Ruling Dynasties of Jharkhand (And their inter and intra-dynastic relations)

Inter-state relations of the ruling dynasties in Jharkhand constitute the subject matter of the work. Efforts have been made to depict a concise history of the ruling dynasties, which for centuries, controlled the political affairs of the territories which form the present state of Jharkhand. States formed by these ruling dynasties remained sovereign and independent under their control. In historical books, these states have often been presented as Estates and their chiefs have been referred to as zamindars. It sometimes creates confusion as to whether the rajas of these states were sovereign independent chiefs or mere zamindars holding large territories of land. With a view to remove such confusion, Man Govind Banerji has highlighted three different connotations of the term ‘zamindar’, namely, (1) An independent Raja or a sovereign Hindu prince, (2) A tributary malguzar by conquest, treaty or convention and (3) Merely an officer of the Mughal Government.1 The ruling chiefs in Jharkhand belonged to the first category before the coming of the Mughals and they enjoyed complete sovereignty and independence. In later years, these independent Rajas accepted the suzerainty of the Mughals and became their tributaries but retained their internal sovereignty. The Chiefs were called ‘Rajas’ by the Mughals but in official documents, they were often referred to as zamindars. Therefore in this book, a ruling Chief, has been referred to as Raja or Chief or tributary under the imperial power.
This work has been divided into five chapters. The first chapter presents brief historical sketches of present-day Jharkhand. It discusses the process of state formation that took place in Jharkhand during the medieval period. In the second chapter, historical details of each ruling dynasty have been dealt with. The origin of ruling dynasties, ruling periods of their various chiefs and important political events in their kingdoms during different periods have been described in this chapter. In older historical books, the states of Barabhum, Shikharbhum, Patkum and some others have been referred as states in Jharkhand. These states and their founding dynasties have not been treated in this work as they no longer belong to the state of Jharkhand in the present. However, books on these states of Barabhum, Patkum and Panchkot have been referred many a time in order to clarify the subject matter of this work.
In fact, ruling dynasties in Jharkhand, in their long course of history, formed political as well as social relations with three agencies, namely, (1) the imperial or supreme central authority and its provincial representative, (2) other ruling dynasties and (3) subordinate vassals and members within a ruling dynasty. The third chapter studies intra-dynastic relations of each ruling dynasty. The chief of a ruling dynasty often faced disputes with their family members or their subordinate vassals. Such disputes have been discussed in this chapter. The fourth chapter depicts the relations existing between two ruling dynasties. It has been observed that two sorts of relations existed between two ruling dynasties. Firstly, they were tied with one another by matrimonial relations. They were conscious of maintaining the dignity and pedigree of their dynasties. So, they always sought marriage relationship with their peers only. Secondly, the ruling dynasties often quarreled against each other over political and other issues. Such relations have been discussed in this chapter. The fifth chapter deals with the Impact of the inter-state and intra-state relations of the ruling dynasties on the society and people of Jharkhand.
It will not be out of place to mention the relevance of research undertaken in this work. A number of books are available on the history of Jharkhand but no work seems to have addressed the inter-state relations of the ruling dynasties. Efforts have been made in this work to investigate the nature of inter-state relations and to analyse them with respect to other sections of the then society. The research undertaken in this work is based on various published sources, including gazetteers of different districts, reports on survey and settlement of various old parganas, old records and books, containing historical facts and events.