PRESENT RULER:  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.
|
PREDECESSORS AND SHORT 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. Rulers were ....
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Raja AJAI SINGH
Bahadur, 8th Raja of Maksudpur (see above)
OTHER MEMBERS:
- Kumar Surendar Shahi of Maksudpur Gaya Bihar,
married Kumari Hemlata Shahi, and has issue.
- Shri Sanjay Shahi B.Com. (Hons.), born 3rd October
1971, married in New Delhi, Nitu (Shahi), and has
issue.
|
