younger cousin Mitrajit Singh, of the cadet line of the Tikari family, this position confirmed by Sannad of Nawab Mir Jaffar in the name of Emperor Shah Alam where a small part of the Tikari territory was carved out for him, representing haq-malikana (de jure overlordship) over the territories made over to Mitrajit Singh and thus became the 1st Raja of Maksudpur, establishing himself at the Maksudpur Fort; he expanded his territories, by annexing the Rajauli region and subjugating the local Tikait Rajas; married and had issue. He died in 1824.
- Raja Todar Narain Singh Bahadur (qv)

Raja TODAR NARAIN SINGH Bahadur, 2nd Raja of Maksudpur 1824/1853, married 1stly, Rani Rukmini Kuer (qv), married 2ndly, Rani Naina Kuer, died 1895, and had issue. He died in 1853.
- Maiya Jhunna Kuer (by Rani Rukmini Kuer), married Raja Gajadhar Prasad Narain Singh (see below), Zamindar of Chainpur Estate, Saran, and had issue.
  - Raja Rameshwar Prasad Narain Singh Bahadur (qv)
- - Raja Chandreshwar Prasad Narain Singh Bahadur (qv)
- - Kunwar Krishneshwar Prasad Narain Singh
- - Kunwar Jagganth Prasad Narain Singh

Rani Rukmini Kuer, 3rd Rani of Maksudpur 1853/1857 then Regent 1857/1859; she fought off the hostile claims of a collateral branch, and was confirmed in her inheritance under Act XIX of 1841 on 23rd November 1853; she adopted the minor son of her daughter and installed him on the Gaddi on 21st March 1857, and continued as Regent; she was openly sympathetic to the mutineers and was declared hostile by the British in 1857; consequently the Maksudpur Fort was de-militarised, cannons confiscated and retainers disarmed; she died in 1862.

Raja Gajadhar Prasad Narain Singh of Chainpur in Saran; Regent of Maksudpur 1859/1869, he built the Nauratan Temple and Rajmandir Palace at Maksudpur; he modernized the zamindari administration of the Raj; died 7th February 1877.

Raja RAMESHWAR PRASAD NARAIN SINGH Bahadur, 4th Raja of Maksudpur 1857/1902, born 29th March 1851, he became famous for capturing alive four, and killing two man-eating tigers responsible for taking more than a hundred human lives in the jungles around the Ramgarh – Hazaribagh section of the imperial road between Calcutta and Allahabad in 1876-77, taking the field after numerous attempts by noted British sportsman had failed to destroy any of the man-eaters, thereby succeeding in reopening the abandoned imperial road for mail and pilgrims, he sent two of the captured man-eaters to the newly opened Calcutta Zoo; he had a turbulent relationship with the British government, which noted that both civil and criminal justice systems failed to keep the Raja in check, the Government of Bengal ordered special survey and settlement operations on the Maksudpur Estate to curtail the customary and hereditary rights and privileges of the Raja; he was granted the title of Raja in 1891; married 1stly, Rani (name unknown) Kuer, married 2ndly, Rani Sunder Kuer, died 27th April 1912, and had issue, two daughters. He died 2nd December 1902.
- Maiya Godavari Kuer (Badi Bachhi), married Kanwar Bhagwati Saran Singh, Zamindar of Anapur Estate, Allahabad, and had issue, three daughters. She died 16th April 1917.
  - Badi Nanha, married Raja of Tamkuhi, Gorakhpur.
  - Majhli Nanha
  - Choti Nanha
- Maiya Muratmati Kuer (Choti Bachhi), married Shri Babu Har Kishen Prasad Shahi, and had issue.
  - Kumar (Raja Babu alias Bachha Babu)
  - Kumar Surendra Shahi
  - Kumari (name unknown) married in Dorra Estate.
    - Kumari (Sugga) married Kanwar Sukh Vansh Narain Singh of Asaurah Estate, Meerut.

Raja CHANDRESHWAR PRASAD NARAIN SINGH Bahadur, 5th Raja of Maksudpur 1902/1941, born 17th October 1859, he subsumed his paternal Chainpur Estate in the Maksudpur Raj; he was an aesthete and a scholar of Sanskrit and Persian, a gourmet under whose patronage the Maksudpur cuisine became famous, the ultimate of his kitchens being the ‘asharfi ka murabba’ (candied and edible gold soverigns); married 1stly, Rani (name unknown) Kuer, married 2ndly, Rani (name unknown) Kuer, sister of Raja Bahadur Harihar Prasad Singh of Amawan Raj, married 3rdly, Rani Deo Murat Kuer of Sain, and had issue, four daughters; in accordance with his will, from 1942 the Maksudpur Raj passed into the ownership of Goddess Bhagwatiji and the Raj became a trust for preserving the integrity of the inheritance and serving the people of the Raj. He died 28th September 1941 at Maksudpur.
- Rajkumari Janak Kishori Devi (by 1st wife), married, she died sp.
- Rajkumari Raj Kishori Devi (by 2nd wife), married Diwan Bahadur Kameshwar Narain Singh, Zamindar of Narhan Estate, and had issue.
- Rajkumari Krishna Kishori Devi (by 2nd wife), married Rai Sahib Raj Kishore Prasad Narain Singh of Maghra, Zamindar of Dharampur Estate, and had issue, two sons and four daughters.
  - Rajkumari Kishori Devi, married Kunwar Raghuraj Singh of Kundeshwar Estate, Ghazipur, and had issue.

