Darbhanga Chronicles
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Darbhanga Chronicles

Updated: Jan 31

Darbhanga Raj, a province that was in modern-day Bihar, has had its roots since 1000 AD and has contributed immensely to the country. This royal family has harboured its people through some turbulent times, crafted skilful leaders and contributed virtually to the liberation of India.


“Darbhanga Chronicles” by Tejkar Jha introduces the royal family while documenting how the rulers played a crucial role pre and post-independence. The book is explored in six facets: history, amity, politics, vision, change, & journal.

 
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Contents


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Credits

This contribution is reviewed by Vaidurya Pratap Sahi, edited by Ahna Sahi.

 

Product

This anthology is available as ebook & paperback.



 

Part I

History

Unveiling the statue of Maharaja Rudra Singh.

The writings of Maithil authors dating back to 1000 A.D clearly mention the presence of the Kharouray Bhour alias Khandalvals of Bihar, the clan to which the Darbhanga Raj family belongs. The roots of the family may be traced to central provinces where men of this dynasty acquired large tracts of lands in the districts of Khandwa, Mandala and Jabalpur. This is the family, supposed to be the head of the Brahmins in Mithila, and they are Shrotriyas.

In 1919, Maharajadhiraja Sir Rameshwara Singhji, the Maharaja of Mithila, later called Darbhanga in Bihar, came from this family. The origin of this dynasty can be traced to Mahamahopadhyaya Gangadhar Jha, who lived in 1100 A.D. or thereabout and was a great scholar and writer of Sanskrit who lived in a village called Gangauli in Darbhanga. Sankarshan Thakur, the great-grandson of Gangadhar Upadhyaya, on account of his having acquired the village Khandwa, came to be called ‘Thakur’ instead of ‘Upadhyaya’, and this epithet is the name used by the Prince of Kathiawar acquired a great significance [1].

Sain Shankarshan was a great Yogi who possessed spiritual powers to such a degree that people used to call him a ‘Swami’ or ‘Sain’. Because he possessed Khandwa, his descendants began to be called ‘Khandwalas’ whose epithet is given to this day affixed to their names. Seventh in descent from Sankarshan Thakur was Chandra Thakur. He had four sons, viz. Megh Thakur, Thegh Thakur, Damodar Thakur and Mahesh Thakur. These four brothers lived in Bhour, a village in Darbhanga, where they established a school and imparted learning to their disciples.

Megh Thakur was also a great yogi who renounced all worldly desires and constantly worshipped his desired Deity or Ishtadevata. Thegh Thakur, the second son, walked in the footsteps of his elder brother. Damodar Thakur was well-versed in Mimamsa and Nyaya philosophy [2]. As for the youngest, Mahesh Thakur, he was a learned scholar of the six Darshana shastras [3] or schools of philosophy. Students flocked to them every day, and they taught them. Among the students, there was one named Raghunandan Jha, an intelligent boy devoted to his preceptors, who were, in turn, very kind to him.

At one time, Mahamahopadhyaya Megh Thakur felt a desire to increase the glory of the place where his ancestors had become famous, and as soon as his desire was expressed, his younger brothers, along with their pupil Raghunandan Jha, gladly consented to follow him. With this object in view, they all left for Khandwa. On reaching Khandwa, they made enquiries regarding their family history from Kesho Rao Kshatry of the Naga dynasty, who reigned there about 1540 A.D. They began to live there and gradually came to be honoured by the Prince. Before long, they became eager to travel to other places and, with intimation to the Prince, left the place with Raghunandan and arrived at Mandala.

After obtaining an interview with the Raja of Mandala, they gave proof of their vast erudition and excelled the Pandits of the Court in their surpassing wisdom. Dalapati Singh, Raja of Mandala, had an only daughter named Durgavati. He eagerly wished he could find, through God’s grace, a man for his daughter, coming from a noble family, intelligent and able to manage the state affairs. He was in constant anxiety on this account, and his mind knew no peace. The four brothers, who came to know of this thought which troubled the king, were sorry for him.

One day, the four brothers went to bathe in the river Narbada and found two men sleeping on the bank and a horse tied near them. One of these persons was being shaded by a big serpent which had its hood over his head. After properly performing their daily rites on the bank of Narbada, the brothers went to their abode and then made for the palace. There, they told the Raja that a man was sleeping on the bank of the river and that a serpent, Naga Deva, was throwing his shadow on him, which they assured him was a sure indication that he was destined to be a king. They requested him to marry his daughter to the man and to look upon him as his son.

