Mithila and Maithil

The Restored Ma Dulareswari Kali Mandir of Banaili on 12.4.2011

2011-08-07T02:43:00.000-07:00

Dakshin-Kali Mandir-5.2.2011,The Garbha-griha and the outer walls are restored

2011-02-08T23:25:00.000-08:00

28.11.10,The Dome was saved

2011-02-08T23:21:00.000-08:00

3.11.2010, Restoration project was started with cleaning of weeds

2011-02-08T23:18:00.000-08:00

The Kali Temple in 2010

2011-02-08T23:16:00.001-08:00

The Dakshin Kali Mandir of Banaili in 2000A.D.

2011-02-08T23:14:00.000-08:00

The Dakshin-Kali Mandir of Banaili

2011-02-08T23:12:00.000-08:00

Raja Dular Singh Bahadur, the first titled Raja of the Banaili Clan who lived between 1750 and 1821 A.D. had built his Capital at a place called Banaili in the district of Purnea. Along with the fortress and the township he had also constructed a Temple of Bhagwati Kali. Although the Capital was later abandoned around 1856, by his successors, the Temple has survived 161 monsoons of desertion and neglect and stands as a relic of the glorious past.
Last September, under the leadership of the Local Mukhiya Sri Dilip Gupta and with the co-operation of the Villagers, we decided to make an attempt to save this Temple, which claims to be the oldest Monument of the Banaili Family and probably also the oldest surviving Monument in the District.
I had this project on my mind, for the last ten years, ever since I had visited this place in course of my research for my Book ‘Banaili, Roots to Raj’. I had shared my dream with my friend Deepaknandan Singh who happens to be a close relative and part of our extended family. We started to dream together and soon found another ally, my brother Udayanand Sinha.
The Project was finally started on 3.11.2010 with the cleaning up of jungle-like growth of weeds that had entered every crack and crevice of the dilapidated structure. We started to lose hope when we saw the amount of damage that had been done. But the temple that had withheld itself for more than 2 centuries seemed to give us a last chance. It withheld, and we proceeded carefully, step by step, and succeeded in saving the Dome of the Temple. Once this difficult task was accomplished we decided to face the other challenges like saving the thirteen arches that supported its doorways.
At long last, by the end of the 1st week of February, we reached a position where it could be proudly said that the Temple was finally saved. Apart from the Villagers who contributed with their continuous Kar-Seva under the able leadership of the Mukhiya, many members of the Banaili Clan, hailing from different branches like Srinagar, Taranagar, Ramnagar, Champanagar,Garh-banaili and Sultangunj joined us with their valuable contributions.
The completion of restoration work was marked by the installation of a new Vigraha of Mother Dakshin Kali which was sculptured by the able hands of Padmashree Sri Raghunath Mahapatra of Cuttack. The installation ceremony took place amidst elaborate rituals and great rejoicing on the 12th of April 2011.

2010-03-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

Durga Puja and Mithila
The festival of Durga Puja is very important for the Maithils. It is observed in the month of Ashwin during the first ten days of the brighter fortnight. Durga, the combined manifestation of all Shakti is worshipped along with her three counterparts namely Kali, Lakshmi and Saraswati, her consort Shiv, and her sons Kartik and Ganesh.
She is worshipped in every household, mostly at the Alter of the Family goddess (Gosownak Chinbaar) where a Shanti Kalash is kept and elaborate rituals are carried on for ten days. On the eighth and ninth day special offerings are made. Kheer, Puree and sweets (Patair) are offered to the deities, whereupon unmarried young Brahmin girls are worshipped and fed. In some households goat sacrifice is also prevalent.

The tradition of worshipping clay idols at Durga-puja is very old in Mithila as within the Banaili family it had been started by Parmanand Chaudhary at Amour-Garh, as early as 1750. At every residential set-up of the family, a hall of worship called the Devighara was built for the annual Puja of goddess Durga. Expert artisans, who lived within the estate, made and decorated several clay idols for the Durga-puja.
In the old district of Darbhanga the earliest clay Idol worship was started at village Navtol. Later Maharajadhiraja Rameswar Singh started Durga puja with great fanfare at Rajnagar. Durga Puja at Singhbaar and Pindaruch were also very famous.

Deorhi Krishnagarh at Dusk

2010-03-14T03:51:00.000-07:00

The old Devighara (Durga Sthhan) of Banaili at Asarganj

2010-03-14T03:30:00.000-07:00

The Newly restored Devighara of Asarganj-picture taken on 7.3.2010

2010-03-14T03:24:00.000-07:00

The newly restored singhdwar of the Devighara at Asarganj

2010-03-14T03:08:00.000-07:00

deorhi banaili champanagar in 1918

2010-03-14T01:59:00.000-08:00

Domahala Palace at Deorhi Banaili-Champanagar

2009-04-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

The Palace at Deorhi Garh-Banaili

2009-04-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

2009-04-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

Mithila Folk Songs

Around the seventies of the last century, Lalit Narayan Misra, the then Railway Minister of India and a true son of Mithila, created history by discovering, patronizing and promoting one facet of the hidden cultural heritage of Mithila. He brought to the notice of the world, the exclusive style of traditional Mithila paintings, which came to be recognized as Madhubani school of Paintings. Today this school of Art is well recognized all around the world.
Mithila has a very rich cultural Heritage. Most of it is still lying unnoticed. My present work is related to one among the many unexplored regions within the vast cultural heritage of Mithila.
Since the time of the great Maithil poet Vidyapati, this region was enriched with excellent poetry which was sung by the elite as well as the common people, round the year and especially on various auspicious occasions. Naturally, good music accompanied good poetry. Lilting tunes were created. Like Indian classical Ragas, exclusive tunes were kept aside for every season or occasion.
These songs were passed from mouth to mouth, like the Vedas, from mother to daughter, down the generations. The tunes have quivered but have not been altered much. However, they create an illusion, of being bereft of any systematic beat or Taal.
Taking initial encouragement from my late mother, who was a fine singer of these age-old tunes, I took to learning more and more of Maithili geet. Soon this developed into a full fledged research into maithili folk and Maanglik Music. Extensive training in Indian classical vocal music, which I had taken earlier, came to be very useful, as I discovered, much to my delight that these vintage songs had been created in specific beats or Taal. Most of these beats or Taal were, and still are, being used in intricate renderings of classical music. It only goes to prove the level of sophistication that had been achieved by the maithils, in their day to day music, centuries ago.It is my effort to make a detailed research of these melodies and to present them to the world, in their original form, organized with their respective taal. This mission accompanied, one will come face to face with our rich musical legacies.

New Article-Panjee-Prabandh and the Caste-system among the Maithil –Brahmins

2009-02-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

It all started in the year 1326 A.D.(Shaka 1248) when it was felt, by one and all that it was absolutely necessary to save the contemporary society of Mithila or Tirhut from immigrants who came from all directions and tried to mingle with the natives by claiming to have similar caste status.
Stronger implementation of laws related to preserving of genetic purity was also the need of the hour. So the Elite men of contemporary Tirhut or Mithila decided to start the compilation of a directory of all the eminent men along with a description of their marriages. This compilation was called Panjee-Prabandh[1].
This Panjee-Prabandh was started for the benefit of all the higher sections of the society namely- Brahmins, Rajputs and Kayasthas. But the Rajputs gradually moved out of it owing to their frequent marriage relations outside Tirhut and only the eminent Brahmins and Kayasthas (Karn Kayasthas) continued to make use of the this system of compilation and registration which came to be known as Harisingh Deviya Panjee Prabandh, in remembrance of the King (Harisingh Dev) who had initiated it.
Marriage has been one of the oldest social institutions among all the civilizations of the world and every society has its own laws to govern this institution. Among the Hindus, marriage has been incorporated as one of the ten Sanskaar, which every believer is expected to go through since conception in one’s mother’s womb till one’s death. Purity of blood and lineage was ensured through regulations related to the institution of marriage.
Following the initiation of the Panjee-Prabandh, a particular family was deputed to investigate, or look for details of lineage of eminent men. They were called Panjikaars or Registrars of marriage. Every Brahmin tried to trace his lineage, back to as many generations, as was known to him[2], with details of marriages into other families, and every personal distinction of a forefather. This list was submitted to the Panjikaar, who entered the given information into a register, after verifying it for correctness, thus giving shape to a directory.
Though, qualifications like personal education, intellect and social behavior were looked for, in a person or his lineage, before placing him in a specific strata, such men who could give details of their 16 blood bloodlines[3] or Kul, and had married within the prescribed limits were called Avadaat, meaning pure by birth. A good Brahmin was allowed to marry a girl who was—
Not of the same Gotra,
More than 6 generations away from any ancestor on the paternal side and more than 5 generations away from any ancestor on the maternal side,
Not an offspring of any grandfather, paternal or maternal.
Not a Sapinda of one’s mother, and
Not an offspring of the brother of one’s step-mother.
Consequent to the varsity of the lists entered in the directory, similar families were placed in specific categories or strata.
Five divisions of Brahmins were formed. They were Aeyaant, Baaraant, Maddhyamaa, Bhrashtaa, and Atibhrashtaa. The first three categories consisted of 34 groups of Brahmins (or 34 mool [4]as they were called). The above-mentioned categories or strata were based on the number of good marriages within a family, personal distinction, and abstinence from marriage within the prohibited bloodline.
Mool, is actually, the name of the common ancient abode or origin of a group of Brahmins. People of each Mool or group, mostly, had a common family and forefather. They originally lived at one place, and in subsequent generations, drifted towards other places. Mool was the name of the common ancestral abode of ancient times and the Mool-Graam was the branch, i.e. the common ancestral abode of less ancient times. When we say that one’s Mool is Sodarpuriye-sarisab, we mean that Sodarpur is the Mool and Sarisab is the Mool-Graam. Similarly when we say that one’s Mool is Alayebaar-Baar, we mean that Alayee is the Mool and Baar is the Mool-Graam. This person’s oldest abode was at Alayee but during later years his ancestors shifted and stayed at Baar. Therefore Baar is a branch of Alayee.
With passage of time many branches and sub-branches of the same Mool cropped up and were all entered in the registers of the Panjikaars.[5]
In the beginning the Panjee (Register) was only a record book which contained genealogical details of every family and certified that the marriages were made outside the prohibited sphere. It did not meddle with the caste-status of a Mool due to intermarriages with families of lower strata. As long as one married a person of pure Brahmin bloodline his own status was not affected. But with time, several changes took place within the Harisingh deviya Panjee-Prabandh which altered the original purpose of the system itself.
With passage of time, every new branch or sub-branch of a Mool, now depicted, not only the change of abode but also started suggesting the demotion of the said branch of a mool for having married into a family that was of a lower strata or was a social offender in any way. Mostly led by their inert nomadic nature, the Brahmins would seldom stick to one village as their permanent home and would move to a new place after every few generations, and this occurrence would mostly coincide with a marriage made with a person of a different caste or social status than one’s own.
Eg. The Baigni sub-branch of the Alayaibaar-Baar came into existence when Dharmadhikarnik Gadadhar Jha of the above-mentioned Mool married a girl from Kaligaam mool (This mool was not within the first 34 Mools) and his children out of this marriage shifted to a new abode at Baigni. Thus his descendents were registered in the Panjee as Alayebaar Baigni.
Consequently several branches and sub-branches of a Mool belonging to the above mentioned three strata became insignificant in the eyes of the Panjikaars and other masters of the society. Having made marriages within the lower strata, they had lost their high status. Once, having become insignificant, they were rarely kept for registration in the Panjee.
Now, on one hand, the social status of a learned Brahmin was elevated or maintained when he, inter-related (in marriage) with other learned Brahmin families of high repute. On the other hand there was a marked deterioration in his caste status when he married low, or committed a social offence.
Thus, with time the universal purpose of the Harisingh Deviya system was curtailed. It was reduced to the status of a record–keeper of the elevated 34 mools. The Shaakhaa-Panjee which forms a major portion of the Panjee-Prabandh has very little to do with the remaining 130 (approximate) mools except that it was compelled to mention their genealogical charts as and when they happened to make marriage relations with the superior 34. However, a separate Mool Panjee was maintained by the local Panjikaars to keep the genealogical details of the remaining 130 mools. It may be noted that approximately 164 Mools[6] exist even today.
As time passed and the learned Brahmin society became distinctly divided on grounds of high and low marriages, (a system which sought basis from the categorizations made at the beginning of the Panjee-prabandh, namely-Aeyaant, Baaraant Madhhyamaa, Bhrastaa and Ati-bhrashtaa), five categories were formed. They were- Shrotriya, Yogya, Panjeebaddh, Vanshadhar and Jaiwaar.
Here, let us first know about the word ‘Shrotriya’, not only as a definite section of the Maithil Brahmin society, as is generally understood by the word, but the actual meaning of the term. According to Smriti, the highest manifestation of Brahminism was called “Shrotriya”.

“Janmanaa braahmano gyeyah sanskaaraad dwija-uchchyatay
Vidyayaa yaati vipratwam tribhih shrotriya uchchyatay”

Man, when born of pure Brahmin parents, is called a Brahmin. He attains the position of a Dwija after going through various Sanskaar or sanctifying rituals. Only after receiving proper and high education, he deserves the title of a Vipra. When a person has all the above three qualifications he attains the exalted position of a “Shrotriya”.
In the beginning only the meritorious, were adorned with the title and it was regarded as a personal decoration. In spite of being a member of the Aeyaant and Baaraant one would be addressed as Shrotriya only if he qualified for it and his son could keep his father’s title only on grounds of personal merit. But with the passage of time the above mentioned qualifications were limited to gratification of the first and second only i.e. Purity of blood and passing through a chain of Brahministic rituals. The third but the most important criterion of education and scholarly life was gradually forgotten. Now, one could retain his Shrotriyaship merely on the basis of birth and rituals. In this way the true meaning of the word was preferred to be forgotten by the ones who held the title and subsequently evolved as the highest class of Maithil Brahmin society.
So, when we say that Alayee(Alaybaar) or Darihara(Dariharae) is a Shrotriya Mool we mean that Alayee as well as Dariharae had already evolved as a Shrotriya division at the initiation of the Panjee-Prabandh, having fulfilled all the three requirements that have been mentioned and discussed above.

Shrotriya or Soit
After studying the classification of 34 Mools into the three sections namely Aeyaant, Baaraant and Madhyamaa, we find that the first 20 in Ayaant and Baaraant came to be held as Shrotriya or Soit. Only two Madhyamaa Mools named Surgane and Ekhare and one Atibhrashtaa Mool named Fanebaar was raised to Shrotriya-ship during later times, and all these three instances were affected through the influential interference of Royal families when they made marriage relations with the three Mools. Between the Aeyaant and Baaraant only Alayee and Baherarhi could not retain their high position and fell in rank.

Jogya or Jog
In the beginning, there was no classification called Yogya. This was created later, to mark such people among the Shrotriya (Aeyaant and Baaraant) who had married among the Panjeebadh or Madhyamaa. To further establish this point of view, a list of some of the top class Yogya families that were in full swing of status till 1925, is placed below.

Name of Mool----------------------------Village
Palibaar-Jamdauli- Saraiyaa, Betia
Sodarpuriye-Kanhauli- Mangrauni
Ghusaute-Nagwaar of Ram Thakur- Bhattsimair
Khowaare-Mahuaa- Ranitol
Tisaute-kuaa- Raanti
Maandar-jagaur- Kakraur
Budhwaare-Pariaam- Koilakh
Mandare-Singhauli- Jamsam
Ghusaute-Nagwaar- Samaul
Sarisabe-Khaangur- Chankaa
Palibaar-Mangrauni- Mangrauni

It can be noticed that all the above houses belonged to the top 20 Mools. There were several instances of marriage relations between the above mentioned houses and the Shrotriya, and these were acceptable to the higher-fold. Yogya also includes the three Madhyamaa mools of Baliase-Narsaam (of Salempur and Ranitol), Digho Sannahpur (of Singhwara) and Belauche-Sudai (of Banu Chhapra, Betia) which were elevated at a later stage.

Panjeebadh
Comprising of the 14 Madhyamaa Mools, the Panjeebadh were popularly addressed as Bhalmaanus. The Panjeebadh frequently intermarried with Yogya and aspired for the latter position. Such people who were adorned with a Paainj but were lower than the Shrotriya and Yogya were called Panjeebadh.

Vanshdhar
Similar to Yogya, another class came into gradual existence, consisting of Brahmins who were Shrotriya but had fallen low by marrying out of the 34 Mools. Although this demotion never took place during the earlier years of classification, it became a common feature during the later couple of centuries when a derogatory Mool-graam was attached to their Mool.
Example:-
Kharore-gurdi –(Kharore being an Ayaant Mool and gurdi depicting the low marriage and change of abode. (Rangpura)
Maander-Kataiyaa – (Maander being an Ayaant Mool and Kataiyaa depicting the low marriage and change of abode. (Tetri in Bhagalpur)
Dariharae-Bargaon (Pilakhwar and Malapur near Gorakhpur)

This category was held in high esteem by the Jaiwaar because of having a male lineage from the Aeyaant and Baaraant.
In spite of being placed higher than the Jaiwaar the early birds were not as fortunate as those who followed their footsteps, during later years and were exempted from the dishonor of a derogatory Mool-graam. During the last couple of centuries such occurrences became so frequent because of the newly initiated Bikowaa system, ( to be dealt with later and separately) that the Panjikaars started to ignore the necessity of adorning such Vanshdhars with a derogatory Mool-graam. Thus the later offenders were exempted of dishonour and continued to keep their original Mool and Mool-Graam. There are several Brahmins of Shrotriya and Yogya Mool in the old districts of Purnea and Saharsa who hold the position of a Vanshdhar but are exempted of the derogatory Mool-gram.
E.g.—
Kharore-Bhaur families in Raghunathpur, Ramai and Madanpur (Purnea)
Kujilwar-Bhakhrauli families in Kaajhi and Chikni (Purnea)

There were very few instances where a Vanshdhar was awarded with a Paainj and was thus elevated to the rank of a Panjeebadh.
Eg. Hariambe-Aahil of Bishnupur in Purnea

Jaiwaar
Lastly came the Jaiwaar,[7] whose Mool was lower than the first 34 and were initially recorded as Bhrastaa and Ati-bhrastaa at the initiation of the Panjee-Prabandh and were barely mentioned in groups such as la-da-fha-dha meaning Lagurdah, Dahibhat, Fanandah (fanebaar) and Dhanauj. Out of these Fanebaar was promoted to the status of a Panjeebadh and later to that of Shrotriya when Maharaja Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga Raj married a daughter from the house of Fanebaar.
After the establishment of the system of ‘Paainj,’ it was generally accepted that a person without any ‘Paainj’ was a Jaiwaar. Some of them were:-
Name of Mool Name of Village
Nikutwaar Chunapur
Tapanpuriye Mangrauni
Thariyaa Sonsaa
Alariye Nehraa
Katebaar Madanpur

This has already been seen that with every new branch or sub-branch of a Mool a change of abode was depicted. This also started suggesting, at a later period, the demotion of the said branch of a Mool for having married into the lower strata. With the passage of time even this system proved to be incomplete, especially when sub-divisions based on high and low marriages needed to be depicted within the same branch of a Mool. Here is where the system of Paainj or Laukit came into existence.
Now when a person, within the sphere of the Paainj- System married into a family which was either a social offender in some way or lower in status than its own, his position fell to the level of his marriage. Although a derogatory Mool-gram was not added to his Mool due to the growing rate of such occurrences, nevertheless, he would be looked upon as an offender or would be ousted from his own society of higher birth. When in future, he or his descendents, succeeded in procuring matches from higher bred families, and keep up the higher trend, his family would be given a Paainj or a title, which announced that, though having fallen, they had now risen once again and shall be accepted as high born. However, the Paainj never gave back the initial high position, from where one had fallen, but reserved for the family, a place in between the former and the latter. Several Paainj came into existence and were placed in different strata or sreni according to their merit. By the end of the century every Brahmin belonging to the Shrotriya, Yogya and Panjeebadh section was adorned with some paainj or the other. None could boast of an absolutely pure bloodline and the last Avadaat (of pure blood), one Dasrath Jha (Daase) lived more than two centuries ago.
In the beginning a Shrotriya’s Paainj (or Laukit as they preferred to call it) was distinctly different from the Paainj of Jogya and Panjeebadh. But frequent inter-marriages compelled the Shrotriya to accept the non-Shrotriya Paainj Within their otherwise conservative fold. Peculiarity of the Paainj system, where the children inherited the lower of the two Paainj held by the parents, led to gradual extinction of the higher Paainj and their position being taken by the lower ones.
Eg. The house of Banaili which had fallen from Shrotriyaship during the second half of the 14th century was elevated during the last quarter of the 19th century and a Paainj called Parmanand chaudhary Paainj was awarded to the house. It was placed in the second Sreni of the Paainj of the Non-Shrotriyas and was placed above Mahadev Jha Paainj and Kamalnayan pathak Paainj. But due to the downward movement of the Paainj System Raja Kirtyanand Singh of Banaili could not retain his Paainj for his children. His wife held Mahadev Jha Paainj which was lower than his own. Thus all his children were adorned with the Paainj called Mahadev Jha Paainj. [8]
The Chronicles of Sanaatan Dharma lay down a very strict and difficult code of conduct for the Brahmins. A good Brahmin was directed to obey and maintain a six fold path for good conduct and continuous intellectual upliftment. These were-
Adhyayan = Learning
Adhyaapan = Teaching
yajan = performing yagya
Yaajan = performing yagya for others
Daan = giving alms
Parigraha = receiving alms
The Brahmins had learnt and knew that only complete abstinence from any kind of savings in cash or kind would keep them away from worldly luxuries, and thus maintain their commitment to the six fold path. They clung to this key. Every privilege and duty set aside for a Khshatriya (Administration and war), Vaishya (agriculture and trade) and Sudra (Menial works) was strictly prohibited for a Brahmin, failing to do which; they were socially punished and chastised by their fellow Brahmins.
It was primarily, due to the rigorous practice of the above-mentioned code of conduct that the Shrotriya or Soit being the highest manifestation of Brahmanism were basically poor people. They lived under the patronage or monetary support of the Rajas and Maharajas. These learned Shrotriya were received well at the Durbar where every new scholarly work was acclaimed and recognized according to its merit. The scholar would be showered with reverence and sometimes a literary title. These would be accompanied with lavish presents, in cash and kind or both. At times these gifts in forms of land and money would be so sumptuous that it would suffice the financial requirements of the scholar for his life time or even more.
Besides Thakkurs and Chaudharies who also, gave patronage to the learned man, but only within their means, there were some royal houses within Mithila, under whose patronage, the scholars found recognition and bread.
These were: -
The Pahasara and sauriya dynasty of Purnea.
The Khandwala dynasty of Darbhanga
The Banaili Dynasty of Purnea.
The Rajaur or Maldwar dynasty of Dinajpur.
The Oinwaars of Sugauna who were the descendents of the former rulers of Tirhut.

During the 1st quarter of the 19th century, due to the socio-political ambitions of Raja Madhav Singh of Darbhanga, the Shrotriyas were compelled to dwell within a fixed sphere called Soitpura. But before this bondage was imposed, most of them lived freely in eastern Mithila. There dwellings were scattered within the old districts of Purnea and Saharsa which was called Pubaair-paar (eastern side). Some of them were:-

Village-Khokha – Naroune
Village-Rasaarh- Ekhare
Village-Chanaka- Palibaar-Mahisi and Khowaare
Village-Amouni- Khandwala
Village-Farkiya- Karmahe
Village-Gunmanti- Sodarpuriye-Sarisab and Khowaare
Village-Basaiti- Darihare-Ratauli and Khoware-Simarbar
Village-Pahsara- Surgane
Village-Jagaili- Hariambe
Village-Mahisi- Palibaar-Mahisi
Village-Singhaul- Mandare-Singhauli
Village-Rajauraa Mandare-Rajauraa
Village-Harkhaa Budhware-Gangauraa
Village-Padmapur Kharore-Behat
Village-Tearpaar Sodarpuriye-sarisab

Soon after his accession, Madhav Singh also became the social head of Tirhut. Through political utilization of his supremacy over social affairs, Madhav Singh decided to curb forever, not only the rising power of other ruling houses but also the literary influence of the learned Shrotriyas. Under the leadership of Madhav Singh, the entire social set-up was reconstructed in such a way, that the time-old Harisingh Deviya was tarnished forever. It was made mandatory only for the Shrotriyas to take permission (Parmaangi) from Madhav Singh before finalizing every marriage. With the institution of Parmaangi, he severed all connections of the Shrotriyas with the rest of the society. The maintenance of purity was not regarded to be as important for the Yogyas, and Panjibadhs, who otherwise were a definite part of the system. Dualism flourished.
Madhav Singh began establishing a monopoly over the Shrotriyas by confining them within a fixed sphere of land as well as patronage. The learned but poor Shrotriyas were the biggest sufferers because they were left with the rulers of Darbhanga as their only patron and landlord. Thus the Shrotriyas were now compelled to live a closed life. With their access denied to other Royal houses, they now depended completely on the rulers of Darbhanga.
In this way, the Zamindars of Darbhanga Raj, after Madhav Singh, continued to make quite a good use of Harisingh Deviya and the learned Shrotriyas were led into a downhill journey, by the end of which they realized that they had lost almost all, that made them a Shrotriya in the first place. This society of learned intellectuals, which spent most of its time in debates on Dharma, Indian Philosophy, the Vedas and the Upanishads, deteriorated to such an extent that their new pastime, was confined to fighting over each other’s position in the society on the grounds of mere birth and marriages. Now they took sadistic pleasure in ridiculing another Fellow-Shrotriya who, due to a lower position, had to face tough social humiliation on the occasion of every social event. Even the good adjective “Shrotriya” was distorted to a mere “Soit”.
The entire Soit society was engulfed in rituals of various kinds, most of them made only with the purpose of establishing one’s social position above another[9].
The rate of literacy fell to a bare minimum and a time came when the so called lower born Yogya, Panjeebaddh, Vanshdhar and Jaiwaar, who were free from the clutches of the Maharaja, came up with educated and learned men, generation after generation, and surprised the Soits with their intellect.
The actions of the Maharajas of Darbhanga had always harmed the pride and integrity of the Soits. Time and again they compelled the Soits to alter their norms by elevating to Shrotriyadom, every family they chose to marry in. The practice of paying a small sum of 4 Annas per day to every Soit who stayed as a Royal guest at Darbhanga turned almost the entire community into a bunch of lethargic individuals who wasted away their literary talents and took to gradual disintegration. The intentions of the Maharaja may have been sincere and pure but the damage done to the Shrotriya community, as a whole was so clear and pronounced that it could be felt by one and all.
The Soit (Shrotriya) and Jog (yogya) maintained their integrity by practicing utmost strictness in intermingling through marriage. The repeated attempts of several royal families like Banaili and Maldwar to intermingle with the Soits and Jog sent a clear message of recognition of their genetic superiority which reminded them again and again, that their superior bloodline was much in demand and needed to be saved and preserved.
On one side, Soit and Jog men wanted to keep their purer bloodline intact, by marrying within their own social fold and having children by them. On the other hand, many among them could not resist the temptation of wealth and property that awaited them at the doorstep of a Panjeebadh, Vanshdhar and Jaiwaar. This led to the unusual growth of polygamy among the high-borns.
When a Soit boy married a Panjeebadh, Vanshdhar or Jaiwaar girl, he was called a Bikowaa and was not allowed to interact with his own society. He, therefore, preferred to stay with his wife’s family. Although, led by blood and nostalgia, he continued, for some time, to make short and secret visits to his home in Tirhut,. But he never dared to take his wife to his home, lest she be insulted and turned out by his parents. In most of these Bikowaa cases, negotiations were made with the father of the bride-groom, who was more than ready to marry his son to the girl for financial gains but could not openly accept this for fear of being ousted from his own society. Therefore a sum of money payable to the groom’s party was finalized, and the boy was brought to the bride’s house and summarily married. The bride-groom’s father would make propaganda that the boy had been lifted by the men of the bride’s family.
There were several instances where Soit or Jog Men became a Bikowaa at a professional level. Arjun Jha a Jog of Palibaar-Mangrauni Mool took forty wives while another Sur Jha, a Soit of Narone Sulhani Mool had to be contented with only sixteen. Thegh Thakur of Ghusaute-Nagwar mool of Bhatsimair married ten times but Gobardhan Jha a soit of Khowaarae-Simaribaar of Sarisab could find only seven.
But when a bride from the Soit or Jog community was wedded to a Panjeebadh or Jaiwaar boy, she would seldom return to her parents, even for a casual visit. Most of these Brides were completely cut off from their motherland for the rest of their lives. Such relationships, though rare, was condemned by the higher-fold and the immediate family members of the bride were ousted from their society after being cursed with the insulting title of Beti-bechchaa, meaning the seller of Daughter.
In spite of the continuous, efforts made to achieve a higher position within the society of the high born Brahmins of Mithila, most of these Panjee-badh Vanshdhar and Jaiwar families failed to reach the level it aspired for. We find very few instances where a Panjeebadh Vanshdhar or Jaiwaar was elevated to the rank of a Soit or Jog, without making marriage alliances with the family of the Maharaja of Darbhanga.
Eg-The house of Rajaur or Maldwar of Karmahe-Naruaar was elevated to the rank of Shrotriya during the second quarter of the 20th century.
By the end of Mid-20th century, the Era of Soit and Jog supremacy faced a gradual decline in Mithila. The new generation among the Panjeebadh and Jaiwaar decided to put an end to the long tradition of facing any further humiliation at the hands of the so called High-born. They realized that their daughters were very dear to them and could not be given away to any poor, uneducated and twice-married man simply because he happened to boast of high birth. They could easily foresee the independence of India and turned their heads towards the new generation of promising youngsters who were taking up respectable jobs under the Indian Government. These Brahmin boys offered a more glamorous and respectable life to the new generation of educated girls, in comparison to the Soit and Jog who were still under the clutches of false vanity and Pride.
The Last Maharaja of Darbhanga died in October 1962 and within a few years the Parmaangi system withered away. Being free from any political interference, the higher-born developed a natural tolerance towards the other Brahmins and the age-old custom, where a social offender was ousted from society, came to an end.
Now, the free Soits, realizing what all they had lost in the course of one and a half century, decided to throw off the satanic spell, and move towards the restoration of their genetic intellects and literary talents. Though the task was not easy, it was not before long that they started to tread on the road of education and employment, filled with new confidence and self-respect.
Even today, most of the Soits prefer to interact within their own community, and many among the Jog and Panjeebadh are equally choosy. But on the whole, the entire Maithil-Brahmin society has become more accommodating, especially because of the increasing instances of Inter-caste marriages, where the high-born Brahmin parents are being compelled by the new generation to interact with the other Hindu castes as well as Indian Religions.
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By-Girijanand Sinha
[1] Alayee-Kul-Prakash and Maithil Brahmano ki Panjee Vyavastha by Pt. Ramanath Jha
[2] Such details, called Samuha-Lekhya were maintained by every Family of repute.
[3]Out of the 16 lines of descent, here are the first half consisting of 8 from the father’s side. Similar 8 lines from the mother constitute the other half.
1. Paternal grandfather of father’s paternal grandfather.
2. Maternal grandfather of father’s paternal grandfather.
3. Paternal grandfather of father’s paternal grandmother.
4. Maternal grandfather of father’s paternal grandmother.
5. Paternal grandfather of father’s maternal grandfather.
6. Maternal grandfather of father’s maternal grandfather.
7. Paternal grandfather of father’s maternal grandmother.
8. Maternal grandfather of father’s maternal grandmother.
[4]Aeyaant:-Kharorae(Khandwalaa),Khowaarae(Khowaal),Budhwaarae(Budhwaal), Madrae(Maander), Dariharae(Darihara), Ghusotae(ghusowt), Tisotae(tisowt), Naronae(Narown), Karmahae(Karmahaa), Babhaniyaamae(Babhaniaam), Sarisabae(Sarisab), Sodarpuriae(sodarpur)=13
Baaraant:-
Gangolibaar(Gangowli), Pagulbaar(Pabauli), Kujilbaar(Kujauli), Alaebaar(Alayee), Bahirbaar(Baheraarhi), Sakarbaar(Sankaraarhi), Palibaar(Paalee)=7
Maddhyamaa:-
Dighbae(Deegho,Deerghosh), Belauchae(Belaunch), Ekharae(Ekharaa), Panichobhae(Panichobh), Baliasae(Baliaas), Jajibaarae(Jajiwaal), Takwaarae(Tankwaal), Paduae(Panduaa), Shakunae(Shakaunaa), Surganae(Surgan), Satlakhae(Satlakhaa), Uchitbaar(Uchiti), Biswaarae(Bisfi), Jaalae(Jallaki)=14

[5] Manuscripts- Panjee-Prabandh and its divisions like the Shaakaa-Panjee, Mool-Panjee, Dooshan-Panjee held in the possession of Panjikaar Vidyanand Jha of Purnea.
[6] By the list provided by Panjikaar Vidyanand Jha alias Mohan.
[7] It is believed that such Jaiwars who took to Agriculture (ploughing of the soil which was absolutely prohibited for a brahmin) were expelled from the very society of the Brahmins and came to be known as Bhumihaar (plougher of the soil). These Bhumihaars emerged as a separate caste in Bihar and Uttar-Pradesh but most of them still prefer to be addressed as Bhumihaar Brahmin.
[8] Alayee-kul-Prakash by Pt. Ramanath Jha
[9]1. The custom of fixing the number of men accompanying the bridegroom (Baaraat) according to the caste status of the bride 2.The custom of Sayapanchak etc.

2009-02-24T10:33:00.000-08:00

2009-02-24T10:25:00.000-08:00

Devighara (Durga Temple) Deorhi Banaili Champanagar

Singh Darwaza of Deorhi Champanagar

2008-12-18T09:12:00.000-08:00

Banaili Roots to Raj continued-----Society Religion and Culture

2008-11-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

Society, Religion and Culture

Kirti Yasya Sa Jeewati (Public work) –
‘Kirti yasya sa jeewati’ this Sanskrit phrase formed a part of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha’s personal emblem. It means ‘he, who has earned fame and popularity lives forever.’ Man is mortal. Only through his deeds of benevolence, charity and sacrifice, he is remembered and praised even after death. In other words man is immortalized by his deeds of public interest. Although this motto was used and followed by Kirtyanand Sinha, I am sure the same would fit in quite appropriately for the entire clan.
Let us begin with Raja Bedanand Sinha Bahadur who gave away 1203 acres of good habitable land on lease to the government for a nominal annual rent of Rs.491 in 1831 to be used as new town area for Purnea. In this way Bedanand helped in moving the township of Purnea to a new suitable location with ample space for government and public offices (where it stands today). The old township existed around the place which is called Purnea city. This old town was situated on a thin strip of land which was sandwiched between river Saura and other marshy lands. It was quite a messy place with very narrow lanes and clusters of houses. With very little sanitation and complete absence of natural drainage and other such facilities, it had been declared unfit for the establishment of the new Collectorate and judicial court. Bedanand had enough foresight to see the prospects of a healthy township on his lands that lay adjacent south-west to the old town and readily offered his help which proved to be most valuable in laying down the foundation of the new township of Purnea. By taking this wise and generous step, he may have lost a good amount of land revenue.
The generous Raja Leelanand became popularly known as ‘Kalikarna’. All his three sons maintained their father’s generosity. Even the next generation followed the footsteps of their grandfather and lived up to the reputation of their old family.
Padmanand Sinha made his contribution to the town of Purnea by acting as the key figure in the construction of the ‘The Victoria Memorial Town Hall’ in the year 1902. By obtaining back from the government, a plot of 5 Bighas of land out of the 1203 acres, which had been settled with the government in 1831 by his Grandfather, he provided its use to the Sub-Committee of the Local Victoria Memorial Fund, of which he was the President.
From the very days of his college education in the Allahabad University, Kirtyanand Sinha began spending his evenings in the company of learned and influential people. While, spending his time under the guardianship of Mr. J.G. Jennings, who later became the vice chancellor of Patna University, Kirtyanand availed the opportunity of making acquaintance with several eminent persons and came to interact with the contemporary Elite of the society. He made influential friends within the Indian aristocracy as well as the English gentry. A typical surge of nationalism, that hit every educated young man of those times, left an indelible mark on the young mind of Kirtyanand. Those were the days of British Supremacy and it was very difficult, or rather suicidal for a scion of a princely estate to express his inner feelings of patriotism. The position of the Zamindars was even worse as their very existence depended on the British Raj. Nevertheless, Kirtyanand developed a strong desire to do something for his country and people. He realized that through proper use of his influence and money towards the development and upliftment of education he could serve his countrymen well. With this aim in mind Kirtyanand started making good use of his influential acquaintances and his paternal legacy. He started in right earnest.
He already had before him, the example of his generous father; and his step-brother. On his return from Allahabad, he expressed his feelings to his brother who, being a true son of a generous father, agreed whole heartedly, to support his brother’s endeavors. To begin with an M.E. School was started at Deorhi Champanagar. This school has the honour of being the first M.E. School to be run by a private body in the district, all the remaining five schools being run by the Government directly.
During the coming years, Kirtyanand Sinha, along with his brother Kalanand Sinha, made such valuable contributions, to the society that their names have become immortalized in the History of Education and other public works.
Before we take a look at the various contributions and related expenditure, we should be aware that in 1910 gold was valued at Rs.22 per Bhari (11.664 Gms). Today, the value of same quality Gold is approximately Rs.6000/- per ten Grams. So the price of Gold is about 318.10 times more, than what it was in 1910. This will give us a more accurate idea of the real value of the contributions made between 1900 and 1940.
Their Major contributions were the following:-
1. Rs.16000/-as annual contribution to T.N.J College Bhagalpur.
2. Rs.3,50,000/- for construction of the T.N.J. College buildings.
3. Rs.25000/- for electrical installation in the College.
4. Rs.1,00,000/- to Benares Hindu University.
5. Rs.25000/- to Patna University for a Chair in Economics and books.
6. A substantial amount to the Bayley Library, Patna.
7. Rs.1,00,000/-to Patna Medical College(Prince of Wales Medical College).
8. Rs. 25,000/- towards construction of a New Town Hall at Bhagalpur.
9. Rs. 2000/-To Gait public library and institute, Patna in 1920.

