Burdwan Raj
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.
Burdwan Raj
Estate in Bengal, comprising an area of 4,194 square miles, in nineteen Districts, but chiefly in Burdwan, Manbhum, Hooghly, and Birbhum. The Burdwan Rajas trace their origin back to 1657, when Abu Rai, a Kapur Khattrl of Kotli in Lahore, who had migrated to Burdwan, was appointed chaudhri and kotwdl of Rikabi Bazar in the town of Burdwan, under the faujddr of chakla Burdwan. The zamln- ddr\\\\o held the estate in 1696 was defeated and slain by the rebel- lious Subha Singh, but the latter was in his turn killed by the Raj Kumari, whom he was attempting to outrage.
The title of Raja was first conferred on Chitra Sen Rai in 1741 ; but the best-known repre- sentatives of the family have been Klrti Chandra (1702-40), who con- quered and annexed the petty kingdoms of Chandrakona and Barda near Ghatal in Midnapore ; Tilak Chand (1744-71), who was vested with the title of Maharaj Adhiraj Bahadur ; and Mahtab Chand (1832-79), who assisted the Government in suppressing the Santal rebellion of 1855, and later at the time of the Mutiny, and who was appointed a Member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council. Maharaja Aftab Chand (1881-5) died without heirs, and his widow adopted the present Maharaj Adhiraj, Bijoy Chand Mahtab Bahadur, son of Raja Ban Bihari Kapur. During his minority the estate was administered by the Court (jf Wards, and was managed with conspicuous success by Raja Ban Bihari Kapur, first as joint and later as sole manager. The Maharaja on coming of age was installed in February, 1903, by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and visited England in 1906.
The territorial extent of the Burdwan zaniinddri at the close of the seventeenth century was limited to 6 or 1 parganas, but Maharaja Klrti Chandra increased it to 57 parganas, extending over 5,000 square miles. At the time of the cession of Burdwan to the Company in 1760, the revenue payable was assessed at 31-75 lakhs for three years, after which it was reassessed at 41-72 lakhs, the increase being due to the resumption of lands hitherto held as bdze-zdm'in without pay- ment of revenue. At the Permanent Settlement the Maharaja entered into an agreement with the Government to pay a revenue of sicca Rs. 40,15,109, and sicca Rs. 1,93,721 for pulbandhi or repair of embankments. The difficulty which he experienced in meeting the Government demand was eventually solved by the creation of leases under the patnl tenure.
The main conditions of this tenure, which is of a permanent character, are the hypothecation of the land as security for the punctual payment of rent, and liability to summary sale for default. In 1799 the Maharaja gave away a large portion of the estate in these leases ; and the system, which was legalized by Regula- tion VIII of 1819, was gradually extended, so that by 1825 nearly the whole estate had been leased out in this manner. When defaulting tenures were bought in by the proprietor for want of adequate bids, it was formerly the custom to relet the lands covered by them in pafnl, but under the administration of the Court of Wards they were kept under direct management; between 1891 and 1896 these lands, which are known as khds jna/ia/s, were regularly surveyed and settled. The operations extended to Burdwan, Hooghly, and Bandura Districts, embracing an area of 107 square miles, which was settled at a rental of Rs. 95,000.
The Maharaja of Burdwan is the largest revenue-payer in India, the present demand from the estate on account of land revenue and cesses being 31-7 lakhs and 3-3 lakhs respectively. Owing to the close assessment made at the time of the Permanent Settlement, the incidence of land revenue in the Burdwan estate is remarkably high for Bengal.