The Raja agreed to the proposal and said that he was anxious till then, but his objective had been fulfilled. Those men, endowed with heavenly powers, went towards the bank and appeared before the sleeping persons. They found the two men sleeping, but the serpent had disappeared. A man aroused them under instruction from the Thakur brothers, and the travellers stood up and bowed to them. They were asked whether they were married or unmarried. To this, the fortunate Jado Rao replied in the negative. Thereupon, Mahamahopadhyaya Mahesh Thakur asked him which caste he belonged to. He replied that he was a Kshatriya and that his birthplace was Chhotanagpur. Mahesh Thakur further asked him whether he would marry the daughter of the king of that place, Gourh Kshatri, by caste. On the question of unequal marriage being raised, Jado Rao addressed Madho Rao in reply and said that he is a Nagavanshi Kshatri, and could not see how he could marry the daughter of one who was a Gourh Kshatri. To get out of this difficulty, the four brothers explained to him the injunctions of the Shastras [4] about the validity of such a marriage and relying on the rules of the Shastras, Jado Rao gave his consent. Mahesh Thakur and others then reached the palace with Jado Rao and saw the Raja, who received them with hospitality.


Mahesh Thakur said to the Raja, “This is the boy of whom I told you. He is a Nagavanshi Kshatri. The Raja, with folded arms, requested him to describe the origin of the Nagavanshi Kshatris. Jado Rao complied with his request and told Mahesh Thakur and his brothers that he would consent to the marriage on the condition that they would be his family preceptors. The noble-minded brothers agreed, and on this condition, the marriage took place. The Raja of Mandala made Jado Rao and Madho Rao subedars [5].

Rani Durgavati, with her husband Jado Rao, was initiated by Megh Thakur, and they daily started to learn the Puranas being chanted by the Thakurs. At that time, Durgavati showed great respect to Megh, Thegh, Damodar and Mahesh Thakurs and always attended to them. By chance, one day, Mahesh Thakur fell ill and asked pupil Raghunandan to read the Purana to the Rani Shaheba. Now, Raghunandan took with him another book by mistake, but when Rani Sahiba pointed out that that was a different book. Raghunandan, by the unlimited grace of the Goddess Saraswati, read over from that very book the same words as his Guru had done and in the same manner and then returned to his preceptor.

On the following day, when the Guru came to Rani Sahiba and enquired of her how his pupil had read the Purana, the Rani replied that he had read well, but that childishness in him had not disappeared. On this reply, Mahesh Thakur got angry, put forward the pretext of going on pilgrimage, and said to the Rani that they were all going to Jagannath. To this, the Rani implored them not to go but to take some wealth (close to a lakh of rupees in today’s terms) and stay there, saying that her religious and social rites would not be properly performed if they went away. But they could not be prevailed upon to remain there and, at last, made all arrangements for departure. The Rani ironically remarked, “You are going away, but I shall see with how many “halkas” of elephants you return”. This remark exasperated them more, and they left Mandala and arrived at Ratanpur.

The king of Ratanpur, hearing that the Guru of the Raja of Mandala had left in anger, came personally and received them. For some time, he kept them with him and afterwards made them his Gurus and got himself initiated. The four brothers, desirous to visit Jagannath, took leave of the Raja and departed from the place. The Raja of Bastar, who had heard of their learning and virtues in detail, came forward with his elephants, horses and soldiers and brought them to his place. The Raja of Bastar was a descendant of Yudhisthir. His kingdom was a gift of the Goddess Danteswari. The Goddess told the king of Delhi that there would in no time be tyranny of the Musalmans over the place and, therefore, instructed him to shift from the place. He left the place accordingly and found his kingdom towards the jungles, where there were also some disturbances. Hence, he left that place too, and Goddess Danteswari then said, “Oh my son, I want to give you a kingdom which will have stability, you advance, and I follow you, but the moment you look back, I will stop”. This being settled, the Raja began to proceed, and the Goddess followed him. In the course of their journey, when they arrived near the rivers Dankini and Sankini, which flow out from the kingdom of Bastar, the tickling sound of her anklets ceased. The Raja thereupon turned back, and immediately, the Goddess stopped. She told him that his kingdom would be situated there within a radius of 24 miles from that place. Even to this day, the Goddess Danteswari stands there, and the place is known as Danteswara.


