Shakarpura & Bahadurpur

Rulers of Shakarpura & Bahadurpur Raj are one of the oldest clans of Ujjainiya Parmar rajputs with same lineage from the legendary Chakravarti Maharaja Vikramaditya of Ujjain and Raja Bhoj Dev I of Malwa. The family is direct descendent of the valiant Parmar king, Raja Udayaditya (1060AD-1087AD) and Raja Jagdeva (1079AD -1151AD) of Malwa. Raja Udayaditya was brother of legendary Raja Bhoj Devi I. Malwa was plunged into darkness after the defeat of his nephew Raja Jaisimha I (1055AD - 1060AD), Raja Udayaditya protected Malwa from the invading Chalukyas, western Ganga, Hoysala and Kaluchari rulers and reestablished the kingdom of Malwa with capital in Dhar, issued gold coins and built the famous Udayeshwar Temple in Udaipur, Vidisha Dist. and in Mandu in MP. It is said about Raja Jagadeva that - ‘Na Sa Deso, Na Sa Gramo, Na Sa Loko, Na Sa Sabha I Na Tanaktamdivam yatra, jagaddevo, Na Giyate II’ (There is no country, village, community or assembly, where Jagaddeva’s fame is not sung day and night). Raja Jagadeva initially settled in Gujrat under Solanki king Jaysimha Siddharaja of Gujrat and won many battles for the Solanki kingdom in specific the victory over the Gurjars. Later he returned to Dhar and was appointed successor by his father Raja Udayaditya, but due to internal strife in Dhar, Raja Jagadeva relinquished the throne in favour of his brother Raja Narvarman Dev and moved towards Vidarbha and joined the powerful Kalyani Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI (1076 ad-1126 ad) as commander of Kalyani Chalukya army and was given charge of western Vidarbha. In due course Raja Jagadeva conquered areas in Andhra, Dorasamudra and region near the Arbuda mountain (As per Dongargaon inscription dated 1112 A.D) and was victorious against King Karna of Karnatka, King of Andhra, Kings of chakradurga(chitrakut in bastar) and Hoysala king Malahara of Dorasamudra. In 1126, after death of Kalyani Chalukya King Vikramaditya VI, Raja Jagadeva declared himself independent, and established his capital in Garh Chandur (Rajura Taluq,Chandrapur dist.Maharashtra) and ruled over the areas Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Wardha, Yeotmal and Chandrapur in Vidharbha, Aurangabad, Parabhani, Beed and Osmanabad districts of Marthawada and Adilabad, Warrangal, Karimnagar region in Andhra. During his tenure, Raja Jaggadeva issued around 7 types of Gold Coins (approx. 3-4 gms) which are now preserved in Central Museum, Nagpur and State Archeological Museum, Hyderabad. Balasarasvati was the army general and Lolarka was a minister under Raja Jagadeva and famous Kashmiri poet Bilhana (court poet of Raja Vikramaditya VI and author of Vikramadityacharita) was his friend. Around 1133 AD, Kalyani Chalukya King Someshwara III defeated Raja Jagadeva. Though its mentioned that after his defeat Raja Jaggdeva’s 2 generations ruled Vidarbha region up to the first quarter of 12^th century. Kashmiri Poet Bilhana was the court poet during Raja Jagadeva’s tenure under Kalyani Chalukya Raja Vikramaditya VI. Raja Jagadeva may have died around 1151 AD after ruling for around 58 years. Descendents later found favour with the Mughals and around 1550 AD Raja Ishraj Singh Dev (38^th from Raja Udayaditya of Malwa) a general in the Mughal army, founded the kingdom in the region of Farakia in North Bihar. In recognition of his services during the conquest of Burdwan in Bengal, Raja Ishraj Singh Dev was granted mansabdari of the 574 sq.miles of Farakia region and several other parganas till north Bhagalpur in north bihar, by Emperor Jehangir and hence the Jagir came to be known as ‘Farakia Raj’ and subsequently in 1632 AD Emperor Shah Jehan granted Sanad for the title of Raja to his grandson Raja Laxmi Chand Shah and the rulers were addressed as ‘Farakia Naresh’. The area of the zamindari was approx 320km² as of 1925.

Ancestors first settled in a place called Parihara and later shifted capital to Shankarpur (which was recorded as Shakarpura in British settlement records). All the Rajputs of North Bihar would attend the durbar of Shakarpura Raj. The rulers had the privilege of exemption from Indian Arms Acts 1877 and exemption in appearing in court in person and maintained armed infantry of 150 soldiers. The estate owned 36 elephants in 1915. In 1907-08 Rs.20,000 was spent by the rulers for constructing and repairing 4 miles long embankments in Amosi , Khagaria Thana, which benefited the farmers of the zamindari. There was a dedicated dairy consisting of 500 cows and buffalos in Khera village on the banks of river Kamal, 20km from Shakarpura, Kamala rivers. Milk and products from the dairy was sold and also distributed free of cost to people of the zamindari.

Raja Ram Charan Singh was a very capable administrator. He increased estate revenues, ventured into trading of Jute and Cane, which were locally produced from jute and cane saplings imported from Malacca and trading the locally produced Jute and Cane in Kolkata. The estate had large water bodies and fisheries generated additional income.

