PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY: The family claims descent from the Surajbansi Khattriya Kings of Ajudhia. The ancestors of Raja Dip Shah were settled in Nepal at Doti. He was expelled from Nepal in 1790 and on coming to Oudh, he attempted to settle in Khairigarh Pargana which was then ruled by Banjara chieftains. At first be failed to get a foothold there but eventually he succeeded in defeating the Banjaras and establishing himself not only in that Pargana but also in parts of Bhur. In 1821, Raja Ganga Ram Shah, one of the ten sons of Raja Dip Shah, conquered Kanchanpur Pargana in the Terai tract at the foot of the mountains which had been annexed by the British in 1815 after the Nepal War under the treaty of Sigauli and given to the Nawab Wazir of Oudh in 1816 in satisfaction of a debt of one million sterling. On the annexation of Oudh, Khairigarh and Kanchanpur were settled in 1856 with Raja Randhwaj Shah. The second summary settlement which took place between 1858 and 1859 after the rebellion of 1857, was also made with him. The Raja received a vernacular sanad for the two ilaqas from Lord Canning, the then Governor General of India at the darbar held by him at Lucknow on 26th October 1859 ^(#2). Rulers were....

• Raja DIP SHAH, 1st Raja of Khairigarh 1790/ca1821, son of Raja Krishna Shah, Raja of Doti in Nepal; married and had issue, ten sons.

  • Kunwar Maharaj Shah, married and had issue, three sons.

    • Raja Hansdhwaj Shah (qv)

  • Raja Ganga Ram Shah (qv)

• Raja GANGA RAM SHAH, Raja of Khairigarh ca1821/-, married and had issue.

  • Raja Randhwaj Shah (qv)

  • Kunwar Jang Bahadur Shah, married and had issue. He died 1895.

    • Kunwar Prithvi Dhwaj Shah, married and had issue. He died 1909.

      • Raja Pratap Bikram Shah (qv)

    • Kunwar Dillipat Shah, married and had issue. He died 30th December 1950.

      • Kunwar Upendra Bahadur Shah

  • Rajkumari (name unknown) [Rani Sahiba Kacchawatji of Kasmanda], married Raja Bahadur Suraj Baksh Singh Sahib of Kasmanda.

• Raja HANSDHWAJ SHAH, Raja of Khairigarh -/1856, married and had issue.

  • Kunwar Lal Bahadur Shah

• Raja RANDHWAJ SHAH, Raja of Khairigarh 1856/1866, married and had issue. He died 18th December 1866 ^(#2).

  • Raja Indra Bikram Shah (qv)

• Raja INDRA BIKRAM SHAH, Raja of Khairigarh 1866/1885, married 1stly, Rani Surat Kunwar (see below), born 1866, died 1936, daughter of Thakur Bhup Shah of Achan in Nepal, married 2ndly, Rani Subhadra Devi, died 22nd August 1942, married 3rdly, Rani Rajendra Lakshmi, died 1922. He died sp on 26th November 1885 ^(#1).

• Rani Surat Kunwar, Taluqdarani of Khairigarh 1885/1936, born 1866, daughter of Thakur Bhup Shah of Achan in Nepal, married (as his first wife), Raja Indra Bikram Shah (see above). She died sp in 1936 ^(#2).

• Rani Subhadra Devi, Taluqdarani of Khairigarh 1936/1942, married (as his second wife), Raja Indra Bikram Shah (see above). She died sp on 22nd August 1942 ^(#2).

• Raja PRATAP BIKRAM SHAH, Raja of Khairigarh 1942/1964, born 1898, married 1914, Maharajkumari Bhuvan Rajya Lakshmi Devi, born 1900, daughter of HH Shri Tin Maharaja Dev Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal, and had issue, three children. He died 1964 in Lucknow.

  • Raja Luv Shah (qv)

  • Rajkumar Kush Shah, born 1917, died 1947.