The Raja of Bastar got proof of the learning of Mahesh Thakur, who was well-versed in the six shastras and excelled with the Pandits of his court. Therefore, the king was pleased with him and gave him a gift of 22 “Halkas” of elephants, which together made up 422. One of those elephants was of white colour. The four brothers got upon the elephants with their disciples and returned to Mandala. Queen Durgavati viewed the dark sky (which seemed to have assumed the colour of the elephants), which was being resounded by the sound of coming from the bells tied to the elephants required of her servants, who were the enemies that were coming to attack them. The servants, after enquiry, informed her that the Gurus and their pupils were advancing with a large number of elephants. The translation of sloka is as follows:


The Sun Lord of the Lotus was shining in the morning, but darkness having suddenly prevailed all were afraid thinking that Srikrishna was coming with his Chakra, but they were afraid without reason, for the sounds were coming from the bells tied to the elephants of Raghunandan who was advancing with the elephant and who had been prosperous through the kindness of the King of Bastar.

Hearing these words, Durgavati herself stepped forward and saw them in, and they lived at Mandala for some time. The white elephant they had with them was presented to Queen Durgavati.


At this time, Akbar Shah, Emperor of Delhi, sent a letter to them. Akbar had already heard of them, but on one occasion, when he attacked Dalpati Singh, Birbal had come to know of the achievements and glory of the brothers. Hence, he sent them an invitation letter, on receipt of which the brothers started with their elephants and reached Jabalpur, where they found a big image of the Goddess Kankali, which is at present installed at Darbhanga.

On reaching Delhi, the Thakurs fixed their abode and engaged themselves in the performance of their religious rites while they sent their pupil Raghunandan to the Court where a large number of Pandits had assembled. As requested by Raghunandan, the four brothers appeared in the Court of Akbar. The Emperor rose up from his seat and received them in a manner as befitted their vast learning. Then, the Shastric discussion began. Mahesh Thakur, who was well-versed in the six Shastras, defeated the Court Pandits as well as the other Pandits who had assembled there. The Emperor then conferred on him the kingdom of Mithila on the ground that the government of Mithila, where the Maithils lived, would be properly carried on by one who was a Maithil, and he placed the Danpatra (deed of gift) before Mahesh Thakur in the presence of the persons assembled. But he did not take it, and thereupon, Raghunandan, believing that his Guru did not take it as it would not be proper for him to accept a gift from a Yavana [6], picked up the deed of gift knowing that he would have to give some Guru Dakshina.

When they reached their abode, Raghunandan placed the Danpatra at the feet of Guru, saying that when his Guru declined to take it from the hand of Mohammadon Emperor, he had taken it and was giving it as Dakshina - dues of the pupil to his Guru, on completion of his education. On receiving the kingdom, all of them started for Darbhanga; the place was then governed by Darbhangi Khan. They showed the Danpatra to him, but he was not ready to give up the kingdom without fighting. They had with them all the equipment for fighting, so a battle began. By the grace of the Goddess Bhagawati, all the soldiers of Darbhangi Khan perished in the battle. Then a heavenly voice was heard, which was as follows: “He who will go against my son Mahesh, shall perish, being overpowered by Kankali”. At this voice, Darbhangi Khan surrendered; when they got possession of the place, none of the brothers agreed to rule, as Mahesh Thakur had to take the task of ruling upon himself. After this, Megh Thakur went to Bastar, Thegh Thakur to Mandala and Damodar Thakur to Ratanpur. Megh Thakur received from the Raja of Bastar 15 villages a grant of 180 rupees per annum, which his descendants still receive. Thegh Thakur got from Mandala 52 villages, and Damodar Thakur received from Ratanpur 10 villages and a grant of 1800 rupees per annum; these grants received were in possession of the descendants of Megh Thakur until lately when they were resumed.

The territories of Mahamahopadhyaya Mahesh Thakur extended from the Ganges to the Himalayas and from Kaushiki to the Gandaki River. In 1564 A.D. Ashif Khan, the Nawab of Karamanakpur attacked Guru Mandala. Rani Durgavati, with two Subedars, met the Moghuls. Jado Rao and Madho Rao, with Rani Durgavati, had been twice victorious in Shringberpur. On the second occasion, he was declared Raja of Shringberpur. When the third battle began, Rani Durgavati, seeing that her soldiers were dying in numbers, put on her armour and rushed on the field of the battle. When she thought that there was no hope of her being able to defeat the powerful enemy, she took a dagger (kathar) from the ‘Maout’ of her elephant, thrust it into her stomach and perished. Her soldiers that had remained now dispersed, and Madho Rao was killed. Jado Rao founded a village about 200 miles from that place and maintained some soldiers there. Afterwards, he was victorious in some places, extended his possessions and was able to become a Feudatory Chief. The story of the battle is written on the ‘Choutra Durgavati’, which exists even now.