Some of the other contributions were-
Rs. 4000/-as donation to high School Godda in 1325-26 F.S.
Gift of 1 bigha, 1 katha, 9 dhur of land for the extension of Sultanganj Middle English school in the year 1915.
Rs. 1000/-to Prince of Wales Relief Fund.
Rs. 2000/- to lady Hardinge Memorial Fund.
Rs. 4000/-to Famine Charitable Relief Fund, Bhagalpur.
Rs.10000/- to Indian Relief Fund.
Rs. 10,000/- to Hardinge memorial, Patna.
Rs. 4000/- towards Construction of Bariarpur Dispensary.
Rs. 10,000/-for donation of Motor Ambulances for the War in 1916.
Gift of land for extension of Veterinary Hospital, Malda dated-18-7-1920.
Rs.7000/-to St John’s Ambulance Fund Association till 1324 F.S.
Rs 4000/- for construction of dispensary at Strand Road, Bhagalpur, in 1323 F.S.
The Banaili Raj promoted the cause of scientific agriculture and farming by running two model farms which were established during the times of Manager, Siva Sankar Sahay.
At the time of the formation of Indian Agricultural Society in 1920[1], the Raj took upon its shoulders, the establishment and maintenance of a demonstration farm in which the children of cultivators were imparted practical training in Agriculture.
But the high public spirits of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha was not satisfied by the above-mentioned. He continued to serve the people with his continuous acts of charity and benevolence. Some of his personal contributions were the following:-
Rs15,000/- towards Boys Scout Movement in 1928.
Rs. 5000/- towards construction of living quarters for teaching staff of T. N. J. College on 25.2.1928.
Rs. 8000/- towards Bhagalpur water works on 16.3.25.
Rs. 1000/- for Narga Orphanage at Jamaalpur on 21.1.1923.
Rs. 500/-for Bihar and Orissa Olympic Association on 21.1.24.
Rs.4000/-towards District Charitable Relief Fund, Bhagalpur on 11.5.1920.
Rs. 2000/-for Lady Hardinge Female Medical College, Delhi.
Rs. 500/- for Ramkrishna Mission Building Fund, Bhagalpur in 1926.
Rs. 500/- for Durgacharan M.E. School, Bhagalpur in 1929.
Silver medal to the Student of Zila School Purnea, who stood first in Matriculation, since 1920.
Rs. 200/- to Bihar and Orissa territorial force on 15.10.1925.
Rs.4000/- to British Empire Bihar and Orissa Leprocy
Relief Association, led by the Viceroy in 1925.
Rs. 75/- per month to Poor boys fund of Dharma- Samaj Sanskrit College Muzaffarpur, since 1924.
Rs. 4000/- to Bihar and Orissa Leprosy Relief Fund on 23.3.1925.

After the death of Kalanand Sinha his sons Ramanand and Krishnanand stepped in the shoes of their father. I place below, a list of various public works carried out by them as well as with their joint efforts with Raja Kirtyanand Sinha.
Joint efforts:-
Rs. 1500/- to Kashi Anathalaya Association in 1928.
Rs. 500/- for building the Theosophical Hall at Patna in 1932.
RajBanaili-Tank was presented to the public of Godda in July 1925.
Rs. 4000/- for Construction of Bariarpur Dispensary.
Rs. 5000/-as donation to High School, Godda in 1932 for construction of hostel named Banaili Hostel.
Rs. 3000/- for construction of Lady Doctors’ quarters at Munger.
Rs. 500/-to Banka Dispensary in 1929.

The sons of Late Raja Kalanand made a similar gesture of their generosity by donating Rs. 1500/- to Bihar and Orissa Leprosy Relief Fund in 1925. After the death of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha his worthy son Kumar Shyamanand Sinha followed the footsteps of his father and made several contributions to the society, in the capacity of the Karta of the family of Banaili Champanagar. These were-
Rs. 5000/- to Girls High School Purnea in 1938.
Rs. 10000/- to Bihar pradeshik Hindi Sahityasammelan Patna in 1938 for its building in Patna.
Patronage to All-India Music conference, Allahabad.

Apart from the above noteworthy acts of Public Work, we find a long list of annual donations and subscriptions made in the direction of education and health. These were entered in the registers of Banaili Raj as its regular, recurring expenses amounting to Rs 19, 427/- in 1938-39.
Apart from the above mentioned the Raj gave financial aid to such students who were sent to England for higher studies, through the recommendation of The Bihar Industrial Association. I have come across the subscription list of 1919 which records that Rs.100 was given to each of such candidates. The same list says that a sum of Rs. 110 was given as monthly stipend to 8 maithil students.
The names of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha and Kumar Kalikanand Singh will be remembered for their valuable services towards the establishment of ‘Maithili’ as a recognized language. In 1917-18, with the efforts made by Sir Ashutosh Mukherji, the Vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, and the timely financial support of Kirtyanand Sinha, Maithili along with other fourteen regional languages like Bangla, Tamil, Marathi etc. was sanctioned to be taught in the campus. Soon after, in 1919, Krityanand Sinha and Kalikanand Singh promised to give Rs. 1200/-annually for the establishment of a Lecturer-ship in Maithili in Calcutta University. This lecturership was called “Raja Kirtyanand Sinha Bahadur and Kumar Kalikanand Sinha Lecture” and was establish for a term of 6 years.
But the most important and memorable work of public benefit was the Tej Narayan Banaili College of Bhagalpur. This college was established in 1883 as a M.E school and was raised to a High English school within the first two months. The founder was Babu Tej Narayan Singh who was inspired by Babu Ladli Mohan Ghosh, a medical practitioner in the town of Bhagalpur. The college was raised to the status of second grade in 1887 on the occasion of the diamond jubilee celebration of Queen Victoria and later converted to the first grade in 1890. Two trusts formed in 1883 and 1895 by Tej Narayan Singh and his son Deep Narayan Singh provided for an annual payment of Rs.1800 and 1200 respectively. But the above fund being insufficient, the college was dying away until it was revived by the munificent donations of the 9 annas Banaili Raj. In 1903 the college started to receive liberal donations from Kumar Kalanand Sinha and his brother, Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha, who was the only B.A. among the landed magnates of Bihar. On being approached by the trustees of the college, the brothers created a new trust on a part of their estate for payment of Rs. 16,000 per annum to the college and made a princely donation of 60 acres of land and Rs. 3, 50,000 in cash. During the next few decades, the institution received several big and small donations from the proprietors of Banaili Raj. Many years later, in 1959, the name of the college was changed from Tej Narayan Jubilee College to Tej Narayan Banaili College on account of the princely donations of the Banaili family. During the next year, it was converted into a constituent college of Bhagalpur university.
In the words of P.C Roy Choudhary, “The Banaili Raj has been one of the premier Zamindar families in Bihar not only for the extent of the Estate but also because of the generous patronage the family has given to the cause of Art, Literature and Culture. The Banaili Raj has sponsored a number of educational institutions, libraries, etc; in Bhagalpur district and elsewhere. The Tej Narayan Banaili College in Bhagalpur is an instance. The family has produced several writers in English and Hindi and for some time one of the family members edited a Hindi magazine “Ganga” which was of a high standard .The family has also given liberal donations to various cultural societies and literary writers. Sports have received their particular patronage. Some of the members had encouraged Shikar, Polo and other sports by taking active part in them. Kirtyanand Sinha was a keen Shikari and his books in English on Shikar give us a glimpse of the fast declining wildlife in Bihar. The house has also patronized oriental learning and Culture and has sponsored a number of tols and maktabs.”
The Srinagar Branch of Banaili (Srinagar Raj) has made such valuable contributions towards Hindi and Maithili literature that the names of Sahitya Saroj Kamalanand and his worthy son Kumar Ganganand will be remembered with great reverence for many generations to come. Kumar Ganganand Singh will be especially remembered for his patriotism, his Hindu ideals and services towards the upliftment of education in the province. I have already written about The Srinagar branch and its public spirits in the previous chapters. Here I shall only produce before the readers, what one of the most eminent men of India had to say about Kumar Ganganand Singh.
Speaking highly of Ganganand’s patriotic feelings, Mahatma Gandhi said ‘In patriotism, education and social-sevice, Kumar Ganganand Singh is one, like us’
‘He is a great supporter of Hindu cause and its ideals and has done a lot for the regeneration of the Hindu Society’ wrote Indra Prakash, Editor of ‘Hindu Outlook’.
By spending a major portion of their life and wealth for the benefit of their people and country, the men of Banaili earned something which is indeed very rare in this materialistic world. Even after five decades of the end of the Banaili Raj, They are still remembered for their deeds of charity and Public benefaction. They were truly aware of the meaning of ‘Kirti yasya sa Jivati’when one of them used it on his emblem.

Religion and Faith -
Among the followers of the Shukla-Yajurveda, there exists a certain branch known as Maadhyaandin Shaakhaa. The members of the Banaili family are Brahmins of the above school of thought. In ancient India, there were two sections of Brahmins, the Panch-Dravida and Panch-Gauda. The house of Banaili comes within the community of Maithil Brahmins which is one among the five reputed branches of the Panch-Gauda. They are followers of the Shakti Cult or worshippers of Mother Goddess.
Raj Banaili, as every other Hindu Estate, in the country, had its normal share in patronage towards religion. Even more, as the Rajas were Brahmins.
Like all Maithil Brahmins they worshipped mother goddess Kali with her five sister goddesses, collectively as their chief family deity called Gosown. Other goddesses like Lakshmi, Vishahra and Shitala were also included as family deities. The family god was Dharma. All the above mentioned deities were enshrined in a house within the Garhi. This temple was called the Gosown-ghar or Bhansa-ghar, the latter name deriving from the reason that the same house or temple served the purpose of the royal kitchen.
Every domestic settlement of Banaili was accompanied by a hall of worship. Here, clay idols of Durga were made and worshipped at the Dasehra festival every year. This building was called the Debighara[2] which used to be the central point of festivals during Durga-puja, which was the chief festival and was celebrated with great pomp and show in the Banaili Raj. Not only was this function celebrated at the Garhi but in almost every important Kachahari of the Raj. This tradition of Durga-puja was very old in the family and had been started by Parmanand Chaudhary at Amour-Garh. Besides the Debighara connected with the Deorhies, there were several other Debighara of the Raj. These were situated near Circle-offices and the main Kachaharies of the Estate. Among them were the Debighara of Parsa Haat, kursa-Kanta, Katchhari Balua, Gogri Mirganj, Shyampur, Jamalpur, Kumarsar and Teljhari. The Palace Debighara were at Amour-Garh, Banaili (Sadhuaili), Srinagar, Ramnagar, Banaili Champanagar, Asarganj (Jelalabad) and Garhbanaili.
Another common feature was the Thakurbari. Usually, this was a room with a verandah on one or three sides. It enshrined God Vishnu (in the form of Shaligram stone), Goddess Lakshmi and other Gods of various stone and metals[3]. Normally these Thakurbaries were situated within the Garhi as at old Banaili, Srinagar and Ramnagar. But the Thakurbari at Banaili-Champanagar was situated out side the Garhi. The Thakurbari at Asarganj[4] and Kursa-kanta, also contained stone idols of Radha-krishna. In 1929 the proprietors of 9annas constructed a new Thakurbari on the site of the old one at Baigani and idols of Ram and Sita were enshrined there in.
The oldest temple of the Raj was the Siva and Bhagvati temples at Devaban in Kabkhand Parganna in Nawhatta. They were already dilapidated, when they were repaired by Dular Singha. Extensive repairs of the above temple were taken up once again by the orders of Kirtyanand in 1928. Unfortunately this ancient temple does not exist any more as it was washed away by river Kosi during recent floods. At kosikipur (Kosikapur) in the division of Matiyari in Purnea Dular Singh had built a hall of worship and installed idols of Ram, Lakshman, Sita and Hanuman in the hall. A huge crowd gathered there on the occasion of Ramnawmi.
Kali, being the chief goddess, most of the other temples are claimed by her and her male consort Shiva. The earliest known is the Siva Temple at Amour-Garh. During the period of Raja Leelanand Sinha and his cousin Srinand Singh, several Shiva temples were constructed and renovated. Among them was the Shiva temple of Kursa-kanta and Sundar-math. A temple of Shiva was constructed at the funeral pyre of each of the three widow aunts of Srinanad Singh. Two of them lie adjacent south to the Deorhi at Srinagar and one at Nawhatta in Saharsa. The latter is popularly known as ‘Badaneswar Mahadev’ after the name of ‘Badan Daijee’. There is another Shiv temple at Khattaghat. This is situated on the left of the road from Purnea to Srinagar. Khattaghat was a halting place for the royal entourage of Banaili and Srinagar when it happened to travel to Purnea side. Similarly, Shiva temples were built on the funeral pyre of two of the daughters of Raja Leelanand Sinha. Nityamaya’s temple is called Ujra Math while Mahamaya’s incomplete temple is famous as the Lalka Math. The latter was left incomplete because vultures happened to perch on its walls while being constructed. This was regarded as a bad omen and the construction was abandoned. Both these temples are situated on the western bank of Kari-kosi River at Ramnagar. In the year 1897 (shaka1819), Rani Sitabati constructed a Shiva temple[5] at Deorhi Champnagar. This forms the central portion of the temple complex built by her. On the stone slab on the temple wall it is inscribed:- “In the year 1819 Shaka, Queen-Mother Sitavati, the consort of Maha-Adhiraja Leelanand, constructed this beautiful temple etc”.
Lord Baidyanath at Deoghar was also worshipped as a family god of the Banaili clan. It was customary to place before him the first Paataa (invitation card), to announce the opening of every family celebration and to close it by offering the first Bidaai (parting gift[6]). Raj-Banaili bore the expenses of a band of Sahnai which played for the lord, everyday at dawn and dusk, from the Naubat-khana especially constructed for the purpose by the Raj. It also bore the expenses of a lamp which was kept lighted day and night, near the Shivalinga.
The earliest known Kali temple is at old Banaili (The temple comes within Sadhuaili) and was built by Raja Dular Singha. This temple and the Shiva temple at Khattaghat have very similar round domes. The Kali temple is situated near the Garhi and adjacent right to the Debighara. Even after Old Banaili was deserted and the family moved to Deorhi Ramnagar, the Puja at Sadhuaili continued in the same way and it was managed directly by the Raj office. Later, in 1922, when Kumar Ramanand Sinha settled at Garhbanaili, he expressed his desire to take charge of the said temples at Sadhuaili and to run it on behalf of the Estate. He received Rs.3500/- annually to manage the above temples and the Durga-puja. He, however, shifted the Mela and other festivities to Garh-banaili where he constructed a new Debighara and started another Durga-Puja. Pujas at Sadhuaili continued in an ordinary way.
Following the pattern at Sadhuaili, another Kali temple was built adjacent right to the Debighara at Banaili-Champanagar by Rani Chandeshwari about the year 1870. Rani Parvati Devi had constructed a Kali temple at Benaras and endowed it with considerable properties. But the most famous temple of Kali was built by Rani Chandravati, the daughter-in-law of Padmavati. This is situated in Kachouri-gali-Benaras and is popular as the Shyama-mandir. Padmanand Singh enshrined a beautiful idol of Kali within the Debighara of Ramnagar[7]. Much later in 1936, Kumar Ramanand Sinha constructed a new palace at Garhbanaili and enshrined the divine mother Kali in his private Puja temple within the palace. This was the last temple made by the Banaili Family.
Raja Bedanand Sinha and Raja Leelanand Sinha had constructed Kali temples at Bhour and Salempur. The temple at Bhour received an annuity of Rs.360, while only periodic maintenance was done for the Salempur temple. Raja Leelanand Singh had also constructed a Kali temple at Khagaria called Kalibari[8]. Raja Kirtyanand Sinha formed a religious trust for the maintenance of the Bakulia Kali temple[9] which was constructed by him in 1916-17.
Out of the two temples of Tara, one was made by Rani Padmavati, at Nepali Khapra Mohalla in Benares and the other was constructed by Kumar Nityanand Singh of Taranagar . The left cult in Tantra (Vaam-Marga) was practiced in Nityanand’s temple. The only temple that enshrined a stone idol of Durga was within the Debighara of Banaili Champanagar. This installation was made by Kumar Kalanand Sinha and Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha in the year 1908.
We can form an idea of the commitment of the family towards religion by making a perusal of the Puja subscriptions made by Raj Banaili in the year 1335Fasli (1927-28). The total Cost of annual Durga Puja in the Kachaharies and Mofassils amounted to Rs.1236/14/0.
Kali-puja, in the month of Kartik, Durga-puja in the month of Ashwin and Visahara-Puja on the sankranti day of Sraavan were the main annual Pujas. Other Puja-Festivals like the Nag-Panchmi, Chaturthi-Chandra-Puja, Anant-Chaturdasi, Kojaagaraa, Debotthaan, Basant-Panchmi, chaitra-Navratra and Ramnavami were celebrated according to the custom in Mithila. Another Puja that was very popular in this house was the birthday celebrations of Lord Krishna, called Krishnaastami. Apart from the normal rituals in the Thakurbari, clay idols of the entire family of Krishna were worshipped on this day, to commemorate the birthday of the lord. Rani Jagrama of Srinagar, Rani Sitavati of Banaili Champanagar and Rani Kalavati of Garh-Banaili celebrated this festival with great devotion. Although the Puja at Srinagar, and Garh- Banaili was later discontinued, it is still carried on at Banaili Champanagar by the descendents of Rani Sitavati.
In this way, several ancient Hindu shrines like the Gaureswari temple at Gaur in Maldah, Siv and Bhagwati temples at Devaban and Burhanath temple at Bhagalpur were kept and maintained through the generous patronage of Raj Banaili. In spite of being ardent Hindu worshippers, the Rajas of Banaili were not at all adversely inclined towards Islam and other non-Hindu religions. They joined in the Muharram and Eid celebrations for the sake of their Muslim subjects. Hundreds of Mosques and Mazaars were maintained and protected by Raj Banaili.

