Benares Estate
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Benares Estate
An estate, usually known as the Family Domains of the Maharaja of Benares, comprising the tahsils of Gangapur in Benares District and Korh or Bhadohi and Chakia in Mirzapur Dis- trict, United Provinces. The total area is 988 square miles, and the revenue due to Government from Gangapur and Korh is 3 lakhs, Chakia being held revenue-free, while the rent-roll is about 10 lakhs. The Maharaja is exempted from the payment of cesses on account of the Domains, and under Act I of 1904 has recently been authorized to collect certain rates which will be applied in the same manner as local rates in ordinary Districts. Besides his Family Domains the Maharaja owns a large area of zamindari land in the Districts of Benares, Ghazipur, Ballia, Jaunpur, Allahabad, Mirzapur, and Shahabad (Bengal), with a rent-roll of 7 lakhs, paying 3.9 lakhs revenue and Rs. 59,000 cesses. The founder of the family was Mansa Ram, a Bhuinhar, who entered the service of Rustam Ali, governor of Benares under the Nawab of Oudh. In 1738 Mansa Ram obtained the engage- ment for the revenue of the sarkdrs of Jaunpur, Chunar, and Benares in the name of his son, Bahvant Singh, on whom the title of Raja was conferred. Balwant Singh was subsequently recognized as the zamindar of Gangapur, and in 1754 he received a revenue-free grant of Chakia on payment of Rs. 80,000. Later, on the accession of Shuja-ud-daula, half the revenues of Korh were granted to him in jagir. In 1764, after the battle of Buxar, the territory held by Balwant Singh under the Nawab of Oudh was granted by the emperor to the Company, but the Court of Directors disapproved the treaty and restored the sovereign rights to the Nawab. Balwant Singh was succeeded in 1770 by Chet Singh; and the sovereignty of the tract under his control was ceded to the Company in 1775. An agreement was made with Chet Singh confirming him in his possessions subject to the payment of revenue. In 1778 the Raja was required to pay for the maintenance of three battalions of sepoys, and in 1780 he was further required to pay for cavalry for the general service of the state. Chet Singh manifested great reluctance to meet these demands, and was also believed to be disaffected, and to be holding correspondence with the enemies of the British Government. He was accordingly arrested in August, 1781, by order of Warren Hastings, who had come to Benares ; but his retainers collected and cut to pieces the troops guarding the Raja, and Hastings was compelled to withdraw to Chunar. A month later, when a sufficient force had been collected, the Raja's strongholds were reduced, and Chet Singh fled to Gwalior, where he died in 1810. The Zamindari was then granted to Mahip Narayan, a grandson of Balwant Singh, at an enhanced revenue ; and the criminal administration of the province, as well as the civil and criminal administration of the city of Benares, together with control over the mint, was taken out of the new Raja's hands. In 1787 Mr. Duncan, the Resident at Benares, called attention to the bad condition of the province, owing to maladministration, and was authorized to carry out a settlement of revenue with the actual land- holders, and to institute other reforms. A formal agreement was con- cluded in 1794, by which the lands held by the Raja in his own right were separated from the rest of the province, of which he was simply administrator. The direct control of the latter was assumed by the Government, and an annual income of 1 lakh of rupees was assured to the Raja, while the former constituted the Domains. Within the Domains the Raja has revenue powers similar to those of a Collector in a British District, which are delegated to certain of his own officials. All civil cases which are in any way connected with land, and all rent cases arising within the Domains, are tried in the Raja's own courts. The Commissioner of the Benares Division is Superintendent of the Domains, and an appeal lies from all decisions of the Raja's courts to the Superintendent. The Deputy-Superuitendent, who is a member of the Indian Civil Service stationed at Mirzapur, exercises most of the powers of the Superintendent, subject to the control of the latter. Appeals lie from the Superintendent or Deputy-Superintendent to the Board of Revenue, which stands in the place of the High Court for such land suits as would be tried by the ordinary civil courts. The tenures in the Domains differ in some respects from those in ordinary British territory. Under-proprietors are called manzur'idars or viiikarrarldars ; the revenue payable by the former to the Raja is subject to revision at a settlement made under his orders, while the latter pay a fixed sum. The tenant rights resemble those of tenants at fixed rates and occupancy tenants in the neighbouring Districts ; but the occupancy right is ac- quired after twenty years instead of twelve, and is transferable by sale, as well as heritable. The present Raja,Sir Prabhu Narayan Singh, G.C.I.E., who succeeded in 1889, holds the personal title of Maharaja Bahadur, and the privilege of being addressed by the title of ' Highness.' He is also authorized to possess 8 cannon and maintain 700 armed retainers.
[Narrative of the Insurrection in the Zettieedary of Banaris (Calcutta, 1782, reprinted at Roorkee, 1853); A. Shakespear, Selections from the Duncan Records (Benares, 1873); F. Curwen, The Bulwuntnamah (Allahabad, 1875); H. B. Punnett, Manual of the Family Domains (1891).]
