History aspects of Characteristics of Chand/Chandra Kings Administration

 (History of Kumaon from 1000-1790 AD)

                                        

                     (History of Panwar Dynasty Rule in Kumaon)

History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar) - Part 234

                                              By: Bhishma Kukreti

                         The King was Owner of Land

        As per custom, the King was owner of land, kingdom, forest, minerals and all properties of the Kingdom.

              The King would take appropriate decision to distribute the kingdom property and wealth. The King was customary authorized to award, reward, punish and could provide death sentence to anybody. All these rights were till he was King. Before being king or after thrown out as King he did not have those rights of the King.

         Initially when Chand Kings were ruler of small territory, they were called ‘Raja’. Initially, their territory or fortes was called ‘Rajbunga’. Even when Chandra or Chand kings were under they used to have title of ‘Maharaja’. In inscriptions, Gyan Chandra’s title was ‘Raja’ in 1389 and in 1418, he his title was “Rajdhiraj’.

               The title of Bharti Chandra was ‘Maharaja’ in 1477 and under the title of Doti Kalyan Chandra was ‘Mahadhiraj’ in 1733.

 Anant Dev called Bajbahadur and his predecessors as ‘Nripati’. Shah Jahan called Bajbahadur as “Jagirdar of Kumaon’.

              Ministers of Cabinet in Chand Kingdom

 Broadly, there were three layers of cabinet ministers or administrators

1-Religious administrators – Pauranik Guru, Purohit and Dharmadhikari

2-King family – Maharajkumar (crowned prince), Lala or Gusain (younger princes)

3-Public and Defense Administrators- Deewan, Bakshi, Bisht, Bajir, Mukhtyar were as today’s secretary of deputy ministers. There were Lekhiya, Faujdar, Sradar, adhikari, Bhandari, Musahib and other administrative officers.

King used to take advices from Guru, Maharajkumar, Mukhtar, Deewan, Bakshi, Faujdar, Lekhwar and Hakim of Mal.

Mukhtyar or Mukhtar- Mukhtar was chief minister of the King.

Deewan, Bakshi and Bisht (Bajeer) - These administrative positions were important positions under Mogul Emperor and were copied in Kumaon too. Bakshi was minister for defense and economic establishments. Bajir was mainly related to general administration. Many times, same person was incharge of both the positions as Harsh Dev was Bajir and Bakshi in deep Chandra period.

           There was no clarity about the duties and responsibilities of these posts. Depending upon the situation, a person used to interfere in other administrator’s area.

 Lekhyari or daftari- He was as Chief Director of court. Under him other record officers were appointed. There were administrators (sahayak lekhwar) for each Pargana (region). Initially, Ratangali Bhatt and Sahu of Dwarhat were lekhwar. In later stage, Adhikari (caste) were lekhwar. However, after the capital was shifted to Almora, Chaudhari of Jwalamukhi took posts of Lekhwar from Sahu caste people.

 Kalamdan - The important orders from the Kings were communicated from Kalamdan office. ‘kalamdan office used to be under Bajir. Bajir was responsible for ‘kalamdan’. The King used to sign on inscriptions. The king used to sign on order only after bajir would give pen to the King (it was a type of formal advice from Bajir). The king only used the ink from official inkpot. The key of ‘Kalamdan’ used to be with Bajir.

**Read more about administrators in Chand Kingdom on Chapter -235

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti -bckukreti@gmail.com 1/1/2014

                                      References

Dr. Shiv Prasad Dabral, Uttarakhand ka Itihas Bhag 10, Kumaon ka Itihas 1000-1790

Badri Datt Pande, 1937, Kumaon ka Itihas, Shri Almora Book Depo Almora

Devidas Kaysth, Itihas Kumaon Pradesh

Katyur ka Itihas, Pundit Ram Datt Tiwari

Oakley and Gairola, Himalayan Folklore

Atkinson, History of District Gazette

Menhadi Husain, Tuglak Dynasty

Malfujat- E Timuri

Tarikh -e-Mubarakshahi vol 4

Kumar Suresh Singh2005, People of India

Justin Marozzi, 2006, Tamerlane: Sword of Islam

Bakshsingh Nijar, 1968, Punjab under Sultans 1000-1526 

The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume 13 page 52 

Bhakt Darshan, Gadhwal ki Divangit Vibhutiyan

Mahajan V.D.1991, History of Medieval India

Majumdar R.C. (edited) 2006, The Sultanate

Rizvi, Uttar Taimur Kalin Bharat

Tarikhe Daudi

Vishweshara nand , Bharat Bharti lekhmala

Aine-e Akbari

Akbari Darbar

Tareekh Badauni

Eraly Abraham, 2004 The Mogul Throne

The Tazuk-i-Jahangiri

Maularam- Gadh Rajvansh Kavya

Ramayan Pradeep

Annatdev’s Smriti-Kaustubh

Sarkar, History of Aurangzeb

Jadunath Sarkar, History of Aurangzeb

Sarkar, fall of Mogul Empire

Sailendra Nath Sen, 2010, An Advanced History of Modern India

(The History of Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar write up is aimed for general readers)

                           

History of Garhwal – Kumaon-Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) to be continued… Part -235  

History of Kumaon (1000-1790) to be continued….

Himalayan, Indian History of Chand Dynasty rule in Kumaon to be continued…

  (Himalayan, Indian History (740-1790 AD to be continued…)

Xx

   History aspects of Characteristics of Chand/Chandra Kings Administration; History aspects of Characteristics of Chand/Chandra Kings Administration in Udham Singh Nagar; History aspects of Characteristics of Chand/Chandra Kings Administration in Nainital; History aspects of Characteristics of Chand/Chandra Kings Administration in Almora; History aspects of Characteristics of Chand/Chandra Kings Administration in Champawat; History aspects of Characteristics of Chand/Chandra Kings Administration in Bageshwar; History aspects of Characteristics of Chand/Chandra Kings Administration in Pithoragarh; History of Kumaon, Himalaya; History of Pithoragarh Kumaon, Himalaya; History of Champawat Kumaon, Himalaya; History of Bageshwar Kumaon, Himalaya; History of Nainital Kumaon, Himalaya; History of Almora Kumaon, Himalaya; History of Udham Singh Nagar Kumaon, Himalaya; History of Kumaon, Himalaya, North India; History of Kumaon, Himalaya, South Asia;