Chet Singh

Chet Singh

Rafa'at wa Awal-i-Martabat Maharaja Sri Chait Singh Sahib Bahadur (died 29 March 1810), commonly known as Chait Singh, was a ruler of Kingdom of Benaras in northern India. Maharaja Balwant Singh's elder son, Rafa'at wa Awal-i-Martabat Raja Sri Chait Singh Sahib Bahadur, succeeded to the throne as the next Raja of Benares in 1770. Although the Nawab still wished to hold total suzerainty over the zamindari, the British authorities encouraged him to recognise Chet Singh as zamindar in 1773. Two years later, the Nawab, by now fed up with British interference, transferred the domain to the Company under the direct control of the Governor-General of India, Warren Hastings. Under the new British terms, Chet Singh was forced to contribute cavalry and maintenance grants for the company's sepoy battalions. The Raja refused to do this and he began to secretly correspond with enemies of the Company in hopes of forcibly breaking the increasing control of company in India. The company discovered his plan with the help of some traitors and tried to place him under house arrest in August 1781, pending interview with Hastings.

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