 

Footnotes

  1. Thakur symbolised power in the social sector in terms of governance, and upadhyay denoted prowess in the knowledge domain.

  2. Nyaya can be roughly translated as logic and reasoning. Whereas mimansa was the science or methodology for analysis of dharmashastra and its interpretation from time to time and set the mechanism to change the social and religious rules governing everyday life in accordance with change occurring in society on the time dimension.

  3. Darshan Shastras refers to 6 schools of philosophy. Though all 6 of these darshans are part of Vedic scriptures, Sankhya, Patanjali and Vedant are theistic (ishwarvadi) whereas Nyay, Vaisheshik and Mimansa are atheistic (anishwarvadi) philosophies.

  4. Yavana, in early Indian literature, is either a Greek or another foreigner. The word appears in Achaemenian (Persian) inscriptions in the forms Yauna and Ia-ma-nu and refers to the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, who were conquered by the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great in 545 BC.

  5. Subedars were appointed by sovereign kings as chiefs of a fragment or part of the state.

  6. Shastra is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.

 

Part II

Amity

Durbar Hall. Picture Credit: Tejkar Jha

The early decades of the twentieth century were a politically active period for the Indian Subcontinent. The Indian National Congress, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi (Gandhiji), was gaining strength and public support. People were coming out against the British Government and the British people, especially the executive class in India. Bengal presidency was the most volatile region, being the first to be controlled by the British; it was simmering with great discontent and distrust. Gandhiji’s struggle against British suzerainty took great momentum after his successful protest against the British planters engaged in Indigo farming and production in Champaran, Bihar.

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However, soon after the First World War, the Indigo industry slipped into a crisis due to the discovery and production of synthetic blue dyes in Germany, which was a detrimental blow to the indigo planters in British India. This led to a shift from indigo to sugarcane, and soon, north Bihar had at least 25 huge sugar factories. These factories, in addition to a large number of crushing mills, were producing raw sugar and jaggery. These mills and sugar factories were generally owned by zamindars and, to some extent, old British indigo planters.

 

The Danbys


As an aftermath of the post-Champaran movement and post-World War, British Indigo planters began to sell off their properties and return to their native place or migrate to African countries. Some of them stayed back to see if time would change for them.

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In Hursinghpur, near Samastipur, there was an old “Danby” family [1] maintaining and running the sugar factory at Bowarrah [2]. This factory previously produced indigo, but now it was refitted with new machinery to produce sugar. It was supported by a huge farm and equally beautiful farmhouse or ‘Kothi’ [i]. The Danby family had migrated to India as late as 1901 in search of green pasture. But alas! They arrived when India was taking a firm stand to get independent. The distrust between the “subject” and “masters” was absolute. For an Indian, any man with white skin was an oppressor, and for any British, a native was not on par with them racially.

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Gerald, along with his brother Edward and father, settled down at Bowarrah. Being of very pleasant personality and a very good polo player [3], they soon developed good relationships with the Darbhanga Raj family [ii]. Maharajakumar Kameshwar Singh [iii] and his younger brother Viseshwar Singh, popularly known as ‘Babuji’ were very fond of Gerald, though they were quite younger than Gerald. Both the brothers began visiting Bowarrah to play polo with the Danbys and vice versa. Gerald, being older and having come from England after completing his studies, soon began to change the outlook of both the brothers. On the one hand, Kameshwar learned about modern industrialization, the share market and modern farming from the Danbys, while Viseshwar took polo as a serious sport for himself.

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The Darbhanga Raj had a big horse stud farm at Pusa, near Samastipur, and hence, horses required for the game were not a problem. Soon, the Darbhanga polo team began to be counted among the top teams in India. They won the prestigious Carmichael Cup at Kolkata many times. This led to the establishment of friendly terms with many big ruling chiefs of India as well as British Officers. The socialization through polo began to fetch good results for Darbhanga in other fields, too. The bond between Gerald and the princes grew stronger and stronger.