Interaction with the Maithil Brahmin Society viz the Shrotriya and Yogya -

Unlike most of the princely families of India the house of Banaili belonged to the Maithil Brahmin community. It did not have the freedom to interact with the other princely estates through marriage. Inter-caste marriages had not come into practice in the way it is accepted today and members of the royal house of Banaili had no choice but to be contented with making matrimonial matches within their own community. Deep-rooted rivalry on political as well as caste-status grounds prevented frequent interaction with the other most prominent Maithil Brahmin family i.e. the Khandwala dynasty of Darbhanga. The royal house of Maldwar fell within the prohibited group because their Gotra was the same as that of Banaili. As a result, most of the matrimonial relations were made with boys and girls who came from the poorer sections of the community.
But utmost care was taken; that these matches were made only with those who were exceedingly rich as far as their caste status was concerned. Relations were made either with the topmost Shrotriya or with the higher sections of the Yogya who ranked the second. Absolutely no social interaction in marriage prevailed with the lower divisions of the Panjibadh or the Jaiwar.
The Shrotriya and yogya maintained their integrity by practicing utmost strictness in intermingling through marriage. The pronounced focus of Banaili towards them sent a clear message of recognition of their genetic superiority which reminded them again and again, that their superior bloodline was much in demand and needed to be saved and preserved.
Before proceeding further, let us take a look at the caste-system prevalent among the Maithil Brahmins of contemporary Mithila. According to Abhaynath Misra,[10] there were 4 categories of Maithil Brahmins, Shrotriya, Yogya, Panji-badh and Jaiwar. After studying the classification of 34 Mools into the 3 sections namely Ayaant, Vaaraant and Madhyama, we find that the first 20 in Ayaant and Vaaraant were held as Shrotriya. Similarly the next 14 in Madhyama were regarded as Panjibadh. Only two Mools namely Surgane and Ekhare were raised from Panjibadh to Shrotriya-ship during later times, and both these instances were a result of Royal families being related to the two Mools. Between the Ayaant and Varaant only Alayee and Baherarhi could not retain their high position and fell in rank.
In the beginning, there was no classification called Yogya. This was created later, to mark such people among the Shrotriya (Ayaant and Vaaraant) who had married among the Panjibadh or Madhyama. To further establish this point of view I place below, some of the top class Yogya families that were in full swing of status during 1875 to 1925. These were-
Pali- Jamdauli- Saraiya, Bettiah
Sodarpur- Kanhauli- Mangrauni
Ghusoute Nagwar of Ram Thakur- Bhattsimari
Khoware- Mahua- Ranitola
Tisaute-kua- Ranti
Mandar-jagaur- Kakror
It can be noticed that all the above houses belonged to the top 20 Mools. There were several instances of marriage relations between the above mentioned houses and the Shrotriya, and these were acceptable to the higher-fold.
Similarly, another class (definitely) existed, consisting of Brahmins who were Shrotriya but had fallen low by marrying out of the 34 Mools. Although this demotion never took place during the earlier years of classification, it became a common feature during the later periods. This category was placed higher than the Jaiwar and was held in high esteem by the Jaiwars because of having a male lineage from the Ayaant and Vaaraant.
Lastly came the Jaiwar, whose Mool was lower than the first 34. It may be noted that approximately 164 Mools[11] exist even today.
So there were-
1) Shrotriya, consisting of Ayaant and Varaant and two elevated Mools of Madhyama.
2) Yogya, consisting of Ayaant and Varaant who had intermarried with Madhyama.
3) Panjibadh, mostly consisting of Madhyama. They intermarried with Yogya and aspired for the latter position. Some of the Panjibadh who continuously maintained relations with the top Yogya were taken into yogya-fold. Eg. Belauche-Sudai of Banu Chhapra in Bettiah and Baliase-Narsam in Ranitola and Salempur.
4) Vanshdhar, Mostly consisting of Shrotriya who had fallen to a position between the Panjibadh and Jaiwar due to having intermarried lower than the Madhyama. They held a position higher than the Jaiwar because of their male lineage from the top 20Mools. E.g. Darihare-Rajanpura, Mandar-Kataiya, Kujilwar-satere, Khandwala-Deswal etc.
5) Jaiwar, who consisted of the remaining 130 Mools. After the establishment of the system of ‘Paainj,’ it was generally accepted that a person without any ‘Paainj’ was a Jaiwar.
Next, let us know about the ‘Shrotriya’, not as a definite section of the Maithil Brahmin society, as is generally understood by the word, but the actual meaning of the term. According to Smriti, the highest manifestation of Brahmanism was called “Shrotriya”.
Man, when born of pure Brahmin parents, is called a Brahmin. He attains the position of a Dwija after going through various Sanskar or rituals. Only after receiving proper and high education, he deserves the title of a Vipra. When a person has all the above three qualifications he attains the exalted position of a “Shrotriya”. In the beginning only the meritorious, were adorned with the title and it was regarded as a personal decoration. A Shrotriya’s son could keep his father’s title and position only if he qualified for it. But with the passage of time the above mentioned qualifications were limited to gratification of the first and second only i.e. the purity of blood and passing through a chain of Brahmanistic rituals. The third but the most important criterion of education and scholarly life was gradually forgotten. Now, one could retain his Shrotriyaship merely on the basis of birth and rituals. In this way the true meaning of the word was preferred to be forgotten by the ones who held the title and subsequently evolved as the highest class of Maithil Brahmin society.
Members of Banaili Raj had always been ardent admirers of Shrotriya and aspired for Shrotriya-ship or at least higher Yogya-ship where they would be acceptable to the higher fold. It was with this aim in mind, that every social move was made by the Rajas and Kumars of Banaili. (including the Srinagar and Amour branch).
I have already mentioned that after the extinction of the ruling house of Pahsara, The house of Banaili came into prominence in the area and filled the void created by the passing away of the former. It, not only wielded political influence but also emerged as the cultural leader of the people of Nashira and adjoining areas. The family of Banaili, which already had its cultural roots in Tirhut, established itself as the chief patron of Brahmin culture which had, since long flourished in the cultural belt of Nashira, under the Shrotriya rulers of Pahsara and Sauriya. In those days most of the Shrotriyas who were recognized as the cultural masters of Mithila, and had their abode within Nashira came in close contact with the House of Banaili and accepted them as their overlord.
Although the jaiwars and Panjibadhs were not acceptable in marriage within the family of Banaili, they were employed in large numbers in the different departments of the Raj, according to their personal capability and skill. The highly respectable post of the Raj-Purohit (head-priest), Jyotishi, Vaidik, Tantrik and Naiyayik were held by members of the above mentioned sections of the Brahmin society. Hundreds of Temple-priests and their assistants who were employed by the Raj, in the various temples, hailed mostly from the Panjibadhs and Jaiwars. Although the post of the Royal Cook was kept aside for a high-born Yogya, rest of the food and grains departments was almost entirely held by the Panjibadh and Jaiwar community. They were also employed as personal assistants, teachers, treasurers and scribes. In this way the entire Brahmin society which flourished in the cultural Province of Nashira and neighboring areas was brought under the influence and over-lordship of Banaili.
The cultural growth of the Brahmins of this region underwent a marked change during the next few decades due to the sincere efforts of Raj Banaili. One of the most noteworthy accomplishments was made by making available to the higher society, the office of the compilers of the Brahmin geneology, the Panjikars. During the period of Chaudhary Parmanand Singh, the unavailability of a capable Panjikar was felt as a serious obstacle in deciding high-caste marriages and thus maintaining the purity of Brahmin lineage. Parmanand Singh made up his mind to find a learned Panjikar and establish him as a permanent resident of Nashira. For this, he sought help from a relative who happened to be closely associated with the clan of the Panjikars. Jaikrisna Jha of Sarisabe- Baghwas who was the husband of Paramanand’s sister (Lukha Dai) had another wife who was the daughter of the famous Panjikar Jhonti Jha. It was through this connection that Panjikar Mitranand alias Jhonti Jha[12] was brought to Rasaarh in Nashira. He was gifted with large landed property and established as a respectable citizen of the region. Later, when Rasaarh became inhabitable due to incessant floods, the family was shifted to Shivnagar. Two other families[13] were also gifted with 14 acres each to enable them to settle down at Shivnagar and provide company to the Panjikar, lest the Panjikar may get weary of the loneliness and return to Tirhut.
This does not imply in any way that the other sections of maithil society, were not received well in the Banaili Raj. Rather, they were always recognized for their individual capabilities. Numerous Kayasthas and Rajputs occupied high positions in the administrative set up of the Raj.
Nearly a century after the Shrotriyas of Nashira were taken back to Tirhut and compelled to live within a fixed area, in order to be recognized by the newly found social over-lordship of Madhav Singh, many Shrotiryas expressed their wish to come within the patronage of Banaili. Around 1933 they approached the proprietors for lands being settled with them within Banaili Raj in order to form a colony of their own, where they could settle down as dwellers. They found lands suitable for their purpose in village Kamrail of Mouza Hakpara (Parganna Utarkhand) within the Elaka of Nawhatta. The proprietors agreed to give 1Bigha of land for residential purpose and 10 bighas of land for cultivation to each Shrotriya who wished to settle down in the Raj. The circle officer of Nawhatta was given instruction to help these new settlers by providing them with bamboos and thatching grass for building their houses free of cost. However, these lands were settled for a period of 3 years at the beginning and would be converted into permanency later. Lands were given only to such candidates whose names were recommended by Babu Ganga nath Jha the eldest son-in-law of Raja Kirtyanand sinha. In this way many Shrotriya families found patronage and protection in Banaili.
I have already said that the proprietors of Banaili Raj left no stone unturned in order to enhance their own social position in the eyes of the high-born of the society. They always aspired to be held at par with the Shrotriya and the Yogya. This led them to establish marital relationship with the higher sections and thus maintain close contacts with the Elite of the society of Tirhut.
When a bride from the Shrotriya or Yogya community was brought to Banaili to be wedded to one of the Princes, she would seldom return to Tirhut even for a casual visit to her parents. Most of these Brides were completely cut off from their motherland for the rest of their lives. Being very young at the time of their marriage they easily adopted the way of life at Banaili and within a short time became more familiar to the people of Banaili than their own folks who often disappointed these young ladies with their simple mannerisms during their frequent visits to Banaili.
But the case of the daughters of Banaili was entirely different as their marriage involved a more strenuous task of the question of the adaptability of the Shrotriya men who came to live at Banaili as the husband of these Daijees. Most of these men were not young. Adaptability to the new ways of life was neither easy for them nor acceptable to their high-caste pride and vanity. Yet they lived in awe of the power and wealth of Banaili. Thus developed a peculiar class of people, consisting of the sons-in-law of Banaili with their families whose existence was an integral part of the Royal House, yet distinctly different from it.
In the eyes of the Shrotriyas, as well as the top class Yogyas, members of the family of Banaili had a very low caste status. Once a Shrotriya boy married a Banaili girl, he was not allowed to interact with his own society. He was neither welcome at home nor was he invited at ceremonies by his close relatives for fear of being ousted from society. He, therefore, preferred to stay with his wife’s family at or near Banaili. Although he continued for some time to make short and secret visits to his home in Tirhut, led by blood and nostalgia, he no longer felt comfortable with his own folks. Above all, he never dared to take his wife to his home, lest she be insulted and turned out by his parents.
On the other hand a princess of Banaili was quite comfortable in her father’s home. She had separate quarters to live in, within the Haveli. Here she enjoyed all the luxuries and comforts, amidst which she had been brought up. She also wielded considerable power (according to her own capabilities) and was held in high esteem by the ladies of the Haveli.
A Daijee was never dependent on her brother or his wife for her finances. Although, she neither had any proprietary interest in her father’s estate nor was she married to a prince, she was always well provided for, by her parents. She owned considerable wealth and property to support her husband, children and herself. The Daijees were always recognized as an important part of the Banaili family and were held as a distinct, though not separate, entity.
All the Rani Sahebas of the Haveli came from respectable Shrotriya and Yogya families with humble backgrounds. They needed to be trained in the manners and etiquette of the aristocracy, before they grew into woman-hood and established themselves as a proprietress of the estate. The Daijees proved to be the best tutors for these young Ranis who looked up to them for guidance and advice and this superiority of the daughters over the daughters-in-law of the family placed them at the helm of all affairs in the Haveli.
I have already written about the daughters of Raja Dular singh, Raja Bedanand Singh and Kumar Rudranand Singh in the earlier chapters. I begin here to write exclusively on the Daijees of the next generations.
All the seven daughters of Raja Leelanand Singh Bahadur were given away in marriage to high-born Shrotriya Brahmins. The eldest Yogmaya was married to Raghuwar Thakur of Khandwala Bhour Mool. This Raghuwar Thakur [14] was a direct descendent of Mahamahopadhya Damodar Thakur, the elder brother of Mahesh Thakur, who was the founder of the khandwala dynasty of Darbhanga. Princess Yogmaya had only one daughter, Rukmini who was married to Shrotiya Tejnath Jha.[15]
Mahamaya Daijee The second daughter of Raja Leelanand was married to Shrotriya Bachharan Mishra[16]. Mahamaya was a favourite of the family. Being just elder to Raja Padmanand Singh, she was very dear to him and wielded considerable influence and power in the court. She accompanied her brother at the Durbar and even at excursions and official tours. It is said that she demanded from her dear brother, to be provided with an equally elaborate entourage when she happened to travel with the Raja. Padmanand, not only pampered her by fulfilling her whimsical wishes but also went to the length of constructing for her a separate palace and Garhi adjacent to his own at Deorhi Ramnagar. Mahamaya had only one child, a daughter named Jhala who was married to Shrotriya Bhai Lal Jha[17] of Deep. Jhala’s only child, Baba was married to Shrotriya Manu Jha [18]of Isahpur. I have specially mentioned this grand daughter of Mahamaya because among the daughters of Banaili, Mahamaya Daijee is the senior most whose direct descendents continued to live with the Banaili family till the abolition of Zamindari in 1952. Baba Dai’s son Radharaman Jha and grand son Rewti Raman Jha later shifted to Shahpur in Saharsa and fixed their abode, at this place.
The third daughter of Raja Leelanand Singh was Nityamaya who was given away in marriage to one of the highest born Shrotriya, Theethar Jha[19] of Darihare- Ratauli Mool of Gangauli. Nityamaya Daijee’s only daughter, Punyavati alias Toori Dai was married to Shrotriya Jhalhan Jha [20] of Rupauli. Unlike others, Toori Dai went to live with her husband at Rupauli in Tirhut. Her’s is the only case where a daughter of Banaili lived with her in-laws within the sphere of Sotipura. Raja Leelanand gave away huge amount of property and wealth to his grand daughter as dowry.
The fourth daughter of Raja Leelanand was Chandramaya alias Maina. Her husband Manohar Jha[21] was a Shrotriya of Mander Singhouli Mool. Maina Dai died issueless.
Kamakhya Dai, the daughter of Leelanand from Rani Chandreshwari was married to Chandidutt Jha,[22] a Shrotriya of Sodarpur-Kanhauli Mool of Ujaan. Kamakhya Daiji went to live with her husband at Karna-garh in Sultangunge, on the banks of Ganga. The Deottar Mahaal, belonging to Rani Chadeswari, devolved upon Kamakhya Daiji, after the death of Chandeswari. The gross income of this Mahaal was Rs. 40000/- and was set aside to look after the religious institutions at Deorhi Champanagar. After inheriting this Mahaal, from her mother, Kamakhya maintained these temples. But she was very short-lived. Soon after giving birth to her first child, (Anantanand Jha) she fell ill and died, leaving behind an infant son, only twelve days old. The baby Anantanand was carried to Bhagalpur and kept under the protection of the Collector. But the boy died after six months and the Atayanama Mahal Estate reverted back to the Banaili Raj.
The second but last daughter of Raja Leelanand was Kirtimaya alias Laxmi or Laxmini (y{kfeuh). Kirtimaya, as per tradition of family was married to Shrotriya Padm Nath Jha[23] of Isahpur. She gave birth to a son named Babu Kedarnath Jha and a daughter, Baba Dai. Baba Dai was also married to a Shrotriya of Naruaar named Nakchhedi Jha[24]. Kedar Nath Jha was born in 1899 and lost his mother within a few weeks of his birth. Although the entire family of Rani Sitawati was very disconsolate after the untimely death of Kirtimaya, a new bride was fetched for Ojhaji Padm Nath Jha from the house of Ghusaute-nagvaar of Samaul[25]so that he could start family life afresh. Padmanath Jha continued to receive recognition as a son-in-law of Rani Sitavati Devi and lived as a family member. He was soon blessed with a son (Raghu Nath Jha alias Balaji) through his second wife.
The youngest daughter of Raja Leelanand through his fourth wife Sitawati was named Dharm-maya alias Jamuna. She was given away in marriage to Shrotriya Shambhunath[26] Jha of Naruar. Theirs was a very happy marriage and they had settled down at Bhagalpur. Unfortunately, Dharm-Maya lost her husband at a very young age and was left with her only child Babu Shaktinath Jha. Later she came to live with her mother and brothers, at Deorhi Champanagar.
Except the last two daughters (of Rani Sitawati) all the daughters of Raja Leelanand had been married in his life time. Apart from a huge quantity of gold and silver ornaments, large landed properties were transferred in their names. Kamakhya Dai was the luckiest of them in matters of wealth as she inherited the Devotter Mahal of her mother. This Mahal was a Zamindari property which yielded an annual income of Rs.40000/-. To the other daughters, various Talukas yielding an annual income of Rs.6000/- each was provided by the Raja.
1. Yog Maya Dai--Bara Singhoul Taluka
Maha Maya Dai------Kedali ,,
Nity Maya Dai--------Chakla ,, (near Mansi)
Maina Dai-----------Shahpur ,,
Mahamaya Dai also had Mokarrari lands in Taluka Shahpur and Guguldih. She also had some Jote lands in Nowhatta and Purnea which were transferred later to Baba Dai, her grand-daughter for maintenance. Baba Dai received a monthly allowance of Rs.100/- till she lived.
Kirtimaya and Dharmamaya were small girls when their father died in 1883. Even at the time of their marriage, they could not get any property from the Raj because of the litigation with Padmanand Singh and also because their brothers were minors till then. Both Kirtimaya and Dharmamaya along with their families lived within their mother’s residential setup. Kirtimaya had an untimely death. Later, a monthly allowance of Rs. 200/- was fixed for Dharmamaya Daiji. However, all her extra ordinary expenses were carried out by her brothers. When her brothers started living separately in 1919, two hundred Bigha of good land was settled with her at Mouja-Rasarh for her maintenance till she lived. Of course she did not have to pay any rent and her allowance continued as before.
Among the daughters of Raja Srinand Singh of the Srinagar branch, the elder Singhesvari Daijee was married to Shrotriya Babu Leelanath Jha[27] of Isahpur and the younger Vishveswari Daijee, sister of Kumar Nityanand Sinha was married to Shrotriya Babu Gosain Misra[28] of Lalgunj.
In those days it was very difficult to find a Shrotriya bride-groom for a Banaili girl. On one side, these Shrotriya bride-grooms wanted to keep their Shrotriya Bloodline intact, by marrying Shrotriya girls and having children by them. On the other hand they could not resist the temptation of wealth and position that awaited them at the doorstep of Banaili, and most of them married these Princesses for financial gains only. None of the above mentioned ladies (Princesses, their daughters and granddaughters) were lucky enough to be the first or only wife of their respective husbands. They were always the junior wife and in many cases even the third[29]. In most of the cases negotiations were made with the father of the bride-groom, who was more than ready to marry his son to the princess of Banaili, but could not openly accept this for fear of being ousted from the Shrotriya society. Therefore a sum of money payable to the groom’s party was finalized, and the boy was brought to Banaili and summarily married to the daughter of one of the Rajas. The bride-groom’s father would make propaganda that the boy had been lifted by the men of Banaili.
Out of the daughters of Padmanand, Hira Daijee died in her ninth year, unwed. Bhawani was married to Shrotriya Janardan Jha [30]of Rupouli, who belonged to Pabauli-bariam Mool. It is told that Princess Bhawani was very beautiful and fair and her match was made with the aged and ugly Janardan only because he happened to be a top class Shrotriya belonging to the Pratham Sreni. She went under shock when she saw the bridegroom at the Lagna-mandap and died soon after. This indeed was a very unfortunate incident where the life of a princess of Banaili was ruthlessly sacrificed, only in hope to raise the family to a higher platform of caste by marrying her off to an ugly and old Shrotriya.
The third daughter of Padmanand Singh was Moti Daijee. She was a fine lady and was as beautiful as her sister Bhawani, if not more. It is said and believed that one could see the red colour through her very fair and delicate skin, when she swallowed the juice of Paan. Moti Daijee was married to Babu Bheknath Misra alias Kallar Misra of Lalganj who was from the house of Sodarpur Sarisab. Their marriage proved to be very successful unlike that of Bhawani. Moti Daijee had a daughter named Tara and three sons Bhimnath, Buddhinath and Raavaneswar.
There is an interesting story related to this marriage. In order to pamper and cajole the new bridegroom, he was asked if he wanted a special gift from the Raja. The shy bridegroom uttered a single word ‘laal’ meaning Ruby. Although Padmanand understood that the boy wanted a Ruby, he ordered each and every item of his marriage gift either to be procured in the red colour or to be painted red in order to humour him. It is said that everything, including the Elephant, horses and the large herd of cattle was painted red before being gifted to him. Of course, every piece of ornament was also studded with Rubies.
Bheknath had already a Shrotriya wife but even before he could bring his bride home after Dwiraagaman, he was married again to the Princess Moti. Moti Daijee was very kind at heart and expressed her sympathies towards her co-wife, whose name incidentally was also Moti.[31] She persuaded her husband to make frequent visits to his first wife and appeased her with rich gifts. Moti was a favorite of her father who gifted her with rich and valuable landed property[32], every time he wanted to show his special affection towards her. But Moti Dai was not close to her mother Padmavati. She had taken her father’s side during the partition of the 7 annas between Padmanand and Chandranand. This led to further deterioration in her relations with Padmavati. The fact that she visited her mother only a few times for a couple of hours before the Shraddh of Chandranand (her only brother) and that she did not stay with her mother even at this mournful occasion but preferred to put up at Shyam Khazanchi’s house near the Railway Station of Bhagalpur, only shows her indifference towards her mother.
Moti Daijee died in the year 1911. After the death of her sister-in-law, Rani Chandravati, the successors of Moti Daijee claimed a right in Chandravati’s estate and succeeded to, two and a half annas out of her 4 annas share in the Banaili Raj.
Interaction with the Shrotriya community became easier during the period of Kalanand and Kirtyanand Sinha. With the passage of time, the social conditions seemed to take a somewhat favourable turn towards Banaili. Probably, due to the numerous new relations that were made with the Shrotriyas, they came in closer contact with the house of Banaili and started appreciating the attention and reverence that was showered upon them. With the growing number of Shrotriyas who came to live at Banaili, the dread of being banished from one’s own society became less threatening to them. These sons-in-law and their close relatives, who came from Tirhut as regular visitors, formed a distinct group in and around the Palace. This gradual bend towards Banaili can be seen in the fact that fresh marriage-relations were made with those Shrotriya families that already had relations with Banaili. Take for example the house of Sodarpuriye-Sarisab of Lalgunj. Pakhia Misra had three sons, Kanhai, Hemnath and Dhirnath. Kanhai was married to Prassanvati Daijee, the daughter of Dular Singh. Later, Hemnath’s two grandsons, Gosain and Kallar were married to Visvesvari and Moti, the daughters of Srinand and Padmanand respectively. At a much later date Dhirnath’s great grandson Viswanath was married to Karpura, the daughter of Kalanand of Banaili. Another example is the house of Parihat sankararhi of Isahpur. Out of the two sons of Manmohan Jha the younger, Leelanath was married to Singhesvari, the daughter of Srinand and the elder, Damoder’s son Padmanath was married to Laxmi the daughter of Leelanand of Banaili. Yet another example is the house of Mander-Singhouli of Isahpur. Feku’s brother Manu was married to Baba, the great grand-daughter of Leelanand and Feku’s son, Ganganath was married to Ganga, the daughter of Kirtyanand of Banaili. By looking at Chart no. 11A, 11B & 11C at the end of the book, one can see several examples of relations between Banaili and the houses of Pabauli-bariyam, Sodarpur-sarisab and Sodarpur-kanhouli.
By 1918 the position became so favourable that the Rajas of Banaili could now afford to pick and choose suitable bridegrooms for their daughters. No longer were they forced to be contented with already married and middle aged husbands for their daughters. While searching a suitable match for his second daughter Saraswati, Raja Kirtyanand had the privilege of a choice between two boys, one from Naruaar [33]and the other from Jhanjharpur. He could afford to reject both and finally chose another boy from Ujaan[34]. It may be noted here that all the six sons-in-law of Raja Kalanand and Raja Kirtyanand were young and good-looking. Above all, they were being married for the first time.
The eldest daughter of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha Bahadur was Rajkumari Jaganmaya alias Ganga. She was married to Shrotriya Babu Ganga Nath Jha[35]. Rajkumari Ganga died issueless at an early age of 32. In spite of being grief-stricken and disconsolate due to her untimely death, her mother Rani Prabhavati, pressed upon Ganga Nath to marry the daughter of Punyadutt Jha[36] of Ujaan and start family life afresh. He had three sons and two daughters by this second marriage and continued to live at Chanka in Purnea and maintained his old connections with Deorhi Champanagar where he and his family was always regarded and kept as the family of Ganga Daijee. A school named Gangadai Sanskrit Vidyalaya at Khokha was opened in her name by her husband. Later this institute was transformed into ‘Ganga-Bhawan Madhya Vidyalaya’. Babu Ganga Nath Jha died in the year 1967 at Isahpur.
Kirtyanand Sinha’s second daughter, Rajkumari Yasomaya alias Saraswati was married to Shrotriya Babu Kesav Dutt Jha who came from the house of Sodarpur-kanhouli of Ujaan[37]. Kesav Dutt was the maternal nephew of Dr.Sir Ganganath Jha of Pahitol. They had no children.
The youngest daughter of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha was Rajkumari Premmaya alias Savitri. She was married to Babu Durganandan Singh of Madhepur Deorhi. Durganandan Singh hailed from the royal house of Darbhanga and was a Daayaad of the Maharaja of Darbhanga. He belonged to Khandwala-bhaur Mool. Savitri Daijee had many children[38].
This marriage was a direct outcome of the long rivalry between the house of Banaili and that of Darbhanga. Story goes that the Maharaja of Darbhanga had criticized the method used by the Raja of Banaili in procuring the bridegroom of Rajkumari Yashomaya alias Saraswati. He said that the Raja of Banaili had fallen into a habit of kidnapping the children of poor Shrotriyas and that he could not dare to touch the rich Shrotriyas as they were mostly related to the Maharaja himself. The Maharaja’s criticism was conveyed to the Raja in such a way that he took it as a challenge from the Maharaja. He decided that his junior son-in-law must belong to the family of the ruling house of Darbhanga. Informers were set in all directions. As soon as the Raja was informed that the elder son of Babu Ganpati singh of Madhepur Deorhi was on his way to Calcutta for higher studies, he deputed his men to influence him. The twenty year old Babu Durganandan Singh was intercepted by the Raja’s men, in the railway carriage in which he was travelling to Calcutta. They successfully lured him into accepting a marriage proposal in the Banaili family. Before the Maharaja could even get a smell of the plot, the ambitious young boy was brought to Banaili Champanagar and summarily married to princess Premmaya alias Savitri.
Among the daughters of Raja Kalanand sinha, the eldest, Rajkumari Bhagirathi was given away in marriage to Shrotriya Radharaman Jha[39] of Ujaan. Babu Radharaman Jha died at an early age, issueless and Bhagirathi Daijee spent her life as a childless widow. Babu Radharaman Jha is still remembered by the small village adjacent to Garh-banaili which was named ‘Radhanagar’, to commemorate his wedding with the Princess.
The second daughter of Kalanand Sinha, Rajkumari Tripura alias Phuhi and the youngest Rajkumari Karpura alias Durga were married to Babu Jaynath Jha of Mahrail[40] and Babu Biswanath Misra [41]of Lalganj. Both were top class Shrotriya.
Among the daughters of Kalanand Sinha and Kirtyanand Sinha, only Ganga and Savitri had made exclusive residential setups away from the Deorhi. Babu Ganga Nath Jha and Ganga Dai had settled down at Chanka near Champanagar, where a small Deorhi was constructed for their residence. Another small Deorhi was constructed for the use of Savitri Daiji at Khajura near Madhepur in Darbhanga. Since Saraswati and Bhagirathi had no children, they preferred to live at Deorhi Champanagar and Krishnagarh with their brothers. Tripura and Karpura lived within the house hold of their mother, Rani Kalavati Devi. Later, Durga Daijee shifted to her husband’s residence which had been made specifically for him, at Garhbanaili while Tripura continued to live in her mother’s palace. Like their aunts, they also, were provided with large landed property[42] and suitable monthly allowances[43].
A son-in-law of Banaili seldom returned home to live there. He stayed with his in laws. He was given a separate house to live in along with a set of servants and attorneys to wait upon him. He also received a handsome allowance from the estate as his monthly pocket money. In short, he lived like a prince, almost. But his position was always inferior to the prince, in title as well as power and position. He was addressed as Ojhaji and the title “Babu” was attached with his name. E.g. Babu Bhekhnath Mishra, Babu Ganga nath Jha.
Often, the son-in-law sought employment under the proprietors. Bhekhnath Mishra worked for his father-in-law Raja Padmanand Singh. Among the sons-in-law of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha, Babu Durganandan Singh, worked as the circle manager at Mallehpur and received a salary of Rs. 200/- per month. Babu Kesav Dutt Jha was P.A. to the General Manager during 1937-38 and received Rs. 200/- per month. Later he was appointed Receiver of the Champanagar Patti (8 annas) and received a handsome pay of Rs.3000/-per month.
The nephews of the Raja of Banaili were brought up like princes. The fact that their parents had no proprietary rights in the estate did not affect, in any way, the education or lifestyle of the sons of the Daijees. Laxshmi Daijee’s son Babu Kedar nath Jha and Jumna Daijee’s son Babu Shakti nath Jha were no exception. Their life style was similar to Kumar Ramanand Sinha and they received similar education and up-bringing. They also received a monthly pocket money of Rs. 50/- each. When they grew up into manhood, were married and started their own families they were provided with a handsome amount of Rs. 12000/- each to start their own career. They were also given Rs. 3000/- each to make their own residential houses. 100 Bighas[44] of good Kaamat land was also settled with each of them.
Babu Kedar Nath Jha alias Sunder Babu settled down at his native village Isahpur while Babu Shakti Nath Jha [45]alias Fuchi Babu preferred to stay with his maternal uncle at Deorhi Champanagar. A separate small Deorhi was constructed for him, adjacent to the palace grounds of Champanagar. They were also provided with all the luxuries of life including Motor-cars[46]. In spite of these separate arrangements, they continued to live mostly at the palace.
While, all daughters of Banaili were married to Shrotriyas, (with the exception of the 2 daughters of Kamalanand Singh) we find, mostly Yogya girls as daughters-in-law up till the generation of Padmanand Singh. I place below a list of Shrotriya brides, since the days of Hazaari Parmanand chaudhary. Out of these, there was only one in Amour, one in Srinagar but ten in Banaili. These, marriage relations, for several generations resulted in a very marked difference in the yaavato parichaya of an Alayebaar baigni man. Yaavato-Parichay is a genealogical list containing the sixteen lines of the ancestors of a person. Eg. The Yaavato parichaya my son, clearly shows a many times promotion than the position held by our ancestor Rambhadra. Of course it is an entirely different matter that the so-called Caste-Status of a person holds practically negligible value in the world of today. With the changing times, social values have been modified to such an extent that the so called Yaavato Parichaya of the olden days has been successfully replaced by the Bio Data of a person which depicts his personal qualifications and merit, giving hardly any importance or place for the conveniently forgotten Yaavatro-Parichay of the by-gone era. In fact the bio-Data of a person is the Yaavato-Parichay of today.
However, the Yaavato-Parichay of a person was a very important factor in deciding the social status of a Brahmin in the days of the Banaili Raj. In course of two centuries, an exorbitant amount of money was spent by the house of Banaili for the upliftment of its Yaavato Parichay through these marriages. This included-
1. Monetary compensation to the Shrotriya and yogya families, against their loss of prestige in the eyes of the system prevalent in Mithila.
2. Maintenance to the family of the bride and close relatives of the bridegroom.
3. Establishment costs of the new house-hold setup of the bridegrooms.
4. Gifts of land to the bridegroom and parents of the bride. A single Shrotriya relation-ship cost the house apprximately Rs. 225000 in case of a bridegroom and Rs. 100000 in case of a bride on an average. Between the period of Parmanand chaudhary and Kirtyanand Sinha there were a total of 31 bridegrooms, (including 7 of Srinagar and 2 of Amour Branch) and 47 brides (including 13 of Srinagar and 4 of Amour branch). One can imagine the amount of wealth spent over the compensation, provision and maintenance given to the related families.
In spite of the continuous, sincere and expensive efforts made to achieve a very high position within the society of the high born Brahmins of Mithila, Banaili failed to reach the level it aspired for. Mainly due to the political interference of the royal house of Darbhanga the Shrotriyas were restrained from giving due credit to the sincerity of the house of Banaili. The Maharajas of Darbhanga (especially before 1930) chose to forget the sincere services of the Rajas of Banaili towards the Shrotriya community. They even chose to ignore the indeed rare friendly gesture of Banaili Raj where a large sum of money payable by the Maharaja was not only forgone and forgiven by Banaili but also converted in an expression of friendliness and respect towards the young indebted Maharaj-Kumar of Darbhanga. (It has already been mentioned that Raja Leelanand Sinha tore away the decree, whereby Maharaj-Kumar Lakshmeswar Singh owed a sum of Rs.8 Lacs to Banaili, and presented it to the Maharaj-Kumar as a parting gift.) The Maharaja could have acted in a favourable way if he had the slightest inclination. By implementing the same method by which every non-Shrotriya was successfully converted into Shrotriyadom before marrying its offspring to the Darbhanga Princes, the Maharaja could have only shown mere appreciation and reciprocation of the friendly gesture of Banaili. The Shrotriyas would, as usual oblige the Maharaja by fulfilling his wish, even half-heartedly.
On the contrary the Maharaja chose the path of socio-political rivalry. He used every available occasion to humiliate and belittle Banaili on social grounds. He created a strong anti-Banaili atmosphere within Soitpuraa and convinced the poor Shrotriyas of the extremely low caste status of Banaili which, we have already seen, was a myth based on bias and prejudice[47]. The Shrotriyas failed to recognize the long list of sacrifices, made through the marriage of several princesses to ugly and old men of their society. Every bit of the huge amount of money spent to cajole the higher fold was forgotten. The patronage and respect showered upon them was brushed aside. It even failed to realize that the very integrity of the society of the Shrotriyas was the result of the reverence and respect that it received From Banaili.
The actions of the Maharajas of Darbhanga had always harmed the pride and integrity of the Shrotriyas. Time and again they compelled the Shrotriya to alter their norms by elevating to Shrotriyadom, every family they chose to marry in. The practice of paying a small sum of 4 annas per day to every Shrotriya who stayed as a Royal guest at Darbhanga turned almost the entire community into a bunch of lethargic individuals who wasted away their literary talents and took to gradual disintegration. The intentions of the Maharaja may have been sincere and pure but the damage done to the Shrotriya community, as a whole was so clear and pronounced that it could be felt by one and all.
On the other hand, Banaili had always shown unfailing reverence towards this group of Brahmins who were the proud descendents of the most learned class of men of Tirhut. In fact they adored these Shrotriyas. Even an uneducated member of their society was received well and treated as a special guest at the court of Banaili. Banaili never tried to interfere with their norms and always faced the lashes of social disrespect with calm and poise.
Although its repeated attempts of social interaction with the Shrotriya and Yogya at matrimony was looked upon as acts of villainy and injustice, it undoubtedly brought the community closer in its counter-attempts to safeguard the rest of high-born from making further relations with the house of Banaili. So in a way Banaili helped the Shrotriya Community even through its so-called villainous deeds!
The only outcome of this social drive which was made with utmost intensity for a couple of centuries was the formation of Parmanand chaudhary Paainj and the improved Yaavato-Parichay of the Banaili men. Naturally, the Rajas were frustrated and felt cheated. As the years rolled by and the twentieth century entered its second quarter, the glory of the Shrotriyas started losing its colour and charm even in the eyes of Banaili which had been till then, its blind follower. With the death of The Rajas of Banaili in the years between 1910 and 1938 the Era of Shrotriya-worship faced a gradual decline in Banaili.
The Kumars of Banaili decided to put an end to the long tradition of facing any further humiliation at the hands of the so called Shrotriyas. They realized that their Princesses were very dear to them and could not be given away to any poor, uneducated and twice-married man simply because he happened to boast of high birth. They could easily foresee the independence of India and the inevitable end of the Zamindari System. Now they turned their heads towards the new generation of promising youngsters who were taking up respectable jobs under the Indian Government. These Brahmin boys offered a more glamorous and respectable life to the new generation of Banaili Daijees in comparison to the Shrotriyas who were still under the clutches of false vanity and Pride.
However, Shrotriya and Yogya brides continued to be preferred as daughters-in-law.

Life and Culture –
Festivals-
The chief annual festival was Durga-puja or Dasmee as it was called in Banaili. This festival was celebrated with great pomp and shows at all the Deorhies of the Banaili clan. Starting with the function called ‘Kalash-sthaapan’ or the installation of the ritualistic vessel, it ran for a full fifteen days and ended on the Kojagara day, five days after the normal culmination called Vijayadashmi. Vijayadashmi however was the main occasion when the entire family celebrated the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil forces. Clay idols of Durga etc were carried in procession to the nearby river or tank for immersion. On this occasion all male members of the royal family appeared in public to join in the procession to say good bye to the Goddess. People gathered in large numbers to watch the princes of Banaili give the initial push to the chariot on which the divinities were to be sent off. Another attraction was the performance of tribal dance and drama by the Adivaasi tribes of the region who gathered in large numbers to celebrate this function at the Deorhi of Banaili. One can make an idea of the grandeur of the festivities and its popularity by the fact that over 3 lacs of people gathered at Banaili Champanagar on the Vijayadashmi day in 1928. In the same year a clay idol of goddess Laxshmi was worshipped on the occasion of Kojagara and Laxshmi Puja was started.
On the occasion of the Durga-Puja, various tournaments like Football, Pony-Races and Wrestling were held in the Mela or Fair. Football was the favourite game, and separate tournaments were played at Sultangunje, Garh-banaili, and Champanagar. The wrestling tournament was attended by accomplished wrestlers from all over the country. Once there was a match between the famous Sukhdev and Adalat Pahalwan at Champanagar. The bout continued for one and a half hours without any result. Neither of the two would recede. It was only after the intervention of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha that the two fighters could be separated. In the year 1933 Arjun singh of Punjab won the bouts by defeating the famous Chand Pehalwan.
In the evening, free shows of Dance, Bioscope, Cinema and Theatre were performed at the Mela for the benefit of the public. These shows continued till the late hours of the night and drew huge crowds from the adjoining as well as distant areas.
The other festivals like Holi and Diwali were also celebrated with great fanfare but at a smaller scale. Every year a Formal annual Durbar was held on the Diwali Day. This was a grand affair and was carried out with great fanfare. On this occasion the Raja sat in durbar along with his male heirs, and received Nazar from his subjects. The Nazar ceremony was a completely formal affair where every subject, including close relatives, offered a piece of gold or silver coin (according to his status) to the Raja, whereby the former proclaimed his faithfulness and unquestioned subordination. It was customary to return the Nazar after touching it as a token of acceptance. The Durbar was attended by all the important people of the estate, like the General Manager, assistant Managers, Circle Managers, the Diwan, close relatives and eminent men among the Raiyats. Although, elaborate Durbars were held on other occasions like Vijayadashmi and Holi, these were of a different and less formal nature where the common man was permitted to come and pay his homage to the Raja.
Eminent singers from all over India visited the durbars of Banaili on the occasion of Holi, Dashehara and marriages. Famous artists like Altaf Hussain Khan of Khurja, Bhisma Deb Chatterjee of Calcutta, and Vishnu Digambar Palushar visited the Durbar of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha. During the period of Kumar Shyamanand Singh, Deorhi Banaili Champanagar became famous for its Music Conferences held on the occasion of Dashehra and Holi. Between 1939 and 1953 almost every leading artist of Indian classical music had given at least one performance at the durbar of Champanagar. Artists of all-India fame like Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali, Ustad Muzaffer Hussain, Mubarak Ali Khan, Nisaar Hussain Khan, Ustad Bachu khan Saheb, Sursri Kesarbai Kerkar, Sawai Gandharva, Hafiz Ali Khan, Dilip Chand Vedi, Mushtaq Hussain, Bhismadev Chatterjee, Malang Khan (Pakhawaj), Allauddin Khan (Sarod), Mushtaq Ali (Sitar), Bholanath Bhatt, Chinmay Lahiri, Mahaveer Mullick, Jaduveer Mullick and Ramchatur Mallick gave memorable performances at these conferences.
The Durbar of Srinagar, under Raja Srinand Singh, Kumar Nityanand Singh and Sahitya–Saroj Kamalanand Singh was very popular for its festivities at Holi. On these occasions conferences of poets and writers were held.

Modern Amenities and Luxury:-
Deorhies of Banaili (including Srinagar) were well equipped with all the modern amenities such as electricity and telephone. Since 1907, the palace at Deorhi Banaili Champanagar had its own powerhouse where several big and small generators were set up for supplying electricity. A 32 K.V.A. Hornsby Generator set[48]was installed in the year 1907. A steam engine generating set was also in use. An Accumulator set for electricity was put up in 1914. The treasury as well as the outer walls of the Garhi was safeguarded against trespassers with the help of running electricity through naked wires that was set up during the sleeping hours at night.
As early as 1909, a telephone line was in use between Deorhi Champanagar and the Navratan House in Purnea. A branch line was also set up between Deorhi Champanagar and Deorhi Srinagar. A Post and Telegraph Office was established at Banaili Champanangar about the year 1908. By 1912, there was a Telegraph line between Deorhi Srinagar and Deorhi Champanagar.
During the earlier days, horses and Elephants were the chief mode of transport. Most of the long traveling was done through river-route, for which regular fleet of boats and Bajra were kept and maintained by the Raj. For shorter distances a palanquin (Kharkharia) and a Tamdaan was more in use. The latter was an open Palanquin where one could sit on a chair and be carried by four strong men called Kahaar. At formal occasions members of the royal family traveled either in a Howdah which was carried by an elephant, or on a Taamdaan. A few preferred horses which were also used by higher officials for whom it was obligatory to join such formal occasions. Females used palaquins (Palki). At a later period horse carriages like landau, Victoria, Buggy, and traps replaced the horses and elephants for practical transport.
The Rajas of Banaili Raj bought their first car, a Durracg, in December 1906. Next, a 10 H.P. Renault car was purchased in 1909. Some of the other cars that were purchased during the next decades were-
1. Clement Baygard (Four cylinder) in 1910,
2. Delaunnean in 1910,
3. Minerva (double limousine body) in 1911,
4. Ford (Torpedo body) in 1912,
5. Ford (20H.P. semi-Torpedo)
6. Silent-Knight-Minerva (16 H.P.Pheoton body) in 1913,
7. Peugeot (three seated) in 1913,
8. Standard (15H.P. Landau body) in 1913,
9. Hupmobile (15-20H.P. Torpedo)
10. Hotchkiss(15H.P. Torpedo)
11. Berliet,
12. Dodge (15-20H.P. Torpedo)
13. B.S.A.Daimler (12H.P. semi-Torpedo body)
14. B.S.A. Birmingham (12-15H.P.)
15. Standard (20-22H.P. Cabriolet body) in 1917,
16. Ford (20 H.P. semi-torpedo) in 1918,
17. L.Lacis & Co. France (16H.P. Two seater with dickey seat) in 1918
18. Crossley (25.30H.P. Torpedo body) in 1923,
19. Overland (touring body 15H.P.)
20. Vauxhall (14.40H.P. Aluminium body) in 1924,
21. Studebaker (15H.P.Torpedo),
22. Fiat (18H.P. Torpedo) in 1927,
23. Amco (20 H.P. semi-Torpedo) Two cars in 1928,
24. Elcar (19.6H.P.Sedan) in 1929,
25. Standard (15H.P. Torpedo)in 1929,
26. Study-Baker,President 8 (40/120 H.P. Torpedo) in 1929,
27. Crossley, (25H.P. 7 seater, semi-torpedo body, custom built for the Prince of Wales) in 1930,
28. Plymouth,
29. Buick,
30. Roadmaster Buick,
31. Vauxhall 36 (Limousine, custom built),
32. Chevrolet,
33. Pontiac,
34. Hillman,
35. Overland Whippet and
36. Saxon (5-10H.P.Two seater),
Motorboats were purchased as early as 1909. They were used for pleasant drives in the Kosi River and other streams in the neighbouring countryside. In spite of the Houston Everest expedition having taken place from its base camp in Purnea and Raja Kirtyanand Sinha being closely associated with the flying team, Airplanes could not fascinate him enough to buy one. It was only during the second Quarter of the 20Th century that Kumar Jayanand Sinha of Banaili Champanagar owned a Cessna Twin Engine Aeroplane.
After going through the personal correspondences of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha one can notice a considerable volume of Letters, Greeting-Cards and other social correspondence, through which he maintained cordial relations with the other Rajas, Maharajas, and Nobles of the Province as well as many native chiefs of the Country. Among them were-
1) The Maharaja Bahadur of Nepal
2) The Commander-General Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal
3) (Mohan Shamsher)
4) (Singha Shamsher)
5) (Babur Shamsher)
6) (Kaiser Shamsher)
7) The Maharaja of Bikaner-Sir Ganga Singh
8) The Jam Saheb of Jamnagar and Nawanagar
9) The Maharaja of Giddhour (K.N. Singh)
10) The Maharaja of Dumraon
11) The Maharaja-Kumar of Tikari
12) The Maharaja of Kasim-Bazaar
13) The Maharaja of Burdwan
14) The Maharaja of Hathwa
15) The Maharaja of Koochbehar
16) The Maharaja of Sonbarsa
17) The Maharajadhiraja of Darbhanga
18) The Raja of (Rajbati) Munger- Devkinandan Pd. Singh
19) The Kumar of Dhamna
20) The Raja of Digha-Patia
21) The Raja Bahadur of Rajnagar
22) The Raja Bahadur of Amawaan
23) The Raja of Kanika
24) The Raja of Nazargunj-P.C.Lal and
25) The Raja of Surjpura-Raja Radhikaraman Singh

A detailed record of all personal and official correspondence was maintained within every domestic set-up. Every Deorhi had an office of the private secretary who along with his Clerk and Orderly was paid, directly by the head-office at Bhagalpur.
Maithil guests, relatives and Kutumb were put up at a definite place set aside for the purpose in the Bahri. But a well-equipped Guest house was kept for the exclusive use of European guests.

Palaces and buildings:-
After going through a tour of the Deorhies, one can easily form an opinion that the palaces and buildings of Banaili Raj were built mainly on utilitarian grounds. Even Raja Kirtyanand Sinha confirms this in his book ‘Purnea a Shikar-Land’ He writes on page 3-4
‘Standing on the west bank of the Kari–Kosi, Deorhi Champanagar has rapidly developed into a pretty residence. There is no grandeur, no lavish ornamentation; the place has been built just to suit our requirements, and has been well provided with all the indispensable necessaries of life.’
Kirtyanand’s comment on Champanagar may have been a display of his humbleness and modesty but it is certainly true that the palaces at Banaili Champanagar lack the ‘Lavish Ornamentation’, which was most common in the palaces of the period. The same can be said about Deorhi Ramnagar and Krishnagarh at Sultanganj. Nevertheless, the palaces at Champanagar and Krishnagarh are very imposing and grand as far as their size and expanse is concerned. The palace at Deorhi Srinagar and the new palace built by Kumar Ramanand Sinha at Garh-banaili, have a beautiful Facade with rich ornamental details.
Except Krishnagarh, all the Garhies were surrounded by high walls and had a main entrance from the east called the Singh Darwaza. Krishnagarh was situated on a hillock on the banks of the Ganga which worked as a natural citadel, cutting it off from the rest of the surroundings and providing enough privacy to feel no need for a wall, which would definitely appear as an obstacle in enjoying the picturesque landscape around it.
The Navratan house at Purnea was a grand mansion which was situated within a large compound of 600 bighas. This house was well-equipped with all the modern facilities like Electricity and Telephone. It had a football-field as well as a Race-course cum Polo-ground within its campus. This house was mainly used for the purpose of keeping and entertaining important guests and officials and was renovated and decorated at a grand scale in 1909 for the garden party given in the honour of Mr. Baker, governor of Bihar when he visited Purnea. The decoration was done by Tomlin and co. Calcutta.
Originally a 16 annas property it came to stand in the share of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha after the subsequent partition of immovables among the share-holders.
During the devastating Earthquake of 1934, the Navratan House was damaged badly and had to be demolished. In the same year a new house was constructed at the old site. This new Navratan house was one of the earliest experiments made in the direction of making Earthquake-proof houses with the exclusive use of ‘Alloys and Furrows’. It was constructed by the Concrete Association of India. The foundation was laid by Rajkumar Shyamanand Sinha on 13/7/1934 and was completed with all fittings in 1936. It is said that it cost only 25 thousands to construct this house which was the first of its kind in the Province. Soon after, a Bungalow on Japanese pattern was constructed by the Banaili Raj, at Purnea, as another attempt in the direction of making Earthquake-proof houses. This came to be known as Lal Kothi. Another building which succumbed to the Earth-quake was the palace of Srinagar at Purnea. Though smaller in size, it was built in the same pattern as the Navratan house and was used for similar purposes by the Srinagar Raj.
There were several Palaces and buildings at Bhagalpur[49], it being the headquarters of the Banaili Raj. The oldest was the Adampur Palace of Raja Bedanand Singh, which was later used as the residence of Rani Chandravati. She constructed another house, a modern double-storied mansion within the same compound for her personal use. This house came to be known as ‘Rani Chandravati Kothi’. But the most out-standing building was the Chhowni Kothi at Gola-Ghat. It was situated at the banks of the Ganga and was a very imposing piece of Architecture. The palace of Rani Padmasundari which was situated on a hillock was another beautiful house. The Domahalla house was frequently used for giving garden parties etc to government officials and was not appropriate for private living. Subsequently it was transformed into the manager’s Bunglow. The Sultanganje house, which was a 16 annas property, was later allotted to Kumar Krishnanand Sinha who converted it into a grand residential palace.
Most of these Deorhies, Palaces and Bungalows were built between 1860 and 1936 and reflect the various designs and patterns of architecture that prevailed in Bengal and Bihar during this period.

Tradition and customs –
Social customs were observed, mostly on the line of the Shrotriya community. At functions like Vivaaha (Marriage) and Upanayan (Sacred thread ceremony) the influence of the Shrotriyas was very marked and prominent. In customs like the reception of the bridegroom and his party, the erection of the marriage platform (Vedi), and pre-nuptial rites observed by the bride, where there is a distinct difference between the Shrotriya and Non-Shrotriya, Banaili preferred to adopt the former. Community feasts (Bhoj), continued to be given in the Shrotriya pattern with the only difference that Fish or Mutton was not fed on the Upanayan day and Puri replaced the use of rice on the Dwaadasaah. Since the days of inhabitance of the Shrotriya in the Nashira Parganna their ways had been more or less adopted by the common people. It was due to the personal preference of Banaili that these customs were preserved, patronized and maintained in the region.
Polygamy as well as Child-marriage was prevalent. The average age of boys and girls at their wedding was 16 and 10. It was highly recommended that a girl should be married before puberty. Like the Shrotriya, Banaili-girls were given primary and sometimes secondary education. They were also trained in day to day Mathematics in order to cope in the field of Zamindari-management.
The house of Banaili maintained certain traditions that created an aura of mystique and secrecy in the eyes of the rest of the community. Most of these were related to the Gosown-ghar. Unlike the customs prevailing in most of Mithila the Gosown-ghar was situated outside the ladies quarters. It was situated in the Bahri and was also used as the Royal-Kitchen where food was prepared by trained cooks to cater to the entire establishment of the Raja. Although the Gosown-ghar was the centre of activity and hubbub during cooking hours, utmost care was taken to close the doors of the temple after the last person was fed at night and not open it before sunrise, come what may. During these hours no one was allowed to even venture near the premises. This strict observance and the fact that the deity was enshrined at the western wall of the temple, (unlike the general custom of Mithila) created a mysterious exclusiveness and led the people to believe that the house of Banaili had acquired the special blessings of the Goddess who showered them with her boons during the quiet hours of the night.

[1] By the department of Revenue and Agriculture of the Government of India.
[2] House of the goddess, Hall for the worship of clay idols of Durga etc
[3] Shiva, Parvati, Hanuman, Ram-Sita-Lakshman, Bhairav and Ganesh.
[4] These were later removed by the orders of Kumar Krishnanand Sinha and placed within a small temple inside the Palace of Krishnagarh at Sultanganj.
[5] Siteshwar Mahadev
[6] Dhoti Janou Supari
[7] The stone slab on the entrance of the Kali Mandir dated 1302 Saal, indicates that Ramnagar was renamed as Adyanagar by Padmanand Singh.
[8] Manmohan Chatterjee was the chief priest of the temple in 1932.
[9] Mouja Kistopur was among the chief property of the trust of which the Baba of Asansole, Kalipada Sengupta was the managing trustee as well as the chief Priest.

