PRESENT HEAD OF HOUSE: Raja Humayun Girji Dhanrajgirji Gyan Bahadur, present Head of House (Gyan Bagh Palace, Hyderabad, India)

born 1936, educated in the U.K. (Chemical Engineering) and at Harvard (Advanced Management Program); he is a renowned corporate business executive and is associated with Zydus Pharmaceuticals; he has held several senior management positions including that of Managing Director of Glaxo India Ltd.; former President of the Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (O.P.P.I); married Rani Jini (née Cherian), daughter of Dr. Palathnikal Varkey Cherian, from the Palathinkal family of Kerala, former Governor of Maharastra (1964/1969), and his wife, Thara Devi Jesudasan, and has issue, two sons.

• Rajkumar Ashok Dhanrajgir

• Rajkumar Nikhil Dhanrajgir

PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY: The family of Dhanrajgir of Hyderabad were originally of Afghan origin from Gandhar in North India. They migrated to India in the 15th century and first settled in Poona, in Maharashtra, before moving to Hyderabad in the 19th century, where the family earned a massive fortune through trade and rose to eminence and esteem in the court of Nizam as their bankers. Notable properties of Dhanrajgirs are the Gyan Bagh Palace in Hyderabad and the art deco Dhanraj Mahal in Mumbai built in the 1930's, which was once the largest single and costliest building in Mumbai. A portion of the Dhanraj Mahal is now taken by the Tata's Indian Hotels in 1999 where back office works of Taj Mahal Hotel is carried out. A portion is also the residence of Humayun Dhanrajgir. It was acquired by the ministry of defence during World War II and was later returned to the Maharaja. Estate holders were...

• Raja Narsingh Girji Gyan Bahadur; owner of a mill, the Narsingh Girji Mill at Sholapur and the Watson Hotel at Bombay, later known as the Narsingh Girji Mansion, he was a man of great business acumen and princely charities; he was elected as a member of the Royal Society (London) in 1910 for his encouragement of arts, manufacture and commerce; Member of the Hyderabad Municipality and also of the Legislative Council of the Nizam's Government; married and had issue. He died 1923.

  • Raja Dhanraj Girji Narsinghji Gyan Bahadur (qv)

  • Raja Pratap Girji Narsinghji Gyan Bahadur, married and had issue, two daughters.

    • Rajkumari Jayshree Devi

    • Rajkumari Gunvanti Devi, married Pundit Dr. M.R. Gautam, a renowned Hindustani vocalist and Vice Chancellor of Indira Kala Sangeetha University at Khairagarh, and had issue, two sons and two daughters.

      • Pranav Kumar Gautam, married Rajkumari Rajshree Devi, daughter of Raja Birendra Bijoy Malla Deb of Jhargram Raj, and hid wife, Rani Indira Devi.

      • Gayathri Devi

      • Parag Gautam

      • Rudrika Devi

• Raja Dhanraj Girji Narsinghji Gyan Bahadur, a philanthropist; married 1stly, Rani Premila Devi, married 2ndly, 1930, Nawabzadi Zubeida Begum, born 1911, died 21st September 1988, movie actress, played the lead in 'Alam Ara', daughter of HH Nawab Ibrahim Muhammed Yakut Khan III, Nawab of Sachin, and his morgantic wife, Fatima Begum, born 1892, died 1983, and had issue. He died in Bombay.

  • Rajkumari Saheba Renuka Devi Dhanrajgir (by Rani Premila Devi), married Rutton Batliwala, and had issue.

    • Riaz Batliwala

  • Rajkumari Saheba Indira Devi Dhanrajgir (by Rani Premila Devi), a renowned Telugu poet, writer, painter, philosopher and philanthropist, born 17th August 1925 in Hyderabad, educated privately then at Mahbooba Girls' School in Hyderabad; President of All India Women's Conference; a great patron of literature and arts; she has made generous donations to various Universities and academic institutions in the country; author of three brief works of poetry, The Apostle (1964), Return Eternity (1964) and Partings in Mimosa (1968); married, 1945 (sep'd. 1945, div. 1969), Srikishen Seth, nephew of the then Prime Minister of Hyderabad State, Maharaja Kishen Pershad (see Kishan Prasad Jagir).

  • Rajkumar Mahendragir Dhanrajgir (by Rani Premila Devi)

  • Rajkumar Dhairyavangir Dhanrajgir (by Rani Premila Devi), married Shrimati (name unknown) Saincher (sister of Shyam Saincher, jeweller), and has issue (see Kishan Prasad Jagir).

    • Sabita Dhairyavangir, born 15th July 1959, Winner of the Miss India title in 1978; actress in Hindi movies in the 1980's; a famous model and married to Neville Umrigar in Pune.

    • Tarun Dhairyavangir, actor in Hindi movies in the 1980's; a renowned media personality.

    • Aditya Dhairyavangir, married at the ITC Kakatiya Sheraton in Hyderabad, Elizabeth, of Latin-American descent,

  • Raja Humayun Girji Dhanrajgirji Gyan Bahadur (by Nawabzadi Zubeida Begum)(qv)

  • Rajkumari Saheba Huma Dhanrajgir (by Nawabzadi Zubeida Begum)

  • Rajkumari Saheba Dr. Durreshwar Dhanrajgir (by Nawabzadi Zubeida Begum), married (div. 1968), Raymond Pillai, financial controller of IBM Europe, and has issue.

    • Rhea Pillai, born 1965, a renowned Art of Living healer; married 1stly. 14th February 1999 in Mahalaxmi, (div. 2005), Sanjay Dutt, born 29th July 1959, son of Sunil and Nargis Dutt, a well known Hindi actor, married 2ndly, 2005, Leander Adrian Paes, born 17th June 1973, Indian tennis player, son of Vece Paes, and his wife, Jennifer Dutton, and has issue, by second marriage, one daughter.

      • Aiyana Paes, born 3rd April 2006 at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai.

    • Nina Pillai

OTHER MEMBERS:

• Fatima Begum, first woman director of the sub-continent in 1926, as well as an actress in silent films, born 1892, into an Urdu Muslim family, she established Fatima Films in 1926, which later became known as Victoria-Fatima Films in 1928, where she wrote, directed, produced, and acted in her own films; her film credits include "Veer Abhimanyu" (1922) and her last film, "Duniya Kya Hai" (1938); married to the Nawab of Sachin, and had issue, three daughters. She died 1983.

  • Zubeida Begum (see above)

  • Sultana Begum

  • Shehzadi Begum