PRESENT RULER: Raja Shri RAVINDRA BAHADUR SINGH, 4th and present Raja Saheb of Khairagarh (Kamal Niwas, Khairagarh, Chattisgarh, India)

born 29th December 1940, Member of the Executive Committee of Rajkumar College at Raipur, married Rani Rashmi Devi, daughter of General Kumar Shri Rajendrasinhji Devisinhji Jadeja of Sarodar, Nawanagar, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces, and has issue.

• Yuvaraj Shri Deovrat Singh, educated at Rajkumar College, Raipur; Member of the Rajya Sabha, M.L.A. (Madhya Pradesh) for two terms; married Yuvarani Padam Kanwar, daughter of Rajkumar Balwant Singh of Chhatarpur, and his wife, Yuvrani Kumkum Kumari.

PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY: The family of Khairagarh is a branch of the old Gond Dynasty of Mandla, and was originally a Jagir (or Zamindari), but it was elevated to a Princely State in 1898. The Rajas of Khairagarh are descended from Raja Fanimukut Rai, also ancestor of the Rajas of Chota-Nagpur. The rulers were....

• Raja Prithvi Rai, 39th in descent from Raja Fanimukut Rai, married and had issue.

  • Raja Pratap Rai

  • Raja Lakshminidhi Rai, he travelled to Garha Mandla in 1484, where he was made the Chief Minister, he was granted the Kholwa Pargana in 1487; married and had issue.

    • generation

      • Raja Ganesham Rai, Raja of Kholwa fl.1540, he was granted the Bodhagarh Pargana, as reward for defeating an invading Gond army, married and had issue.

        • generations

          • Raja Kharg Rai, he founded the town of Khairagarh in 1755; married and had issue.

            • Raja Tikait Rai, he invaded Dhamda in 1788 and extracted a heavy ransom for its return; in 1795, he secured the Khamaria Pagarna from the Raja of Kawardha after he defaulted on a loan; in 1818, he captured Raja Ghasidas of Singarpur who had revolted, and was rewarded with half of Singarpur state; married and had issue.

              • generation

                • Raja Lal Fateh Singh (qv)

• Raja Lal FATEH SINGH, Thakur Saheb of Khairagarh 1833/1874, he was invested with powers of a feudatory chief in 1865 by the Chief Commissioner of Nagpur, but owing to his tyranny and oppression he deprived of civil and criminal jurisdiction in 1870; his indebtedness and continued maladministration forced the Government to deprive him of fiscal management as well, and in 1873, the estate was placed under Government administration; married and had issue. He died 1874.

  • Lal Umrao Singh aka Kanhaya Lal (qv)

DIRECT ADMINISTRATION 1873/1883

• Lal UMRAO SINGH, Thakur Saheb of Khairagarh 1874/1891, married and had issue. He died 19th February 1891 ^(#1).

  • Lal Kamal Narayan Singh (qv)

1. Raja KAMAL NARAYAN SINGH, Thakur Saheb of Khairagarh 1891/1898 and 1st Raja Saheb of Khairagarh 1898/1908, born 1867 ^(#1), succeeded to the gadi as Zamindar on 19th February 1891, he was granted the title of Raja as a Hereditary distinction in 1898, married and had issue. He died 7th October 1908.

   • Raja Lal Bahadur Singh (qv)

   • Rajkumari Bhuvaneshwari Kumari, married Raja Bahadur Ram Gopal Singh of Manda in the United Provinces.

   • Rajkumari (name unknown), married Shri Kharag Jung Bahadur Rana, son of Cdg. Gen. Maharajkumar Padma Jung Bahadur Rana (see Lambjung and Kaski).

2. Raja Lal BAHADUR SINGH, 2nd Raja Saheb of Khairagarh 1908/1918, born in June 1889, formally installed on 13th December 1912, educated at Rajkumar College, Raipur; married a daughter of Cdg. Gen. Maharajkumar Padma Jung Bahadur Rana (see Lambjung and Kaski), and had issue. He died 22nd October 1918.

   • Maj. Raja Bahadur Birendra Bahadur Singh (qv)

   • Rajkumar Bikram Bahadur Singh, born December 1915, educated at Rajkumar College, Raipur; was the first Officer of Imperial Police (Scotland Yard, England); married Rajkumari Brijraj Kanwar, daughter of Rawal Harnath Singhji Bahadur of Dundlod, and his wife, Rani Sireh Kanwar, and had issue.

     • Kunwarani Jagriti Kumari, married 14th December 1978, Kunwar Lakshman Singh of Raghogarh, and has issue.

   • Thakorani Basant Kumari, married Thakore Saheb Narendrasinhji Dilipsinhji, 15th Thakore Saheb of Virpur, and had issue.

3. Maj. Raja Bahadur BIRENDRA BAHADUR SINGH, 3rd Raja Saheb of Khairagarh 1918/- , born 9th November 1914 and succeeded to the gadi on 22nd October 1918 ^(#2), educated at Rajkumar College, Raipur (Diploma 1932), Ewing Christian College, Allahabad and Mayo College, Ajmer; he was invested with ruling powers on 10th December 1935; had made many reforms within the state prior to Independence, including the provision of free primary education, medical relief to isolated areas of the state, establishment of a Debt Conciliation Board; provision of urgently needed medical equipment to the Hospital etc., M.L.A. (Madhya Pradesh) for four terms, Member of the Chamber of Princes; married on 28th May 1934, Shrimati Rani Padmavati Devi Sahiba, born 17th July 1918 in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, daughter of Raja Bahadur Raja Pratap Bahadur Singh of Pratapgarh, and had issue.

   • Raja Ravindra Bahadur Singh (qv)

   • Rajkumar Shivendra Bahadur Singh, born 7th January 1943 in Nagpur, Maharashtra, B.A., educated at Doon School, Dehradun and Bombay University, Bombay; elected to the Lok Sabha for three terms, agriculturist, Political and Social worker, Musician and Management Consultant, married 19th April 1968, Kumari Geeta Devi, born 1946, State Social Welfare Minister, daughter of Rajkumar Chandra Bhan Singh of Kashipur, and his wife, Rajkumar Rani Rashal Manjari Devi, and had issue, two sons. He died 1998. (Lal Niwas, P.O. Dungargarh, Distt. Rajnandgaon, Madhya Pradesh)

     • Kunwar Bhawani Bahadur Singh, married Kunwarani Caroline Devi Singh from Manipur (non-Kshatriya lady?), and has issue, two children.

       • Kumari Shivantika Raje, aged 13 years (2012)

       • Kunwar Shivrajeshwar Singh Khairagarh, aged 10 years (2012)

   • Rajkumari Indira Devi, died young.

   • Rani Sharda Kumari, married 5th February 1955, Rawal Chakrapani Singh of Bissau, and has issue.

4. Raja RAVINDRA BAHADUR SINGH, 4th Raja Saheb of Khairagarh (see above)

OTHER MEMBERS:

• Kumari Rashmi Devi

• Shri Lal Shankar Bahadur Singh, educated at Rajkumar College, Raipur; represented the University Lawn Tennis Team which visited Sri Lanka in 1950.

• Rajkumar Shatrushal Bahadur Singh, married Rajkumari Jyotee Kumari, daughter of Maharaj Sajjansinhji Naharasinhji of Chhota Udepur, and his wife, Rani Geeta Devi.