[10] Shrotriyas of Mithila
[11] By the list provided by Panjikaar Mohan Jha.
[12] Panjikar Jhonti Jha belonged to the house of Pandue-Mahendrapur.
[13] One was the house of Narone-kabai(Ganesh Jha) and the other was that of Baheraarhi-parihat(Tekmani Thakur)
[14] Raghuvar was the son of Bhaiya Thakur and the grandson of Ruchipati Thakur of Rajgram. Jogmaya was the third wife of Raghuvar. His first wife was the daughter of Damodar of Karmahe-behat. Raghuvar had one son named Ghurghur Thakur from this wife. Raghuvar’s second wife was the Daughter of Ram Narayan of Surgan.
[15] Tejnath was the son of Bholanath Jha. He belonged to the house of Narone-pure. Rukmini had one son named Bholanath and a daughter named Khokha. The granddaughter of Matinath of Karmahe-naruwar of Ujaan was married to Bholanath. Bholanath had no children. Khokha was married to Rameswar of Budhware-gangaura of Lalganj. Rameswar’s first wife was the daughter of Nikanand of Darihare-ratoli of Lohna
[16] Bachharan Misra was the son of Gosain Misra and the grandson of Madhupati Misra of Sankorthu. Mahamaya was the third wife of Bachharan. His first wife was the daughter of Pyare Lal Jha of Karmahe-behat of Bittho. His second wife was the daughter of Laxmidhar Jha of Palibaar-mahisi.
[17] Bhailal Jha was the son of Baaon Jha of Deep. He belonged to the mool-Budhwal-Pariaam. Jhala was the second wife of Bhailal. His first wife was the daughter of Shyamnath of Khoware-simarbaar.
[18] Manu Jha Was the grandson of Hridaydutt Jha. He came from the house of Mander-singhauli. Baba Dai was the second wife of Manu.
[19] Theethar was the son of Khagnath and grandson of Kirtinath of Gangauli. He was the elder brother of Garib Jha.
[20] Jhalhan Jha was the son of Chandradutt Jha of Pabauli-Bariaam.
[21] Manohar was the son of Jivdhar Jha and grandson of Bagru Jha of Godhanpur.
[22] Chandidutt was the son of Ganesh dutt Jha. Kamakhya’s stepson was Lekhdutt Jha.
[23] Laksmi was the second wife of Padmanath Jha. Padmanath jha died in 1909. He belonged to Parihat-shankaraari Mool.
[24] Baba Dai was married to Nakchhedi Jha on 11.6.1905.He belonged to Narone-sulhni Mool.
[25] The second wife of Ojha Padmadutt jha was the daughter of Pradyumn Thakur who was the son of Rupnath Thakur.
[26] Jamuna was the second wife of Shambhunath Jha. He came from the house of Narone-Sulhani.
[27] Leelanath came from the house of Parihat-Sankararhi.
[28] Gosain Misra was the son of Manohar Misra and belonged to the house of Sodarpur-Sarisab.
[29] Rajkumari Yogmaya was the third wife of Babu Raghubar Thakur.
Rajkumari Mahamaya was the third wife of Babu Bachharan Misra.
[30] Janardan alias Bates of Rupouli was the son of Dharmanand. Janardan’s first wife was the daughter of Ghananand (granddaughter of Garibanand) of Lohna. Janardan had three sons out of this marriage, Buddhinath, Bhagirath and Ridhinath.
[31] She was my great grand mother(mother of maternal grandmother)
[32] On 30.11.1905, Raja Padmanand Sinha gifted, through a registered deed 476bigha and 14Kattha of land to Moti Daiee.
[33] The son of Madhusudan Jha–Diary of Kirtyanand Sinha.
[34]Keshab dutt Jha was married to Saraswati Daijee on 12.5.1918. A Vyavastha of Rs. 9000/- was given at the sidhant.-Diary of Kirtyanand Sinha.
[35] Babu Ganganath Jha belonged to the house of Maander-Singouli. The marriage was performed on 15.4.1918.
[36] Punyadutt Jha belonged to Sodarpur-kanhauli.
[37] Kesav Dutt Jha was the son of Howla Jha
[38]Savitri’s eldest daughter Kamala was married to Shrotriya Bimlanand Jha of Jhanjharpur-karmaha Mool from Lakhnour. The second daughter Susila was married to Shrotriya Ambikanand Singh Jha of Chanaur Deorhi. He came from the house of Maander-Singouli. Savitri’s youngest daughter Mina was married to Yogya Mrityunjaya Jha of Pandue-mahedrapur of Singhbaar.
[39] Radharaman came from the house of Darihare-ratouli.
[40]Jaynath Jha was a Shrotriya of Narone-pure mool. They had Ten children, Six sons and Four daughters.
[41] Bishwanath Mishra came from Sodarpur-Sarisab Mool of Lalganj. They had three sons and one daughter.
[42] Savitri Daijee owned lands in Khajura, Shakaria Kamrail and Sagram Maujas within the Elaka of Nawhatta[42]. She also had some jot lands at Nandanpur.[42]Extensive Kamat Lands had been gifted jointly to Saraswati and Savitri, at Sar-Khajoria and Hazartanki. Ganga had aKaamat of 200 bighas at Old Banaili .Bhagirathi Tripura and Karpura owned Kamat Lands at Pansain in Bhagalpurand Khokha, Matkoppa and Sarochia in Purnea.

[43] A. Karpura , Tripura and Bhagirathi=175/- per month to each.
B. Bhavani and Moti=300/- per month to each.- as gathered from the
personal notes of Ramanand Singh.
C. Babu Ganganath Jha=100/- per month
[44] Kedarnath Jha had lands in Nowhatta and Shakti nath Jha had lands in Sonapur.
[45] Babu Saktinath Jha’s Daughter Bhairavi, was married to Shrotriya Biswanath Jha, Son of Ram Jha of Isahpur. She was taken to Isahpur immediately after her marriage but died within an year in 1933, at Isahpur.
[46] Kirtyanand Sinha gifted an Overland whippet car to Sunder Babu.-- Diary of Kirtyanand Sinha 1928.
[47] Only recently, a maithil, whose own family had been elevated to Shrotriyadom simply on the grounds of having established matrimonial relations with the Maharaja of Darbhanga, has quoted the name of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha as a Jaiwar, in his book on the Shrotriyas. He has chosen to ignore the fact that the house of Banaili had been elevated to the level of Yogya or at least panjibadh, a few decades before Parmanand Chaudhary Paainj was finally denoted a higher status than Mahadev Jha in 1904. Today, Parmanand Chaudhary ranks as one of the highest Paainj among the Non-Shrotriyas. The same person, while writing about marriages, that have taken place within the prohibited sphere, i.e. Anaadhikaar Vivaaha, has very conveniently depicted examples from Banaili. Again he has been led by prejudice, or he could have easily found an example in his own house of Ekahare. I place the chart of Ekhare (chart no 13, at the end of the book) to prove my point. Both the above examples are only a few among the many, of bias and prejudice, held by the Shrotriyas. Eerie ghost and Jin stories were circulated in Soitpuraa to dissuade the Soits from making marriage relations with Banaili.
[48] It is said that only two sets were imported from England. One was put up at Fort Williams Calcutta and the other, at Deorhi Banaili Champanagar. It ran on crude oil and was fitted with piston-brushes.
[49] Some of the other houses at Bhagalpur were:- Jamtikri house, khairatibagh house, Gole-kothi, Manager’s office, Resala Bungalow, Dallu Babu Kothi, Nazaarat Kothi and Shanti Pd. Mokhtar Kothi.
Some of the other houses were:-
Parwati Babu’s House----Purnea
Pewa’s House---------------Purnea
Chhowni House------------Munger
Anand Bhawan-------------Munger
Halcyon House, The Mall-------------Darjeeling
Banaili House (West Point)-----------Darjeeling
Banaili House, 6 Elysium Row-------Calcutta
Banaili House---------------------------- Benares
Banaili House, Hasan-Imam road---Patna
Banaili House, 24 Clive road---------Allahabad
Banaili House----------------------------Deoghar and
Srinagar Raj House---------------------Munger

Banaili Roots to Raj continued--Srinagar

2008-11-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

Srinagar Raj (Branch)

Kumar Rudranand Singh

Kumar Rudranand Singh was the younger son of Raja Dular Singh. He was the stepbrother of Raja Bedanand Sinha. After the death of his first and second wife, Dular Singh married again and Rudranand was born of this union. He was the only son of Raja Dular Singh and Rani Bholeswari Devi. Rudranand Singh was born around 1796 A.D and was 25 years old when his father died in 1821.
Rudranand was tall and handsome in his youth. He was a fine horseman and an expert in pig sticking. He had made many friends among the rich European indigo planters of the nearby areas and moved in their company. As a result, Rudranand had cultivated European tastes and liked to dress up like an Englishman.
Soon after the death of his father relations began to deteriorate between him and his elder stepbrother, Bedanand. This led to property disputes and finally Rudranand filed a partition suit against his stepbrother. Subsequently, the estate of Raja Dular Singh was partitioned in two equal parts and Rudranand got in his share, an estate that gave an annual income of 3.5 lakhs.
There are many anecdotes related to this partition of the estate. It is said that Rudranand was little interested in the Zamindari works and spent most of his time in the company of his European friends. Bedanand, being the Karta of the family, managed the estate. Once, when he was away from home for some managerial work, Rudranand wanted to inspect the Toshkhana (store room where gold, silver and other precious articles were kept). Although he was handed over the keys by the Dewan of the Palace, he was asked to wait and take permission from his elder brother, when he selected a piece of Kimkhab[1] cloth for his dress and ordered the tailor to cut it accordingly. Rudranand was very angry and hurt. On the advice of his Planter friends, he decided to seek a partition of all movable and immovable properties. Having no money or resources, he filed a Pauper’s case.
Both the brothers lived in separate quarters of the same house in Calcutta, while the partition suit was going on. One morning when Bedanand was performing his daily Pujas, he overheard a piece of conversation between his own lawyer and the lawyer of Rudranand. They were conspiring to complicate and stretch the partition case as far as possible for their own financial gains. On hearing thus, Bedanand immediately summoned his younger brother, explained him about the treacherous lawyers and talked him into a compromise.
The Srinagar branch of Banaili has supplied these two stories to me. When I made an enquiry of it, I could neither find any written document to support it, nor did any member of the other branch confirm it. Yet, in those days, such incidents were not uncommon in similar circumstances, especially when it involved a fortune of the size of Raja Dular Singh’s estate.
After the partition of the estate Raja Rudranand Singh[2] and Raja Bahadur Bedanand Sinha continued to live at Banaili. Rudranand Singh got in his share the old palace at Banaili. Jharkhandi Jha writes in his Bhagalpur-Darpan that Rudranand shifted his abode to Srinagar. This is not true. It was his son who founded Srinagar and came to reside there.
Raja Rudranand Singh had four wives[3]. During the lifetime of Dular Singh, Rudranand was married to a daughter of Babu Ugra Singh Thakur of Bhaur. She was the stepsister of the wives of Sarbanand and Bedanand. She had no issues. Later, Rudranand married the daughter of Shyamu Thakur of Betiah.[4] She came to be known as Rani Rudravati Devi who gave birth to three sons- Keshavanand, Modanand and Srinand. The elder two brothers died in infancy and the youngest Kumar Srinand Singh went on to live and become famous as the founder of Srinagar-Raj.
The third and fourth wife of Rudranand [5] died issueless.
Raja Rudranand Singh did not live long[6]. He died in an accident. While riding a horse he fell near the gates of his palace and died.

Kumar Srinand Singh

Kumar Srinand Singh was born in 1845-46. He was very sickly as a child. His native village, Banaili had become a prey to the fatal visitations of malaria. Surrounding areas were ravaged by the floods and Banaili became unfit for healthy habitation. Around the year 1852, conditions became such that the entire village except the palace, which was situated at the highest point, was submerged in the floods and the waters did not recede for a long time. An epidemic followed which took a heavy toll of life. It is said that only six male members survived within the royal household. Srinand was one of them. He was also suffering from jaundice and was extremely weak. Srinand had already lost his father when he was two years of age and now, having lost his two elder brothers in the epidemic, he was the lone male descendent left. Srinand was then, barely 6 years old.
His three widow aunts- namely- Hassan, Badan and Khelan Daijees[7], were his only guardians, who in order to save themselves and the male line of their father decided to leave Banaili for good.
They left Banaili, crossed the river Saura and set up a temporary residence at a place called Basgaraa. Later, they moved further west and chose a site, where some ascetics lived and advised the Daijees to make a Deorhi for Srinand Singh. It is said that the entire royal establishment continued to put up in tents for a few years after which a Pukka house was constructed of Lakhouri[8] bricks. This village was named Srinagar after the name of its young master and later developed into the capital of Raj Srinagar, a branch of Banaili.
The mango grove at Baasgara, called Rajmata-bari and the Garh-banva ghat on the river tells us of the difficult times faced by the royal house at the time of migration to Srinagar.
The old Palace at Banaili fell to ruins. I went to Banaili in 2001 to inspect the old Palace grounds. Nothing of the building is left except remains of one of the Palace walls. However, the elevated palace grounds and a number of adjoining tanks speak of the old grandeur.
The Garhi of Srinagar was a fine example of a Zamindari-Residence of the period. Though it was smaller than the Garhi of Champanagar and Garh-banaili, it had all the salient features of a typical palatial set-up of Banaili.
Although, Srinand Singh was never awarded the title of Raja by the government, he was always addressed as a Raja and the Panjee-Prabandh records his name with the title of Raja.
Baburaiya Jha the maternal cousin of Rudranand was the chief manager of Raja Srinand Singh. It was with his influence, that the village Koilakh was purchased by Srinand.
Raja Srinand Singh had three wives. The first wife was the daughter of Murli Jha of Mangrauni and was named Rani Srirama[9]. Rani Srirama gave birth to a daughter named Singheswari and died in childbirth. The second wife was Rani Jairama of Naahar[10]. Rani Jairama had one son, Kumar Nityanand Singh and a daughter named Bisweswari. But this second marriage was not to the liking of the Raja, who married again, this time, according to his own choice.
He chose the younger sister of Late Rani Srirama to be his new bride and sent feelers to his former father-in-law. It is said that Murli Jha was then, under acute financial crunch. Srinand agreed to help him only on the condition that the latter gave away his younger daughter to him in marriage. Murli Jha agreed and the marriage was solemnized.
This, Rani Jagrama gave birth to two sons namely Kumar Kamalanand Singh and Kumar Kalikanand Singh. When the elder Kumar was only five years old, Raja Srinand Singh died on 17-10-1880, at the young age of 34.
Two widows, three sons and one daughter survived him. All his children were very young (Nityanand was barely 10years old). Raja Srinand Singh possessed ill health throughout his life. His digestive system had become very weak.
Relations were very sour between Rani Jairama and Rani Jagrama and it became very difficult for the smooth sailing of the affairs of the estate. Consequently the estate was first put under the charge of the District Judge of Purnea and later declared Court of wards. At that time the annual income of the estate was calculated at Rs.268000/-.
Shyamu Thakur, the maternal Grandfather of Srinand Singh, was a reputed Yogya and held the Paanji ‘Mahadeo Jha’ this Mahadeo Jha Paanji is given high status among the Shrotriyas, but it is not so high among the Yogyas. According to the levels given to the Paanji of Non-shrotriyas, by Maharaja Rameshwar Singh, ‘Mahadeo Jha’ has been placed lower to ‘Parmanand Choudhary’. Thus Raja Srinand Singh could not hold the high Paanji, ‘Parmanand Choudhary’ but had to be satisfied with the lower Paanji ‘Mahadeo Jha’.
Pandit Parmeshwari Dutt Thakur who was a scholar of Sanskrit flourished in those times, was patronized by Srinand Singh who also decorated him with the title of Vedmurti.

Kumar Nityanand Singh

Nityanand Singh was born in the year 1870. When he became a major in 1891, he got his estate released from the court of wards. But relations with his step mother Rani Jagrama being far from satisfactory, Nityanand could never free himself from domestic troubles. As a result the Estate was partitioned. Nityanand Singh shifted his abode to a new place, about 1km south of Srinagar and named it Taranagar. A small Deorhi was constructed at Taranagar.
Kumar Nityanand Singh was married to the daughter of Fuddi Jha of Ujaan. Fuddi Jha was a Shrotriya. Rani Nityarama[11] and Raja Nityanand had only one issue, a daughter; Siddheswari. She was married to Gobardhan Jha, of Abaam. Unfortunately, she became a childless widow at a very young age of eight.
Nityanand Singh was a devotee of Tara, one of the ten manifestations of Shakti. He followed the leftist stream of Tantra, and practised the prescribed rituals with great devotion. His Tantrik pursuits resulted in the establishment of a temple of Tara, near the cremation ground of Taranagar. The idol of Tara was installed amidst detailed Tantrik rituals and it is believed that even human sacrifices were made at the Alter, before the installation ceremony. By a deed of endowment, some landed property was set aside for the upkeep of the temple. Every year, on the no moon night of Kartik, the annual Puja of the deity was performed amidst elaborate festivities. Nityanand Singh started a small Mela on the occasion which attracted quite a large gathering of people.
This temple was badly damaged during the earthquake of 1934 and has been recently rebuilt. Even today a small Mela takes place at the annual Puja and the name of Nityanand Singh is remembered thereby.
Nityanand Singh was a benevolent Zamindar. In 1892 Sir Charles Alfred Elliot, the then Lieutenant Governor of Bengal put up a plan to help the peasants of Bhagalpur, during famine, by giving more and more employment through relief works. Kumar Nityanand Singh and the Raja of Banaili initiated jointly to undertake some improvements on their estates, which would serve as relief works and would cost them Rs. 7200/-.
Kumar Nityanand Singh was very extravagant. Very soon his estate was heavily encumbered with debt. Absence of a male heir and the unfortunate, untimely, widowhood of his only daughter had made him lose interest in worldly affairs. He started spending recklessly and soon ended up in a very difficult financial position. By 1903 his estate was laden with debt to such an extent that it was to be put up for sale. But Kamalanand Singh decided to purchase this section with all its encumberences to save the prestige of his family.
Nityanand advised his step-brothers, against the purchase of his own estate. He told them that it would be ruinous to buy such an indebted estate, but the young Kumars of Srinagar were not wise enough to understand what Nityanand could foresee.
Nityanand left for Benaras, never to return. At Benaras, he lived like an ascetic. He had become poor. It is said, that during his last years his one time Misterss, Nonibala took him to her own house (this house had been gifted to her by Nityanand during his youth) and took care of him. She was so devoted to Nityanand, that after his death in 1919, she gifted back the above mentioned house to Nityanand’s daughter, Siddheswari (Bhul Daijee).
The Deorhi of Taranagar fell to ruins. Some land marks like the Tara Mandir, the adjacent tank, and the plots of land called the ‘Rani Khand’, reminds one of the bygone days of the Raja.

Abhinav-Bhoj, Kavi-kul-chandra, Sahitya-saroj, Raja Kamalanand Singh

Kumar Kamalanand Singh was born in 1875. He received his basic education at Bhagalpur Zila School. From his very childhood, he developed keen interest in Hindi literature. During his school days at Bhagalpur, he came in contact with Pt. Ambika Dutt Vyas who was the head Pandit of Hindi and Sanskrit at the Zila School. Pt. Vyas took an instant liking for the young prince and accepted to be his tutor and guide. It was under his able tutorship that Kamalanand developed his tastes in poetry and prose writing.
He began his literary pursuits in 1896 at the age of 20. He started with poetry. In most of his poems, both “Braj bhashaa” and “Khari Boli” has been used but there is a general trend of shifting from the former to the latter. Most of his works is found in poetry as prose was only a secondary interest to him. Kamalanand started prose writing as late as 1903.
He made good use of both “Braj bhashaa” and “Khari Boli” in his literary works. Several pieces of English and Bengali literature were very successfully translated into Hindi by him. Kamalanand made the first Hindi translation of the famous novel of Bankimchandra Chattopadhaya named ‘Anand Math’. Anand Math was regarded as one of the first literary expressions of the movement of independence in India. Making a translation of such a novel which presented before the people a strong feeling of patriotism and independence, was indeed a work of courage, in the days of British rule. This novel had already been pin-pointed by the British as a carrier of the seeds of revolt and was later banned. Kamalanand’s translation was undoubtedly a task that involved great risks against his own prestige and position, especially because he was a leading Zamindar under the British regime.
Among his other Hindi translations were several poems of Ravindra Nath Tagore who was a friend of the Raja. Kamalanand had also translated Tagore’s ‘Raja Rani’ in Hindi.
Among the main works of Kamalanand was Mithila-chandrasta. This was published in 1899 and is a small booklet of poems. It contains condolence and tribute on the death of Maharaja Laxmeshwar Singh of Raj Darbhanga. In addition to the poems of Kamalanand, the book also contains poems of Pt. Narnath Jha (Anand kavi), Jaygovind Kavi, Pt. Mahadev Upadhaya (Shubh kavi) and Raj Kavi. Another poetry book named “Vyas Shoka Prakash” was published in 1910. This is the Raja’s poetic tribute to his guru Pt. Ambika Dutt Vyas. This also includes poems of several other poets of his Durbar. Among the other creations of Kamalanand Singh ”Dushyant ke Prati shakuntala ka Prempatra”, ‘Aalochak aur Aalochana’, “Mahamahopaddhyaya Kavivar Vidyapati Thakur”, “Veeraangana Kavya”, “Vote Pacheesee”, “Edward Pacheesee” and “Haija Stotra” are quite popular.
When Kamaland was presented with a book on poetry called “Sukavi Saroj Vikas” by his Guru Pandit Vyas, he expressed his acknowledgement by making a generous gift of an elephant along wish Rs.2000 in cash and a silken robe, to his Guru. Srikant Mishra wrote “Saamba Kamalanand Kulratna” in honour of the Sahitya Saroj and his forefathers. When he was presented with this book, which contained 1000 Sanskrit Shlokas, he rewarded the poet, Srikant Mishra with a generous gift of Rs.3000 which was calculated at the rate of Rs.3 per Shloka. Poet Lachhi Ram was also awarded with an elephant. In 1902, on the occasion of Kartik Vrata Udyaapan performed by Rani Jagrama, the mother of Kamalanand, hundreds of learned men were invited from all over the province and a conference was held. Here, Pandit Apoochh Jha[12] was declared a winner after several rounds of religious debates held under the presidentship of Pandit Khuddi Jha and Pt. Srikant Mishra. Apoochh Jha was awarded with a sacred thread and a medal of gold[13]
Chintamani Ghosh of Kashinagari Prachaarini Sabha started the publication of the monthly ‘Saraswati’ from Allahabad under the editorship of Acharya Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi. In the beginning it attracted few readers and the magazine ran a loss for consecutive two years. Finally it was announced that the publication would be closed under such circumstances. On reading this announcement, Raja Kamalanand Singh wrote a letter to the editor requesting him not to close down and that he was willing to bear the expenditure necessary for the continuance of the magazine.
Chintamani Ghosh and Acharya Dwivedi were moved to find such an avid reader of their magazine. It gave them enough courage to go on with their ‘Saraswati’ even without the prince’s monitory help. However, he requested Kamalnand to co-operate by finding new subscribers for the magazine, which the latter did with great zeal and enthusiasm. Hundreds of subscribers were made within one year and in this way, Kamalanand saved the magazine from untimely death. This incident brought him in close contact with Dwivedi.
Acharya Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi was closely associated with Kamalanand as the latter was the only author who represented Bihar during the beginning years of the 20th century[14]. Dwivedi wrote his biography which was published in June 1903 in the magazine Saraswati.
Kamalanand was not only an ardent scholar of Hindi literature but also made valuable contributions towards its development and upliftment by giving encouragement and motivation to a wide range of poets and authors. A major portion of his personal finances were spent towards the cause of promoting their literary works and providing maintenance to them. His durbar became an ideal place for the confluence of eminent literary figures of those times. Among them were 1 Mahavaiyakaran Khuddi Jha, 2 Srikant Mishra, 3 Janardan Jha ‘Janseedan’[15], 4 Jyotishi Parmeshwar Dutt Mishra, 5 Shrikrishna Mishra{Bowaa Jee},6 Jagannath Das Ratnakar, 7 Pt. Ambika Dutt Vyas, 8 Shitla Prasad And 9 Ram Narayan Mishra. Probably it was due to the presence of the above mentioned nine gems of his court that he was compared with the mythological Raja Bhoj. He was decorated with the title of Abhinav {Dwitiya} Bhoj by the contemporary Kavi Samaj. He received a similar title of Kavi-kul-chandra from Bharat Dharma Mahamandal but the most widely known was Sahitya-saroj which was conferred upon him by the Rasik-kavi-sabha of Kanpur.
It is a matter of great misfortune that the palace at Srinagar caught fire and was almost destroyed in the year 1932. In this destructive fire the entire library which contained priceless collections besides all the manuscripts of the works of Kamalanand and his court poets, was reduced to a heap of ashes. It is for this reason that most of his works are not available today.
Kamalanand provided patronage to several other publications. He gifted his palace at Bhagalpur to the Christian Missionary to be used as their school.[16] Kamalanand Singh also donated a large sum for the construction of Kasturba Water works in Munger.
Being more inclined towards literature and other fine arts Kamalanand found little time for works related to Zamindari and other business. Besides, prose and poetry, which was his chief engagement he spent most of his time in dance and music which was a daily feature of his evenings. Entertainment through dance and music was the fashion of the well to do in those days. These were provided mostly by professional female singers and dancers. In fact there was a special class of such singers and dancers called the Tawaifs. These Tawaifs were hired on money to sing for enthusiastic listeners, who not only relished their singing and dancing acumen but also their feminine beauty and sexual appeal. These Tawaifs formed an institution which promoted poetry through their singing.
Poetry, in those days was associated with these Tawaifs in a special way. It was sung by them and thus kept alive in their Ghajal, Thumri, Khayal, Geet and Nazm.
In course of his association with these professional singers, he came in contact with many beautiful and talented women and took a liking for a couple of them whom he kept as his mistresses.
Among them, one was Rajeshwari, who was kept at the palace at Munger and served the Raja during his visits. It is said that Rajeshwari accompanied Kamalanand to selected gatherings, banquets and balls where she was introduced as the Rani of Srinagar.
But, the love of his heart was the damsel called Shahzaadi. She possessed not only exquisite beauty and singing talents but also was a poetess in her own capacity. It is said that Raja Kamalanand was in love with this woman. But for the fulfillment of other obligations that were expected of him he would have preferred to have her in his company all the time. Nevertheless, he had made a bungalow especially for her near the Garhi where she lived close enough to join him as and when opportunity was available. But, Shahazaadi had a very short life. When she died[17] after a short illness, it is said that the Raja locked himself in a room and was about to commit suicide but his courtiers came to learn of his intentions. They succeeded in breaking through the door and seized the gun from his hands.
Kamalanand Singh was married to the daughter of Thither Jha of Kakrour [18] and his wife came to be known as Rani ‘Satyarama’. They had three sons Kumar Ganganand, Kumar Ambikanand and Kumar Achyutanand and three daughters Raseswari, Brajeshwari and Sureshwari.
The eldest Raseswari alias Bouwa Daijee was married to Pandit Ramanand Jha, a Shrotriya of Lohana[19]. Brajeshwari alias Punee Daijee was married to Parmanand Jha of Dhakjari and Sureshwari alias Benee Daijee was married to Yogendra Kishore Jha of Betia. Both, Parmanand Jha and Yogendra Kishore Jha[20] were Yogyas and this was the first instance in four generations that a Non-Shrotriya son-in-law was procured for the house of Alaybar-baigni.
Raja Kamalanand passed away in April 1910 after a short illness. Although he could serve the course of Hindi literature for a very short period yet he made such valuable contributions that his name has been immortalized in the annals of Hindi literature as Sahitya-Saroj which means the lotus of literature. He also used ‘Saroj’ as his name in his works.

Financial Difficulties –
Srinagar Raj, which was under the management of the Court of Wards since the death of Srinand Singh, was released in 1891. At the time, it was handed over to Kumar Nityanand as the Karta of the family, the Estate was free of all encumbrances and there was a huge amount of cash balance.
Nityanand Singh who had a 1/3 share in the Estate, was so extravagant that within a short period of time he was laden with debts. On 6/3/1899 he borrowed Rs.3½lacs from the 9annas Estate of Banaili, which was then represented by Rani Sitabati. Story goes that he personally went to Deorhi Champanagar to request his aunt for a loan and came back triumphant, with bags of money Laden on Elephants. But Rs.3½ lacs could last him barely for 3½ years after which he was again broke. It is said that his palace in Calcutta (3 Beadon Street) had to be sold to pay of his expenses of Holi celebrations, which were held at a grand scale between 1900 and 1903.
In the meantime, in the year 1897, Kamalanand Singh and Kalikanand Singh who had finished their education at Bhagalpur (and Calcutta) came to reside at Deorhi Srinagar.
The unfortunate history of the long chain of debts of Raj Srinagar started in 1900-01 when Kamalanand Singh and Kalikanand Singh took a loan of 3½lacs from Darbhanga Raj, and executed a mortgage bond. At that time Mr. Weatherall was the manager of Srinagar. He advised the Raja to cut down his expenditure and to abstain from taking a loan for the purpose of making a Palace. But his advice fell on deaf ears and Babu Lakshmi Prasad who later became manager of Raj Srinagar approached the Darbhangar Raj through Mr. Meyer, its manager at Purnea and the loan was taken. (Mr. Meyer was, then managing the Indigo factory and other Zamindari properties of Darbhanga Raj, at Purnea).
About the year 1902-03, the Estate of Nityanand Singh was about to be auctioned for repayment of debt. Kamalanand Singh decided to buy the decree against the encumbered Estate because he saw it as a loss of family prestige. Although he was advised against it by his step brother he was sanguine about the long time benefits of the purchase. At that time the Estate of Nityanand Singh yielded an annual income of one lac. But Kamalanand and his brother Kalikanand ran a great risk by investing about 8lacs which had to be arranged as loan to buy the said decree.
So they purchased the mortgage bond decree of Rs. 4, 57159/12/6 from Raj Banaili, which the latter had obtained against Nityanand Singh on 11/3/1902. This purchase was made on 12.9.1903 and they executed a fresh mortgage bond in leau of the consideration which they promised to repay before 12.9.1903.
The Financial difficulties of Srinagar Raj surfaced in 1904 when, in order to pay the loans of Banaili and Darbhanga a huge amount of loan was taken from the Raja of Munger-Rajbati on 18.7.1904 after mortgaging the rights of the Srinagar Raj in the villages of Tappa Gogari Jamalpur, Nawhatta and Dhaphar in the Districts of Bhagalpur.
Although, Kamalanand had been trying to settle an easy payment of loan through Sadhauaa-patauaa with the Maharaja of Darbhanga, he died in April 1910 before anything could be finalized.
Now, to pay up the dues to its various creditors, Srinagar Raj borrowed more from Banaili and executed a fresh bond of Rs.657000/- on 29/4/1910.
Next, they borrowed seven lacs from Raja P. C. Lal of Nazargunj with the intention to pay back Banaili. But only a small sum was used to pay back the loans of Banaili.
Thus began a period of litigation where every creditor [21]moved to court for the repayment of various loans and subsequent attachment of properties.
When Raja P.C.Lal of Nazarganj obtained a decree sale of mortgaged properties of Srinagar on 28.6.1920 the suit was valued at 965206/-.
In the meantime, the loans of Munger Raja had multiplied and Raja Kamleshwari Prasad Singh filed a suit for recovery of 16lacs from Srinagar on 19.12.1914. Finally the Srinagar properties were sold in 1924 against a decretal amount of Rs.32,00,000. The properties were purchased by the decree holder’s son Raja Raghunandan Pratap Singh.
By 1926 the loans taken from Darbhanga had multiplied to about 10lacs. It was only after the death of Kumar Kalikanand Singh in 1930, that the Maharaja of Darbhanga agreed to take the properties of Srinagar on sadhauaa-patauaa system of recovery.
The loans taken from Raj Banaili (9 annas) was a very complicated affairs due to incessant borrowing, several agreements, suits and compromises, yet it is clearly established that they were one of the chief creditors. How much could be repaid to them is not clear. But they were undoubtedly the biggest losers among all the creditors as nothing was left[22] to be taken by them after all the outsiders could be satisfied.

Kumar Kalikanand Singh

Kumar Kalikanand Singh, the younger brother of Kumar Kamalanand Singh, lived jointly with his elder brother and continued to shoulder the responsibilities of the Karta of the joint family even after his brother’s death in 1910. Throughout life he had to stay entangled in a never ending chain of legal proceedings to ward off the numerous creditors who were clamouring for the recovery of their money that they had advanced to Srinagar Raj. These loans had been taken, mainly to fulfill the extravagant demands of Kamalanand Singh. In spite of being, responsible to a very little extent, for the consequent, financial miseries of his family, he had to spend most of his life in making schemes to buy more and more time in order to save his family from the inevitable jolt of bankruptcy, till all his children were grown up and properly educated. He fell ill with cancer of the jaw and died on 24.7.1930, a completely broken man.
In his youth, Kalikanand was a fine horseman and could gallop his way to Purnea in barely 45 minutes. He bought the first motorcar of the district in 1906 and opened a motor garage at Srinagar, where proper training was imparted upon aspirant drivers and mechanics. Here it must be mentioned that he was a fine car mechanic, himself. During his period a small Factory that manufactured scissors and Sarautaa was run by the Srinagar Raj at Madhubani.
He was a lover of classical music and could play the Tabla fairly well. It is said that during his period Vilatu Khan the father of the famous Shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan, used to perform daily Naubat at the gates of Deorhi Srinagar.
Kumar Kalikanand Singh was the Vice-president of Maithil Mahasabha which was held at Madhubani in 1910. He was also very instrumental in the establishment of ‘Mathili printing works’ at Madhubani in Darbhanga. He played a key role in securing the acceptance of Maithili as a language of study in the Calcutta University. It was a result of his co-operation with his cousin Kirtyanand Singh, friend Tankanath Chaudhary and close associate, pleader Brajmohan Thakur that ‘Maithili’ as a language, started being taught in India through the Calcutta University.
He continued to extend his patronage to the learned literary personalities like ‘Jansidan’ who visited Srinagar since the days of his late brother. Once while he was giving some orders regarding car repairs to his men, he spotted the young son of Jansidan, (who later became famous as the Maithili writer ‘Harimahon Jha’) and asked him to recite something in ^Anupraasha^ then and there. The young Harimohan immediately recited “ Sarkaar ko darkaar hai parkaar motorcar ka” and was rewarded well. It was only after Kalikanand’s death, that these writers and poets failed to receive due attention and recognition from his successors that the same Jansidan wrote down some verses to express his frustration and disgust.
Kumar Kalikanand Singh’s wife, Rani Sasirama Devi, was the daughter of Buddhi Jha of Koilakh. Buddhi Jha came from the house of Pabauli-bariaam and held the Paanji ‘Bachhru Mahadev Jha’
Kalikanand and Sasirama had six sons and one daughter- Kumar Abhayanand Singh alias Narayanji, Kumar Bijoyanand Singh alias Mohanji, Kumar Ghananand Singh alias Damanji, Kumar Divyanand Singh alias Jaswantji, Kumar Pramodanand Singh alias Baba Sircaar and Dakshineswari Daijee alias Kusum.