Picture Credit: Tejkar Jha

By 1928, almost all the British planters had left Bihar. In July 1929, Maharaja Sir Rameshwar Singh left the world, and Kameshwar Singh succeeded him as Maharaja at the young age of 22 years. Soon, the Danbys, too, decided that the time in India was up for them. They sold off their factory and farm to Darbhanga Raj and came to Kolkata to board the ship to London. Both the brothers came to see them off. As the family took leave of the friends and was about to board the ship, the young Maharaja held Gerald's hands and looked into his eyes. Tears welled up, Kameshwar murmured, “Gerald, I need you. Darbhanga needs you”. The whole family boarded the ship; Gerald took his bag and returned with his Maharaja to Darbhanga.

Till now, Gerald had limited exposure to Raj Darbhanga. The young Maharaja took him as his personal assistant in the head office. Soon, he found out that Darbhanga was the largest zamindari of Bihar and had a very bureaucratized setup of administration, but still, the revenue was not very good. The expense on charity was a bit too high, and so little fund was available for other development work. Both the friends discussed the plan thoroughly, and Gerald, now the Chief Manager of Raj Darbhanga, set out to conquer the sky for his Maharaja.

Gerald took over the mantle to develop the zamindari and freed the Young Maharaja from the zamindari duties so that he could dedicate himself to other important works such as politics, industrialization and investments in the world market. Gerald had a very good eye for good workers and managers. He appointed a circle manager [iv] in each of the 12 circles inherited. He introduced new land reform measures such as the “land rent remission scheme”, which was related to the productivity of the land and the tenant’s ability to pay. As a result, the tenantry began to look towards him as a fatherly figure. Productivity rose to make the peasants happy, and the sugar industry began to thrive and brought in more and more spendable funds. He began acquiring more and more land and soon had four new circles added to the 12 inherited ones, and all the circles became bigger and bigger. The boundaries of Raj Darbhanga spread across 2400 square miles.

 

The Act of God


In 1934, North Bihar suffered its most destructive earthquake. Raj Darbhanga was badly shaken. All the buildings, palaces, offices, hospitals, and schools were destroyed. Darbhanga town itself looked like it had been nuked. The Maharaja was at Calcutta. He rushed to Darbhanga and sat with his Chief Manager and other officers. He told them, “Look, one should take this as a challenge, a God-gifted challenge to make our Darbhanga more beautiful. Come on! Let’s start with a new zeal. Let us reconstruct our Darbhanga.”


The Raj had a tough time negotiating with the government, and a new Darbhanga Development Authority was appointed. More than two and a half crore rupees were spared for the people of Darbhanga as help from the Raj for reconstruction. Danby and his handpicked men started working, and lo and behold!


Picture Credit: Tejkar Jha

In just one and a half years, a new Darbhanga emerged, so fine, so well planned that the Viceroy, Lord Willingdon and his wife came down to inspect and stay at Darbhanga for a couple of days. Every palace, temple, office quarter, road, lamp-post, dustbin alongside roads, and plantation of trees were personally supervised.


In 1934, after the earthquake, Gandhiji gave a statement against the people of Bihar [4], for which he was opposed by the people with black flags wherever he went. On his visit to Bihar, he came to Darbhanga too [5]. It was the worst affected place, and hence, the government thought that the opposition to Gandhiji here would be worse. But the Maharaja asked his younger brother and Danby to personally receive Gandhiji and look after him. They sat beside Gandhiji while he spoke to the crowd. Not a single flag was raised nor a single slogan was shouted. Such was Danby’s rapport with the people.


Managing the Darbhanga Raj was not a joke. He had to look after the zamindari, its revenue, administration, the complaints of the tenants, taxation, and relationship with the colonial government, as well as the political parties looking for more donations and personal benefits. In 1935-37, the peasants revolted at a few places in Bihar against the oppression by the zamindars. The local leaders of Congress tried to instigate the peasants under the Darbhanga Raj too. They almost succeeded, but due to personal handling of the situation by Danby, the issue subsided. He not only saw to it that the issue was nipped in the bud but also exposed the designs of local Congress leaders through his extensive interviews in the media and placement of facts with proofs. Darbhanga Raj saw no major revolt or violence. The Maharaja took up the issue with the Congress central leadership, and after a hectic negotiation with the government, a new Bihar Tenancy Act 1936 [6] was promulgated to bring relief to the tenants of other zamindars in Bihar.


