Dripnath Shah was a Nagvanshi king in the 18th century. His capital was at

Palkot Palkot is a village in the Palkot CD block in the Basia subdivision of the Gumla district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. History During 18th century, Nagvanshi king Yadunath Shah shifted his capital from Navratangarh to Palkot due to Mughal ...

. He succeeded Maninath Shah and ruled from 1762 to 1790 CE. He became a vassal of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

in 1771. He submitted list of Nagvanshi kings to Governor general of India in 1787.

Reign

Attempt to Subjugate Kolhan

Dripnath Shah succeeded Maninath Shah who conquered the territory of Tamar, Silli, Barwe after subjecting their chief. During the reign of Dripnath Shah, the Nagvanshi were independent. The Mughals became weak and incapable of asserting their authority over Chotanagpur. He twice attempted to subjugate

Kolhan Kolhan is a village in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, India. It is located in the Dahanu taluka. Demographics According to the 2011 census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, ...

but failed. In May 1770, he and the King of Tamar attempted to subjugate Lakra Kol ( Ho) of Kolhan but failed and hundreds of their men were killed. Lakra Kol pursued the Nagvanshi forces. They burned down several villages and several villages were depopulated. The southern part of the Nagvanshi kingdom was in constant trouble due to pillaging by Lakra Kols.

Pillages by Ramgarh Raj

Mukund Singh of

Ramgarh Ramgarh may refer to: Bangladesh * Ramgarh Upazila, a sub-district of Khagrachari District India * Ramgarh, Bihar, a village near Munger, Bihar * Ramgarh, Kaimur, a town in Kaimur district, Bihar * Ramgarh, Uttarakhand, a hill station in Nainital ...

carried out several pillages and looting in Nagvanshi territory as an excuse to collect revenue, as in the past the Nagvanshi were giving tribute to the Mughals through Ramgarh Raj.

Vassal of East India Company

After 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, Sh ...

, East India Company got rights to collect taxes from Bihar and Bengal territory. Dripnath Shah declined to pay tax to East India Company when Company official met him in Palkot. Later Dripnath Shah decided to become a vassal of the

; when he came to know about Captain Camac's activity who was successful in subjugating the

Chero The Chero is a caste found in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh in India. History and origin The community claims to have originally been tribal people. The Chero are essentially one of many tribal communities, such as the Bhar ...

ruler of Palamu. In 1771, after the fall of the Palamu Forts, Dripnath Shah met Captain Camac and wished to become a vassal of the East India Company and agreed to six thousand rupees as tribute and six thousand nazrana annually, the same amount of tax that was paid to Mughal. He formalised it with exchanging his headgear with the cap of Captain Camac. Captain Camac expected the help of Dripnath Shah in an expedition against Jainath Singh of Palamu, Mukund Singh the ruler of Ramgarh, and the

Marathas The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

. Due to high amount of taxes Mukund Singh of Ramgarh was not ready to accept suzerainty of East India company. He made alliance with Maratha. Capitain Jacob declared Tej Singh Thakurai as King of Ramgarh and gave him leadership to lead the battle. His forces, forces of Nagvanshis and Palamu attacked Ramgarh but were defeated by joint forces of Maratha and Ramgarh. Later Captain Jacob and Tej Singh Thakurai attacked Ramgarh with large company forces and Mukund Singh surrendered without any resistance as he was not able to get help from Maratha forces. Then Tej Singh Thakurai became new king of Ramgarh.

Maratha Invasion

Mukund Singh joined with the Marathas and planted a claimant on the Nagvanshi throne, Nana Shah, who claimed himself the true heir of the Nagvanshi throne in an effort to dethrone Dripnath Shah. Captain Carter wrote a letter to Captain Camac about this matter. But Captain Camac supported Dripnath Shah understanding the conspiracy against Dripnath Shah. In February 1772, the Marathas invaded Dripnath Shah's territory with 1,200 horsemen and 4,000 plunderers and plundered the villages and also killed many people. The king of Tori, who was a vassal of Nagvanshi, sided with the Marathas and drove away Dripnath Shah's men. Dripnath Shah confined himself in

. The Marathas demanded revenue from Dripnath Shah and setting of cantonment in his territory. The Patna council decided to assist Dripnath Shah against the Marathas on 20 July 1772. In September 1772, the Marathas camped near Palkot. They attacked the camp of Lt. Thomas Scott but they were defeated and driven away.

Rule under East India Company

Dripnath Shah had not paid taxes. East India company forces attacked Nagvanshi in 1773. Dripnath Shah paid Rs. 15000 and continue to rule under British. British gave responsibilities to catch robers and theft in Chotanagpur to him. In 1780, captain Champell replaced Captain Camac. His court held in

Chatra Chatra is the headquarters of Chatra district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. History Chatra was the “headquarters” of Ramgarh district in the 18th-19th century. The renowned reformer, Raja Rammohan Roy, was ''sheristadar'' in Ramgarh di ...

and Ramgarh Battalion was established with its headquarter in

Hazaribagh Hazaribagh is a city and a municipal corporation in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is considered as a health resort and is also popular for Hazaribagh ...

. The jurisdiction of captain Champell was spread in the area of Chatra,

Palamu Palamu district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India. It was formed in 1892. The administrative headquarter of the district is Medininagar (formerly DaltonGanj), situated on the Koel River. History The Palamu district ha ...

, Kunda,

Kharagdiha Kharagdiha is a village in the Jamua CD block in the Khori Mahua subdivision of the Giridih district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It had been known as Curruckdea or Curruckdeah during the British Raj. Geography Location Kharagdiha is loca ...

Panchet Panchet is a census town in Nirsa CD block in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. History During construction of dam several ruin of Tilakampa kingdom were submerged in the dam. Telkupi was capital of ...

and

Sherghati Sherghati is a town in the Gaya district in Bihar (formally Magadha ), India. The Morhar River surrounds it. A meteorite that came from Mars fell here on 25 August 1865; it is now kept in a London museum and is known as the Shergotty meteorit ...

. In 1786, tribal revolted and it was suppressed with difficulty.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Dhripnath Indian royalty 1790 deaths Year of birth unknown Gumla district Nagpuria people