Vishwa-vidya Vachaspati, Mahopadhyaya[23] Kumar Ganganand Singh

Kumar Ganganand Singh was born on 24/9/1898, as the eldest son of Kumar Kamalanand Singh.
From his very childhood he lived among scholars, who were an essential part of his father’s Durbar. The literary aura of Deorhi Srinagar provided a very congenial atmosphere for the academic growth of the young prince. Ganganand or ‘Dhundiraj’ (as he was nick named by his father and uncle) began his studies at a very early age of 3½ years, when he was made to hold the writing chalk by Pt. Vaiyakaran Kuddi Jha at a family ritual called Akshararambh. He was sent to Munger Zila School in 1904 but had to be later shifted to Purnea Zila School, following the sudden death of his father in 1910.
Kamalanand Singh died after a short illness, just a few days before the date fixed for the Upanayan ceremony of ‘Dhundiraj’, which had to be postponed for a full year.
Now, under the caring and careful guardianship of his uncle Kumar Kalikanand Singh, Ganganand completed his schooling in 1915 and joined The Presidency College of Calcutta for higher studies.
On 22.4.1918 Ganganand was married to Rani Sidhirama, with great pomp and show at a lavish ceremony at Deorhi Taranagar. Siddhirama was the daughter of Vaidyanath Jha of Koilakh, who belonged to Khoware-naahas Mool.
After graduating in the first division in 1919 he successfully completed his degree in M.A. in 1921. His subject was ‘ancient Indian history and culture.’ He also did some valuable research work under the direction of Dr. Hemchandra Barua, which came to be well known as the ‘Barhut inscriptions’.
Many of his essays were published by The Asiatic Society of Bengal, Bihar Research Society, Royal society of Great Britain and Ireland and Oriental Society. The ones that became very popular were. ‘The place of Videha in ancient medieval India’, and ‘Maithili dramas discovered in Nepal’.
His academic thirst, led him to join the Belgium brussels psychology foundation for a degree in M. A. through its correspondence course. He made a similar Endeavour through ‘The centre of personal institute of correspondence studies’. His subject was “for the scientific development of mind and memory”. He also joined the ‘law collage’ but could not complete his studies because of urgent summons from his dying uncle who desperately wanted him at his bed side, in order to entrust him with difficult family obligations.
He left his studies as well as political pursuits, and ran home to his ailing uncle. Kumar Kalikanand Singh had been suffering from Cancer for long and was now on his death bed. He took his favorite nephew into his confidence and requested him to accept the responsibility of managing all the affairs of the Srinagar Raj and family, in the capacity of Karta of the joint family.
It is said that he handed over to Ganganand, a typed note which had been written earlier, imploring him to come to the rescue of the family.
It read thus “You were only ten years old when your father Kamalanand Singh (my brother) passed away. I am proud that I fulfilled my promise, made to him on his death bed. But today I am asking you to make a promise to me. I have been fighting our creditors only for the sake of buying some time, so that the children may complete their education. It is not my intention to cheat them and I know that you have no such traits either. I met the Maharaja of Darbhanga at Patna. I found him to be quite sympathetically inclined. I feel that you children are fortunate to have the Maharaja’s good-will. Go to him and surrender. Even if he does not spare a farthing, don’t leave him. Somehow try to win his good will, because he will be the only help to you all.
You may have to leave the Congress for the above. You have put an end to all our desires and dreams, by joining the Congress, yet I never asked you to leave it. I have always respected your knowledge and wisdom. I have faced all the troubles and have never asked you for anything. But now, look after the children, when I will not be there----------------etc.”
After the death of his uncle, Ganganand Singh took upon his shoulders the entire burden of managing the Srinagar Raj which was over-laden with debts of various kinds and had reached an almost irrecoverable stage.
It was at this critical juncture that Kumar Ganganand Singh came into contact with Maharajadhiraja Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga.
The Maharaja had agreed to accept the invitation to attend the first Round Table Conference to be held in London, where he was invited to represent the Zamindar class of India. On hearing this news, Kumar Ganganand Singh, who was the president of the ‘Hindu-sabha’ wrote a letter to the Maharaja. Kumar Saheb requested him to stand for the cause of India, to oppose any motion that could go against Hinduism, and never to forget that he was a Hindu in the first place.
Kameshwar Singh was so moved by this letter that he in turn requested Ganganand to accompany him to London and be by his side for proper advice and counsel.
In those days, traveling across the seas was held, contrary to the norms of Sanaatan Hinduism and Kumar Saheb was quite aware that he would have to face severe social opposition by traveling across the ocean to London. Yet he decided to accept the Maharaja’s invitation and accompanied him to London.
Actually, Ganganand’s cousin Kumar Abhayanand Singh had already gone to London to pursue higher studies and the family already anticipated social boycott on his return. Ganganand’s voyage would bring no further harm. On the contrary, there was every hope of overcoming the social boycott in this special case where the social head of Mithila, the Maharaja himself was going to break the rule. Kumar Saheb may have speculated a safe return with his cousin and be exempted from all social disgrace, along with the Maharaja, who would never be ousted, for long, being the highest manifestation of Maithil society. Lastly Kumar Saheb decided to follow the advice of his uncle, who had clearly suggested that joining hands with their chief creditor, the Maharaja, was the most advisable thing to do.
Kumar Ganganand went to England and to other Europeon countries as a companion of Maharajadhiraja Kamewshwar Singh of Darbhanga. It was during these traveling days that he became a close associate of the Maharaja who not only held him as an elder brother but also came to learn about his financial troubles at the domestic front.
The Maharaja became sympathetically disposed towards the Kumar and held a helping hand towards him which the latter eagerly clutched with both his hands, securing the last ray of hope for his estate and family.
On their return to India, Ganganand Singh was offered the post of the private secretary to the Maharaja, by the Maharaja himself. But he declined the offer as his conscience did not allow him to receive a salary from anyone. Himself being a Zamindar, he could not stoop so low as to receive a pay from another. On the other hand, his finances were so low, by that time that he was not in a position to let go of the offer.
Maharaja, sensing his difficulties and mental dilemma, made another consideration. He promised to keep him as an elder brother and companion and convinced him to receive a monthly allowance, instead of a salary. His name would be entered in the allowance register of the Darbhanga Raj along with other members of the Royal family of Darbhanga. After all, it was a matter of great prestige to the Maharaja to have a scion of the Banaili family to work for him.
So Kumar Ganganand Singh joined as the private secretary of the Maharajadhiraja. The latter, fulfilled his other promise by agreeing to take the indebted properties of Srinagar on a ‘Sadhauwa Patauwa’ lease, whereby the entire property would be returned to the proprietors after paying up the loan from the income derived from it.
This was a turning point in the history of Darbhanga and Banaili families. At long last, the family of Darbhanga succeeded in subjugating and bringing under its hold, an important branch of the family of its long time rivals, “the Banaili family”.
Maharajadhiraja Kameshwar Singh emerged as a savior of Srinagar Raj family. He not only kept Kumar Ganganand Singh as his private secretary and one of the closest associates, but also offered bread to the rest of the Royal family. Ganganand’s younger brother, Achyutanand was employed as a circle manager of the Darbhanga Raj. His cousins, Kumar Bijoyanand and Kumar Ghananand were also given employment in the Raj.
In this way, Kumar Ganganand Singh bartered his intellectual profile and royal presence, with the financial safety of his family, at the doorsteps of another Zamindar of Mithila, who had been till then the only competitor to his own house ie Banaili.
Naturally, the rest of Banaili, did not appreciate this move of his. They felt cheated by the defection of this branch to the rival’s camp. The Raja of Banaili had always tried to support the Srinagar branch by, forwarding huge sums as loan. They had never put up any property of their poor cousins, for sale for payment of debt and had to eventually forget and forgo huge amounts of money, given to Srinagar as loan. The Banaili branch felt disgusted to see their financial sacrifice, help and co-operation to be rewarded in this way. Subjugation before the Maharaja of Darbhanga, was something they could not even think of.
Rani Satyarama, mother of Ganganand, and a proud lady of Banaili, could also never reconcile with the fact that her son had become a sub-ordinate of Darbhanga. She expressed her quiet displeasure by refusing to accompany her son, ever, to Darbhanga. She preferred to be confined within her dilapidated palace at Srinagar.
The European tour of Maharajadhiraja was looked upon, as a direct violation of the norms of Hinduism. Consequently he had to face strong opposition and social boycott from the conservative sections of the Shrotriya community. This time, his power and position as the head of the Maithil Brahmin society, could not save him from being openly criticized by the conservatives who led an open confrontation against him. Within a short span of time, this social unrest spread to the masses and was transformed into a social movement throughout Mithila against the voyagers and their supporters. This social unrest came to be famous as the Vilayati-swadeshi movement of Mithila. The entire community of Mithila was divided into two camps, one of the voyagers and their supporters and the other of the conservative Shrotiryas and their supporters who completely boycotted the voyager camp, holding them responsible for having committed a grave crime by crossing the oceans. They were shocked to find this violation, made by the very Superintendent of their society, and foresaw a grave danger to their Dharma and culture by the growing western influence.
During this social upheaval, several Shrotriyas left their home in Tirhut, and migrated to Nepal, where they were welcomed by the ruling clan who helped them to settle down and gave them agricultural as well as homestead land, free of cost.
Raj Banaili, was in the conservative group, obviously. It was during this period that many Shrotriyas moved to Banaili, where they were warmly welcomed with free gifts of land and money.
Naturally, Srinagar Raj, with Kumar Ganganand Singh as its Karta was also held equally responsible as the Maharaja and was completely boycotted by the conservative camp. Most of the Brahmin inhabitants of Srinagar, deserted their home-steads and fled to conservative areas. Kumar Ganganand had to face the onslaughts of this social outburst for quite a period of time before the movement was finally controlled, after the Maharaja had to formally repent for his voyage, at a ritual called Praayaschit prescribed by Mahamahopadhhyaya PanditRaje Misra.
But Kumar Saheb’s troubles were not over yet. The most severe blow came to him and his family, when the grand palace at Deorhi Srinagar caught fire and was reduced to a heap of ashes, on 10.4.1933. There had been earlier occurrences of fire accidents. In 1910, one of the Haveli houses had caught fire but the rest of the palace could be saved. But not this time. A burning spec of dry grass came flying in the fierce western wind, from the adjoining dry grass jungles that had caught fire, and hit one of the cloth curtains of the western Verandah of the main palace. Within minutes the fire spread into the nearby room where petrol and kerosene stocks were kept. Once the highly inflammable materials caught the spark, the fire became completely out of control and devoured the entire palace. With the fire, almost everything, including the priceless library of Kamalanand, and the valuable antique collections, of several centuries, from the times of Mahamahopadhyaya Gadadhar to Raja Dular Singh Bahadur and Kumar Kamalanand Singh was destroyed for ever. The glory of Srinagar Raj was lost.
Nevertheless, the shining star of Srinagar shone in its glory and fame during the years to come, not to be perturbed by the material losses which came one after the other. These were:-
Sale of Zamindari properties, against realization of debt.
The devastating fire of 1932.
The earthquake of 1934 which claimed the palace at Purnea and the already burnt palace of Srinagar.
Kumar Ganganand Singh entered public life, quite early. He made his valuable contributions as:-
1. 1925-- President of Zila Shikshak Sangh Purnea.
2. 1929-- President of Behar Prantiya Hindustani Seva-dal.
3. Member of the Provincial war committee.
4. Leader of District national front, Darbhanga.
5. 1930-- Elected member of Chamber of commerce Bihar and Orissa.
6. 1930-31---Member of Arrow club of India, Burma and Ceylon.
7. 1932--Director of Labourers Union Bank ltd Purnea.
8. 1934--Minister of Bihar provincial cow protection association.
9. 1933-34---Minister of Goraksha Sangh under the president-ship of Pt. Madanmohan Malviya.
10. Founder of Hindu Mahasabha, Patna.
11. Member of All India Hindu Leaque, Lucknow.
12. Member of All India Bengal Hindu political conference.
13. from1943--Chief member of Benares Hindu University court.
14. Vice-president of Bihar Sanskrit council.
15. President of Bihar Sanskrit Parishad.
16. 1944--connected with Indian agricultural society and All India public body.
17. Member of the Senate and Syndicate of Patna University, for many years.
18. 1944--Trustee of ‘Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust’.
19. President of the provincial committee of the above trust.
20. 1946--Nominated member of All India fine arts and crafts society, Delhi.
21. 1946--Directorship of ‘Bihar pictures limited producers, distributors and exhibitions’.
22. 1948--Member of the visitor’s board for the improvement of District government Hospital, Darbhanga.
23. 1954 onwards- Member of ‘District development committee’ Purnea.
24. 1956--Nominated member of ‘Bodhgaya Temple Advisory Board’. Later he was made president of above.
25. 1962--President of ‘State Counsel for Women Education’.
26. Chief Commissioner of ‘Hindustan Bihar Scout’.

Kumar Ganganand Singh entered active politics, as early as 1923, soon after his college days. From 1923 to 1926 he was a ward commissioner of Purnea municipality and from 1924 to 1930, a member of the District board Purnea.
He was elected as a representative member of Purnea, Bhagalpur and Santhaal Parganas in the Indian Vyavasthaapikaa Sabhaa (constituent assembly) in1923.
In the days of the formation of the Indian constitution, there was a tussle for the president-ship of the Constituent Assembly, between Vitthal Bhai Patel of congress and Dewan Bahadur Sri Raghavacharya, who was a candidate from the side of British government. Ganganand Singh held the only vote, which would be decisive for the victory of either. It is said that the government tried to win him over by offering him a seat in the executive committee of the viceroy, and also the title of ‘Raja Bahadur’. But Kumar Sahib gave a wonderful example of his bravery and patriotism by voting Vithalbhai Patel to victory, completely ignoring the bribes of the British Government. Indeed it was an act of courage for a Zamindar to go against the wishes of the government. He repeated the example set by his worthy father who had dared to translate and publish the novel “Anand Math”.
He was again elected a member of the Constituent assembly in 1926 but later resigned in 1930, along with other eminent men like Motilal Nehru, Madanmohan Malviya, Satyamurti, Anne Sahib and Neelkanth Das. Soon after in 1930 he was elected as member of the assembly from Saaran- champaran but resigned once again, on the inspiration of Malviya.
Ganganand remained the president of Purnea district congress from 1925 to 1929. In 1928 he became a (minister) of the Akhil Bhartiya Congress.
In 1937 Ganganand Singh was elected member of the Bihar legislative council as an independent candidate from Darbhanga and Saaran. Again in 1946 he was elected for the above as an independent candidate from Bhagalpur and Munger. Once again he was elected as a candidate of Hindu Mahasabha and nationalist league by defeating his strong congress rival Satyanarain Singh.
When the Second World War started in 1939 the Hindu Mahasabha started a drive to encourage maximum enlistment of Hindus in the Army, with an aim to lead the country towards the establishment of a Hindu Nation through militarization. Kumar Ganganand Singh who was the president of Prantiya Hindu-sabha, toured throughout the province and encouraged more and more young men to join the army. Next he led the famous Prantiya Hindu Sammelan at Rosera in 1941 where he was welcomed by a procession of 21 elephants and a huge crowd of about a lac. Here, among other things it was decided that the next annual conference of All India Hindu Mahasabha would be held at Bhagalpur in the month of December next. But before he could leave by train for Bhagalpur to attend the proposed meet on 24/12/41, he was put under house-arrest by the British government. In spite of being prevented from leading the conference he succeeded in circulating printed pamphlets of the presidential and other speeches among the huge crowd of people who had gathered for the conference. Several resolutions were also passed successfully. Later, when he was released along with the other workers of the Mahasabha he went to Bhagalpur and a massive procession was taken out in the city. But the most memorable was the conference held at Champaran which he inaugurated and was led through the town in a procession of 33 elephants.
In 1952 he joined the congress once again. He became a nominated member of the Bihar legislative council in 1954. Again in 1960 he was elected to the Bihar legislative assembly. He became the education minister of Bihar in 1962 under the chief minister ship of Dr. Sri Krishna Singh. During this period the Bhagalpur and Ranchi University was established and the head-quarters of Bihar University was shifted from Patna to Muzzaffarpur. He opened a multipurpose middle school on the lines of the Neterhat School in Srinagar for which he made a donation of 90 bighas of good land, adjacent to the Garhi. The Kameshwar Singh Sanskrit University of Darbhanga was established by his special efforts made in the direction and with the co-operation of the Maharaja. He also opened a Sanskrit high school in Srinagar.
Kumar saheb will always be remembered in the history of the legislative council of Bihar for his various rulings made as its nominated chairman from 1964 to March 1965.
Apart from the above, Kumar Sahib will always be remembered for his efforts made in the direction of the establishment of Maithili as a recognized language of India. Along with Raja Kirtyanand Sinha, Raja Tankanath Chaudhary of Maldwar and Babu Brajmohan Thakur, pleader of Purnea, he made valuable contributions to begin the study of Maithili in Calcutta University.
It was with the efforts, and advice of Kumar Sahib, that the Maharaja of Darbhanga established ‘The News Paper Ltd’ at Patna. Under this the two dailies “Aryavarta” and ‘The Indian Nation’ flourished for several decades and were established on the top of the list of newspapers of the province. ‘Mithila Mihir’, a monthly Maithili magazine was also started under the same organization. Ganganand Singh wrote for the above papers in the name of ‘Vrihaspati’.
Kumar Ganganand Singh will be mainly remembered for his literary works. He wrote poetry as well as prose with great acumen. In the field of prose he wrote, stories, plays, novels, and essays related to research, language and archeology. All his works are precious material for the archives of Indian literature and poetry.
His first story, “Eucalyptus” was published by the magazine ‘Saraswati’ in 1910. Some of his other articles in Hindi were :-1 Dwitiya Bhoj Saahitya-Saroj Kavi-Kul Chandra Srinagar Rajyaadhipati Raja Kamalanand Singh (Ganga, Bhagalpur)
2 Bharatendu-Smriti (Mithila Bharati)
3 Maharajaadhiraj ke sath ganga-Pravaah 5.3.1931
4 Baalmiki ka apne Kavya me Atmaprakaash (Hindi sahitya aur Bihar, Part 3)
5 Vidyapati ke Kavya ka Bkaktipaksha (Akashvani) etc.

But it was in his mother tongue Maithili that we find most of his creations. Some of them were:-
play (one act)=Jeevan Sangharsh
stories= Aamak Gaachhi, Panch-Parmeswar, Pandit-Putra, Manushyak Mol, Bihaair and Vivaah.
Novel= Agilahee, a novel dealing with child psychology.
Poems=Aahwaan,~ this was a poetic speech rendered by him as the president of Maithili Mahasabha, at Bousi Bhagalpur.
Essays=Nibandhak pragati, Maithili Saahityak Vikas, Raastriya Ektaak Mahatva, Satraham o athaaraham Shataabdeek Maithili Naatak, etc.
Apart from the above, Ganganand Singh’s Introduction of Chandraabharan, Foreword of Pranamya Devta and Maithili me Bihari and Preface of Subhadra-Haran was quite acclaimed. He successfully edited Adarsh Maithili Gadya Padya Sangrah and Mithila Geet Sangrah.
In May 1966 he became the vice-chancellor of the Kameshwar Singh Sanskrit University of Darbhanga and continued on this post till his death on 17-1-1970.
Dr. sacchidanand Sinha had written about him ‘Ganganand will be the last specimen of Aristocracy in Bihar’.
Being on a constant swift switch-over between the introvert, academic career of a writer, to the extrovert, political drives in the country was typical of Kumar Ganganand Singh.
[1] Cloth woven with gold and silver threads (brocade)
[2] Kumar Ganganand Singh by Suredra Jha “Suman” Pg 16-Rudranand is addressed as RAJA
[3] Mool Panjee-Courtesy Panjeekar Mohan Jha
[4] Shyamu thakur belonged to Khandwala Behat Mool.
[5] They were the daughters of Bhawnath Jha of Sarisava Khangur Mool and Shobhan Jha of the house of Mander.
[6] His descendents maintain that he died at the age of 34, so did his son Srinand and grandson Kamlanand. If this is to be taken as true, then Raja Rudranand Singh may have died in 1830. But this is impossible as his son Kumar Srinand Singh was born in 1845-46. We have the accurate date of Srinand’s death (He died on 17. 12. 1880), Now if he lived only 34 years, he must have been born in 1846. Pt. Ramanath Jha is also of the same opinion (Alayee Kul Prakash pg137). Accordingly, Rudranand should have been born around 1816. But, his father Dular Singh, was 66 years old in 1816. So I feel that, the belief of every ancestor living up to 34 years is incorrect as far as Rudranand is concerned. It is more probable and possible that Rudranand Singh died around 1848 at the age of 52.
[7] It was customary to address a Princess as DAIJEE
[8] Thin bricks used for construction in those days
[9]Murli Jha belonged to the house of Sodarpur kanhauli and held the Paanji called “Narpati Jha”.
[10] She was the daughter of Panjeekar Jagaddhar Jha of Sarisab Mool and held the Paanji of “Gonu Misra”
[11]Rani Nityarama was the grand daughter of Vaidik Chandra Dutt Jha. She came from the house of ‘Parihat Sankararhi’.
[12] son of Mahamahopaddhyaya Srinath Jha of Sirsia in Araria
[13] Janou- two and half tolas and medal- five tolas of gold. Following lines were inscribed on the medal “lqlnfl rdZ fopkjs tf;us·n% ikfjrksf"kda inde~@U;k;fons gpiwNk; Jhuxjs’kkS O;rkfj"Vke~ A”
[14] His works were published in saraswati between 1901-05
[15] Poet Janseedan was the private secretary to the raja.
[16] This is the C.M.S. School of today.
[17] Shahzaadi was buried near the Garhi. Her grave exists even today.
[18] ThitherJjha was from the house of Mander Jagour. And held the Panji Bhaiyan Jha
[19] Ramanand Jha belonged to Darihare-ratauli.
[20] Parmanand was of Pabouli-mool and Yogendra was from the house of Khouwal
[21] There were four major creditors- 1 Raj-Darbhanga 2 Raj-Banaili 3 Raja of Munger 4 Madhoram Sand of Benares.
[22] The Kumars of Srinagar let their Raiyati rights be auctioned against rent, allowed a decree to be executed against themselves and purchased the decree through their wives.
[23] in 1967 he was decorated with the title of mahopadhyaya, by university (pratisthan) Bombay and the title of vishwavidya- vaachaspati by international Sanskrit university, delhi, kala vidha in 1968

Banaili Roots to Raj continued---Dynasty 3rd part

2008-11-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

Kumar sahibs of Deorhi- Banaili Champanagar-

Sangeet-Bhaskar[1], Sangeet-Sudhakar[2]
Kumar Shyamanand Singh Bahadur

Among the Kumar Sahebs of Banaili Champanagar the eldest, Rajkumar Shyamanand Singh was born on 27.7.1916, as a most coveted male child of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha and Rani Prabhavati Devi.
After the birth of three daughters and a son who had died in his second year, Shyamanand’s birth came as the first cooling splash of rain on a patch of dry and thirsty land. The death of his infant elder brother had left such an un-nerving impact on his parents that they were very insecure and unsure about the longevity of this child. Although, they regarded this child as a boon of mother goddess, received through the tantrik efforts of Sri Kalipado Sen Gupta of Bakulia temple at Asansole, they could not free themselves of a sense of insecurity and doubt. As a result no rejoicings took place at his birth and the matter was kept at a low profile till the birth of his younger brother Kumar Bimalanand Sinha on 17.12.1918, when the presence of the two heirs was announced formally amidst great rejoicings and festivities that continued for a full month.
Shyamanand was very naughty as a boy and was quite averse to all the efforts made by his parents to make him study. He started his basic education at the Zila School Purnea but was later shifted to Rajkumar College Raipur where he refused to continue after the 1st year and was brought home much to the discomfort of his scholarly father.
Mr. and Mrs. Belleti were kept as private tutors. They came to stay at Banaili Champanagar and in course of time, successfully educated the young boy in the basics and groomed him into a befitting prince.
At the age of 16, on 10/6/1932, Kumar Shyamanand Singh married Rani Nirmala Devi, the daughter of Shrotriya, Pinakar Jha [3] of Sarisab.
When Raja Kirtyanand Sinha died in the year 1938, Shyamanand was the only grown up (major) male successor of his father. He had to take up the responsibilities of the Karta-ship of his entire family. But being very little inclined towards worldly affairs, and being completely engrossed in musical pursuits, he had to give up the managerial responsibilities upon the shoulders of his younger brothers Kumar Bimalanand and Kumar Taranand Sinha.
When he was offered the title of Raja Bahadur, by the government of India, he declined, saying that he was a musician, and not a Raja.
Nevertheless, he commanded great respect and admiration from the people, who regarded him as a Raja till his death in 1994, nearly thirty seven years after the Banaili Raj had ceased to exist.
Kumar Shyamanand was a fine horseman as well as motorist. He had a special fascination for motor-cars.
In the field of sports, Shyamanand scored as a fine foot ball player on the district level and a top class player of Billiards on national level.
In 1938 he joined Bihar Youngman’s Institute. He learnt the finer techniques of Billiards, primarily from Ram Khelavan Saw of Muzzaffarpur and later from Kingsley Kennerley, the world famous billiard player. He was the first champion of ‘Bihar State Billiards and Snookers Championship’ and almost always reached the Finals, winning the title in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, and 1959. He represented Bihar in at least 11 national tournaments. One of his most memorable games was played against J. M. Lafir (Ceylon No.1), within the National Championship at Bangalore.
At about the time of his marriage, he took a liking to music, which eventually became the very essence of his life, his chief occupation and career.
He started by learning to play the harmonium from his brother in law, Babu Durganandan Singh, and soon started playing quite well on the clarionet.
But the turning point came when he happened to hear a recording of vocal classical music, in a gramophone shop at Kurseong, on his way to Darjeeling in 1935. He purchased this gramophone record of Bhismadev Chatterjee of Calcutta and returned home, only to play it over and over again. This record with renderings in Raag Rageshwari Bahar and Patdeep, moved him to such an extent that he made up his mind to learn music from the above artist.
Ustad Bhismadeb Chatterjee was invited to perform at Banaili Champanagar on the occasion of the sacred thread ceremony of Kumar Jayanand Sinha in 1936. Shyamanand was so moved by his performance that he wept like a baby. He prayed to the Ustad to become his Guru and the latter agreed.
Shyamanand took lessons from Bhishmadeb Chatterjee between 1936 and 1939 on quite a regular basis. But when the latter joined the Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry in 1939, the music tuitions of Shyamanand was interrupted. Later, on the advice of his Guru he requested Ustad Bachu Khan Sahib of Agra to come to Banaili Champanagar to impart music lessons to him. From 1940 to 1962-63 Bachu Khan Sahib became the Guru of Shyamanand Singh who reached adorable heights in learning the intricacies of Indian classical vocal music. Besides Bhismadeb Chatterjee and Baachu Khan, Kumar Sahib took musical tuitions from many eminent singers like Ustad Muzzaffar Khan, Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan, Bholanath Bhatt, Kedarjee, Mahaveer Mulik and Jaduweer Mullik.
Although Kumar Sahib abstained from making a profession of his singing talents, his music became very popular among the admirers of Indian classical music. He excelled in Bandish and Bhajan and possessed a treasure in the form of Bandish of Khayaal as well as Thumri. He gave utmost importance to the presentation of the Bandish and strongly maintained that without the proper and artistic presentation of Bandish it was impossible to develop sentiment and “Rasa” in one’s singing.
Kumar Saheb used to say “Sing from your Soul, not from your throat”. At a music conference in Purnea, he sang in the presence of the then governor of Bihar “Md. Zakir Hussain”. The governor came up to the stage, embraced him and announced “Kumar sahib does not sing, he prays” Kumar Shyamanand’s music was divine. Gajendra narayan singh writes about him- “Kumar Shyamanand Singh of Banaili Estate had acquired such excellence in singing Bandish that Surashri Kesar Bai and many such big and renowned artists recognized his talent. If you do not believe me you may ask Pandit Jasraj. After hearing the Bandish performances of Kumar Saheb, Jasraj wept like a child and wished that he had such Excellence.”
Once, when Surshri Kesar Bai was present at one of the music gathering at Champanagar, she heard Kumar Sahib Sing a Bhajan “Dukh haro Dwarkanath” (which later became one of his most popular Bhajans). She was touched by the rendering of the Bhajan, to such an extent that she requested the Kumar Sahib to teach him the above Bhajan and said that she was ready to become his disciple, for this Bhajan. Kumar Sahib taught her the said Bhajan, which she sang at a couple of conferences but never forgot to mention the name of her Guru, for this Bhajan. Ustad Vilayat Khan (Agrewale), in his book “Sangeetagyon Ke Sansmaran” has stated that in Bihar there was no better connisseaur of music than Kumar Shyamanand Singh”
Although he had many disciples[4], none could attain similar heights. None had the capability of grasping his profound skill and divine notes, and be called a worthy disciple of his. I, being one of his disciples must confess here that I did not learn with enough determination and drive and shall repent for it as long as I live.
Kumar Shyamanand Singh represented the province at the Akhil Bhartiya Sangeet Naatak Academy, Delhi. He was also one of the chief patrons of Visweswar-kala-niketan, Sarisab, which had decorated him with the title of ‘Sangeet Bhaskar’. He was one of the Chief Patrons of All –India- Music-Conference and presented the convocation address at the 11th All India Music Conference of The Prayag Sangit Samiti at Allahabad on 19.12.1948. He did a lot to promote Indian Classical Music in the District of Purnea. It was with his efforts that a Musical organization named ‘Kalakaar Sangh’ was formed in Purnea, through which several Musical conferences were held successfully in the District. He remained the President of ‘Kala Bhawan Purnea’ for a long period of time. Another Musical Institution Named ‘Saarang’ was established in Purnea under his austere patronage and guidance in 1991. It is worth mentioning here that at ‘Saarang’ Kumar Shyamanand Singh gave weekly Music tuitions to a class of aspiring students of classical Music.
Kumar Sahib was an active member of the Akhil Bhartiya Sankirtan Mahamandal. His contributions towards the cult of Kirtan in the district and adjoining areas shall not be forgotten for many decades to come. He never failed to attend even the humblest Kirtan gatherings in the area and motored down to the remotest spots, to encourage the efforts made by the common people to pray to the god through Kirtan. In this way Kumar Saheb reached to the masses and emerged as a Royal Saint (Rajarshi).
During his last days a recording of seven hours was made of his vocal renderings, by the Central Museum, Akashwani, and is preserved in the archives at Delhi. This also includes an interview.

Kumar Bimalanand Sinha Bahadur

The second, Kumar Bimalanand Sinha born on 17/12/1918, was more known by his other name “Bholanjee”. After his early education at Zila School Purnea, he joined the Patna College for his higher education. But unfortunate circumstances interrupted his higher studies. Among his brothers, Bimalanand was hit in the worst way, by the untimely death of his father. The absence of a grown up male guardian, led to a chain of problems in managing the affairs of the estate as well as home. Finding his elder brother to be completely disinterested and incompetent in these matters his mother was compelled to ask him to make a sacrifice of his education for the sake of saving his family and brothers from the ensuing crisis. So, Bimalanand had to leave College just a few months before his graduation tests.
It was due to his fatherly affection, wisdom, guidance and accommodating nature that the sons of late Kirtyanand Sinha, remained united as one joint family, and commanded respect from the government as well as society as the 8 annas patti of Banaili Raj.
Kumar Bimalanand Sinha was married at the age of 16 to Rani Sati Devi, the daughter of Shrotriya Pandit Govind Narayan Jha[5] of Ujaan.
Besides, Angling, Shikar, Billiards, Football, Tennis, Horse-riding and Motoring, he had a special interest in studying the various Sanskrit-texts and commanded considerable knowledge of the Hindu traditions and religious rituals. But he specialized in Motor-mechanics and Electrical Science.
Kumar Bimalanand loved Indian Classical Music. In co-operation with his musical brother Shyamanand, he became a member of the All-India Music Conference (Allahabad), Kalakaar Sangh (Purnea) and Kala-Bhawan (Purnea).
Having taken the entire burden of managing the family affairs at home he came to supervise all the religious obligations of the house of Champanagar. In 1966 he became the Managing Trustee of the ‘Sri Kalipuja Durgapujadi Trust’ and looked after the performance of religious festivties at Champanagar till his death in 1982.
He was a founder member (Treasurer) of the Purnea College and performed as a key figure in the establishment of the above institution. He also made his contributions as a representative of the Public in the District judicial vigilance committee from 1941 to his death on 31.5.1982. For many years he also served as the only member from the public (special Invitee) in The District Crime control Committee.
Being an accomplished Agriculturist in the District Kumar Bimalanand Sinha founded the First Farmer’s Union in Purnea and worked as its President.
His contributions towards the Industrialization of the District can be seen in his endeavors in the direction of Sugar Industry. He was the director as well as the first Public Share-holder of the Banmanhki Sugar Mills and later became the Chairman of its board.
Kumar Bimalanand played football at the district level. It was due to the influence and pressure of his friend Nepuda (Amal Mazumdar), the famous Indian National Footballer, that he was convinced of the need of a public Football-ground in Purnea and their Personal Football-Field in the Navratan-house compound was allowed to be used by the District Sports Association of Purnea.
Kumar Saheb was also associated with the Indian Independence movement through his closest friend, Bhuvaneswari Choudhary of Ganeshpur, and Kamaldev Narayan Singh who later became the Industry Minister of Bihar. Bimalanand Sinha was a devoted but a quiet Member of the Rashtriya Seva Sangh since 1945.

Kumar Taranand Sinha Bahadur

The third, Kumar Taranand Sinha alias Bhagwanjee was born on 14/11/1920. After completing his school from Purnea Zila School he became a graduate from the Patna College. Like his elder brother Bimalanand, he also had to take up the responsibilities of the management of the estate, early in life, although he was fortunate enough to complete his graduation.
He was married to Rani Rukmini Devi, the daughter of Padmadutt Jha[6] of Ujaan at a grand ceremony held at Banaili Chamganagar in 1940.
He had to take up the joint receiver-ship of Banaili Raj as well as his own branch of Champanagar in 1947-48. He shifted to Chhowni Kothi in Bhagalpur, where he spent several years of his early life. During his days at Bhagalpur, he entered public life and started taking a keen interest in political affairs of the Province. The Banaili Raj vested in the government of India in 1958. Soon after, in 1962 he became one of the founder members of the University Service Commission of Bihar. Around this time he shifted his abode to the Banaili house at Patna. He joined as the chairman of the University Service Commission in 1966 and remained in office till 1969 after which he joined as a Resident representative of TISCO and retired in 1980. He was also the chairman of all selection (employment) committee of TISCO.
Besides, such sports in which almost every member of his family made a mark in, like Shikar, Football, Billiards and Snookers, he played tennis well and was a keen nature lover. He excelled in Billiards and Snooker and was the State champion in Billiards in 1957 and 1966.

Besides the above-mentioned, he was:-
1) Elected as a member of the first Bihar legislative assembly in 1946.
2) Member of the congress party from 1941 to 1962.
3) Member of Patna University Senate from 1947 to 1964.
4) Member of Bhagalpur University Senate from 1947 to 1962.
5) Member of Ranchi University Senate.
6) Member of the governing body of Raj Kumar College, Raipur.
7) On the board of Governors, X.L.R.I for 10 years (1971 to 1980).
8) Vice chairman of Administrative and Secretarial Economy Committee, Bihar.
9) Member of First Police manual Revision committee, Bihar.
10) Director of the State Industrial Development Corporation, Bihar.
11) Vice-president of Bihar Rifle Association.
12) President of the Billiards & Snookers Federation of India for 2 consecutive terms of 4years each.
13) President of Bihar State Billiards Association.
14) Founder president of Patna District Cricket Association.
15) Vice-president of Bihar Cricket Association.
16) President of Bihar Weightlifting Association.
17) President of Bihar Body Building Association.
18) President of Chetna Samiti, Patna.
19) President of Lions Club, Patna.
20) President of Bihar Youth Hostels Association
21) Director of West Bokaro Collieries Ltd.
22) Director of the Hindustan Tasar & Silk Mills Ltd, Bhagalpur and
23) Director of the Mining Industries, Bhagalpur.

Kumar Durganand Sinha bahadur

Kumar Durganand was born in 1922. According to the custom prevailing in his family he was married at the young age of 20, in 1942, to Rani Radha Devi who hailed from a high born Yogya family of Mithila which had migrated and settled at Palamu in south Bihar.
After graduating from the Patna University he went to England in 1946 for higher studies. He joined St’ John’s College in Cambridge and completed his master’s degree in Psychology under the guidance of the famous scholar, Prof. Bartlett.
On his return to India in 1949 he took up the career of a Professor of Psychology and taught at the Patna College and later at I.I.T. Kharagpur till 1961 after which he joined the Allahabad University. He has the honour of being the first professor of the department of Psychology at Allahabad which soon achieved international standards under his able head-ship, and emerged as a National Centre of Advanced studies in the subject.
Kumar Durganand Sinha became famous for his outstanding contributions towards the study of Psychology and was decorated with the ‘Wundt’ Medal at Leipzig in Germany. He was also the First President of the International Association of cross- cultural Psychology from the Third world.
Apart from the above he was –
1. Natinal Fellow of the University Grants Commission.
2. National Fellow of Indian Council for Social-Science Research.
3. Director of A. N. Sinha Institute for Social sciences Patna, from 1982 to 1985.
Kumar Durganand Sinha died in 1998. A library in the department of Psychology has been named after him at Allahabad, to remember the works of this outstanding Scholar of Psychology. Kumar Durganand Sinha was a worthy and true descendent of his Scholarly and learned forefathers like Mahamahopaddhyay Gangadhar and Dharmaadhikarnik Gadadhar.

Kumar Jayanand Sinha Bahadur

Kumar Jayanand alias Jaadavji was born on 12.8.1925 and died at the age of 79 on 16.8.2004. He was married in 1947, to Rani Kishori Devi[7], the Daughter of Babu Bhairav Thakur of Singhbaar.
Though a simpleton at heart, Jaadavji could perform with skilled ease, the intricate techniques of Indian Classical music which he had learnt from his musician elder brother and the famous Pt. Bholanath Bhatt.
Kumar jayanand Sinha was an excellent player of Billiards and Snookers and won several State Championship Tournaments from Uttar Pradesh. He also worked for the cause of upliftment of Drama (One Act Play) and Classical Indian Music in and around Allahabad where he lived during a major portion of his life.

