PRESENT HEAD:

??The Raja Saheb of Sheopur-Baroda

STATES AND ESTATES:

Ajmer, Maroth (Gaudawati/Gaudati), Takshasheela, Awadh, Gohati, Shivgarh, Akbarpur (Muslim), Arjunpura, Birsinghpur, Chamraoli, Inchhapur, Jhangria, Kanpur, Katesar, Khajurahra, Pawayan, Pokhra Ansari, Rajgarh, Saadatnagar, Sarwad, Vazirnagar,

BRANCHES:

In Oudh and the North-West Provinces:- Chamar-Gaur, Bahman-Gaur, Bhat-Gaur. The Gaurahar of Budaun, Etawah and Aligarh are of Chamar-Gaur origin, but have lost status by inferior marriages. The Amethia are also of Chamar-Gaur origin.

In Rajputana:- Budaun, Dusena, Silhala, Tur and Untahir.

SHORT HISTORY:

The Suryavanshi Rajputs of Gaur are descendants of the Rajput Pala Dynasty which ruled ancient Bengal, then known as Gaur. Its capital was Lakshmanabati, named after the Pala king Lakshman Pal, under whose patronage the first literary work in Bengali, "Geet Govindam", was composed by the Bengali poet Jayadeva (circa 1200). This clan is supposed to take its tribal name from Gauda, one of the ancient names of the western portion of Bengal, which was ruled over by a dynasty of this race. Little is known of this race, though they are thought to have held Ajmer previous to its conquest by the Chauhan rajputs. They served with distinction in the wars of Maharajadhiraja Prithviraja III of Delhi, and one of their leaders founded the small Gaur state of Sapur (Sheopur?) in Rajputana, which, after surviving seven centuries of Mughal domination, was annexed in 1809, by the Marathas under Maharaja Scindia. The Gaur clan is very numerous in the North-West Provinces, with those of the Cawnpore district claiming descent from Raja Prithvi Deo, who came from Garh Gijni, to the court of Maharaja Jaichand of Kanauj, whoser daughter he married, receiving lands in the Kalpi and Manikpur districts as her dowry. He later abducted a daughter of the Meo Raja, who in retaliation killed all the Gaur rajputs at a feast, sparing only the two Ranis who became the ancestors of the two main branches of the Gaur rajputs, namely the Bahman-Gaur and the Chamar-Gaur. The third division is the Bhat-Gaurs but the story of their origin is unknown.

Pala Dynasty 761 - 1200

LOCATION: Bengal CAPITALS: Palitpur, Gauda, Ramavati 1172/1200, Lakshmanbati 1200/- RELIGION: Buddhism, Shaivism

The origins of the Pala rulers are relatively obscure and most likely of humble stock, though later records claim a Kshatriya origin. The empire was founded with the election of Gopala as the emperor of Gauda in 750. Their stronghold was located in Bengal and Bihar. At its height in the early 9th century, the Pala Empire was the dominant power in the northern subcontinent, with its territory stretching across parts of modern-day eastern Pakistan, northern and northeastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The empire reached its peak between 774 and 845. After a short lived decline, Emperor Mahipala I defended imperial bastions in Bengal and Bihar against South Indian Chola invasions. Emperor Ramapala was the last strong Pala ruler, who gained control of Kamarupa and Kalinga. The empire was considerably weakened by the 11th century, with many areas engulfed in rebellion. The resurgent Sena dynasty dethroned the Pala Empire in the 12th century, ending the reign of the last major Buddhist imperial power in the subcontinent. Rulers were.....

• Raja Gopala I, Pala Raja of Bengal 750/774 ^(#1), he was the son of a warrior named Vapyata and became the first Buddhist King of Bengal; married and had issue.

  • Paramesvara Paramabhattaraka Maharajadhiraja Dharmapala (qv)

• Paramesvara Paramabhattaraka Maharajadhiraja Dharmapala, Pala Raja of Bengal 774/806, he conquered Gandhara and Northern India, gradually expanding his empire after initial defeats; he founded 50 religious colleges; married Rani Rannadevi, a daughter of Raja Parabala, and had issue. He died 806.

  • Raja Devapala (qv)

• Raja Devapala, Pala Raja of Bengal 806/845, he conquered the territories of Utkala, Pragjyotisha, Dravid and Gujarat

• Raja Mahendrapala, Pala Raja of Bengal 845/860

• Raja Shurapala I [aka Ras Pal], Pala Raja of Bengal 860/872

• Raja Vigrahapala I, Pala Raja of Bengal 872/873, married and had issue.

  • Raja Narayanapala (qv)

• Raja Narayanapala, Pala Raja of Bengal 873/927, during his reign the Bengal Empire was in decline, and attempts to restore the empire were unsuccessful as the Rashtrakutas invaded first, then afterwards the Barman emperors from the South and North also attacked Bengal, married and had issue.

  • Raja Rajyapala (qv)

• Raja Rajyapala, Pala Raja of Bengal 927/959, married a daughter of Rashtrakuta Raja Tunga, and had issue.