- - - Kanwarani Prabha Singh, married Kanwar Yadhuvansh Narain Singh of Asaurah Estate, Meerut.

- - - Kunwar Virendra Narain Singh, IPS (1966), served as Commissioner of Police, Delhi; married Smt. Urmila Singh.

- - - Smt. Vibha Singh, married in the family of Zamindar of Kewatgama.

- - Raja Jagat Kishore Prasad Narain Singh Bahadur (qv)

- - Rajkumari Indira Singh, married Kunwar Mukund Madhav Prasad Narain Singh of Baraon Raj, Allahabad. She died sp.

- - Raja Ram Kishore Prasad Narain Singh Bahadur (qv)

- - Kunwarani Shyama Kishori Devi, married Kunwar Shree Ballabh Prasad Narain Singh of Baraon Raj, Allahabad, and had issue.

- - - Kanwar Shree Raman Singh, educated at Mayo College, Ajmer and Hindu College, Delhi University; married Kanwarani Deepali Singh, daughter of Kumar Bahadur Bishwanath Roy, Zamindar of Singhabad, Bengal.

- - Rajkumari Savita Singh, married Kunwar Narendra Sunder Narain Singh of Asaurah Estate, Meerut, and had issue.

- - - Kunwar Nagendra Sunder Narain Singh, educated at Mayo College, Ajmer and Hindu College, Delhi University; married Kanwarani Jaya Singh, daughter of Justice K.B.N. Singh of Pura.

- - - Kunwar Dhirendra Sunder Narain Singh, educated at Cambrian Hall and RIMC, Dehradun, married Kanwarani Preeti Singh of Sheohar Estate.

- - - Kunwar Satyendra Sunder Narain Singh, educated at Frank Anthony Public School, Delhi; married Kanwarani Kavita Singh, died around 1995.

- Rajkumari Girja Kishori Devi (by 2nd wife), married Jung Dhari Singh of Ainkhawn Estate, and had issue.

Raja JAGAT KISHORE PRASAD NARAIN SINGH Bahadur, 6th Raja of Maksudpur 1941/1993, born 7th March 1919 at Dharampur; Member, Rajya Sabha [3.4.1962] – [2.4.1968] and [10.4.1978] – [9.4.1984]; Vice President and General Secretary of the Swatantra Party (Bihar) and the Janta Party 1952/1971; Prominent member of the Bihar Landholders Association; Chairman, Gaya Development Authority 1985/1988); married Rani Chandra Prabha Singh of Sheohar Estate, and had issue, one son and one daughter. He died 4th March 1993 at Patna.
- Rajkumari Arti Singh, educated at All Saints, Nainital, Welham Girls School, Dehradun, and St. Beades, Simla; married Shri Apramita Prasad Singh, IAS (1964) and has issue, one daughter and two sons.
- Rajkumar Krishna Kishore Prasad Narain Singh, educated at Sherwood College, Nainital, St. Paul’s School, Darjeeling, The Doon School, Dehradun, North Point, Darjeeling, St. Stephen’s, Delhi and Magadh University, Gaya; married Smt. Shashi Singh of Baraon, and has issue, one daughter.
  - Kumari Devyangini Singh

Raja RAM KISHORE PRASAD NARAIN SINGH Bahadur, 7th Raja of Maksudpur 1993/2001, born 12th January 1922 at Dharampur, educated at Colonel Brown’s School, Dehradun and Mayo College, Ajmer; donated 2,000 acres of land at Rajauli to Sant Vinoba Bhave when he visited Gaya during the Bhoodan Movement; established the Maksudpur Refrigeration Industries Pvt. Ltd. in 1948; married Rani Chandravati Singh, daughter of Shri Baldeo Prasad Singh, Barrister-at-Law, and had issue. He died 15th March 2001 at Maksudpur.
- - Rajkumari Nirja (Singh) Guleri, born 25th February 1947, educated at Welham Girls School, Dehradun, and Lady Sri Ram College, Delhi; Television Producer, established Prime Channel and produced TV series ‘Chandrakanta’ etc.; married Shri S. S. Guleri, IAS (1964) and has issue.
    - Shrey Guleri, married on 30th October 2009, Rajkumari Bhawna Pratap Singh, daughter of Raja of Dilippur, Pratapgarh, U.P.

- - - Sahil Guleri

- Raja Ajai Singh Bahadur (qv)
- Rajkumar Vikram Singh, born 29th May 1949, educated at Welham Preparatory School, Dehradun, The Doon School, Dehradun, Hindu College and Faculty of Law, Delhi University; Worked with TISCO, Jamshedpur and Shaw Wallace, Delhi; married Smt. Sunita Singh, daughter of Shri S. N. Pandey, and has issue.
- - Kunwar Jai Singh
- - Kumari Neha Singh