Kumar Adyanand Sinha Bahadur

Kumar Adyanand Sinha alias Nunuji, lost his father at the very young age of seven. As a result, he received special attention and affectionate care from his elder brothers and sisters who petted and pampered him to such an extent that he grew up to become a man with typical whims and idiosyncrasies. On one side, he developed such expensive and princely preferences as owning fancy Cars which he changed for new models every second year and on the other side he professed and maintained that it was most undesirable and extravagant to keep even an elaborate wardrobe. While he remained unmarried, much against the norms of Hinduism and the wishes of his mother and brothers, he was as orthodox as any staunch Hindu.
He graduated in Economics from the Patna College and completed his master’s degree in the same subject. He was also a scholar of Indian Philosophy, Astrology and Sanskrit.
Kumar Adyanand Sinha was a fine player of Billiards and Snookers and had the privilege of learning the techniques of the game from the famous Wilson Jones. More than once, he emerged as the winner in the State Championship Tournaments in Billiards and Snookers from his native state.
After his mother’s death in 1975, Adyanand was drawn towards the cult of Krishna-worship and he became a
Disciple of the “Chaitanya-Mahaprabhu” school of thought. He came to be closely associated with the various religious and temple institutions at Vrindaban and Puri and was moved to see the dilapidated condition of some the institutions which were dying for want of financial support. Now he readily opened his purse for the cause of everything and anything related to his favourite Lord Krishna. During the next few years he spent a few crores to restore and renovate several temple institutions, the Radha govind Temple at Brindaban and the Gambheera at Puri being the chief among them.
During the latter part of his life he devoted his time and money for the benefit of the common people and thus stepped into the shoes of his illustrious father. He started by creating a Trust at Allahabad named ‘Kirti Trust’ after the name of his father, to promote literary talents and provide medical help to needy patients. Next, he donated more than four crores of rupees to the Mahavir Cancer Sansthaan Patna, for the construction of the first floor of the hospital which has been named after his mother Rani Prabhavati Devi. A guest house was also constructed for the use of the attendants of the cancer patients. An intensive care unit was also made at Vrindaban in the name of his mother.
At Purnea, Kumar Adyanand Sinha created another Charitable Trust (Raja Kirtyanand Sinha Memorial Trust) which provides the convenient use of a Community hall-cum-Auditorium to the general public at a nominal cost of maintenance. He also donated Rs 1600000/- to Vidya Vihar Residential School[8] for the construction of a block of building to be named after his father.
Kumar Adyanand Sinha Died in 2002.

Deorhi Garh-banaili -

Kumar Ramanand Sinha Bahadur

Kumar Ramanand Sinha was the eldest son of Raja Kalanand Sinha of Banaili. He was born in the year 1901. He received basic education as a student of Purnea Zila School. At the age of 16 he was married to Rani Ramabati of Mangrauni[9], at an elaborate wedding ceremony at Deorhi Champanagar. It was a lavish affair and the total expenditure amounted to Rs.1, 04,000/-.
From a very young age he developed a strong dislike towards the joint management of the Raj. The dominating nature of his uncle as against the meek disposition of his simpleton father may have kindled the fire of dissatisfaction and mistrust in him. Although Kalanand’s name was used and written as the Karta of the joint family, yet it was Kirtyanand who managed and decided everything, although after consulting his elder brother.
From the very time of the proposal of partition etc., which was strongly recommended by him, Ramanand assumed complete control over the house-hold of his father and played a decisive role in all matters, big or small. In a way he stepped into the place vacated by his uncle, with a firmer hold, due to his superior position as the eldest son and an heir.
Kalanand Sinha died of pleurisy and displacement of heart in the year 1922. Now Ramanand, as the Karta of his joint family (including his brother, sisters and mother) took up the related responsibilities. First, he consolidated his position as a leading prince of the region and established his power and prestige in the area.
Next, he completed the construction of the palace at Garh-banaili. The magnificent palace, the picturesque layout of the grounds, the adjoining gardens and parks spoke[10] highly of his fine tastes and artistic ideas. Although the Deorhi had all the salient features of a typical household of the family, it was huge in its expanse. The Garhi walls enclosed approximately 100 Bighas of land. The main palace called Kala Bhawan was the biggest that the entire clan of Banaili could boast of. The palaces and residences of close relatives were situated at a considerable distance from each other. They were not close knit like the other Garhies of Banaili. I place here a layout of the Garhi and annexes for the readers to make an idea of a typical residence of one of the biggest Zamindari dynasties of the province. (See Map No. 6).
That Kumar Ramanand Sinha possessed a special knack for planning lay-outs of gardens and parks is evident from the Zoological and Botanical garden laid out by him at the gates of the Garh-banaili Palace. This Garden which spread out in about 100 bighas, contained a fine collection of exotic and rare botanical specimens. The special feature was the small artificial island at the right side of the centre of the park which was developed as a natural forest with an artificial stream falling into the small lake that surrounded it. Various animals and birds, like Tigers, Crocodiles and Peacocks were kept in cages set up at different places within the huge expanse of the garden. One flowering tree, called the Sivlingi, is indeed unique for its flower which forms into a shape resembling a phallus with a serpent’s hood swaying over it, exactly like the combination of Lord Siva and Shesh-Naga. Although the above-mentioned gardens are no more the Sivlingi exists and is a source of public attraction.
But at the home front, differences were, slowly cropping up, between him and his younger brother Kumar Krishnanand. Matters came to the surface soon after the younger Kumar became a major in 1925. Krishnanand may have disagreed with most of the projects and methods of his brother and started expressing his dissatisfaction, whereupon ill feelings developed between the brothers.
Finally, in October 1925 feeling unsafe and cheated Krishnand left Garhbanaili with his friends and well wishers. He wandered from one place to another, for some time, unable to decide his next step. His friends advised him not to return to live at Garhbanaili, for the sake of his interests in the estate. Finally, he decided to set up his abode at the estate house at Sultangange in Bhagalpur. This Sultangange-kothi had been the residence of his aunt ‘Kamakhya Dai’ and was later converted into a bungalow for the use of estate proprietors and officials, during official tours to adjoining areas. Here, Kumar Krishnanand Sinha built a suitable palace for himself and named it Krishnagarh. Kumar Ramanand continued to live in the palace at Garhbanaili, which remained a joint property between him and his brother.
Ramanand Singh was a keen patron of music and drama. Renowned singer of Indian Classical Music, Pt. Ramchandra Jha of Panichobha was one of his Durbar singers. Later Durga Dutta Jha of the same village also joined his Durbar. Ramanand Sinha had constructed a beautiful stage hall next to the Gosown-ghar and Marbaa where, on the occasion of Janmasthmi, elaborate shows of music and drama were held. On such occasions he would make personal appearances on stage, in various roles. He often directed these plays and had also written a couple of them, namely ohj vtqZZu] fot;&fotf;uh] fdlku ckyd] drZO;] and prqFkÊ&paæ.
Ramanand Sinha opened an English medium high school at Garhbanaili and named it Kalanand Vidyalaya after his late Father. He spent Rs.40000/- towards the building and accessories of the school and spent Rs.6000/- annually for its maintenance. Later he made a gift of 100 acres of land for the upkeep of the School. He contributed Rs.5000/- to complete the English high school building at Jalalabad (Munger) which was named Ramanand High English School and maintained it with annual grants. He also donated Rs.20000/- and a gift of 3 Bighas of land towards the construction of the Girls high English school in Purnea. After his death, his widows tried to keep up their husband’s good name and started Ramanand Middle School at Garh-Banaili. The Palace guest house was donated to be used as the School-building.
Ramanand’s sincere efforts, towards providing better medical facilities to the people were clearly marked by a chain of contributions made in this direction by him. The building of the Biology Department of the T.N.B. College at Bhagalpur was his personal contribution to the Institution. He made a gift of Rs.15000/- to the Sadar Hospital in Purnea, for the construction of an outdoor dispensary. A separate section of the Hospital building was made in his name and called ‘Ramanand block’. For this purpose he had donated Rs.100000/- to the Purnea hospital. A charitable dispensary was opened by him in the name of his mother at Radhanagar in Garhbanaili. The Sal-tammam of 1345 Fasli records that a sum of Rs.1000/- was spent every year by him for medical charity to the people of the surrounding areas. The figure of Rs.6413/- which amounts the total annual expenditure of Raj Banaili towards medical subscriptions, bears testimony to his keen interest, which he shared with his uncle and brother. Some of his other contributions where he joined as a co–proprietor of the 9 annas Banaili estate were the following:-
1. Rs. 4000/- For construction of dispensary at Strand Road, Bhagalpur, 1323 F.s.
2. Rs. 3000/- For construction of Lady Doctor’s quarters at Munger.
3. Rs. 500/-To Banka Dispensary in 1929
4. Rs. 7000/-To St John’s Ambulance Fund Association till 1324 F.S.
5. Rs. 4000/- for construction of Bariarpur Dispensary.
After his death Rani Ramavati Devi of Banaili made a generous contribution of Rs. 15,000 for the Ramanand biological laboratory of the College for teaching botany and zoology up to B.Sc standard.
With an aim to promote scientific methods in agriculture and farming, Kumar Ramanand had established a small farm at Garhbanaili, where interested farmers were always welcome to learn new tactics and techniques. In the field of sports, he left his mark by starting a football tournament which came to be known as ‘Kumar shield’ in the district.
He showed keen interest in Tantrik rituals. Himself being a devotee of Kali, he had enshrined an idol of the goddess in his private Puja room at Garhbanaili. Under his patronage an elaborate Durga-puja Paddhati was prepared by leading Pandits[11] of the province. This system of worship was implemented at the Devighara at Garhbanaili on the occasion of Durga-puja. Today this system of ritualistic worship is practised, not only in the Garhbanaili Devighara by his successors but in most of the eminent places of Durga-puja in the Nashira Parganna. Ramanand Singh helped in promoting the study of Tantra by donating considerable amount of money to the Bihar Sanskrit Samiti, to be given as award to the student who presented the best essay on Tantra.
Kumar Ramanand Sinha was always eager to help in the development of his own community i.e. the Maithil Brahmins. His concern is reflected in the growing number of competent Maithil employees in the Raj during his period. He encouraged many Shrotriyas to settle down within the Banaili Raj and helped them by sanctioning gifts of land for their use. At the same time, he was much opposed to the prevalent caste system of the Maithil Brahmins which, due to its inherent defects was leading to the fast deterioration of the community as a whole.
Kumar Ramanand Sinha was a very able administrator and maintained a keen vigil on the day to day management of the Raj and his personal estates. He was an active member of the district board of Purnea and acted as the municipal commissioner of Purnea for many years.
Kumar Saheb could easily foresee the inevitable end of the Zamindari System during the coming decades and had already started making plans accordingly. He shifted towards industrialization. In 1939 he started Purneswari Rice and Oil Mills[12] at Garh-Banaili. He encouraged the Famous J.K. Industries of Kanpur[13] to join him as a partner in Jute Industry. But for the untimely death of Kumar Ramanand in 1940, this factory would have set a leading example of Jute industry in this part of the country. With an aim to convert Garh-Banaili into an industrial town-ship he invited and encouraged the business houses of the Jejani, Khaitan and Taparias to settle and establish their business houses in the locality.
In spite of his industrial endeavors he was very much a part of the British Zamindari System. In 1930 Ramanand wrote to the governor of Bihar, James David Sifton appealing to him for the title of Raja Bahadur to be given to him in continuation of his father’s title and for the various services he had done for the public at large. But he did not live long enough to see his ambition fulfilled.
The family life of Kumar Ramanand Sinha was far from satisfactory. Complaints, made by his brother, that the latter had been forced to desert his family residence at Garh-Banaili, had put a shade of blame on Ramanand.
His marriage with Rani Ramabati had failed to produce any offspring, let alone an heir. Various medications and treatment proved fruitless. Clinging to the last ray of hope in the prediction of an Astrologer, who gave him an assurance of a child through a second marriage, he married again in 1935. His second wife was Rani Rameshwari, the daughter of Shrotriya Durgeshwar Thakur of Sonepur, Ujaan[14].
He constructed a new palace, due north of Kala Bhawan Palace in the year 1936. This building was yet another example of his fine and varied tastes. Every wing of the Palace had a separate character in the way that each section could be distinguished from the other in fashion and style. Some rooms were made and decorated in English fashion while the others gave a typical colonial look. The upper storey bore a distinct similarity to the houses of the hill stations. Yet, one would be completely at home as soon as one reached the inner courtyard which brought you back to the scene of a conservative Hindu household. This might have been the dream house of the Kumar as it surely led him towards the fulfillment of his dream of an heir.
At long last the prayers of Ramanand seemed to bear fruit when, in early 1940, Rani Rameswari expected a child. But Ramanand Sinha was not lucky enough to hold his much coveted child in his arms. He fell seriously ill in August and could not recover in spite of best medical treatments in the country. He died on 24/8/1940.
From the very time of his fatal illness, serious trouble started within the palace at Garhbanaili. Ramanand was dying without a child. The question of his inheritance and future lordship invited a period of conspiracies and feud.
His younger brother was summoned by his mother, Kalavati to be present at the critical moment. So, Kumar Krishnanand Came to Garhbanaili and was at his brother’s side when the end came. He performed the last rites of his brother according to the Shastra and was led to hold a claim on his estate and wealth.
Only after forty days of the death of the Kumar a daughter was born posthumously to him on 3/10/1940. She was nick-named Chintaa,[15] by her mothers who were laden with further worries (Chintaa) because she happened to be a girl. A boy would have made it easier for them to face the question of inheritance. Nevertheless, both her mothers clung to her as their only hope of survival against the designs of Kumar Krishnanand who was leaving no stone unturned to claim his brother’s entire inheritance.
It was mainly due to the wisdom and far-sighted vision of the senior Rani Ramavati Devi that the tides of misfortune and the period of trial could be overcome.
After a long period of intrigues and court battles the share of Ramanand Sinha in the Banaili-raj was divided between Krishnanand who got 5/12 and the two Ranies who jointly held 7/12.

Deorhi Krishnagarh –

Kumar Krishnanand Sinha Bahadur

Kumar Krishnanand Sinha was the youngest son of Raja Kalanand Sinha Bahadur. He was born in the year 1907. From his very childhood he became a favourite of his uncle Raja Bahadur Kirtyanand Sinha who called him ‘Paglu’ and became a Godfather to him by officiating as his Acharya-Guru on the occasion of his Upanayan. Although he could not take to higher studies like his uncle, he tried to follow his uncle’s footsteps in more than one field.
He was a fine Shikari and came to be very popular among his subjects for his keen interest in the the manly sport, which he had inherited from his ‘Shikari’ uncle.
Kumar Krishnanand Sinha was very tall and heavy. More than Six and a half feet tall, and weighing more than 150 kilograms, he presented himself as a Superman, though a very benevolent one, a true impression established by his kind and innocent face. He possessed a very strong physique, which he maintained through rigorous exercise in wrestling, Horse-riding and swimming. I have heard about an incident, in 1925 in Purnea, when his car, a Chevrolet had a punctured tyre and he lifted the car with ease and held it while the tyre was changed.
Krishnanand Sinha, with his benevolent nature and a mythological body build-up, emerged as a towering personality, who enchanted the eyes and hearts of his people who took to worship him as their true King and Hero. Even today, people worship the very place where he used to sit under a canopy in an open Durbar during the puja festivities at the Devighara in Asargunj.[16]
One cannot forget the services of Kumar Krishnanand Sinha towards the Hindi, Maithili and the Sanskrit language. In order to compensate the absence of any literary magazine in the province, he established a printing press called ‘Sri Mithila Press’ at Sultanganj and started the publication of the monthly “Ganga”. This magazine flourished under the able editorship of Ramgovind Trivedi, Pandit Gaurinath Jha and Shivpujan Sahay. Ganga found nation-wide acclaim for its archeological issue which was brought out under the editor-ship of Acharya Narendradeo and Tripitakacharya Rahul Sankrityayan. Some other magazines published under his patronage were the weekly “Haldhar” in Hindi and “Mithila-mitra” in Maithili. He also published the “Hindibhasya” of the “Rigveda”.
He donated a couple of water-sprinkling vehicles to the municipality of Bhagalpur and thus provided for the convenience of the dwellers of the city. He also gifted a house (Krishnavati[17]-sadan) to the Pandaa of Deoghar to be used as a lodge for the Piligrims.
He opened K.N. & S.M. H.E. School at Sultanganj and ran it, mostly at his own cost.
But Kumar Krishnand Sinha was very poor at managing his financial affairs. He was unable to strike a balance between his income and expenditure. As a result, he contracted heavy loans. At one point of time, he even considered the idea of offering his share in the estate to be managed by the Court of Wards. On 6.4.1935 Kumar Krishnanand Sinha gave his proprietory as well as lease-hold share of the Raj, in usufructuary mortgage to Kumar Ramanand Sinha but this was later cancelled by the mutual consent of Kumar Krishannand, Rani Ramavati and Rani Rameshwari on 30.11.1940 by virtue of a deed of family settlement.
Kumar Krishnanand Sinha died in 1958.

[1] Conferred by Vishweswar Kala Niketan, Sarisab, Darbhanga.
[2] As addressed by Gajendra Narayan Singh in his book ‘Swar-Gandh’ Pg-142
[3] Pinakar jha came from the house of Kujauli-Bhakhrauli and Nirmala held the Paainj- Kamalnayan Pathak.
[4]Sitaram Jha, Kumar Jayanand Sinha, Saktinath Jha (Subrat), Shankaranand Singh, Suryanarayan Jha(Jittan), Girijanand Sinha, Udayanand Singh, Jayant chatterjee, Vandana Jha, Amar Nath Jha, Kaushal Kishore Dubey, Shyam Chaitanya Jha,Vijay Kumar Jha and Ram Sharan Sinha (Bhajananand).
[5] Govind Narayan belonged to Darihare-ratauli and Sati held the Paainj-Bholan Jha.
[6] Padmadutt jha came from the house of Sodarpur-Kanhauli and Rukmini held the high Paanji ‘Bhikhari Jha’
[7] Rani Kishori Devi belongs to the house of Digho-Sannahpur.
[8] The science block of the school has been constructed through the above mentioned donation but the institute has shown deplorable negligence in inscribing the name of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha in an incorrect way and failing to correct it even after several reminders.
[9] She was the daughter of Bhairav Jha of Sodarpur Kanhouli.
[10]A major portion of the architectural contributions of the bygone Zamindari period has faced natural decay due to lack of maintenance and care, all over the country. Yet, at many places they have been saved from going to ruins. The successors of Kumar Ramanand Sinha failed to keep intact the main palace buildings at Garh-Banaili. Had it been saved, it would stand today as a typical architectural example of the by gone era of History.
[11] This Paddhati was written by Kavya –Vyakaran-Tirtha, Sahitya-Shiromani, Pandit Taracharan of Mangrauni with the help of Mahamahopaddhyaya Vyakaranaacharya Panditpravar Sasinath and Mahamahopaddhyaya Jyotishaacharya Panditpravar Murlidhar.
[12] Later named ‘Rani Rice and Oil Mills’
[13] An industrial site belonging to the J.K.industries still exists at Garh-Banaili as a rememberance of the above mentioned endeavor of The Kumar.
[14] Durgeshwar belonged to the Khandawala Mool
[15] Her actual name is Jagatmaya Devi.
[16]When he shifted to Sultangunj he took over the management of the Devighara of Deorhi Asargunj at Jelalabad, which had been established by Raja Bedanand Sinha and carried out the daily as well as the annual Durga-Puja with great fan-fare.

[17] Kumar Krishnanand Sinha was married to the daughter of Shrotriya Keval Krishna Thakur of Sarb-seema. She was named Rani Krishnavati Devi. Keval Krishna belonged to the house of Khandwala-Bhaur.

Banaili Roots to Raj continued----Dynasty 2nd part

2008-11-15T07:41:00.000-08:00

Deorhi Ramnagar (Adyanagar) -
Parmodaar Raja Padmanand Singh Bahadur

After the death of his father in 1883, Padmanand Singh received the title of “Raja Bahadur” from the government. Raja Padmanand Singh knew Sanskrit, English and Persian. He was adorned with the title of “Faarsinavees”. He composed verses in Hindi and Urdu.
Raja Padmanand was a staunch Brahmin and he performed his daily Puja and rituals with great devotion and regularity. He took food only after giving away some gold as Daan in the morning. It is said that during his old age, when his finances were very low and even his monthly allowance of Rs. 4000/- had been attached by his creditors, one day there was no gold available to be given away. He waited for hours for the material to be supplied to him so that he could rise from his Puja. At last he fulfilled his daily routine by giving away his own gold Pavitri (a gold ring, usually worn with the sacred thread for purity). Only after doing this, did he take food and water. Padmanand Singh had constructed a Singhdwaar on the premises of Vaidyanath temple at Deoghar. He also presented a doorway of ivory to the lord. This was fitted as the main entrance to the Garbh-griha (chamber) of the temple. He had also presented a Gold Tongue to the Goddess Kali at the Kalighat temple in Calcutta. He was as generous as his father, even more. Only he did not have the former’s resources and had inherited an estate which was encumbered with debts. As a result of his extravagance the estate was further laden with debts.
Padmanand Singh was married in 1868-69. His first wife was Rani Padmavati, daughter of Badan Jha, of Mangrauni[1]. There is a very interesting story related to this marriage. As it was customary, the horoscope of the bride was sent to the Raja Sahib Leelanand Singh, immediately after the marriage ceremony was over. He was horrified to learn about some unlucky combinations in the horoscope of the bride which suggested that she would soon be a widow. The astrologers advised him to counteract the bad prediction by marrying the prince again, this time, to a bride whose horoscope would predict long life to her husband with at least double the intensity of the horoscope of the present bride. The Raja at once, mobilized all his social connections and resources to find such a bride. Many offers came and the Raja selected two more brides at the same time, saying that he could not afford to take a chance anymore. Therefore within a fortnight Padmanand Singh was wedded thrice and became a young husband of three baby brides.
Raja Leelanand now returned victoriously, from Nauhatta to Deoorhi Ramnagar, with Kumar Padmanand and his three brides. The second wife[2] of Padmanand Singh was Rani Padmeswari, the daughter of Yognath Thakur of Ujaan. Yognath Thakur belonged to Khandawala-Bhour Mool. Yognath Thakur was the uncle (Peesa) of Rani Chandeswari and therefore the bride was her cousin. Yognath Thakur had married many times and one of his wives was the daughter of Kalitnath Singh of Amour, the Dayad of Padmanand. This Rani died issueless. The third bride Rani Padma-Rama was also a close relative of Rani Chandeswari. She was the daughter of Manodhar Misra of Salempur, Chandeswari’s own uncle (Kaka). This bride also was the first cousin of Chandeswari. This Rani gave birth to a son who died in infancy. Later she too, died at a very young age at Deorhi Asarganj[3] where she used to stay after the death of Raja Leelanand Sinha. All these three wives of Padmanand died before him, Padmavati dying only three month before his death. She died on 22nd of April 1912.
The last two marriages suggest that, the group of relatives from Salempur with Rani Chandeswari at the top, wielded great influence over Raja Leelanand, during this period.
In spite of these new marriage alliances with Padmanand the relation between the young Kumar and his father deteriorated fast and he was separated from his father very soon. I have already written about the unfortunate separation in the chapter of Raja Leelanand Sinha.
Soon after the death of his father, his stepmother, Rani Sitabati Debi filed a suit against him, for the share of her minor sons Kumar Kalanand Sinha and Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha, in the estate. Padmanand maintained that they were illegitimate children of his Father and fought the suit strongly. However, due to the feeble chances of winning on such grounds, and the timely intervention of his first wife Rani Padmavati, the case was compromised and Padmanand got 7annas out of the 16 annas, he enjoyed till then.
By his first wife, Padmavati, Padmanand singh had one son, Chandranand Singh and three daughters- Bhawani, Hira and Moti.
Kumar Chandranand Singh was born in the month of November in the year 1884. He was a mentally retarded child. He was sick as a child and was a born idiot. The Raja and his wife, together, tried out their best resources to cure him of his handicaps but in vain. On the advice of some astrologers that he would improve after marriage, the idiot Prince was married to the daughter of Ugri Jha of Koilakh. Ugri Jha belonged to the Khoware-Naahas Mool and was a Yogya. But the condition of the Prince did not change in anyway and he died in 1908, at the young age of 25. His wife was Rani Chandravati alias Sasirama, who later went to succeed to the entire 7annas estate of Banaili, through her husband Kumar Chandranand Singh.
Rani Padmavati was literate and very intelligent. She took active part in the affairs of the Zamindari. Being a Purdanashin lady, she sat in court with Purdah of muslin all around her, if and when she had to, for unavoidable business. According to Mr. Macgregor, manager of 7annas court of wards, estate, “She was a very capable woman. She was not likely to be dominated by any one.”
Rani Padmavati was of a very different nature than her husband and she never approved of his ways of life. She was a lady of strong character and gradually came to dislike his husband because of his loose morals and extravagance. Padmanand Singh had been pampered as a child and grew up to be a spoilt young man who took to intoxication and drugs at a very young age. He was badly addicted to cocaine and spent most of his time in wine and women. Although such a life was not very abnormal for the Princes and Zamindars of those days, Padmavati could not convince herself to accept his profligacy. As a result they gradually drifted apart.
Padmavati was amicably disposed towards her step-mother-in-law Sitabati and her sons and was against her husband’s plans to dispossess them on the plea of illegitimacy. Actually she feared that the wrath of god would destroy her family which was already on the point of extinction due to the physical and mental incapability of her only son. She intervened to patch up the matters, as she is said to have a strong sense of justice. Above all, she wanted to cure her only son and save her family from the curses of the step-mother of her husband, who was already grief-stricken with her widowhood, and would have to live in poverty and shame, if her marriage would be proved null and void, and her children illegitimate. So she prepared a deed of compromise between Rani Sitabati and her husband and tried to get the signature of her husband, on the deed, when he was high with cocaine. However, Padmanand could not be tricked and he rose from his slumber at the last moment. Later, he signed the compromise after uttering a phrase in maiyhili. It meant “I am being called a thief by the ones, for whom I am doing this theft.”
Padmavati was not in good terms with her husband since 1902 because the latter had encumbered the estate. She came to Bhagalpur with her son and filed a suit for partition. This offended Padmanand. Raja Padmanand Singh had incurred heavy debts. The manager Rai Bahabur Siva Shankar Sahay prevailed upon Rani Padmavati to devise some means to save the 7annas from going to ruins. At that juncture, when she was badly in need of money to pay off her husband’s creditors, she was offered a loan from the 9 annas co-sharers, (Kumar Kalanand and Kirtyanand) on the condition that she would bring the 7annas estate (her husband’s share) under the Court of wards and would give the lease of 7annas to the 9 annas for a period of 12 years. She agreed to these conditions. She filed a suit for partition of the 7annas on behalf of her son in 1903. This suit, i.e. case no 122/2 of 1903 was mutually compromised on 14/8/1903. Chandranand Singh’s share was declared to be 3½annas out of the 7annas of his father. It was also agreed upon, that a monthly allowance of Rs.-500/- would be paid to Rani Padmavati till she lived. As agreed upon earlier, the 9 annas took lease of the 7annas, for a period of 12 years starting from 25.3.1905. It was also agreed upon, that till the liquidation of the debts of 7annas, the entire 7annas would be managed by a common receiver.
From 1902 Kumar Chandranand Singh lived with his mother while his father lived separately at a distance, mostly at Jasidih, near Deoghar. Padmavati moved between Ramnagar, Bhagalpur and Vindhyachal, trying frantically, various doctors, quacks, Vaidyas, Tantriks, saints and magicians to cure her son of his disability or at least make him capable enough to produce an heir.
As I have already stated, relations between the Raja Sahab and Rani Padmavati Devi were far from amicable. When she sided with her son in order to save the estate and tried to control the extravagance of her husband, he grew to dislike her even more. He threatened Padmavati that he would marry again and produce a co-sharer to her son’s legacy. At this Padmavati went as far as to get her husband examined on the sly (when he was in a slumber, under the effects of cocaine) by a doctor ( Dr. Sanderson) who gave a certificate of his impotency that had developed due to over-indulgence and use of drugs like cocaine and Bhang. In anger she threw a copy of the report at her husband’s face and dashed out of his residence. This incident took place some time during 1903.
Rani Padmavati was extremely religious and she spent most of her time at Vindhyachal. She was devoted to the Devi enshrined at Vindhyachal and used to bear the entire expenditure of her elaborate annual Pujas in the months of Chaitra and Ashwin. Girija Dutt Jha Baidik, of Mahesi was a Tantrik who lived near Rani Padmavati who had employed him for Pujas and Purascharan, especially for the well being of her only son Chandranand. Girija Dutt was hated by Padmanand who had demanded his immediate removal from the household of Padmavati. This Girija Dutt Jha later became the chief instrument in the establishment of religious institutions made by the Rani.
She was extremely fond of her only son Chandranand and willed her entire Stridhan to him on 27.1.1908. But Chandranand died, soon after in august 1908. This unfortunate incident had a very adverse effect on her health. She started suffering from fever and Asthma.
She established a religious institution at Banaras and executed a deed of trust in favour of the institution, just two days prior to her death. She installed an idol of Tara Bhagwati at a temple called Tara Mandir at Nepali Khapra Mohalla, Banaras. After the death of her son she gave in Samarpan, Daan and Devottar, all her Stridhan in favour of the Tara Bhagavati.
The collector of Bhagalpur, Mahamahopadhyaya Krishna Singh Thakur of Rajgram Bhour[4], Girija Dutt Jha Baidik of Mahesi in Bhagalpur, and Babu Jaganath Prasad pleader of Bhagalpur were appointed as the four trustees of Tara Mandir.
Through the trust of Tara Bhagawati, Rani Padmavati provided for the regular Puja and Bhograg of the deity and maintenance of the temple. Apart from this she also directed and provided for daily lodging and food for at least 25 maithil Brahmins around the year.
For this she gave away a total of Rs.130000/- in property and cash. This included, apart from gold and jewellery about 800 to 1000 bighas of private land as Kamat and a large number of cattle.
After Chandranand’s death she became disconsolate. Weeping and lying about, she spent her days in mourning. For six months she did not converse and only took milk. She died of grief.
Her husband saw her, neither at the death of their son, nor after it.
In November 1904, Padmanand Singh married for the fourth time. His fourth wife was named Rani Padma-Sundari. She was the daughter of Bhuwanweswari Dutt Misra of Satlakha who belonged to the Sodarpur-raiaam Mool. A son was born to Rani Padmasundari on the 12th of january1906. He was named Kumar Surjanand Singh.
In the meantime, on 26/9/1905, Padmanand Singh, in order to prevent the ruin of the 7annas, conveyed his own 3½annas, to Kumar Chandranand Singh, subject to a monthly allowance of Rs.-4000/- for himself and Rs.-300/- for Padmasundari and some other conditions. Now Chandranand Singh became the master of entire 7annas of the estate and it was placed under the management of the court of wards. Kumar Chandranand Singh died in august 1908, issueless, On the Kusi- amawvasya day.
Now Raja Padmanand Singh was left with nothing but a monthly maintenance allowance of Rs.-4000/- which was a meager amount when compared with the expensive ways of the Raja. He now left Jasidih and came back to Deorhi Ramnagar in 1910. The financial condition of the Raja was such that one Sujayat Ali, Munshi at Deorhi Ramnagar, approached Raja Krityanand Sinha in April 1909 to purchase the elephants and the landau of the Raja to enable him to come to Ramnagar from Baidyanath junction. But his financial problems were not believed to be true, by many. Mr. Macgregor, the receiver of the 7annas estate remarked, “The Raja was, I fancy, put to difficulties.” It is true that since 1906, his allowances were also attached by his creditors, and were released just before his death in 1912.
He arrived at Purnea in Oct 1909 and put up at the Maranga-house of Mr. Charles Shillingford, an elite and Zamindar of Purnea. He stayed there for many months before shifting to Ramnagar. It seems that he hesitated in coming to Deorhi Ramnagar without the assurance and moral support of his step brothers at Champanagar.
Finally he came back to Ramnagar with Rani Padmasundari and the boy Surjanand. He even tried to patch up his relations with his step mother Rani Sitabati and her sons, and visited them on the occasion of the Upanayan ceremony of Kumar Ramanand, the eldest son of Raja Kalanand Sinha of Champanagar.
Raja Padmanand was already suffering from gout. He complained of a burning sensation in his throat which often gave him sleepless nights. In spite of several kinds of treatment, his condition deteriorated, day by day and he became a very sick man with various ailments. He fell seriously ill in 1912. At that time he was under the treatment of the civil surgeon who advised that he be shifted to Purnea. So he was carried in a precarious condition to Purnea on a car of the Srinagar estate on 18/6/12, but he died on the way. He was cremated in a most ordinary manner at Biwigunge, on the banks of the river.
His estranged wife Padmavati had died Earlier, at Benaras on 22/4/12. He was survived by his daughter Motidai, daughter-in-law Chandravati, his fourth wife Padmasundari and a son, Kumar Surjanand Singh.
Raja Padmanand Singh’s widow, Rani Padmasundari, who had no estate or property of her own, had no recourse but to incur debts to maintain her household. She had been left with nothing but a monthly allowance of Rs.-300/- only. Her step daughter-in-law, the lady Chandravati declared openly that Surjanand was an illegitimate son of Padmanand and as such also declared the marriage null and void.
The collector of Bhagalpur Mr. Sen wrote to the commissioner on the subject.
“Undoubtedly the above allowance (Rs.300/-) is far too small for a lady of her position. The history of the case shows that she has been the victim of heartless and callous cruelty on the part of the Raja from the beginning. He married her only to spite his first wife, and most probably at a time when he knew that his physical powers did not justify him in marrying, and in the end, he left her with a bare pittance though he reserved a monthly allowance of Rs. 4000/- to himself.”
Padmasundari filed an application before the collector of Bhagalpur on 22.12.1915 to the effect that she had been advised by eminent counsel and Vakeels of Calcutta high court that her minor son Suryanand had a very strong claim to the entire 7annas share of the Banaili Raj but as the said share was under the court of wards she would not bring a suit if proper arrangements were made for her son’s maintenance and education and the payment of her debts and her son’s right to get possession of the estate as heir of Raja Padmanand Sinha Bahadur presumably after the death of Rani Chandravati be recognized. She contested that Padmanand Sinha had conveyed his 3½annas to Chandranand Singh after Padmasundari had conceived Surjanand in her womb. According to authorities of the Hindu law, a Hindu son had vested rights in the joint family property from the time of his conception.
It was arranged finally that she got a raise in her monthly allowance. Now Rani Padmasundari started drawing a monthly allowance of 1000/-. Out of this Rs.-500/- was paid by 7annas and the other five hundred by the 9 annas estate.
Ever since the death of her husband, Padmasundari’s only source of solace and consolation was her only son. She did not leave a single stone unturned to give her son, education and training befitting the position of the family. The young Kumar Surjanand Singh was very intelligent and a promising boy. But it was very unfortunate that he succumbed to an illness and passed away on 11.9. 1919.[5]
The recently set allowance was stopped after the death of her son. The Rani was again in difficulties with her old maintenance of Rs.-300/- only and once again she made a representation to the court of wards. The court of wards agreed to pay off her debts.
Being pushed against walls, due to her financial difficulties she started to think about her own legal rights in the 7annas estate. Rumours were hot that she would file a suit for the claim of her rights in the estate. At one point she was even persuaded to sell off her inheritance rights in the 7annas, to the 9 annas in lieu of the settlement of her debts and a handsome monthly allowance.
Krityanand Sinha, on one hand was very sympathetic to her and never refused her any advances that were asked by her. She too, depended completely on him for advice and counsel. On the other hand he was very apprehensive of her moves. If ever she surrendered her rights to some proprietors of the 9 annas as she was offered by Kalanand and his son, there was every risk that these members of the 9 annas would meddle with the affairs of the 7annas and create chaos and trouble for the estate. Raja Krityanand wanted to keep the estate intact, for joint benefits which was also in keeping with the policy of the government. He was the sole reversioner of Rani Chandravati, and his rights would be affected if Padmasundari would assert her share in the 7annas or make any transactions of it. He therefore took up the policy of helping her in getting a handsome allowance, which would keep her satisfied and silent.
Finally Padmasundari settled down at Bhagalpur with an additional monthly allowance of Rs. 1200 and a separate house to dwell in, both of which was given to her by Raja Kirtyanand for her life-time. Rani Padmasundari died in 1962.

