Raja Tikait Rai – My royal Link

While exploring my parental roots and during the discussion with my father Shri Sushil Chandra (Ex. Official, Ministry of Defense, Government of India), I had been told that I belong to the family of Raja Tikait Rai. My father had also shared the “Sizra – Family tree” of my family starting from Raja Tikait Rai. This gives me curiosity to know more about my ancestors and their involvement in development of Oudh (most of the portions of which lies in current Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, India).

I had then start searching of the relevant information and publications available in Public Domain and I had found a book “Oudh and the East India Company 1795 – 1801 by Purnendu Basu, MA, Ph.D. published in 1943” and realized the fact that most of the data published on Wikipedia and other websites related to Raja Tikait Rai is the extract from this book only.

Raja Tikait Rai - (1760–1808) was the Diwan of Awadh from 1791 - 1796 in the regime of Asaf-u-daula.

Raja Tikait Rai had started his carrier as a military officer under Safdur Jung. Later he became the “daroga-i-zanburkhana” in Shajuddaula’s  Government. During the ministry of Mukhtaruddaula, Tikait Rai was promoted as a clerk in the civil court and after Mukhtaruddaula’s murder was appointed as “daroga-i-kachehri”. Tikait Rai continued to rise steadily in service and finally appointed as to succeed Haider Beg. Raja Tikait Rai. He had given the new dimension to the revenue collection system in State of Oudh. In February, 1796 Raja Tikait Rai submitted to the resident an account of the income and expenditure of the sarkar during the last four months of Fasli years (May – September 1792 – 95) shows that during Haider Beg’s administration the revenue declined which was get revived under the administration of Tikait Rai and remained about the same during period of Tafazzul Hussain. He had also faced some tough period during his tenure but recovered well. He gets so powerful during his tenure that many people starting creating problems for him including the controversy like his palace is build using bricks made up from Gold.

At his time he was also know as “Raja Karn” because of his nature of charities. He had also established a charitable institution (Rifah-e-Aam) under guidance of Nawab Asif-ud-daula along with his prime minister Mirza Hasan Raza Khan which provided relief to thousands. Asif-ud-daula distributed salaries to the people with the help of his deewan Raja Tikait Rai.

Raja Tikait Rai founded the towns of Tikait Nagar and Tikait Ganj. Besides temples he also constructed many mosques and bridges all over the state. Many tanks caused to be dug by him can still be seen. He had been involved in the construction of famous monuments including Imambara and Baradari in Lucknow. Details of his remarkable constructions Patthar Ghar, Kanpur are also available in official website of Department of Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Also some of his unmatched constructions like Tikait Rai Shiv Temple and Baradari built by Tikait Rai in Kanpur, are also mentioned on the website of Directorate of Archaeology, Government of Uttar Pradesh.  Raja Tikait Rai Ka Talab was built by the Nawabs in his memory. It is a pucca talab/tank with a separate bathing ghat for women. It also has the Sitala Mata temple where an annual fair is organized.

Since, the publication of Purnendu Basu published in 1943 is the only probable authentic source providing the details of his tenure, so more details still to be explored. Also not much information is available regarding his immediate successors too.

I am trying to discover more information with the help of my elder (cousin) brothers Dr. Anoop Srivastava residing in India and Shri Ajay Kumar Srivastava residing in USA and will keep you all posted. My brother (Ajay) had also requested details from ancestry.com regarding the decendents of Raja Tikait Rai.

Enjoy reading.....

Anurag Srivastava

New Delhi

References :

http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/15022002/15022200206.htm

http://www.archive.org/details/oudhandtheeastin035275mbp

http://oudh.tripod.com/gentree.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Tikait_Rai

http://up-tourism.com/destination/bithoor/places_of_interest.htm

http://archaeology.up.nic.in/projection_conservation_9.htm

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-07-22/kanpur/28277770_1_bithoor-kda-beautification

*Map of United Provinces of Oudh – 1903
From map of India by Dodd, Mead and Company, 1903. Library of Congress Geography and Map Collection.
*Data has been extracted from Wikipedia and is already available in Public Domain