Raja Laxmi Prasad Singh was known as ‘Sreeji’ due to his charitable and pious activities and founded various religious endowments & trusts and constructed and maintained temples through out his zamindari including the most famous shiva temple of North Bihar-Baba Budhanath Shiv Mandir in Bhagalpur, Kusheshwar Mahadev Temple in Kusheshwar Sthan etc. His Holiness Baba Laxmi Nath, one of the greatest Vaishnav Saints of north Bihar was the patron saint of the family and Raja Laxmi Prasad Singh would run the estate under the guidance of his guru. In 1855 donated funds and land towards temple of patron saint Baba Laxminath in Bangaon, Saharsa, Bihar. Bought the zamindari near Alamnagar in Saharsa and created a religious trust towards maintenance of temple of patron saint.

Raja Udit Narayan Singh was a progressive ruler and contributed generously towards welfare projects . Founded Shree Laxmi Udit Narayan High School which as the second in the entire district. The Bahadurpur State Hospital was made in 1923 under supervision of a Civil Surgeon and was considered to the one of the best hospital in Bihar and finds mention in the Munger Gazeteer of 1925. 1930 Raja Udit Narayan Singh donated Rs.10000 to Diamond Jubilee College Munger, Rs.10000 to Zenana Hospital Munger and District School Munger . The estate library comprised of over 17000 books and rare manuscripts collected by the rulers. He was President of Bihar Khsatriya Mahasabha. He commissioned the Laxmi Niwas Palace in 1925. Constructed the Sri Laxmi Narayan temple of patron saint Baba Laxmi Nath and dharamshala in Bangaon, Saharsa Dist. Bihar alongwith a donation of 100 bigha’s of land and funds for maintenance . Raja Udit Narayan Singh would be frequently hosting the Governor of Bihar for Duck shooting. Raja Udit Narayan Singh was a connoisseur and collector of fine jewellery. Raja Udit Narayan Singh was a nationalist and contributed for Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom efforts in South Africa and financially supporting the local freedom struggle groups. He owned large residential properties in prime locations in Calcutta, Vishakhapatman, Munger, Begusarai and Khagaria.

Raja Laliteshwar Prasad Singh Ji educated at Rajkumar College, Raipur and in Benaras Hindu University under the guidance of Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya. He was a pioneer in modernization and electrified most parts of his zamindari. He fully mechanized Agriculture and cultivation in 1940 and set up and set up factories like Shri Annapurna Ice Mills in Shakarpura, which then was the 3^rd Largest ice factory in Indian sub continent, in 1955, which was one of the first in Bihar and a state of art hosiery factory with Japanese technology in Munger in 1949 alongwith major investments in Dalmia Jain Airways Ltd, with well known industrialist Ram Krishan Dalmia. In 1951, he was the first in Bihar, to introduced wind energy generation and imported wind power generation turbine from USA from the company Wincharger. Established movie theater in Rosara, Samastipur dist. and In 1946 started sugar cane plantations and further increased estate revenue. In 1932 was founder Member of Bihar Flying Club and donated Rs.10000 to the Flying Club. In 1947 was founder donor of Koshi College, Khagaria and donated land and Rs.50000. Funded the construction of first floor of the guest house of the Dargah of Hazrat Khawja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer Sharif, Rajasthan. Raja Laliteshwar Prasad Singh active member of All India Congress Committee-1953-1965, was well connected with most leading politicians like Shri Jawahar Lal Nehru and Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Indian Ambasador to Pakistan and Cabinet Minister Shri Sreeprakash Agarwal, Cabinet Minister Shri. Satya Narayan Sinha, Home Secretary Shri L.P. Singh, Cabinet Minister for Post & Telegraph Dr. Ram Subhag Singh etc and other leading politicians of those times and was friends with HH Maharaja Digvijay Singh of Sailana, Maharaja Sir Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga, Raja Kamakhya Narayan Singh of Ramgarh, Raja Birendra Bahadur Singh of Khairagarh and with leading businessmen like Seth GD Birla and Seth Ram Krishna Dalmia, Rai Bahadur Baijnath Goenka of Munger etc.

Raja Kameshwar Singh, educated at The Scindia School, Gwalior and Benaras Hindu University. At the age of 29 he became one of the youngest Member of Parliament in India. He was elected to 4^th Lok Sabha 1967-70 from Samyukta Socialist Party after winning by a record margin of 1 lac votes and Rajya Sabha 1974-80 from Congress. His dialogues on Nuclear Non Proliferation during NPT Conference in Switzerland brought him to the forefront and received accolades from international leaders.

Rajkumar Visheshwar Singh, educated at The Scindia School, Gwalior-1949-1960 and University of Lucknow. He was house Prefect-Mahadji House , an excellent artist, horse rider, footballer, gymnast, athlete and swimmer, elocutionist and a good debater. Consequently won the school 110 mts hurdles three times in a row and till today holds the school record in 110 mts hurdles in Scindia School, which remains unbroken. He was very good friends with HH Maharaja Madhav Rao Scindia III of Gwalior, HH Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Bundi, HH Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Samthar, Maharajkumar Sagar Bikram Shah of Tehri Garwal, Maharjkumar A.U.Singh Deo of Bolangir Patna and Sardar Shree Saheb Md. Khusru Shah of Gwalior, Raja Ravindra Bahadur Singh of Khairagarh.