Rani Chandravati Devi

Rani Chandravati alias Shashirama was born in 1891(shaka-1813). Her maiden name was Ganga. At the age of ten she was married to Kumar Chandranand Singh of Banaili. The ceremony took place at Vindhyachal in Uttar Pradesh where Rani Padmavati lived with her son.
Through this marriage Chandravati inherited a vast legacy. Yet the marriage in itself may be considered to be very unfortunate. Kumar Chandranand Singh was mentally a retarded person; in fact he was an idiot. Although he had grown up in age he was crippled mentally and physically both. Best doctors of India had examined him and declared his case to be hopeless.
Kumar Chandranand Singh was a good looking boy in his early childhood. Padmanand loved him deeply and called him ‘Polkha’. Much effort was made to educate the young prince. He was entrusted under the care of his father’s cousin, Saahitya-Saroj Kamlanand Singh, for his basic education. But Kamlanand failed to teach him more than a single line of a poem. He gave up finally.
Padmanand Singh made another effort by keeping him at Purnea, for sometime and hiring able tutors to educate him, at least in the basics. But nothing could be done. Yet his mother Padmavati never gave up hope. She went from place to place in search of a savior (Doctor, Hakim, Vaidya, Tantrik and Saints) who could cure her only son. It was for this purpose that she had come to stay at Vindhyachal, where regular Purascharan and prayers were performed for the above purpose.
Padmavati had been told by some saintly person that Chandranand would be cured after marriage. Padmavati tried in vain, to make her son capable enough to produce a child and future heir. But Chandravati’s marriage proved to be a complete failure.
When Kumar Chandranand Singh died in the year 1908, Chandravati succeeded to his entire share of 7annas in the estate. She was then a minor, and the court of wards continued to hold the estate until she became a major on 1/4/1913. But she declared herself, a disqualified proprietor and applied to the board of revenue to retain charge of her estate. This was accordingly done and the court of wards continued to hold the 7annas estate. Later Chandravati received the title of “Rani” from the Government.
Rani Chandravati was an educated lady. She had received proper training to deal with the intricacies of Zamindari works and knew Hindu, Urdu and Persian.
In March 1922 Chandravati applied to the honorable board of revenue of the province of Bihar and Orissa, to grant her sanction to sell off a portion of the 7annas to pay off her husband’s debts. Out of the two joint reversioners of Rani Chandravati, Kalanand was in favour of the sale and was ready to buy jointly with Kirtyanand or even alone. But the junior reversioner Kirtyanand was against it and pleaded that Chandravati was not in real need of money and that she was not pressed upon by her creditors, to pay off her loans. So there was no call of money. Later when Kalanand repeated his offer and was ready to pay 42 lacs, Kirtyanand also offered the same. But the letter of Kirtyanand to Mr. Hammond the chief secretary, board of revenue, reveals his true intentions. He was willing to sanction the sale of 3 annas of Chandravati to the 9 annas on cash payment of 10 lacs and liquidation of her debts to 9 annas that stood at about 38 lacs at that time. He was also willing to pay her from the 9 annas a handsome allowance of 5000/- per month besides other expenses that were a charge on the 7annas. But he wanted unconditional surrender of the remaining 4 annas to himself as sole reversioner of Chandravati. Thus he aspired to hold to his sole share, 10 annas of the estate.
At one time, he even wanted the sale to be made solely in his favour as he was the sole reversioner.
The board of revenue, however, thought it unwise to allow the sale. It felt that Chandravati’s advantages by the sale (which it admitted) were less than the disadvantages to others and mainly to the estate which would undergo a large risk of division and disruption. The board of revenue (in its order dated 25.1.23) said that in order to save the Banaili estate from being broken up, the government had made special efforts, by taking charge of the 7annas, and by raising a loan from the 9 annas, at an interest rate of 5% per annum (whose main interest in it was to save the break up or prevent outsiders to hold the property). The placing of 7annas in the hands of 9 annas on lease was the only correct way for easy liquidation of its loan in the next 40 years. The proposal of sale was disallowed on 25.1.1923.
After the death of Raja Kalanand Sinha in 1922, Kirtyanand became the sole reversioner to Chandravati’s estate.
In 1928, Chandravati complained that the court of wards had not looked after her estate very well and had not done any thing to reduce her debts. When she wrote to the board of revenue complaining about the present, past and apprehended future management of the 7annas Banaili estate, she actually wanted to raise the annual rental payable to her to 500000/- from 375000/-. Rani Chandravati had been receiving from the court of wards, a monthly allowance of Rs. 3000/- and an annual allowance of Rs. 4000/- for her extraordinary expenses.
But Ramanand (son of Raja Kalanand Sinha) wrote to Mr. Y. A. Godbole, the manager, “She is labouring under a grave illusion as to the net income of her estate and the profit it yields to the 9 annas.” He added, “Before I give my views on the proposals contained in the memorial, I would point that when 24 years ago my father and my uncle agreed to lend a large sum of money to the proprietors of 7annas estate, they did so to save it from bankruptcy and disruption. It is wrong for any one to suggest that my father and uncle did it purely with selfish motives. They were inspired by the desire of saving a branch of the Banaili family from ruin and they wanted to protect its property from eventually falling into the clutches of outsiders and Mahajans. But for the timely assistance given by them which meant their raising a big loan themselves on the mortgage of their own property, the 7annas estate would have ceased to exist long ago.”
Ramanand Singh was of the opinion that his father and uncle had made a great sacrifice by giving timely loan to the 7annas and having saved it from disruption. However when gains were expected to come their way, he became a loser as the untimely death of Kalanand had made Kirtyanand the sole reversioner. The latter would reap the profits of the earlier sacrifice and Ramanand would be a loser along with his brother. He therefore wished to buy a share of the 7annas in fulfillment of his share of loans to Chandravati. He proposed the same to Kirtyanand. This being done, he would accept destiny even if only Kirtyanand were to succeed Chandravati. However the other possibility was that Kirtyanand would die before Chandravati. In that case he would be satisfied with his share of 1/7. Among the other co-reversioners was his brother, Kumar Krishnanand, and his cousins (sons of Kirtyanand) Kumar Shyamanand, Kumar Bimalanand, Kumar Taranand, Kumar Durganand, and Kumar Jayanand (Kumar Adyanand was not born then). He insisted on purchasing as much of 7annas as would suffice his share of loan to them.
On 12.10.28, in order to pay off the just and legal debts of her late husband, (which had been contracted mainly by her father-in-law and had come to her husband as inheritance) Chandravati sold 3 annas of her share in favour of the 9 annas share holders. Now she was left with 4 annas.
Mostly she lived at Bhagalpur, where she had built for herself, a palace called Chandravati-house, within the old Adampur house-compound of her father-in-law. During her entire life she visited Deorhi Ramnagar only once (so it is said). She never stayed there. Yet the establishment at the Deorhi was kept and religious institution like the Devighara and Gosown-ghar were maintained as before. She also continued to bear the expenses of the two Navaratra in Vindhyachal, which had been started by Rani Padmavati.
She has to her credit many religious and public works. In 1921 a reservoir at Kamakhya-sthan in Guwahati (in Assam) was constructed in order to help the inhabitants. Water was not available at hand and had to be carried from a much lower area. Arrangements were made for water to be pumped up from the original source into the reservoir and the problem of water was solved. Later in 1922 she performed a Pokhar Yagya at the same place. Rani Chandravati donated one lac of rupees to the government for the management of a middle school which she opened in her own name in her native village Koilakh in 1924. She kept English as the medium of education in order to facilitate maithil students to learn the modern language. This school runs successfully even today. Next, in 1934 she donated a well furnished house at Deoghar to the Dwaari Pandaa of Raj Banaili, to be used for the benefit of pilgrims who came to them for the worship of Baba Baidhyanath. This lord Baidhyanath of Deoghar has been a family god of the Banaili clan. She also donated a few lacs to the Shivtarani Women’s hospital in Bhagalpur.
Rani Chandravati’s own religious institution was the Shyama Mandir trust at Banaras. On an auspicious Monday in the brighter half of the month of Phalgun in 1923, a stone idol of kali (by the name of Chandravati Shyama) and a Linga of Shiv (by the name of Chandreshwar Mahadeo) were enshrined in a temple at Kachouri Gali, Banaras. Idols of Parwati and Ganesh were also installed. Later in 1934 idols of Ram, Sita, Laxman and Hanuman were also put up in a temple of white marble within the same complex. She also enshrined Laxmi (by the name of Malati Maha Laxmi) in remembrance of her brother’s daughter Malati, whom she had brought up as her own child and who had died recently.
The Rani set aside 8½lacs of rupees for the up keep and maintenance of the Shyama Mandir. Later she added another 1¼lacs. She executed a trust for the maintenance of the Shyama Mandir on 23/2/1934. The official trustee of Bengal was appointed as the chief trustee for the above trust.
Kumar Ramanand Singh Bahadur of Banaili, Babu Surja Prasad, lawyer, of Bhagalpur, Jagdish Thakur of Singhwar and Umanath Jha were appointed the trustees of Shyama Mandir.
The Kumars (Ramanand and Krishnanand) agreed to pay Rs. 6000/- in perpetuity from their share of the Raj, annually to the Shyama-mandir. This agreement was made on the eve of the sale of 3 annas to the 9 annas in 1928. The Chandravati Charitam records this as an attempt of the Rani to secure the co-operation and attention of the Kumars and their children in future generations.
Besides maintenance of the temple complex and the daily Puja and Bhog-Rag, She had provided the interest of Rs.100000/-, to be given annually for the maintenance of the Sivtarini Hospital at Bhagalpur. Rs.-300/- per year was given for the de-silting and repair of the reservoir she had made at Kamakhya-sthan. Within the temple complex itself a Sanskrit Vidyalaya and a charitable dispensary was opened and maintained by the trust. Hundreds of Brahmins were fed everyday and blankets were distributed on the occasion of the annual Shradh of Kumar Chandranand Singh and Rani Chandravati.
Later she made a will on, 14/1/1936 mentioning that, leaving aside an amount of Rs.-54325/-, all her wealth ¼L=h /ku½ would be given to the Shyama Mandir trust. She wrote explicitly that all her movables and immovable like:
1. Money saved from her maintenance allowance, and surplus income accruing from 4 annas estate, at the end of every year.
2. Gahna.
3. Jewels.
4. Silverware
5. Furniture.
6. And savings would go for the benefit of the trust.
For the other Rs.54325/- the following instruction were given in the will.
1. Rs.2000/- to be spent for her Dah-Karma.
2. Rs.2325/- to be spent for her Kshayah and Warshik Sraddh.
3. Rs. 10,000/-to be spent for her Gaya Shradh.
4. Rs. 25000/- to be spent for the main Shradh at Banaras.
5. Rs.2000/- to be spent on Brahmin Bhoj and feeding of the poor at Bhagalpur, on the occasion of Shradh.
6. Rs.1000/- to be spent on Brahmin Bhoj and feeding of the poor at Ramnagar, on the occasion of Shradh.
7. Rs.5000/- to be spent for the Shradh of her mother when she would die.
8. Rs.4000/- remuneration to the main Shradh-Karta.
9. Rs.1000/- remuneration to the Gaya Shradh-Karta.
10. Rs. 1000/- remuneration to the Warshik Shradh-Karta.

She appointed Kashi Nath Jha, her nephew, as her Dah-Karta and Umanath Jha as Shardh-Karta. Chandravati started suffering from fever in 1936. At that time she was at Bhagalpur. In the morning of Saturday Magh-shukla-navami, 1/2/1936, her condition suddenly deteriorated and she died. Her death was very sudden as is evident from the telegram of Mr. Daunt (the then manager of the estate) to Kirtyanand Singh. The wire read, “Rani Chandravati died suddenly this morning.” The sudden death of Chandravati led all the higher government officials to become very suspicious in the matter. The Civil Surgeon immediately came to the spot of death, and expressed his wish to examine the dead-body. The close relatives of the Rani implored the civil surgeon to examine the body without touching it (according to Maithil customs, a dead body was not to be touched by any one except the nearest kith and kin). The Civil Surgeon complied and made his examination from a distance. He did not find any sign of use of poison or anything else that would suggest abnormal death. Rani Chandravati was cremated at the banks of Ganga. Kashinath Jha lit the funeral pyre and the Shradh was performed by Umanath Jha, as per the wish of late Rani Chandravati.
Kumar Surjanand had already died in September 1919. It was said that he had been treated for the wrong disease. Rani Kalavati (wife of Kalanand) wrote to Krityanand in 1919 “He was not treated for the disease he had but for another ailment. I did not speak this out for fear of bad name. But what I feared happened and the blame fell on my head.” It seems that Surjanand had died rather suddenly and mysteriously. As Raja Kalanand was the next reversioner to Chandrawati and Surjanand by Hindu law, he and his wife may have been blamed for being responsible for his death.
But in reality and effect the main benefactors turned out to be Bhimnath Mishra and his brothers who smashed all hopes of Kirtyanand Sinha to succeed to the entire estate of Chandrawati after her death in 1936. On the basis of the newly introduced bill on the rights of a Hindu woman to her parental property, Bhimnath Mishra and his brothers fought for the rights of their late mother Moti Daijee and took away 2½ annas out of the 4 annas. Only a meager 1½ annas were left with Kirtyanand and that too, because of a timely compromise in 1936.
The house of Sodarpur-Sarisab (Lalganj) which succeeded to 2½ annas of Rani Chandravati’s share in the Raj, through Rajkumari Moti Daijee, came to be known as the Ramnagar branch of Banaili Raj. They later purchased another ½ annas from Kumar Ramanand Sinha and established themselves as the 3 annas proprietors of the Raj. Among the sons of Moti Daijee, the eldest Babu Bhimnath Misra became the Deputy Inspecter General of Police and was held in high-repute as a capable officer. The second, Babu Buddhinath Misra resided at Deorhi Ramnagar and took care of the religious institutions of his Late Maternal Grandfather. He was also a member of the District Board at Purnea. The youngest, Babu Ravaneswar Misra joined as an Advocate of the High Court. He was also an active worker of the Hindu Mahasabha. From 1952 to 1970 he was a member of the Legislative Council of Bihar.
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Deorhi Banaili Champanagar –

Rani Sitabati Devi of Koshikapur

Kumar Padmanand Singha had been privately informed about the serious condition of the ailing Raja Leelanand Singha. He was present at his death bed and took immediate and complete control of the situation, soon after the Raja died. He plainly declared that Rani Sitabati was not his stepmother. So there was no question of recognizing his stepbrother and sisters. He ordered their immediate removal from the palace. There were very strong rumours in the air that the heir apparent had planned the entire family to be assassinated. Amidst confusion and chaos, Rani Sitabati fled with her children to Bhagalpur where she put up at the Chhowni house of the Raj. Siva Shankar Sahay, a lawyer at Bhagalpur, and an associate of her late husband came to her rescue and provided her with valuable counsel and help.
In the meantime, the remains of Raja Leelanand Sinha were given a befitting funeral. His last rites were performed by Kumar Padmanand Sinha on the banks of the Ganga at Bhagalpur.
Now, Kumar Padmanand Sinha declared himself as the sole heir of Late Raja Leelanand, completely disowning his step-brother and step-mother, who lived in a pathetic condition within the confines of Chhowni Kothi where they were put under virtual house arrest by Padmanand.
As I have already written before, Rani Sitabati was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. Bereft of power and wealth, she led a miserable life. She was completely cut off from the outside world and it is said that she was not allowed, even a midwife, at the time of her delivery. Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha was born posthumously to late Raja Leelanand Sinha Bahadur on 23.9.1883.
Kumar Padmanand Sinha maintained his old stand and refused to recognize the claims of Kumar Kalanand and Kumar Kirtyanand as legal heirs of late Raja Leelanand Sinha. He went farther ahead and declared them illegitimate, derecognizing his father’s fourth marriage.
Finally, in 1888 a suit was instituted by the Kumars, Kalanand and Kirtyanand the minors, through their mother Rani Sitabati, in the court of district judge of Bhagalpur, to claim their rights in the estate of their father. This ended in a compromise decree, under which Kumar Kalanand and Kumar Kirtyanand were declared owners of 9 annas (56.25%) of the Banaili Raj and Raja Padmanand Singh of the remaining 7 annas (43.75%).
Rani Sitabati, miserable and poor, could no longer bear the burden of the expenses of the court, and agreed to this compromise, thus foregoing 10.42% of the share of her minor sons.
Through the compromise, her marriage to her late husband had been recognized by her opponents as well as the government and the honour of a Hindu Brahmin widow had been saved. Now she wanted to gain back her lost prestige and position as Rani of Banaili. She wanted to install her sons at the helm of affairs at the palace of Banaili, and she decided to come back to Deorhi Champanagar.
Being apprehensive about her smooth entry into the palace because of her step-son who resided at Ramnagar, only a mile north from Champanagar, she left her children behind at Bhagalpur, under the careful vigil of Siva Shankar Sahay. Her apprehensions were true as it was not easy for her to quash the obstructive designs of Raja Padmanand who tried his best to prevent her from getting possession of the Deorhi.
Finally she made a triumphant entry into Deorhi Champanagar, from where she had been led away by her late husband, many years ago.
Rani Sitabati brought up her children well. Both her sons began their primary education under the able tutorship of Awadh Bihari Sinha[6] who continued as their guardian and tutor during their schooling from the Zila School, Purnea. The younger son Kirtyanand went on with his studies and became a graduate from Allahabad University. In those days graduation was regarded as a matter of great prestige and pride.
Rani Sitabati married her elder daughter Laxmi to Padmanath Jha of Isahpur,[7] and the younger daughter Jamuna to Shambhu Nath Jha of Naruwaar.[8] Both the sons-in-law were high born Shrotriyas. But she preferred high born Yogya girls as brides for both her sons. Kumar Kalanand was married to the daughter of Vanshmani Jha[9] of Bharaam and Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha[10] to the daughter of Kunwar Jha[11] of Banu Chhapra.
Rani Sitabati had been married to Raja Leelanand to provide him with another son. From the very beginning of her married life, which was indeed short, she had lived amidst conspiracies and intrigues. These difficult circumstances had helped her in becoming very careful, shrewd and wise. She was a fine lady who understood the intricacies of the life of an able Zamindar. During the minority of her sons she carried on the Zamindari works with perseverance and tact. She carried herself well, in a manner that befitted a Regent and sat in Durbar. Although she was a staunch Hindu widow and fulfilled every thing that was expected from a widow like her. Yet she was compelled to abandon her Purdah to some extent, in order to be in direct touch with her subjects and sub-ordinates. When she sat in Durbar, a thin curtain of muslin separated her from the rest. Thus she maintained Purdah, in a symbolic way.[12]
At occasions, when she was expected to appear in public, she did so, with great poise and serenity. She dressed up in white with a veil covering her face and she held by chains, two tiger cubs that walked beside her, on either side, proclaiming her power and hold. She was greatly respected by her people.
During the period of scarcity and famine in 1892, Sir Charles Alfred Elliot, lieutenant Governor of Bengal motivated the well-to-do people of Bhagalpur to contribute towards relief works. On this occasion Sitabati donated Rs. 1000/- for the relief and rehabilitation of widows and women who could not appear in public. She was always eager to help towards the upliftment of women.
After her younger son became a major on 23.9.1904, she handed over the reins of government into the able hands of her sons. She withdrew completely from the life of a Zamindar, took to retirement and occupied herself in various religious pursuits[13]. She went on pilgrimages and spent most of her time in worshipping her favorite Lord Krishna and Radha.
She had started the construction of a temple complex at Champanagar in the year 1897. The first temple to be constructed within the complex was dedicated to Siva, who was named Seeteshwar Mahadev. This was followed by temples of Parvati, Ganesh, Bhairav and Hanuman. The complex was completed with the installation of idols of Radha-Krishna as the chief deity. The inscription on this temple reads thus:-
“On the Twefth day of the brighter half of the month of Chaitra in 1904A.D. Sitabati, the chief Queen of Raja leelanand constructed this temple of many stones and colours, with the help of various artisans and builders.”
She gifted all her Stridhan (including her personal Zamindari of Pirdouri), except her residential palace to the above deity and formed a Shebait system of management of the said temple complex, through two deeds of Arpan-nama on 8/11/1898 and 19/9/1925. Earlier, in 1872, her senior co-wife Chandeswari had constructed a Thakurbari at the site, where the new temple complex stood. But the Thakurbari building had fallen to ruins during the period of Sitabati’s stay at Asarganj and Chhowni Kothi. Now, she enshrined the Thakurbari idols in her new temple complex.
During the last years of her life, Rani Sitabati had to suffer the pangs of separation from her elder son, Kalanand who moved away from Deorhi Champanagar in the year 1918 following a partition of residences and movables, with Kirtyanand. Rani Sitabati could not even think of leaving Deorhi Champanagar which she had gotten back after such efforts. She continued to live at Champanagar with her younger son.
Rani Sitabati used to get a personal monthly allowance of Rs. 500 from the 16 annas Banaili Estate, since the compromise decree of 7/9 annas, and another thousand, out of the personal allowances of her sons. In 1920 she demanded an increase in her allowances. Her elder son, Kalanand, opposed this raise, as he was led to think that it was particularly and purposely planned by Kirtyanand Sinha to take advantage of the money sanctioned, as he continued to live with his mother at Champanagar and had control over her affairs. However after the intervention of Mr. Sen, Commissioner, on 14.9.21 an allowance of 3500/- (inclusive of 500 from 16 annas) was sanctioned to her from 1.1.21.
A large Tank was dug at Banaili Champanagar and Rani Sitabati Performed the very auspicious Chaatuscharan Yagya on its banks in the year 1922. On this occasion water of all the sacred rivers as well as the ocean was poured into the tank amidst elaborate rituals and the Tank was named Ganga-Sagar. Even today a large number of devotees bathe in the tank on Magh Purnima day when a small Mela is also put up at the site.
The untimely death of Raja Kalanand in 1922, put Rani Sitabati under severe pain and sorrow and she lost her health. After a short illness, she died on 28.9.1926, on the Jitiya day.
In her memory “Sitabati M.E.School” was started at Dharhara in Mullehpur circle of the Raj.

Kalanand and Kirtyanand (The Nine Annas) -

Kumar Kalanand Sinha was only three years senior to Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha. Both these brothers were brought up beneath one roof. Brotherly care and love for each other, developed between them, naturally. They meant everything to their widowed mother, whose singular purpose of life was to bring them up, in the best possible manner. Both the brothers lived and grew together. Kalanand was not as bright as his junior brother and was quite frail in body and mind, as compared to his brother who was endowed with a strong physique. So he became more of a friend than a typical big brother who protects his younger brother and takes pride in showing off his seniority. He began to adore the abilities of Kirtyanand and, gradually came to depend on him for advice and support. Kirtyanand, finding a very loving and caring big brother in Kalanand, loved him dearly. He understood his special responsibilities towards the management of day to day problems of his brother and took upon himself to look after his elder brother. In this way a perfect sense of understanding and oneness developed between them which found stronger bonds when they had to face the onslaughts of their step-brother, quite early in life.
Together, they had lived through the days of poverty, when to fulfill their childish demands; their mother had to sell away her jeweled bangles to buy them a landau carriage. Together they went to school, afraid of being kidnapped by the men of Padmanand. Although they were too young to properly understand and apprehend the unfortunate implications, in case their mother failed to prove their legitimate rights, yet they must have hoped together that their mother’s problems would end some day. Finally when the case was compromised and together, by inheriting 9 annas[14] of their father’s estate, they might have made many plans for the future, together.
This sense of togetherness that had developed between the brothers resulted in being very beneficial to the entire family in the long run. Some very important steps, that they took together, saved the Banaili Raj from disruption and fragmentation, and kept it intact till its very end.
According to the terms of the Sulehnama of 1892[15], Kalanand and Kirtyanand were jointly entitled to a 9 annas share of Banaili Raj. But it was decided, that the estate would continue with a common manager, till the youngest share holder, Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha, would become a major on 23.9.1904. This was done mainly for the convenient payment of the debts of the estate. The 9 annas proprietors were free to have separate management of their share, after 23.9.1904. This would mean that the estate would be divided by metes and bounds. Kirtyanand and Kalanand, as advised by their mother and the manager Shiv Shankar Sahay, opted to take a lease of the 7 annas for a period of 12 years. They agreed to give a large sum of Rs.4900000/- as loan to the 7 annas to satisfy its various creditors. Now the 9 annas became the sole creditors to the 7 annas. When the term of the above lease was over, a fresh lease of the 7 annas was executed on 1.9.1916 for a period of another 12 years.
These two leases were solely responsible in keeping the estate intact. The advantages of joint management was noticed and appreciated by the Zamindars as well as the Government. In future, the Government made it a policy to discourage, as far as possible, every attempt of the partition of the Estate.
Today, when the Banaili Raj is no more, every descendent of the family is still united under one name. Every descendent may claim, and rightly, to be a part of what used to be, one of the largest Zamindari estates of Bihar. Many descendents of the Srinagar branch, whom I know of, now prefer to be held as a member of the Banaili family, a name, which had been given up by their forefathers for making a separate entity i.e. the Srinagar Raj.
After the two brothers had established themselves at Deorhi Champanagar and had successfully consolidated their position as leading Zamindars of the province they decided to commemorate their success. The new township that had developed around their fortress called Deorhi Champanagar was named ‘Banaili[16] ’, in remembrance of the old village of their ancestors. Amidst celebrations related to the foundation of the new ‘Banaili’, a beautiful idol of Devi Durga, in white stone was enshrined within the Debighara. This installation was made in the year 1908[17]. The inscription on the wall of the temple reads thus:- ‘among the Kings of Aryavarta, the Raja of Banaili, the very generous Leelanand Sinha, realized the worthlessness of the materialistic world. So he remembered the lord Visnu and discarded his body on the banks of the River Ganga. Thus he attained salvation.
His two sons who were like God, in beauty and radiance, were generous, quiet, virtuous, and possessed fire like valour to destroy the power of the enemy. Being fond of observing the duties of a King as is prescribed in the texts, they crushed the pride of other Rajas with their power and influence. They worshipped the gods with true devotion.
After satisfying the saint-like Brahmins with many gifts they invited many men from far away countries who were fine artisans and constructed this Palace-like temple of Durga.
In Shaka 1830, on the full moon day in the month of Chaitra, which fell on a wednesday, the goddess Durga was enshrined within the temple by the well known Raja Kalanand Sinha and Raja Kirtyanand Sinha who thus lighted the lamp of good fame of their family.’
It was during the days of the togetherness of Kalanand and Kirtyanand, that the name and fame of the Banaili Raj, reached its greatest heights. One of the most remarkable Public works which goes to the credit of Banaili Raj is the Tej Narayan Banaili College of Bhagalpur. This college was originally named as “Tej Narayan Jubilee College”. It was started by Babu Tej Narayan Singh. Later, in 1909, when the institution was dying away for lack of funds, it was revived by the efforts of Kumar Kalanand Sinha and Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha,[18] through their munificent donations.
In 1920, a donation of Rs.20,000 was made to the Patna University for opening of a Readership in Indian economics and Rs.5000 for the purchase of books for the economics section of the University library[19].
Among the other main contributions was the donation of Rs. 1 Lac to the Prince of Wales medical college Patna and another Lac to the Benares Hindu University.
There was such a strong bond of friendship and brotherly love between the brothers that they were always ready to make sacrifices for each other. Kirtyanand Sinha has narrated an incident in his book ‘Purnea a Shikarland’, where, during an accident, he was saved by his brother.
“I had come home to enjoy the summer vacation. A distant relation of mine went into a garden with his muzzle-loader capped and loaded. I also accompanied him and was playing near the gun, when it suddenly went off. The shots struck me in the arm, but luckily I was too near its muzzle for the shots to expand. All the same, half an inch of flesh from under my arm was carried away and my clothes caught fire. Had it not been for my elder brother, who was close to me I should have been very badly scorched, for the whole sleeve of my shirt had by that time been burnt off. My brother ran up to me and tore the shirt from off my body.”
In 1910, the names of both, Kalanand Sinha and Kirtyanand Sinha were proposed to the government for the title of Raja. The government was in favour of conferring the title on Kirtyanand as he was more into public life and had great popularity in the province. When Kirtyanand came to learn of the intentions of the government, he tried hard and convinced the senior good officials, that it was more desirable, for the benefit of the family and estate that Kumar Kalanand would be decorated with the title instead of himself. He insisted on his brother’s name being sent up to the viceroy for the title, and finally succeeded. When Kalanand was decorated with the title of ‘Raja’ and their manager, with the title of Rai Bahadur, the latter wrote to Raja Kalanand Sinha “I am glad to say that the title has been conferred upon you instead of your brother though we would have been glad to see both of you made Rajas. But since that would have been expecting too much and probably none of you would have got it. We are thankful to government for bestowing the title on you instead of your brother. Though it would be too long to say as to what happened previous to the honour’s list being out. I can say this that your good brother had quite realized the intention of the government and did what was only proper to my mind. Government has increased the peace and happiness of the family by conferring the title on you as Raja of the family instead of on your brother. I cannot let this opportunity slip without congratulating you on having a brother who is much devoted to you. I hope you will always remember this and feel as I do that your confidence is placed in a person who would do his duty by you, even at great sacrifices to himself when necessary”.
Thus, with faith and confidence in each other, Kalanand and Kirtyanand consolidated their estate and led their family to attain new heights in respect of riches and popularity.
But, in due course, differences started to crop up between their families and a time came when separation between the brothers became inevitable. Kalanand loved his brother from the core of his heart and saw to it that no misunderstanding grew between them, ever, till his eldest son Ramanand grew up and persuaded him to separate from his brother. Kumar Ramanand Sinha was very ambitious. By 1918, Ramanand had grown up into a young man, full of enterprise and zeal for life. He had his own ideas and did not agree at all with the present state of affairs, where he would have to be satisfied as a subordinate to his uncle. But when Kirtyanand came to know about his nephew’s inclinations towards profligacy, and tried to put a check on his adventures, he lost complete control over the boy. Ramanand rebelled and started expressing his intolerance and mistrust towards the present management and successfully influenced his parents. As a result, Kalanand drifted apart from Kirtyanand and sought a partition. The decision was taken while Kalanand was at Calcutta for treatment of his illness. He decided not to return to Deorhi Champanagar and went instead, to Bhagalpur and stayed at the Anand-Garh house. From here, under the influence of Kumar Ramanand, he wrote to his younger brother that he wanted to live separately.
Since long, there had been an under-current of jealousy and competitive rivalry between the families of both the brothers, which finally surfaced during the years of 1916-17-18 and added spark to the already inflammable circumstances.
Rani Prabhavati Devi, (wife of Kirtyanand) had been blessed with her first child (a daughter) in 1908, when she was nineteen years of age. In those days, a woman was expected to have her first baby by the time she was sixteen. This delay in childbirth, had led to various rumours within the palace. Rani Kalabati had already suggested a second marriage for Kirtyanand on the presumption that Prabhavati may be barren after all. This created misunderstandings between the two sisters-in-law.
Kalabati had two sons already, Ramanand and Krishnanand. They would succeed to the entire estate, in case Kirtyanand had no son. When finally Kirtyanand was blessed with a child, she was a girl (Ganga Dai) and did not improve the situation as far as the succession of the estate was concerned.
Kirtyanand Sinha, who was a well educated person and had brushed aside the proposals of remarriage, was also affected by the question of succession after the birth of his second and third daughter in 1910 and 1912. He ordered his eldest daughter to be dressed in male attire on public occasions, where she would appear, before the people, as a boy prince. This act may have made the people to believe that he had a male heir, yet it did nothing to stop his brother’s family from making ambitious plans of inheriting the whole estate.
Much to the joy and relief of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha, he was blessed with a son in 1914, who was named Kumar Kamakhyanand Sinha. But the boy did not live, and died a sudden death in 1915. This untimely death of the heir apparent left the parents completely disconsolate and shattered.
It is said that the Rajmata, Rani Sitabati, sensed some foul play in the manner of the sudden death of the child. A maid servant of Rani Kalabati, one Ameliya-mai, was blamed for having practiced witchcraft on the boy prince. Ameliya-mai was a favorite of Kalabati and had come from her father’s house, to stay with her, since the days of her marriage.
This Ameliya-mai, on being summoned by the Rajmata, took shelter with her mistress, who protected her and refused to let her go into the presence of the Rajmata to face a trial. Later she was sent away secretly to Bharam, her native village. These gestures on the part of Rani Kalabati, led to further misunderstandings.
The disconsolate Rani Prabhabati declared that she would not dwell any more, in the common Palace and demanded a new Palace to be built for her, where she could be safe. Moreover, she engaged the services of a Sadhu-tantrik, one Kalipada Sen Gupta of Bakulia near Asansole, who assured them, that he would appeal to the mother goddess to bless them with many sons and ensure their safety and long life.
A son was born to Kirtyanand Sinha in July 1916 and another in December 1918. The happy parents gave lavish presents to the Babajee of Asansol and a temple was built for the mother goddess at Bakulia. Rich properties were given away for the maintenance of the temple.
In the meantime a new palace[20] was made for Rani Prabhavati Devi where she came to live with her children.
All these developments created further mis-understandings within the families of both the brothers. Kalanand’s camp may have felt neglected due to the construction of a new palace, for Rani Prabhavati, and the Bakulia affair may have added to their mistrust. During the wedding celebrations of Kumar Ramanand in 1916, and the following prolonged ailment of Kalanand, the elder camp blamed the junior camp for indifference and lack of co-operation. Kalabati went so far as to suggest that witchcraft was practised on Kalanand for his serious illness, by the other camp.
The marriage ceremonies of the two elder daughters of Kirtyanand, Ganga Daijee and Saraswati Daijee had taken place in 1918. Even this was not relished by Kalavati who complained that according to seniority, her daughter Bhagirathi Daijee should have been married before Saraswati. Kirtyanand’s plea was that his brother’s family was away at Calcutta due to the latter’s illness and he thought it unwise to let go of an opportunity when a suitable bridegroom was made available. But he failed to convince the offended party. Kirtyanand had managed to procure a young, good-looking Shrotriya bridegroom, which was indeed an accomplishment for the house of Banaili in those days. Kirtyanand Sinha was also blamed for having celebrated the marriage ceremony of Kumar Ramanand Sinha in a most ordinary way, in 1916, in spite of the fact that the actual expenses had crossed an exorbitant Rs.1,04,000/-.
Kalanand Sinha always felt that when subscriptions and donations were made jointly, he did not get the credit due to him. People accepted Kirtyanand as the chief donor as the latter was more into public life. This lack of recognition may have been taken at heart by the young Ramanand.
On the other hand, Kirtyanand Sinha held his sister-in-law, Rani Kalavati, responsible for the above problems. Through her letters she had shown complete lack of confidence in Rani Sitabati, Jamuna Daijee, and Babu Shaktinath Jha, and was against the entire family. Kirtyanand wrote to the manager “I know my brother is not doing these, but there are mischievous heads at the back pulling the string.” According to him, Nirsoo Jha, the brother in law of Ramanand, was also in the conspiracy to separate the brothers. He also blamed Dewan Nath Prasad and Babu Anant Prasad, manager of Laxmipur for spoiling relations between him and his brother. According to Kirtyanand, even the manager A.B. Sinha wanted to use the separation as a device to usurp all power as the supreme common manager between hostile brothers. But when the manager saw Anant Prasad rise in power disproportionately, he realized his mistake and denied his support to the problem mongers. Kirtyanand feared that with the common management amidst fighting co-sharers (proprietors who opposed each other), only the power of the common manager would improve and rise to undesirable heights.
So he pleaded with his brother to stay together and to forgive him if he had wronged but Kalanand showed complete indifference and was not ready to reconsider anything.
The result of all these complaints was the in-evitable separation. Raja Kirtyanand Sinha wrote to Mr. M.G. Hallett, district magistrate and collector of Purnea, that there were certain points of difference between him and Raja Kalanand Sinha regarding the division of their movable property and other matters. He requested Mr. Hallett to intervene in the matter and endeavour to affect an equitable settlement. Mr. Hallett wrote to Kalanand and inquired about his opinion on the matter. Raja Kalanand accepted the proposal. Through this Arbitration Award of Mr. Hallett[21], which was completed on 24.8.1919, the brothers Kalanand and Kirtyanand separated, and put an end to their long togetherness. With this, ended the era of peace and tranquility. Henceforth, the pride and prestige of the house of Banaili never remained the same. It took to the road of feud, consistent quarrels and gradual decline.
Finally on 20.7.1920, due to the intervention of sir Edward Gait, the lieutenant governor of the province who came down to Purnea and smoothened matters and an agreement between two brothers was made to the effect that the management of the estate would remain common.
When finally peace was restored, both the brothers resumed visiting each other. When Kirtyanand went to see his brother at his new Deorhi which was named Garh-Banaili,[22] he was received well.

