His eldest son, Rafa'at wa Awal-i-Martabat Raja Sri Balwant Singh Sahib Bahadur
/sup>, succeeded his father as Raja
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...
of Kaswar and Nazim of Benares in 1738. Leading a much more martial life, he built a fort and established a capital at Gangapur, but later moved to Ramnagar. In 1751, he expelled the representative of the Nawab of Awadh in an attempt to carve out a principality at Benares, but had to retreat strategically after a fierce direct fight when the Nawab invaded his domain in March 1752; but continued his guerrilla fight and ultimately the Nawab stooped to accept his terms. Resultantly a settlement was made between the two and he was restored to his titles by the Nawab. Emperor Alamgir II
Aziz-ud-Din Muhammad (6 June 1699 – 29 November 1759), better known as Alamgir II, was the fifteenth Mughal Emperor of India, who reigned from 3 June 1754 to 29 November 1759. He was the son of Jahandar Shah.
Born Aziz-ud-Din, the second s ...
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
Shah Alam () is a city and the state capital of Selangor, Malaysia and situated within the Petaling District and a small portion of the neighbouring Klang District. Shah Alam replaced Kuala Lumpur as the capital city of the state of Selangor in ...
and Shuja ud-Daula
Shuja-ud-Daula (b. – d. ) was the Subedar and Nawab of Oudh and the Vizier of Delhi from 5 October 1754 to 26 January 1775.
Early life
Shuja-ud-Daula was the son of the Mughal Grand Vizier Safdarjung chosen by Ahmad Shah Bahadur. Unlike h ...
in their 1763 invasion of Bengal. Following the Battle of Buxar
The Battle of Buxar was fought between 22 and 23 October 1764, between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, led by Hector Munro, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, Nawab of Bengal till 1764; the Nawab of Awadh, ...
in 1764, Emperor Shah Alam back stabbed him and transferred Balwant Singh's zamindari to the company, but the Company refused it along with the treaty of benares signed by the Emperor the same year. Instead, the zamindari reverted once again to the Nawab of Awadh in 1765, but the actual control 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''.
Balwant Singh was succeeded by his son Rafa'at wa Awal-i-Martabat Chait Singh Sahib Bahadur.
References
{{s-end
Maharajas of Benares
1711 births
1770 deaths
Narayan dynasty