Picture Credit: Tejkar Jha

Now was the time when new things could be experimented with. Maharaja asked Danby to introduce Cooperatives in the Villages and to give them seed money. Several agro-industries were set up and every department was modernized. Special attention was paid to the maintenance of the irrigation system, and never was the Raj a defaulter in tax payments. Huge investments in industrial ventures, mines, etc, across the globe started to bring in more and more money.


Both the Maharaja and Danby planned to make Darbhanga a model state. But by 1946, it became clear that India would get independent in the next two years and that Congress would abolish/take over the zamindaris. Danby, after a long deliberation, presented a plan to the Maharaja. He said that the zamindari would be gone, and the Raj would not be able to support such a big army of staff. So, there should be gradual retrenchment. He asked himself to be removed as he was getting Rs 3500/- per month as salary and other perks, and he had not much of work other than management of Zamindari. Thus, he would be too expensive and of no use to the Raj. The Maharaja asked for some time to think on the issue and to wait until the zamindari was actually taken over by the government.


In 1948, the state government brought in legislation to take over the zamindaris. Darbhanga filed a writ, and the government lost. The amendment to the new constitution was done, and the Right to Property was removed from the Fundamental Rights in 1951. The Raj again moved the court, and the government was about to lose the battle when a meeting was called at Darbhanga House Patna and Pt. Nehru [7] asked the Maharaja to give up for the sake of Democracy and was obliged.


Now Danby pressed to be relieved. His entire family had shifted to England. The Maharaja would not let go of his friend. Danby was asked to look after the industries in Kolkata. So Danby was accorded a final farewell as Chief Manager and was sent to Kolkata. But Danby knew that he was not contributing his bit to the Raj but drawing much more.

​

One fine day, he flew off to England without telling anybody, even the Maharaja. The Maharaja, when he came to know about it, was very upset, very angry. Time passed. Things began to look up. Maharaja usually stayed in New Delhi now. In one of the social evenings, he came across Danby in 1953. Danby kept quiet; the Maharaja also did not wish him but made some very sarcastic remarks indirectly. After a few days, Danby wrote a letter to his Maharaja, an 8-page letter, at times called him “Kameshwar”, at times “My Maharaja”, and at times just “K”.


Picture Credit: Tejkar Jha

He wrote, ‘I had to go as I was just a huge burden on your exchequer’, ‘Do you remember the effect of just one word of yours on me? I had disembarked from the ship, taking my entire family to England. Do you think I could have ever been able to leave Darbhanga if I heard again that Darbhanga needs me.’ He went on to say, “K, my entire family was in England. If I stayed back now, I won’t be able to go back to them forever.” Danby writes, “My Maharaja, you and I took Raj Darbhanga to a place as high as this, achieving more than 25% average annual growth. And all because I never heeded to the impact of the people’s attitude. The natives never trusted me as I was a British, and my own countrymen did not trust me as I worked for a native King. I had only one thing to consider, and that was our friendship, the love and affection of Babuji. It will remain the same. I did not reply to your sarcastic comments just because you are my Maharaja, my friend and my Kameshwar.”


The letter cleared the heart of the Maharaja. He met the family whenever he went to England and played host to them in India. But Danby never went back to Darbhanga. In 2010, his grandson Robert came to visit Darbhanga, and he saw the Danby's bungalow, the statue of Lord Ganesh put up by his grandmother and the Danby Road and the whole of Darbhanga. He said, “Till his last days Gerald would say ‘My Darbhanga’ and ‘My Maharaja’”, and tears would start flowing as words would become silent.

 

Notes


i. Kothi is a term used for the houses of Planters initially in the 17th and 18th centuries in Bihar.

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ii. The family has the zamindari of Sarkar Tirhut. Sarkar Tirhut was known as Darbhanga as it was its capital. Sarkar Tirhut consisted of the revenue zone as a unit extending north of river Ganges upto the Tarai of Nepal


iii. Maharajakumar was the term used for the person designated to succeed the Maharaja.


​iv. The entire zamindari was divided into small areas for the ease of administration and this was known as a ‘Circle’

 

​References

  4. Kindly refer to the reports in the newspapers of 1934 and the CID reports in the Bihar State Archives.

  6. Papers of Dr Rajendra Prasad, compiled and edited by Dr Balmiki Singh, published in 14 volumes from Rajendra Smriti Trust.

  7. This is mentioned in the memoirs of Mazharul Haq, who was a very famous Congress leader from Bihar.

 

Part III - VI


The rest of the chapters are book exclusive!




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