Raja Kalanand Sinha Bahadur

Raja Kalanand Sinha was born in 1880 at Deorhi Asargunj. He received his primary education at Zila School, Purnea. Although he was not a very bright student he could also write and speak English tolerably well. He was a fine motor car mechanic and could repair clocks and watches with skill. Kalanand had learnt the art of carving wood, ivory and soft stone. He made small artistic articles of the above. I have gone through his correspondences with his younger brother and the manager of the estate. These letters throw light on his personality and attitudes. Kalanand Sinha had great fascination for animals and birds. He had a collection of animals such as deer, monkeys and tiger cubs. Dogs were his favorite and he had more than a dozen of them, of various breeds. He was very possessive about “Moti Prasad”, his favourite Tusker elephant.
He had caught a couple of tiger cubs during one of his hunting expeditions. These were kept as his pets and later shifted to large cages within a park situated south of the Deorhi[23]. This park became famous as the “Baghva Bari”[24] and is known by this name even today. Although the tigers encaged there-in became unmanageable within a few years and had to be sent away as a gift to the Calcutta zoo. One of the tigers had actually attacked its keeper when the latter was administering food to the beast.
Kumar Kalanand Sinha was married to Rani Kalawati Devi[25] of Bharaam. Rani Kalawati belonged to the same family as Rani Chandrawati and was a second cousin to her. Kalanand Sinha had three sons, Kumar Ramanand, Kumar Krishnanand and Kumar Shivanand and three daughters, Bhagirathi, Tripura and Karpura.
On the 1st of January 1910 Kalanand was decorated with the title of Raja by the British government of India. He received his title (Khilat) at a Durbar held at Purnea for the special occasion.
Raja Kalanand Sinha was a man of very poor constitution. He had occasional spans of illness and never kept well. The condition of his health can be clearly understood by the fact that Rs.55753/1/- was spent on his treatment in 1918, alone. Raja Kalanand Singh was fond of music and dancing. He loved poetry. A book of poems and songs was published under his patronage in 1910. This book was named Kalanand Binod. This book is a collection of romantic poetry. Kalanand Vinod was compiled by Kumar Kirtyanand’s brother-in-law Sri Trilochan Jha of Betiah. This compilation was presented for the amusement of Raja Kalanand Sinha Bahadur, on the occasion of the latter’s coronation ceremony. In this book of love songs Sri Trilochan Jha had also put in many poems of his own, where he had used his name as Lochan. Under the patronage of Kalanand Sinha a group of intellectuals had formed a club within Deorhi Champanagar by the name of Subodhini Sabha. Nakchhedi Jha, (husband of Baba Dai, niece of Kalanand) whose several poems can be seen in the above mentioned book was the president of Subodhini Sabha.
Kalanand Sinha could play the Tabla well and was so fond of music and dancing that he could sit up for hours to watch these performances.
Kalanand Sinha was a simpleton at heart. He could very easily be influenced by his near and dear. Although he loved his younger brother with his heart, and perfect understanding prevailed between them regarding the management of the estate, he was persuaded by his elder son Kumar Ramanand Sinha, to seek separation from his brother.
He left Deorhi Champanagar in his younger brother’s share and constructed a new residential setup at village Sarra, near the township of Kasba, and named it Garh-Banaili. He moved into his new palace in 1920, but could not live long enough to see it completed. He died of pleurisy and displacement of heart, after an extended period of illness on Mahasaptami day, the 26th of September 1922.
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Honourable Raja Kirtyanand Sinha Bahadur B.A.

Kirtyanand Sinha was a posthumous child. He was born on 23/9/1883, almost four months after the death of his father.
Kirtyanand was born as a prince and grew up to become a Raja. Yet, he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Soon after the death of his father, his mother had been banished from the palace. She was confined within the premises of the Chhowni House at Bhagalpur. All her resources were cut off and her entire family was reduced to poverty. It was amidst such circumstances that Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha was born at the Chhowni Kothi. At that time, his step brother Padmanand’s cruelties had reached such heights that even a mid-wife was not allowed at the time of the delivery. Rani Sitawati had to manage every thing herself. It is said that ants had gathered around the new born baby during the long period of unconsciousness of the mother due to post child-birth fatigue. But the child lived and grew up to shine as the brightest star of the Banaili clan.
Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha received his primary education at the Purnea Zila School. He joined the Muir Central College, Allahabad, after passing the matriculation, and became a graduate of the Allahabad University in 1903. During his days at Allahabad he studied under the guidance of such learned men as Mr. J. G. Jennings who was, later, the vice-chancellor of Patna University, Dr. De La Fosse who later became the D. P. I. of the United Provinces and Dr. Thebout, the renowned Sanskrit Scholar. Kirtyanand Sinha was the first graduate among the nobility and Zamindars of Bihar.
Though he graduated in history, he was a Scholar of Hindi, Sanskrit and English as well.
Kirtyanand Sinha was a patron of art and letters. Two books in English, “Purnea a Shikar Land” and “Shikar in hills and jungles” were authored by him. The first book “Purnea a Shikar Land” was published in 1916. It is written in excellent English and forms an interesting addition to the literature of big game shooting in India. The second book “Shikar in hills and jungles” was printed in 1934 and is yet another book on Shikar. Both these books are narratives of his experiences of Shikar in the district of Purnea in Bihar and in the Terai jungles of the kingdom of Nepal.
His Shikar prowess was well known, and his trophies of the chase and hunting formed a very large and valuable collection. He counted among his trophies over a hundred eighty tigers and an equal number of leopards and panthers, three Rhinos and other big game. Many of them were stuffed in, life like manner along with a collection of rare birds etc., which formed a small museum in the palace. His knowledge of Indian Shikar was indeed unique.
Today, the world over, people are eager to protect wild life. Many species such as the tiger are on the verge of extinction. Wild life protection has become a must. But the scenario in the days of Kirtyanand Sinha was very different from what it is today. “The country all around is calm, but is not, certainly, devoid of population. A number of scattered thorps dot the plains here and there; but the life of the inhabitants is at times one of danger and dread; for, which their numberless cattle grazing freely in the jungles, attract the cattle lifter from his grassy ambush, the people themselves have at times cleverly to deceive the vigilance of the dangerous man-eater. The welfare of these poor agriculturists and cow herds who are our tenants made me take to the rifle and generated in me and all about me a passion for jungle sport which is the subject of this book.”
The above excerpt from “Purnea a Shikar Land” throws light on the jungle sport which was practised in those days, not only for fun, but also for the necessity of the welfare of the people.
He wrote, “The ominous growl of a tiger has at times been heard so far as a mile away from our residence and leopards have actually carried away goats and lambs from our gardens. On such occasions, we have had always to hasten to the spot with our Shikaris either on elephants or on foot when elephants were not available, and have bagged the animal to the great joy of our frightened tenants.”
“Alligators are very common in our district, and are responsible for the loss of many lives during the year. Cow-boys and women of the lower classes, and other people who cannot do without fording or swimming across waters haunted by alligators, easily fall a prey to them. Stories of the depredations and the misery caused by these brutes had roused my curiosity in my very childhood, but it was through the incentive given to me by a popular magistrate of the district that I took to alligator shooting.”
Kirtyanand Sinha took to handling guns when he was a boy of ten. He started with an air gun and took a double barrel 410 gun when he was twelve and had joined school. But an accident, when his muzzle loader went off and hit him in the arm, put a temporary stop to his adventures with his gun. This accident in the summer of 1895 confined him to bed for over two months and made him give up his school for one full term. But when he recovered, he again wanted to handle guns, but was never allowed to go near one, not to speak of handling it.
Nevertheless, he was the proud owner of a .303 rifle before he went to college. He shot his first leopard with this .303 rifle, in the summers of 1901 when he had come home for the vacations.
He shot his first tiger in 1903 and had scored a total of 103 in 1933 before he concluded his second book “Shikar in hills and jungles” in 1934.
In these two books we find, apart from the narratives of various shoots, much information about the wild life in the district of Purnea. We find a description right from the ‘Rhino’ which ‘sometimes used to be shot in the district, about thirty years ago’, the Tiger whose ‘usual haunts now are the jungles on the banks of the big Kosi and the high grass jungles in the Tappus to the north of the district’, the Leopard which “are still common” the Wolves that “are never seen now” Buffaloes which “are rare and almost extinct in the north but are in abundance in the Bhowa and Mohanpur jungles to the south” and to the Deer that “are found in all grass jungles.” A complete list of the game birds has been provided, also of the crocodiles and alligators. The book is very informative about the country and jungle life of the district.
Kirtyanand Sinha loved the challenges of the hard and tough life of a Shikari.
He wrote, “the life of a Shikari is one of unexpected hardships, great disappointments, and frequent dangers. But these very untoward features make it worth living and impart to it the glamour of romance. Persons of dash and enterprise with a more or less romantic cast of temperament take to it and delight in hardships braved, disappointments borne, and dangers overcome. Evidently, there is no real pleasure without danger;”------------------------------------------------- “the first stage of his career, then, must be one of severe training, both physical and mental. While the body should be hardened to all sorts of bitter physical experiences, the mind should be tutored to be always prepared for the worst and the unexpected, so much so that after some time the feelings of suspense which always accompany a mental state like the above should lose all their terrors for him, and generate in him a keen appetite for feats of arms and a confidence in his own powers to outmatch the boldest adversary in the wilds.”
He had one speciality regarding his method of Shikar. He always preferred a face to face encounter with the animal than the more prevalent method of sitting up in trees and shooting at the animal from a hiding.
He wrote “but nothing can equal the self-satisfaction of a sportsman who, after charging home a brute snarling in rage, prepares himself in the heat of the moment to brave a countercharge, and by his dash and daring knocks him over. I always advocate this form of sport. There is manliness in it mixed with exercise and a world of heroic entertainment. But, for the excitement it creates, it would simply be nothing to me. I should never stand the “sitting-up” on a machan through a succession of long-drawn hours of anxious expectation. Whatever it be I must think it likely to be a tame affair. It lacks the fire and activity of movements which must characterize a spirited Shikar. I have often read descriptions of Shikar at night but have never relished them.”
Soon after he became a major in 1904, he started taking a keen interest in the affairs of the Zamindari. We find an instance in his diary of 1905 when he went to Bhagalpur and inspected the accounts of the Raj at the manager’s office. He went out into the interiors of the Raj and made direct contacts with the peasants. He inspected the papers at the Tehsildar’s office and immediately removed a Tehsiladar when he detected fraud on the latter’s part. He went out to these interior sections of the estate (Dehat) on horseback and sometimes on elephants.
Kirtyanand Sinha entered the public life of the Province very early and was a distinguished member of the Old Bengal Legislative Council under the Morley Minto Reforms. He was elected president of The Bihar Industrial Conference held at Bhagalpur in 1909. It was here that he met Mr. Gokhale and came in contact with him. In the same year he donated Rs. 2000/- for the relief of famine struck people of Bhagalpur. After the formation of Bihar and Orissa into a separate province, Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha again entered the Bihar and Orissa Legislative council as the elected representative of the Zamindars of Bhagalpur.
His works and activities have been great and varied. It is said that he played a vital role in giving shape to the development of the modern system of education in contemporary India. On the birth of the new Province of Bihar, he helped to organize the first English daily News-paper (The Biharee) which was started in 1906. His substantial contribution towards the political and general education of the people through the medium of a well-equipped high class daily paper was most valuable to the fortunes of the new province. This “Biharee” came to be later known as the “Searchlight”.
At the time when the T.N.Jubilee College of Bhagalpur was dying for want of funds, he in co-operation with his brother came to its financial assistance and gave it a new lease of life. For this great act, in particular, as well as for other general acts of charity, he was titled a Raja by the Government on 22.6.1914.
The happy news was not known at Deorhi Champanagar, till late in the evening of the next day, when the Banaili guns, at the orders of Babu Raghubeer Narayan (Private Secretary to Kirtyanand Sinha) boomed at night, majestically saluting the Raja. Neighbouring and distant villages lit bonfires to celebrate the occasion. Commenting on his title, the Express wrote - “The title of Raja conferred on Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha of Banaili, will undoubtedly be received with very great satisfaction. Raja Kirtyanand Sinha has freely opened his purse for all good works, calculated to promote the advancement of the province, and it is an honour which he richly deserves.”
While handing over the Sanad of the title of Raja to him His Honour Sir Charles Stuart Bayley observed “…………………………you are fortunate in sharing with your brother Raja Kalanand Sinha the old and important estate of Banaili and thus being possessed of means which have enabled you to take a prominent position in the Province, and in co-operation with your brother to follow the dictates of a generous disposition in conferring liberal benefaction on the Public. Of these I would lay special stress on one, your munificent contribution of land and money for the Tej Narayan College at Bhagalpur which there is every reason to believe will be one of the finest institutions in Bihar……………”
On 9.7.1917 Raja Kirtyanand Sinha[26] was put on the Champaran Agrarian Committee to represent the Zamindars, and the good work he did thereon is well known to all. He held the balance even, between the Zamindars and the Raiyats, and his labour was appreciated both by Government and Mahatma Gandhi who represented the Raiyats on the said committee. For his commendable work in this connection, he was later on decorated with the title of Raja Bahadur by Government in 1919.
After his involvement in the Champaran agrarian committee Kirtyanand came to be well associated with M.K.Gandhi and it is believed that he was a keen but quiet supporter of the latter’s nationalistic drives. But when Gandhiji visited Purnea in 1934 and faced acute difficulty in procuring the usage of an open field for his public address, Kirtyanand came out in the open and offered the use of his Navratan house grounds for the above purpose in spite of the strong anti-Gandhi policy of the Government.
Raja Kirtyanand Sinha accepted the Presidentship of the Reception Committee of the AKhil Bhartiya Hindi Sahitya Sammellan at Bhagalpur and thereby gave a great impetus to the growth of Hindi literature in India. Later he also presided over the session at Muzaffarpur. He promised a gift of Rs. 10,000/- for the construction of ‘Sahitya Sammelan Bhavan, Patna’, which was fulfilled by his sons (after his untimely death) in 1938.
Babu Raghubeer Narain, whose patriotic poem ‘Batohia’ had become very popular in those days, lived at Banaili Champanagar as the Private Secretary of the Raja Bahadur. During his stay with the Raja, Raghubeer Narain wrote several books on English poetry like ‘Sita-Haran’, ‘Raghubir Prem Pushpa’ and ‘Rambhaa’. Many writers and poets were helped in their literary pursuits through timely monetary help given by Kirtyanand Sinha. Among them one was Pandit Ishwari Dutt Sharma, the Guru of Acharya Siv Pujan Sahay.
Kirtyanand Sinha was the President of the Sanskrit Association, Bihar and Orissa (Biharotkala Sanskrit Samiti) for a long period of time. It was during his term as the President of the Sanskrit Association that he came in contact with Pt. Sadasiva Sharma, Vyaakarnaacharya of Puri Rajkiya Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, who wrote a booklet named Santaan-valli in the honour of the Raja. This booklet[27] contains a short history of the Banaili Family.
When the students of the Brahmacharya Ashram of Gunmanti in Purnea approached the Raja and made a demonstration of Vedic recitations and Yogic asanas, in 1930, Kirtyanand Sinha was very happy to find such an Ashram flourishing in the region and gladly agreed to bear the entire expenses of the school. The Superintendent of the Ashram, Yashodanand Jha expressed his desire to accept only half of the promised sum and said that he wanted to involve the cooperation of others by collecting the rest of the sum from them. This school was later named Kirtyanand Brahmacharya Sanskrit Vidyalaya, Gunmanti. On his way to Motitappu and other Shikar resorts in the Terai and Nepal, Raja Kirtyanand used to stop at the institute for regular inspections.
The Honourable Raja Bahadur Kirtyanand Sinha, B.A. was a fellow of Patna University. He was also a member of its Senate. The endowment, which he in conjunction with his elder brother, made to the Patna University, for the establishment of a permanent chair in Economics was indeed a great contribution to the University. Another endowment of 1 Lac was made to the Benares Hindu University. A similar Endowment in the Medical field by which he helped in the conversion of the Temple Medical Trust into the Prince of Wales Medical College of Patna is worth mentioning here.
The building of Zila School Purnea was badly damaged during the earthquake of 1934. Kirtyanand Sinha donated a large portion of his Navrattan House compound (17½acres of land[28]) to the Zila School where a new building was made in 1937.
Raja Kirtyanand Sinha will always be remembered for his services rendered to the Establishment of ‘Maithili’ as a recognized language of India. In 1917-18, with the efforts made by Sir Ashutosh Mukherji who was the Vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, fourteen regional languages like Bangla, Tamil and Marathi etc. were sanctioned to be taught in the campus. Unfortunately Maithili was left out. At that time, Babu Braj Mohan Thakur of Purnea who was closely associated with Ashutosh Mukherji, approached and reminded him that he had forgotten to include the name of Maithili. Sir Ashutosh was convinced of the importance of Maithili as a sister language of Bangla and he readily agreed to do the needful for the cause of the language, on the condition that Mr.Thahur would arrange a sum of Rs. 2500 within a period of three days. Actually all the sanctioned cash in the University treasury had already been distributed among the other fourteen subjects and there was no money left for the use of Maithili. Braj Mohan thakur took this as a challenge. He immediately rushed to Purnea and approach-ed Raja Kirtyanand Sinha along with his cousin, Kumar Kalikanand Singh. Kirtyanand sinha was so thrilled by this proposal, that he immediately gave Rs. 7500, saying that he was indeed lucky to get an opportunity to do something for the cause of his mother tongue. A telegram was sent to Sir Ashutosh about the donation and it reached him just in time, when the last meeting of The University council, on the subject, was in progress. Thus Maithili was included as a language of study till the M.A. Degree. Later, another Rs. 3500 was donated by Raja Tanknath Chaudhary of Rajaur. In this way Banaili-Rajaur Chair was established in the Calcutta University for the study of Maithili. Soon after, in 1919, Krityanand Sinha and KalikanandSingh promised to give Rs. 1200/-annually for the establishment of a lecturer-ship in Maithili in Calcutta University. This lecturer-ship was called “Raja Kirtyanand Sinha Bahadur and Kumar Kalikanand Sinha Lecture” and was established for a term of 6 years.
When the World-war was being fought, Raja Kirtyanand Sinha Bahadur announced grants of land to recruits from among his tenants, both for combatant and non-combatant service- and for this generosity on his part he was thanked by the provincial Recruitment Board.

Apart from the above, he was :-
1. President of the Temple Defence Committee (Devalaya Sanrakshan Samiti) under the All India Varnansram Swarajya Sangh in 1934,
2. Member of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Committee of Bihar and Orissa-1930,
3. Member of the Bihar Provincial Sanaatan Dharma Sabha-1930,
4. Member of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society-1930,
5. Director of Indian National Insurance Company,
6. Director of ‘Bank of Behar’
7. Director of Bihar Potteries Limited,
8. Chairman of the Provincial co-operative Bank,
9. Trustee of the Town Hall Trust, Purnea,
10. Patron and Member of Ram Krishna Vivekanand Seva Aashram-1932,
11. President of the managing committee of the Station Club Purnea,
12. Member of Bihar Club Committee, till 1936,
13. Chairman of the District Board, Purnea and
14. Member of the Tournament Trust fund committee, Purnea.
With the sincere efforts of the Raja, in 1928, a new Railway Station was established near village Bhokraha on the Purnea-Saharsa railway line, in order to provide the people of his native place, an easy access to the Railways. The station was constructed with the financial aid of the Raja and was named “Kirtyanand nagar”[29]. Soon a village of the same name cropped up around the station. This was the nearest Railway-station to Deorhi Banaili Champanagar. Kirtyanand-nagar later developed into a revenue block after the independence of India.
It was due to the co-operation and patronage of Raja Kirtyanand that two iron bridges were constructed over the Kari-Kosi River at Champanagar and Banbhag, thus relieving the common people of his native place from undergoing hardships in crossing the river, especially during the rainy seasons. To further facilitate easy traveling and transport, trees were planted along the roads and wells were dug at regular intervals to provide drinking water to the thirsty travelers. This operation was carried out along almost all important roads of his Estate.
Although Kirtyanand Sinha was very much a Zamindar yet he understood the importance and necessity of industrial development in the times to come. One of his most remarkable industrial enterprises was the Kirtyanand Iron and Steel works at Sitarampur, across the Bengal Border. This started production in 1921-22 and was the only firm besides Tata works at Jamshedpur and the Bengal iron company, which produced pig Iron in those days. Unfortunately the Kirtyanand Steel works (Kisco) resulted in a failure[30]. Kirtyanand was also one of the Directors of Bihar Potteries Ltd
Kirtyanand Sinha played a vital role in shaping the economy of the Province as one of the very active Directors of the Bank of Bihar between 1929 and 1937. This Premier Bank had been established in 1911. He also did a great service to the cooperative movement by providing an excellent investment and co-operation for the success of the movement. The first provincial conference in the province of Bihar and Orissa was organized in December 1913 at Patna. Another important development of the cooperative movement was that the Provincial co-operative bank started functioning in April 1914 under the able chairman-ship of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha. The purpose was to provide liquid cash in the form of cash credit to the central banks. Reasonable rates of interest would be charged on the cash credit. These banks started with deposits from the people, and were like a book bank. The chief share holders of the bank in the Kosi region were Raja Kirtyanand Sinha of Banaili and Mr.P.C.Lal of Purnea.
In 1933, when the Houston-mount Everest expedition started its operations from their base camp at Purnea, Raja Kirtyanand Sinha not only put almost all his motor cars at their disposal[31] but also arranged pony-races and Polo-matches at his private race course[32] and Polo grounds for their entertainment on Easter Monday and other such occasions. In return, the expedition group wanted to do something for the Raja in order to thank him for his hospitality. So, they flew the smaller aero-planes towards the Raja’s Estate and gave an aerobatic display over his Palace, for the benefit of his guests and his family. Mrs. Fellowes (who was in the Expedition group) called upon the Rani Sahiba of Banaili who in return, expressed her pleasure and reciprocation by making a visit to the aerodrome[33]. For the Expedition group it was very amusing to watch the Rani arrive in Purdah with her elaborate entourage.
Raja Kirtyanand was a very religious man[34]. He woke up at 4 in the morning and sat down to perform Puja which continued till much after dawn. Apart from meditation and daily rituals, he chanted the Gayatri Mantra, one thousand times daily. Monthly Paarban and Daan on every Sankranti day were performed with solemnity. An amount of Rs. 1100/- was given away to needy Brahmins every month as Daan. Apart from the above, hundreds of umbrellas and blankets were distributed to the poor and needy during every monsoon and winter. When he came to learn that the best possible way of performing Tarpan and Shradha of the dead was by using the blood and flesh of a rhinoceros, he earnestly sought permission from the Maharaja of Nepal for shooting a Rhino in the Nepal jungles. Soon he killed one and completed his religious obligation to the dead by performing Tarpan and Varshik Shradha of his fore-fathers with the blood and flesh of the animal.
He religiously followed the daily routine of visiting the shrine of Gosown before sitting down for breakfast at 8 A.M. After having breakfast he distributed homeopathic medicine to the poor patients who went up to him for medical help. Raja Kirtyanand Sinha was a keen student of homeopathy. He wrote a book on homeopathy named “Homeopathic Practice”. This book is an easy and useful guide to the beginners of homeopathy. After this charity to the sick and ailing people, he sat in Durbar and dealt with the works of Zamindari. He attended to the daily package of mail and letters.
After midday meals, which he took with his near and dear relatives and higher officials, the Raja sat down in the library and spent the afternoon in his literary pursuits.
Evening time was spent in outdoor games like football and polo. Kirtyanand Sinha had his own team of polo and football players at Deorhi Champanagar. He was a distinguished football player and played on district level with contemporaries like Sammad and Haneef[35]. He played as full back in his football team of Champanagar and had organized a tournament called “Champanagar cup”. After his death this football team was led by his two sons Shyamanand and Bimlanand.
During his younger days he played Cricket, Hockey and Tennis and engaged in other amusements like horse riding, Motor boating in the near by river and Motoring. He was an expert Motorist and took part in manly games surprisingly well. It was during these, that he came in contact with the peasants and other subjects who came up to him with their problems.
At dusk he visited the temples and sat in an open Durbar at the temple grounds where the common man found an opportunity to approach him with their problems. Here, appeals of the people were heard and disposed off through the personal intervention of the Raja. On several occasions, he paid off (from his pocket) the revenue dues of his poor tenants whose land was on the verge of being auctioned by the Raj. Later, he returned to the palace and after a refreshing wash up or bath, he visited his mother in the Haveli where problems of the inner quarters were dealt with. The senior officials like the Dewan and manager would join here to discuss the more serious and confidential matters related to the estate. The Rajmata took keen interest in the affairs of the estate and gave valuable help by her advice and suggestions.
The later part of the evening was spent in entertainment. These consisted of musical performances, shows of bioscope and cinema and also games in billiards and snookers, in which he took keen interest. Kirtyanand Sinha was also a musician and could play the Harmonium well. Whenever he found an opportunity to be with his friends like Kumar Kalikanand Sinha of Srinagar and Raja Tanknath Chaudhary of Maldwar, who were proficient at the Tabla and Pakhawaj, it is said that they sat for long musical sessions. Renowned Classical Singer of Khurja Gharana, Ustad Iltaf Hussain Khan was a court-singer of his Durbar.
Unlike the midday meal, only his sons and very close relatives accompanied him at supper.
This punctual routine was interrupted only at family and religious festivities, some urgent Zamindari work, or else, for Shikar, his favorite adventurous sport.
In spite of his elevated position and status, Raja Kirtyanand Sinha Bahadur never refrained from keeping connections with the common man. He went out of his way to interact with the peasants. On the occasion of Makar-sankranti he went out with all the villagers to hunt for hares and jackals with the help of hounds and dogs according to the village custom. He also visited them at their various tolas and joined in dust-play with them on the morning of Holi festival. In return they came to him at the Holi Durbar and sprinkled colour at his feet. He never failed to attend the Akhara of the Moharram festival. During the festivities of Durga-puja, wrestling matches were held in the Mela. Renowned wrestlers from all over the country gathered at Champanagar and wrestling tournaments were held amidst huge crowd of people. Kirtyanand Sinha sat with the people and attended the bouts. The winner of these wrestling matches was awarded with an Asharfi.
Owing to his dogmatic nature, superb leader-ship qualities and extraordinarily charismatic personality, Raja Kirtyanand came to be accepted as a natural over-lord among the neighbouring aristocratic gentry. He emerged as an ‘Adhiraja’ who was greatly respected by the nobles and zamindars of the region. Some of them went to the extent of paying homage to him through various gifts and even the traditional Nazar at the annual Durbar held on Diwali day. The Zamindar of Bahaduraa presented an elephant [36](the beast was named Bahadur Gaj in acknowledgement of the name of the house of Bahduraa) to Kirtyanand sinha as a token of his unfailing faithfulness. The Chaudhary of Simri-Bakhtiyarpur went one step ahead and gifted by way of Nazarana, a Bunglow with a grove all around it at Salkhua, to be used as a Shikar-Gah by the Raja during his frequent hunting excursions in the area.
Kirtyanand Sinha started suffering from high and irregular blood-pressure. He fell ill in 1936 and never recovered. He was taken to Patna for treatment. After his conditions deteriorated during the second week of January 1938, he was carried to Benaras by a special train hired by the Rani Sahiba in order to provide him a sacred death at Benaras. He died at Kasi, soon after reaching there on the evening of 18th January. His body was carried to Manikarnika Ghat by boat from Kasi station and was cremated there. Kumar Shyamanand Sinha, being the eldest son, lit the funeral pyre.
Rani Prabhavati Devi, the widow of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha followed her husband’s footsteps in helping the cause of Education in Bihar. Through her liberal donations she helped the Bihar Hindi Sahitya Sammelan to grow and perform well. She was a pious lady and spent most of her remaining life in practicing her religious duties at PrayagRaj (Allahabad). She walked on foot to far off places like Kedarnath, Gangotri, Jamuntri, and Badrinath in 1942 and Maan-sarovar in 1949. During her Piligrimage in 1942 she built piligrim rest-houses at Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. Like her mother-in-law, Rani Sitavati, she donated a major portion of her Streedhan to the Temples of her husband’s ancestors and created a Trust in 1966 for carrying out the religious festivities at Deorhi Champanagar. These religious institutions were dying away due to lack of funds, after the abolition of the Zamindari System.
During her last years she did another act of public charity by donating a charitable ward to the B.S. Mehta Eye hospital at Allahabad. She died at a ripe age of 86, on 5.7.1975 at Deorhi Banaili Champanagar.

[1] Ramanath Jha says that Badan Jha was from Mouje-Naahar. Badan Jha was of the Kanhauli-sodarpur Mool.
[2] According to Pt Ramanath Jha (Alaee-kul-prakash) she was the first.
[3] Diary of Jadunandan Misra-records that she died at Asargunj and witch-craft was practiced on her.
[4] Krishna Singh Thakur was a close relative. She held him as trustworthy and wrote in her deed “Babu Krishna Singh Thakur is my relative and is a respectable man, and his father and brother have worked very loyally during the time of my father-in-law Raja Lelanand Singh Bahadur.”
[5] Rani Kalabati wrote to Kirtyanand that Surjanand was having one disease and was being treated for another. She had not spoken her views at that time but now feels sorry as the entire blame had fallen on her. Jadunandan Misra wrote in his diary that Surjanand was murdered(ekjy eqbykg)
[6] Rai Sahib Awadh Bihari Sinha, later became the General Manager of Banaili Raj.
[7]Babu Padmanath Jha belonged to the Parihat-Sankaraarhi Mool.
[8] Babu Shambhunath Jha belonged to Narone Sulhani Mool.
[9] Vanshmani jha belonged to Nahas khowaal Mool and Kalavati held the Paainj ‘Khusiaal Misra’
[10] Kumar Kirtyanand Sinha was married to Rani Prabhavati Debi on Baisakh Shukla-Ekadasi in the year 1900 A.D.
[11] Kunwar Jha belonged to Belounch Sudai Mool and Prabhavati held the Paainj called ‘Mahadev Jha’.
[12] As told by my Grandmother, Rani Prabhavati Devi.
[13] Rani Sitabati never missed any opportunity to take a dip in the Ganges at Manihari Ghat, on every auspicious occasion. She used to travel to Purnea by horse carriages and from there by train to Manihari-Ghat. Since 1898 she had been celebrating Janmastami, within the palace where she worshipped clay idols of the entire family of Krishna to commemorate the lord’s birthday.

[14] 9 annas means 56.25%. In the contemporary currency system, a rupee was divided in 16 equal parts called annas. Each anna was roughly equivalent to a little more than 6 naya paisa of today.
[15]I have already written about the case that was filed by Rani Sitabati, on behalf of her minor sons, to define their share in the estate. This case no. 21 of 1888 ended up in a compromise called Sulehnama on 4/14/1892.

[16] The post-office at Deorhi Champanagar was named Banaili and exists with the same name
[17] Shaka1830-Chaitra Shukla Purnima, wednesday
[18] History of Education in Bihar, under British rule – by Rai Bahadur Bhagawati Sahay I.S.O., M.A.B.L., page 338- The Raj was a most distinguished public benefactor. The Tejnarayan Jubilee College owed its position to the Banaili Raj which endowed it with landed property yielding a net annual income of 60000/. Rai Bahadur Bhagwati Sahay has written in details about the beginning of T.N.B College on page124 of his book “History Of Education In Bihar Under British Rule” he wrote “The second college that arose in Bihar (The first was the Patna College) was the Tej Narayan Jubilee College, which was affiliated in 1887 as a second grade college and in 1890 as a first grade college. It was started by Babu Tej Narayan Singh, whose public spirit was duly recognized by conferring on him the title of Rai Bahadur. Babu Ladli Mohan Ghose, a medical practitioner in the town of Bhagalpur, did much to inspire and materialize the idea of this college. Babu Hari Prasanna Mukherji was the first principal of the college. The present condition of the college-it is a first grade college teaching up to the Honours standard- is due to the liberality of Raja Krityanand Singh, who is the only B.A. among the landed magnates of Bihar, and his brother Raja Kalanand Singh. Under the wise counsel of their manager, Babu Sivasankar Sahay, they made a munificent donation of three lakhs towards the building of the college on an ideal site, outside the town. There was the usual outburst of “popular opposition.” Poor Sivasankar had no one to support him at Bhagalpur in his resolve except his old school and college friends, Babu Surya Prasad, the leader of the Bar, and my humble self. But he mustered up courage and bore the brunt of the “popular” opposition and incurred much odium and obloquy, and at last his voice prevailed with the Rajas, whom the people had memorialized. The college is none the worse for the change of site- it is attended now by about 500 students—except that according to the Maharaj Kumar of Gidhaur, the students are losing their eye sight because of the electric light and their robust manhood owing to the palatial hostels! Babu Sivasankar Sahay was made a Rai Bahadur and thereafter a C.I.E for his public spirit.”
[19] Patna University- minutes of the Senate, Syndicate, & Faculties 1919-20---minutes of the Syndicate 16, 3, 1920—434-Read a letter from the manager, Banaili Raj, to the vice-chancellor, intimating the payment of a donation of Rs.20,000 for the endowment of a university readership in Indian economics, and of Rs.5,000 for purchase of books for the economics section of the university library.
Resolved---- that the grateful thanks of the syndicate be conveyed to the donors for their very generous gift.
[20] This palace called “the Domahalaa”, was completed in 1918 and was the residence of Raja Kirtyanand Sinha and Rani Prabhavati.
[21]The main portion of the Arbitration was the following:-
1. The total value of all the houses and buildings of Deorhi Banaili (Deorhi Champanagar), including furniture and fittings was taken at Rs.2,68,000/-.The above property would now belong to Kirtyanand Rs.2, 68,000/- would be paid to Kalanand from the joint funds of the Estate, for constructing a new Residence elsewhere, as proposed by him. The block of building occupied by the Rajmata (Sitabati Debi) and the Bhansa-Ghar (house of the family deities), the dispensary, the doctor’s quarters, the post-office and the school building was excluded from this valuation.
2. The articles in the Toshkhana (these were the paraphernalia, used at ceremonials) were divided in two equal parts and allotted to each brother.
3. Tents and camp furniture was divided in two equal parts and allotted to each brother.
4. Horses, ponies and the jointly purchased cars were divided equally. The Rajmata’s car, a Standard with a closed body was kept joint. The ponies which were given to the brothers as dowry were excluded from the partition.
5. Among the palace Elephants, their prized possession was the male Tusker, Moti Prasad. This along with another Tusker, Bam Bahadur was allotted to Kalanand Sinha. The She Elephant, Chanchal-Pyari was the favorite of Kirtyanand. This along with three other tuskers, Bhagwat Prasad, Sunder Prasad and Bhairo Prasad was allotted to Kirtyanand Sinha
[22] Banaili-Garh was the original name
[23] Deorhi-Champanagar
[24] Garden of tigers
[25]She was the daughter of Banshmani Jha of Khowal Naahas Mool. Banshmani Jha held the Paainj “Khusiaal Mishr”.
[26] He replaced Raja Harihar Prasad Narain Singh.
[27] Printed by R. Bose,Raghunandan press, Puri-1933
[28] Rajah’s gift for school from our correspondent Ranchi June 22, 1935- The Rajah Bahadur of Banaili has presented 17½ acres of land at Purnea for the purpose of building the new Purnea Zila School to replace the old school ruined by the Bihar Earthquake- “The Statesman”.
[29] In the beginning the name “Banaili Road” was proposed but “Kirtyanand Nagar” was selected by the Government to be more appropriate.
[30] History of Education in Bihar, under British rule – by Rai Bahadur Bhagawati Sahay I.S.O., M.A.B.L., page 338- “the Kirtyanand Steel works struggled long and crippled the personal financial resources of Raja Kirtyanand Singh Bahadur of Banaily.”
[31] The Pilots’ Book of Everest by Squadron Leader The Marquess of Dauglas And Clydesdale, A.F.C., M.P. and Flight Lieutenant D.F. M‘intyre page83 “our bungalow was lent us by the Maharajah of Darbhanga; a fleet of motor-cars by the Rajah of Banaili.”+ First Over Everest The Houston-Mount Everest Expedition 1933 by Air-Commodore P.F.M. Fellowes, D.S.O., L. V. Stewart Blacker, O.B.E., P.S.C., Colonel P.T. Etherton, and Squadron Leader the Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale, M.P. with a Foreword by John Buchan, C.H., M.P. and an account of the filming of the flight by Geoffrey Barkas. “The Raja of Banaili, a cheery personality, who had shot over a hundred tigers, offered us his fleet of motor-cars, remarking that, if possible, he would like to retain one or two for his own use. He had seventeen. He seemed astonished, as if at an unusual display of moderation, when only three cars and a lorry were required.”
[32] First Over Everest page165 “across the park lay the local club-house with attendant tennis courts, and about a mile away, alone in its glory, the Raja of Banaili’s private race-course smiled an invitation.”
[33] The Pilots’ Book of Everest by Squadron Leader, the Marquess of Dauglas and Clydesdale, A.F.C., M.P. and Flight Lieutenant D.F. M‘intyre- page110 “The presence of Mrs. Fellowes in the party also enabled us to arrange for a purdah visit of the Ranee to the aerodrome.”
[34] Before starting for every Shooting tour, 1 ¼ maunds of milk was poured on the Shivalinga at Sundarmath temple by the Raja to procure the blessings of the lord.
[35] Diary of Kirtyanand Sinha 21.9.1914. ‘Sammad played for the Town-Club and Haneef for the Friends union.’
[36]