See Rajnagar

Rajnagar

Rajnagar may refer to:Places* Rajnagar Upazila a subdivision in Maulvibazar District, Bangladesh* Rajnagar Bihar, a town in Madhubani District, Bihar, India* Rajnagar, Chhatarpur, a town in Madhya Pradesh, India...

 for other places with same name.

Rajnagar (also called Nagar) is a town in Suri Sadar subdivision

Suri Sadar subdivision

Suri Sadar subdivision is a subdivision of the Birbhum district in the state of West Bengal, India. It consists of three municipalities and seven community development blocs: Suri — I, Suri — II, Saithiya, Dubrajpur, Khayrashol, Rajnagar and Mahammad Bazar. The seven blocks contain one...

 of Birbhum District

Birbhum District

Birbhum district is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the three administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is located at Suri...

 in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

. It was formerly the capital of Royal Kingdoms

Middle kingdoms of India

Middle kingdoms of India refers to the political entities in India from the 3rd century BC after the decline of the Maurya Empire, and the corresponding rise of the Satavahana dynasty, beginning with Simuka, from 230 BC...

 in the area. With the fading away of the kingdoms, the town lost much of its importance.

History

Rajnagar was founded by Bir Singh, a great Hindu Raja in ancient times on whose name the district Birbhum was formed. In 1206, Rajnagar was occupied by Muhammad Shiran, a General of Muhammad Bakhtiyar, and annexed by Ali Mardan, on 1211. However, Pathans

Pashtun diaspora

Pashtuns , also called Pathans have many communities around the world. Pukhtuns have long history to conquer and colonizing several regions especially the ancient regions of Sub-continent in duration of past few centuries...

 do not seem to have enjoyed undisputed control over the entire district or area. At least the western part of the district, with Rajnagar as its capital, seems to have been ruled by the descendants of Bir Singh, the Bir Raja

Raja

Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...

s. The rent roll of Todar Mall

Raja Todar Mal

Raja Todar Mal was born in Laharpur, Uttar Pradesh in a Punjabi Kayastha family, and rose to become the Finance Minister in Akbar's Darbar of the Mughal empire. He was made in charge of Agra and settled in Gujarat. Later, he was made in charge of Gujarat as well. He also managed Akbar's Mint at...

 leads to the conclusion that by the middle of the 16th century the entire district was brought under the administration of the Mughals

Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire ,‎ or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...

 through numerous wars raged on this 'Gateway of Bengal'. The later Muslim Zamindar

Zamindar

A Zamindar or zemindar , was an aristocrat, typically hereditary, who held enormous tracts of land and ruled over and taxed the bhikaaris who lived on batavaslam. Over time, they took princely and royal titles such as Maharaja , Raja , Nawab , and Mirza , Chowdhury , among others...

s of Rajnagar, known as "Nagar Raj", were feudatories of the Mughals.

Nagar Raj

Jonad Khan, an adventurous Pathan, is said to have established the House at Nagar in 1600, having treachouresly killed the Bir Raja under whom he served. He was succeeded by his son, Bahadur Khan, alias Ranmast Khan. Asadullah Khan (1697-1718), grandson of Bahadur Khan, was a pious man who was on good terms with Murshid Quli Khan

Murshid Quli Khan

Murshid Quli Khan was the first Nawab of Bengal. In fact circumstances resulted in his being the first independent ruler of Bengal post the death of Emperor Aurangzeb...

, the Nawab of Bengal

Nawab of Bengal

The Nawabs of Bengal were the hereditary nazims or subadars of the subah of Bengal during the Mughal rule and the de-facto rulers of the province.-History:...

. A devout person, he enjoyed full autonomy.

His son, Badi-uz-zaman Khan (1718-52) made an abortive attempt at shaking off the nominal allegiance to Murshidabad. He was invested with the title of Raja

Raja

Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...

 by Murshid Quli Khan. During his reign Birbhum was ravaged by the Marathas. They also overran Rajnagar. It was during the reign of his son, Asad-uz-Zaman Khan (1752-1777) that the Nagar Raj witnessed the zenith of its power and then started declining. The Raja was faithful to the Nawab and after the Battle of Plassey

Battle of Plassey

The Battle of Plassey , 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years...

