Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh



Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh was the eldest surviving son of Maharaj Mahip Narayan Singh, Udit Narayan Singh Sahib Bahadur (1770 – 4 April 1835, r. 12 September 1795 – 4 April 1835) became the new king of Benares.

Early life
Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh was the eldest son of Maharaja Mahip Narayan Singh of Benares. Maharaja Kumar Deep Narayan Singh and Maharaja Kumar Prasiddh Narayan Singh were his younger brothers. The princes were trained in Vedas, Sanskrit literature, Indian schools of philosophy, fine arts and poetry along with martial arts and warcraft.

Ascending the throne
Being eldest and most capable Maharaj Udit Narayan Singh succeeded to the throne but he was always accompanied by his brothers in his durbar and used to take all decisions with the counsel of his brothers. The trio sitting together in the durbar are depicted in various contemporary paintings including the huge canvas of Holi durbar, as exhibited in the art gallery of Ramnagar Fort museum.

Rule and confrontation with the British
He was a nationalist and a benevolent ruler who refused to bow down against the anarchy and corruption of the company. He was even more averse to British dominion than his father and had regular confrontations with the company, who, in spite, falsely labeled him as an incapable administrator. He added grandeur to and formed the present shape of the world-famous Ramlila of Ramnagar which was a low-key affair at that time. He like his father, did not levy taxes on farmers and he established checkpoints that took taxes according to the number of goods that were taken to the city for selling and trading to encourage trade in finished goods, so as to check the drain of wealth from India. He was loved and revered by his people who established his statue at the Girija Bagh temple in PAC campus Ramnagar (which is also a part of Ramlila at Ramnagar). Britishers were not able to tolerate him, so conspired against him and under false charges confiscated all the lands of Benaras State and started ruthlessly exploiting the peasants. Unable to spectate it silently, the Maharaja, in 1828, petitioned the company to annul the 1794 agreement under which the Benaras State had lost the sarkars, and to press for their return to state control. However, the company, in accordance with its colonial intent, ordered a sham inquiry into Maharaj Udit Narayan Singh's personal affairs and his governance. As expected, the report backed the false charges of mismanagement. The company, taking advantage of its own fraud, confiscated the last remaining lands of the Maharaja and placed them under their control which was sold into permanent settlements as Zamindaries.

Ramlila of Ramnagar
As portrayed by the saint-poet Goswamami Tulsi Das in his epic Ramcharitmanas, considered as one of the holiest books in northern India. The epic narrates the legend of Lord Shree Ramchandra as an ideal human being. The Maharaja wanted this message of journey towards becoming an ideal human being to be spread in his subjects far and wide therefore he give expansion to the continuing Ram Leela tradition which was held as a low key affair limited only to singing of the verses of Ramcharitmanas and aarti. He converted it to a semi-dramatic form with illustrative action and explanatory dialogues

Later life
Unable to tolerate the ruthless colonial exploitation of poor farmers the Maharaja purchased these Zamindaries (all 96 Parganas) back, from under the table, and had the last laugh. He built the first dam of UP for the advancement of agriculture without imposing any additional cess/ tax on the beneficiary farmers for the same. Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh Saheb Bahadur died on 4 April 1835, aged 65, and was succeeded by his adopted son, Maharaja Ishwari Prasad Narayan Singh Sahib Bahadur.