Prominent Families under Chainpur Estate - Part I

One of the most prominent Zamindar families within the Chainpur Estate were the families of Babu Gajadhar Prasad Narayan Singh and Babu Surya Deo Narayan Singh, who were cousins. (Early Nineteenth Century, some 200 years ago) Their ancestor shared common property and Zamindari rights at Chainpur and other villages across erstwhile SARAN District of Bihar.

Normally, in the zamindari system in Bihar and also across British India, a system of primogeniture was followed (where the eldest son inherited the major part of the estate or Raj and the other siblings were left with little in comparison). However, Chainpur or most of the Eksaria Clans did not follow the system of primogeniture or estate impartibility. A truly democratic setup where all siblings had equal share to the property. Same was the case with the Zamindari. As such, the Zamindari never could get transformed as a "RAJ".

Babu Gajadhar Prasad Narayan Singh, (mentioned above), married the grand daughter of Zamindar of Maksudpur - Raja Todar Narayan Singh (2nd Raja of Maksudpur) and a prominent land holder of Gaya District. When Raja Todar Narayan Singh died without a male heir, his daughter - Rukmini Kuer became the Rani (1853-1857) and she adopted Babu Gajadhar Prasad Narayan and her only daughter's - minor son - Rameshwar Prasad Narayan Singh.

Thus, a Chainpur Babu became a RAJA.

Rameshwar Prasad Narayan Singh was given the gaddi sometime in 1857 but his maternal grandmother - Rani Rukmini Kuer acted as Regent (1857-59) and subsequently his father - Babu Gjadhar Prasad Narayan Singh became Regent (1859-69) and Rameshwar Prasad Narayan Singh was crowned RAJA in 1891.

After his death in 1902 and lack of male heirs, his younger brother Chandreshwar Prasad Narayan Singh was crowned RAJA of MAKSUDPUR. He brought his share of Chainpur Estate property into MAKSUDPUR RAJ. He died in 1941 and as per his will the Maksudpur Raj passed onto the family goddess, Bhagwatiji.

Both RAJA Rameshwar Prasad Narayan Singh and RAJA Chandreshwar Prasad Narayan Singh had only daughters and none of their maternal grandsons retained property at Chainpur or other villages of SARAN. Their focus shifted to MAKSUDPUR RAJ.

Eksaria Bhumihar Zamindars - Origin

By the end of the sixteenth (16th) century, the EKSARIA BHUMIHARS got a foothold in the erstwhile district of SARAN, Bihar. The pivotal person was JAGARNATH DIXIT, who settled in the village of EKSAR, by early sixteenth century. They managed to expand and hold out large territories but they could never form a unified lineage and thus lead to the formation of a "RAJ". Jagarnath Dixit's descendants were able to expand their territories as the state did not resist and there was abundance of male heirs.
The two youngest sons of Jagarnath moved to other parganas while the eldest two remained behind. The Eldest, SARAN RAI - on whose name SARAN District (present Chapra, Siwan and Gopalganj Districts) was named- had 4 sons - Each of whom formed villages and zamindaris. The second oldest son of Jagarnath had no issue.
SARAN RAI's descendants settled at different places and formed different zamindaris. The first son created the MAJHA line of zamindars, the second - NATH RAI - settled at PARSA and subsequently his descendants moved to CHAINPUR ZAMINDARI. The third son produced the lineage which resulted in the RUSI and KHAIRA ZAMINDARIS. The youngest became the pioneer for the BAGOURA Zamindari. Famously, they were known as the CHOU-BHAIYAS. (FOUR BROTHERS)