PRESENT RULER: Raja BIMLENDRA PRATAP MOHAN MISRA, present Raja of Mahdauna-Ajodhya since 1981.

born 1960/1961.

PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY: Originally known as Shahganj, then later Mahdauna, it was renamed Ajodhya in 1890, and is now better known as Mahdauna-Ajodhya. The ancestor of the family was a Sakaldipi Brahmin of Bhojpur, named Sadanand or Sadasukh Pathak. He was the father of Gopal Ram, and grand-father of Chaudhury Purandhar Ram. The estate had property in the Districts of Fyzabad (360 villages and 65 patti villages), Gonda (246 villages, 37 patti villages), Sultanpur (the Bharthhur Estate, 43 villages and 3 patti villages), Bara Banki (14 villages and 2 patti villages), Lucknow and it also had 11 Mahals (Hill Estates), plus others. The Estate was abolished by the Indian Government in 1955. Estate holders were....

• Chaudhury PURANDHAR RAM, he was granted the title of Chaudhry by the Mughal Emperor; married a daughter of Sadhai Ram, the Misra Brahmin Zamindar of Palia in Faizabad, and had issue, five sons.

  • Raja Bakhtawar Singh (qv)

  • Kunwar Sheodan Singh

  • Kunwar Ichha Ram Singh

  • Raja Bahadur Darshan Singh Saltanat Bahadur, he was appointed Chakladar of Salon and Baiswara in 1822, Nazim of Sultanpur and Faizabad in 1827, Saltanat Bahadur [cr.1839]; appointed to the charge of Gonda and Bahraich in 1842; married and had issue, three sons. He died 1844.

    • Raja Ramadhin Singh, married and had issue. He died 13th November 1870.

      • Kunwar (name unknown), married and had issue.

        • Kunwar Tribhawan Nath Singh, petitioner in 1915.

    • Kunwar Raghubir Dayal Singh, married and had issue. He died 2nd May 1870.

      • Lal Trilokinath Singh, he was adopted in 1875, by Maharani Subhao Kumari, but litigation ensued and the succession was decided in favour of Hon. Maharaja Pratap Narayan Singh Bahadur.

    • Maharaja Man Singh Bahadur [aka Hanuman Singh] (qv)

    • Kumari (name unknown), married Padshah e-Awadh Ghaziuddin Haydar of Awadh.

    • Kumari (name unknown), married Padshah e-Awadh Ghaziuddin Haydar of Awadh.

  • Kunwar Devi Prasad Singh

• Raja BAKHTAWAR SINGH, 1st Raja of Mahdauna 1821/1838; appointed Jamadar then Risaldar, he was granted the estate of Mahdauna in 1821, he was granted the title of Raja as a hereditary distinction by Nawab Muhammed Ali Shah in 1838; married and had issue, one daughter and an adoptive son. He died spm in 1855 at Lucknow.

  • (A) Maharaja Sir Man Singh Bahadur (qv)

• Maharaja Sir MAN SINGH Bahadur K.C.S.I., 2nd Raja of Mahdauna 1838/1856 and 1858/1870; born 10th December 1820, he was appointed Nazim of Daryabad, Rudauli and Sultanpur in 1844; Vice President of the British Indian Association 1861/1870, Assistant Magistrate and Collector from 1860; he was granted the titles of Raja Bahadur (1845), Qaim Jang (1847), Saltanat Bahadur (1855) by the King of Oudh, and Maharaja Bahadur (as a personal distinction) at the Darbar held in Lucknow [cr.26.10.1859], K.C.S.I. [cr.1869] by the British Government, married Maharani Subhao Kumari (she adopted her husband's nephew, Trilokinath Singh, in 1875, but he was overlooked), and had issue. He died 11th October 1870.

  • Kumari Brijraj Kunwar, married Kunwar Narsingh Narayan Singh of Ajodhya and had issue.

    • Hon. Maharaja Pratap Narayan Singh Bahadur (qv)

  • (A) Kunwar Trilokinath Singh

ESTATE confiscated in 1856, due to the rebellion of Raja Man Singh, but because he saved the lives of many European ladies from being killed by the rebels, and for changing his allegiance, his estate was restored to him in 1858 and he was awarded the K.C.S.I.