  • Raja Gopala II (qv)

• Raja Gopala II, Pala Raja of Bengal 959/976, married and had issue.

• Raja Vigrahapala II, Pala Raja of Bengal 976/977, Bengal starts breaking up, signalling the end of the First Pal period, other dynasties rise in the Central, Southern and Eastern parts, married and had issue.

  • Raja Mahipala I (qv)

• Raja Mahipala I, Pala Raja of Bengal 977/1027, during his reign he managed to restore some lost territory, though not to the extant that his predecessors had maintained; he had to contend with the northern expedition of the Chola king, Raja Rajendra; married and had issue.

  • Raja Nayapala (qv)

  • Rao Sthirapala

  • Rao Vasantapala

• Raja Nayapala, 11th Pala Raja of Bengal 1027/1043, he defeated the Kalachuri (Yadu) king Karna after a long struggle, the two later signed a peace treaty at the mediation of the Buddhist scholar Atiśa; married and had issue.

  • Raja Vigrahapala III (qv)

• Raja Vigrahapala III, 12th Pala Raja of Bengal 1043/1070, the Kalachuri king Karna once again invaded Bengal but was defeated, the conflict ended with a peace treaty, and he married Raja Karna's daughter; he was later defeated by the invading Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI, and also faced another invasion led by the Somavamsi king Mahasivagupta Yayati of Orissa, subsequently, a series of invasions considerably reduced the power of the Palas; the Varmans occupied eastern Bengal during his reign and the emergent Sena dynasty seize Radha from the Palas beginning the decline of their power in the region; married Rani Yauvanashri, a daughter of the Kalachuri Raja Karna, and had issue.

• Raja Mahipala II, Pala Raja of Bengal 1070/1071

• Raja Shurapala II, Pala Raja of Bengal 1071/1072

• Raja Ramapala, Pala Raja of Bengal 1072/1126, with his death, the Second Pal period ends, married and had issue.

  • Raja Kumarapala (qv)

  • Raja Madanapala (qv)

• Raja Kumarapala, Pala Raja of Bengal 1126/1128, married and had issue.

  • Raja Gopala III (qv)

• Raja Gopala III, Pala Raja of Bengal 1128/1143

• Raja Madanapala, Pala Raja of Bengal 1143/1161, he loses Assam to his general, the Sen rulers become independent in the south; he fought with the Ganga rulers and lost Patna

• Raja Govindapala, Pala Raja of Bengal 1161/1165, he rules only over a small part of the Bengal Kingdom, his descendants continue as petty rulers in various parts of the country

• Raja Palapala, Pala Raja of Bengal 1165/1200

Later Gaur Descendants (in Ajmer)

• Raja Bachraj, he was one of three brothers on pilgrimage from Bengal to Dwarka, who were sent by Maharaja Prithviraj III of Ajmer and Delhi, against Raja Daya Singh of Nagore, and who subsequently married a daughter of Prithviraj III, and eventually settled in Ajmer.

• generations, during this time, Junia, Sarwar, Deolia and surrounding country, fell into the hands of the Gaur rajputs.

• Raja Bithal Das, founder of Rajgarh during the time of Padshah Akbar (1556/1605), married and had issue.

  • Raja Anand Singh, married and had issue.

    • Raja Raj Singh of Rajgarh, married and had issue.

      • Raja Prithvi Singh of Rajgarh, he seized Sringar from the Parmar rajputs, but soon afterwards, the Gaur rajputs were expelled from Rajgarh by Raja Kishan Singh, founder of Kishangarh,

        • Raja Kesri Singh of Rajgarh, married and had issue.

          • Raja Nahar Singh of Rajgarh, married and had issue.

            • Raja Sujan Singh of Rajgarh, married and had issue.

              • Raja Nirbhay Singh of Rajgarh, married and had issue.

                • Raja Ummed Singh of Rajgarh, married and had issue.

                • >> Raja Gopal Singh (qv)

    • Thakur Atma Ram, married and had issue, descendants in Danta.

  • Thakur Arjan Singh, married and had issue, descendants in Rajgarh.

• Raja Gopal Singh, he recovered Rajgarh after twenty-five years of dispossession, married and had issue.

  • Raja Chiman Singh of Rajgarh, married and had issue.

    • Raja Chatar Singh of Rajgarh, married and had issue.

      • Raja Devi Singh of Rajgarh, he was granted the title of Raja as a personal distinction in 1877; but is held as a courtesy title by the head of the family, married and had adoptive issue. He died 1887.

        • (A) Raja Chandra Singh, Thakur Saheb of Rajgarh 1887/- (2 villages, Rs5,000 in 1901), he succeeded by adoption from Danta.

• generations, during this time, the country was seized by the Marathas, who in 1817, resumed Rajgarh, comprising 12 villages for failure to pay a contribution to war expenditure. On the establishment of British rule, these villages were restored on condition of the payment of nazrana, but as this would not or could not be paid, the whole estate with the exception of one villages was resumed and made khalsa till 1874, when it was presented in jagir to the representative of the ancient house.