  • Rajkumari Gita Devi, born in 1926, married Lt. General (retd.) Rajkumar Jasbir Singh of Jind, born in 1926, Military Secretary to the Government of India, retired from the Indian Army in 1984, and had issue. She died in November 2005 (Dehra Dun, India)

• Raja LUV SHAH, Raja of Khairigarh 1964/1988, born 20th February 1915, married 1stly (div.), Rani Usha Kumari, died 23rd September 1981, daughter of Raja Avadesh Singh of Kalakankar, and his wife, Rani Lakshmi Kumari, married 2ndly, Rani Meenakshi Devi, born 22nd October 1926, died 27th November 2013, daughter of Kanwar Badri Singh of Sirmur, and had issue. He died 5th May 1988 at Lucknow.

  • Raja Arya Shah (by 1st wife) (qv)

  • Rajkumari Bibhu Shah [HH Maharani Bibhu Kumari Devi of Tripura] (by 2nd wife), born 28th June 1944 in Mussorie, Uttar Pradesh, B.A., educated at I.T. College, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, MP and Minister of State, married HH Maharaja Kirit Vikram Kishore Deb Burman Manikya Bahadur of Tripura and has issue.

  • Rajkumari Bibha Shah (by 2nd wife), born 2nd March 1947 at Lucknow, educated at Loreto Convent, Lucknow and graduated from Loreto Convent College, Lucknow; married February 1979 at Lucknow, Thakur Ranvir Singh Chauhan (originally from Khilchipur, M.P., but his ancestors settled in Kotah, Rajasthan), a producer of documentary films, and has issue, two children, a son and a daughter.

    • Kunwar Manuraj Singh Chauhan, born 22nd December 1979 at Lucknow, married 23rd January 2007, Kuwarani Pallavi Singh, born 22nd June 1980, daughter of Rajkumar Prithvi Singh of Garrauli.

    • Kumari Minakshi Devi Singh, born 22nd November 1982 at Lucknow, married 10th February 2008 at Lucknow, Gaurav Agarwal, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arun Agarwal of Lucknow.

  • Rajkumari Vibhuti Shah (by 2nd wife) [Kanwar Rani Vibhuti Singh of Jubbal], born 23rd February 1951 at Lucknow, educated at Loreto Convent School, Lucknow, and graduated from Loreto Convent College, Lucknow; contested the District Simla Zila Parishad election in December 1995 from Kedi-Kupvi ward in Tehsil Chopal (now in Southern Jubbal State) and defeated her opponent by a record margin of 8,352 votes, a member for 5 years, up to December 2000, married 12th December 1976 at Lucknow, U.P., Kanwar Uday Singh of Jubbal and has issue, one son and one daughter.

• Raja ARYA SHAH, Raja of Khairigarh 1988/2000, born 13th July 1941 in Lucknow, educated at Welham Boys School, Dehra Dun, Uttaranchal, and at Doon School, Dehra Dun, Uttaranchal till 1959, graduated in 1963, from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, married 1971 at Lucknow, Rani Usha Kumari, died 1995, daughter of late Maharaj Narpat Singh of Banswara, and his wife, Rani Shukla Kumari, and had issue. He died October 2000.

  • Raja Akshay Bikram Shah (qv)

  • Rajkumari Yamini Kumari, married Rajkumar Vikram Singh of Luni in Jodhpur.

• Raja AKSHAY BIKRAM SHAH, Raja of Khairigarh (see above)

OTHER MEMBERS:

• Rai Bahadur Kunwar Bam Bahadur Shah, born 1868, educated at Canning College, Lucknow; an Administrator and Honorary Magistrate exercising jurisdiction within the limits of the Khairigarh estate, in recognition of his public services the title of Rai Bahadur, as a personal distinction, was conferred on him in December 1911, on the occasion of the Delhi Durbar.

• Kunwar Badri Shah, married 1979, Kumari Sarochi Kumari, daughter of Kanwar Narendra Singh of Sirmur, and his wife, Kumari Surendra Kumari, and has issue, one son and one daughter.

  • Siddarth Vikram Shah, born 7th April 1981.

  • Kumari Shriya Kumari, born 1985.

• a Kumari of Khairigarh, married Raja Balbir Sen, 74th Raja of Keonthal, and had issue.

• Lt.-Col. (ret'd.) Meena Singh Pal of Khairigarh-Singhai, married Dr. Mahendra Singh Pal of Askote, he is presently (2014) a two time M.P. from Nainital.