• Maharani Sobhao Kumari, 3rd Rani of Mahdauna 1870/-: - The Estate of Maharaja Man Singh of Mahdauna-Ayodhya Raj devolved on his death successively on his two widows and thereafter, according to Raja Vijay Pratap Singh, a minor on his grandfather Raja Ganga Dutt Misir, who died in 1942. Dukh Haran Nnath Singh claimed the estate as adopted son of the junior widow of the Maharaja. Raja Vijay Pratap Singh filed a petition for leave to sue in forma pauperis for declaration of title to the estate making his father Ram Jiwan Misir a party. The plaintiff's petition was rejected by the Subordinate Judge, on the ground that it disclosed no cause of action. His father's application to be transposed as petitioner was also rejected. Raja Vijay Pratap Singh and his father preferred revision applications to the High Court of Allahabad. The plaintiff's application was rejected by the High Court holding inter alia that there was nothing in the petition to show that he succeeded to the estate as the nearest male reversioner of the last male holder. Ram Jiwan Misir's application was rejected by the High Court on the ground that relief in an application to sue in forma pauperis is personal to the applicant and nobody else can be made a co-applicant, because 1, R. 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure does not apply to a proceeding for permission to sue as a pauper.

• Hon. Maharaja PRATAP NARAYAN SINGH Bahadur K.C.I.E. [cr.1895], 3rd Raja of Mahdauna (Ajodhya from 1890) 1870/1906, born 1833 or 13th July 1835 ^(#1), the title of Maharaja Bahadur was granted on 16th February 1887 as a personal distinction, personal title of Mahamahopadhyaya [cr. 29.6.1906]; he was confirmed in his possession of the Taluqa on 2nd December 1884, third in rank amongst the Taluqdars of Oudh, M.L.C., Taluqdar of Ajodhya dated 2nd July 1890; Member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council for two years; Member of the Lieutenant-Governor's Council for eight years; Life-President of the British Indian Association 1890/1906, married 1stly, Maharani Suraj Kumari, died 1927, married 2ndly, Shrimati Maharani Jagdamba Devi (qv), died 18th June 1938, and had adoptive issue. He died sp on 9th November 1906.

  • (A) Raja Jagdambika Pratap Singh (qv)

  • (A) Shri Vijay Misir, he succeeded as Maharaja Vijay Pratap Singh (qv)

• Shrimati Maharani Lady Jagdamba Devi, 4th Maharani of Mahdauna-Ajodhya 1906/1909 and Regent of Mahdauna-Ajodhya 1909/1927; married (as his second wife), Hon. Maharaja Pratap Narayan Singh Bahadur (see above), she adopted Vijay Misir (later Raja Vijay Pratap Singh, qv). She died sp on 18th June 1938.

• Raja GANGA DUTT MISIR, Raja of Mahdauna-Ajodhya 1938/1942, married and had issue. He died 1942.

  • Ram Jiwan Misir, married and had issue.

    • Raja Vijay Pratap Singh [Vijay Misir] (qv)

• Raja VIJAY PRATAP SINGH, Raja of Mahdauna-Ajodhya 1942/-, adopted by Maharani Suraj Kumari. He died after 1962.

• Raja JAGDAMBIKA PRATAP NARAIN SINGH, 5th Maharaja of Mahdauna-Ajodhya 1938/(1955), born 18th October 1904, he was adopted on 12th February 1909; he succeeded to the gadi on 19th June 1938, educated at Colvin Taluqdar's School, Lucknow till 1927, he was granted a King's Commission in the Indian Army, which he resigned in 1931 owing to ill-health, Member of the United Provinces Legislative Council 1931/1936; a special Magistrate for eight years; Chairman, District Board of Faizabad, 1936/1939; Member, Advisory Committee of Indian Territorial Force; Chairman, District Rural Development Association; Member, Central Assembly; in recognition of his learning and religious support, he was conferred with the title of Vidya Vachaspati in 1933; married and had issue as well as adoptive issue. He died in 1981.

  • Kumari (name unknown) Devi

  • (A) Dr. Ram Narayan Mishra

• Raja BIMLENDRA PRATAP MOHAN MISRA (grandson), Raja of Mahdauna-Ajodhya (see above)