GuillermoFenster at 02:14, 4 November 2025

2025-11-04T02:14:33Z

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{{Short description|Maharaja Bahadur of Benares from 1738 to 1770}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}
{{Infobox royalty
| embed =
| name = Balwant Singh
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| image = Maharaja Balwant Singh of Benares.jpg
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| succession = [[Benares State|Maharaja Bahadur of Benares]]
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| reign = 1738–1770
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| predecessor = Mansaram Singh
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| successor = [[Maharaja Chait Singh]]
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| birth_date = 1711
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| death_date = {{death date and age|1770|||1711|||df=y}}
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| issue = Chait Singh
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| dynasty = [[Narayan dynasty|Narayan]]
| father = Mansaram Singh
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| religion = Bhumihar (hinduism)
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'''Balwant Singh Sahib Bahadur''' (1711–1770), also known as [[Maharaja]] '''Balwant Singh''', was the ruler of [[Benares State]] in northern India.

Balwant Singh came from the [[Narayan dynasty]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bayly |first=C. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xfo3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA17 |title=Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770–1870 |date=1988-05-19 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-31054-3 |pages=17 |language=en}}</ref> He succeeded his father Raja Mansaram Singh as [[Raja]] of Kaswar and [[Maharaja]] of Benares in 1738. Mansaram Singh was the son of Raja Manoranjan Singh, a ruler of Banaras region and resident of Gangapur village. Leading a much more martial life, he built a fort and established a capital at [[Gangapur, Uttar Pradesh|Gangapur]], but later moved to [[Ramnagar, Varanasi|Ramnagar]]. He expelled Nawab Fazl Ali Khan from present-day [[Ghazipur district|Ghazipur]] and [[Ballia district|Ballia]] districts, and added the area to his domains.{{cn|date=May 2025}} In 1751, he expelled the representative of the [[Nawab of Awadh]] in an attempt to carve out a principality at [[Benares]]. He had defeated the forces of Nawab during a fierce direct fight with the help of large numbers of artillery guns, cavalry and traditional army of Bhumihar community when the Nawab invaded his domain in March 1752. He continued his guerrilla fight and ultimately the Nawab accepted his terms and he acquired more area than he was earlier holding. Resultantly, a settlement was reached between the two and he had protected his independence from Nawab.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sandria |first=Freitag |title=Culture and Power in Banaras |publisher=University of California Press |year=1989 |location=Berkeley}}</ref> Emperor [[Alamgir II]] granted him a jagir in Bihar two years later. The first to start a tradition of fighting with the [[East India Company]] which continued till the formation of India, he joined [[Shah Alam]] and [[Shuja ud-Daula]] in their 1763 invasion of Bengal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Rana P. B. |title=Banaras: Making of India's Heritage City |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publisher |year=2009 |isbn=9781443815796}}</ref>

Following the [[Battle of Buxar]] in 1764, Emperor Shah Alam back stabbed him and transferred Balwant Singh's controlled area to the company, but the Company refused it along with the Treaty of Benares signed by the Emperor the same year. Britishers tried to the power of Beneras region once again to the Nawab of Awadh in 1765, but the maharaja Balwant Singh had protected his power and control over Benares State remained with the Maharaja. This took place five years before Maharaja Balwant Singh's death in 1770. He is also called as the ''Shivaji of North India''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sanyal |first=Suprakash |title=Benares and the English East India Company, 1764-1895 |publisher=World Press |year=1979}}</ref>

Balwant Singh was succeeded by his son [[Chet Singh|Rafa'at wa Awal-i-Martabat Chait Singh Sahib Bahadur]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

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{{succession box | before= Mansa Ram | title=Rulers of [[Benares State]] | years=1738 – 1770 | after=Raja [[Chait Singh]]}}

{{s-end}}

[[Category:Maharajas of Benares]]
[[Category: 1711 births]]
[[Category: 1770 deaths]]
[[Category: Narayan dynasty]]
[[Category:People from Varanasi]]

Maharaja Balwant Singh of Benares - Revision history

GuillermoFenster at 02:14, 4 November 2025