, was on bad terms with the British. He was defeated by the combined forces of the British and Mir Qasim

Mir Qasim

Mir Qasim was Nawab of Bengal from 1760 to 1764. He was installed as Nawab by the British East India Company replacing Mir Jafar, his father-in-law, who had himself been installed by the British after his role in the Battle of Plassey...

 in 1761. He fled, regrouped and fought back again. He was completely routed at the Battle of Hetampur

Hetampur

Hetampur is a town in Suri Sadar subdivision of Birbhum District in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is situated near Dubrajpur . It is famous for the Rajbari, which has historical value.-Geography:Hetampur is located at .-History:...

 in 1765. By a treaty, he was restored to his estate but much of his autonomy was lost.
In the course of time, they lost their supremacy to the Hetampur Raj. The British set up their district headquarters at Suri, and by the early 19th century, Rajnagar had been reduced to a deserted town with dilapidated palaces and ruins of habitation, and the forest slowly encroaching.

Nostalgia

The last Pathan ruler held sway over the area in the mid-19th century, but Rafiqul Alam Khan, a successor of the Nagar Raj family, is still honoured as the Raja by the town's residents, the descendants of the one-time tenants of his predecessors. On the occasion of the Muslim festivals of Muharram

Muharram

Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year in which fighting is prohibited...

 and Eid

Eid ul-Fitr

Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr , often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting . Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity," while Fiṭr means "breaking the fast"...

, he regains his position as the Raja of Rajnagar. The present Raja did not get a realm from his ancestors but is the proud owner of a royal attire with a royal diadem made of silk. The attire is tattered, but Raja Saheb still wears it when he becomes the “ruler” — twice a year.

Geography

Rajnagar is located at 23.95°N 87.32°E. It has an average elevation of 101 m (331.4 ft). It is located on the western edge of the district, bordering on Jharkhand

Jharkhand

Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...

. The area sits on ancient Archean

Archean

The Archean , also spelled Archeozoic or Archæozoic) is a geologic eon before the Paleoproterozoic Era of the Proterozoic Eon, before 2.5 Ga ago. Instead of being based on stratigraphy, this date is defined chronometrically...

 rocks. Rajnagar receives an average annual rainfall of 1405 mm, most of it in the months of June to October. The area has latterite soil, which is infertile and unsuitable for agriculture.

Suri, 25 km away, is connected by a road.

Demographics

In the 2001 census, Rajnagar community development block had a population of 69,698, out of which 35,545 were males and 34,153 were females.

Economy

Proximity to the supply centres of raw material, as well as the royal court and an aristocratic community, gave rise to certain centres of cottage industries for cotton and tasar silk in the Tantipara-Bhabanipur-Karidhya zone. The famine of 1770 left both agriculture and industry in a bad shape. Trade also suffered. People had sunk to a depth of poverty which the magistrate of Birbhum emphatically said he had not seen anywhere in India. The Maratha raids of 1742-45 had earlier laid waste not only the countryside but also Rajnagar itself.

Places of interest

Kalidaha, a pond, is said to have been excavated by Hindu Rajas and dedicated to goddess Kali

Kali

' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...

. There is an island in the middle of the pond. It is believed to have been connected with the palace through an underground tunnel. On three sides of Kalidaha tank there are the wings of the former palaces of Muslim Rajas. In front of the ruins of the Imambara stands a fine Mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

in a state of good preservation, which is still used by local Muslims. A little to the south are the ruins of another old mosque called the Motichur Masjid which had 12 towers but some have fallen down. Other important sites to be mentioned are 'Nahabatkhana' of the Bir Rajas, and Fulbagan burial place of the Muslim Rajas.

Craft

The National Institute of Fashion Technology has trained almost 2000 artisans from various parts of Birbhum in handicraft and handloom as a part of its consolidated cluster development project undertaken in collaboration with the ministry of rural development and its counterpart in the state. Estimated at Rs 15 crore this project is underway in five selected parts of the country. The main project in the eastern zone was implemented in Bolpur, Nalhati, Ilambazar and Rajnagar.