Royal House of Benares

The Narayan dynasty was the ruling Bhumihar family of Benares, who ruled from 1000 AD to 1948 AD as Rajas of Benares, were Maharajas of Benares from 1000 AD to 1910 and rulers of the princely state of Benares from 1910 until Indian independence in 1947. Ramnagar Fort and its museum are the repository of the history of the kings of Benares and since the 18th century has been the home of Kashi Naresh. Even today the Kashi Naresh is deeply revered by the people of Benares. He is the religious head and the people of Benares consider him the incarnation of Lord Shiva. He is also the chief cultural patron and an essential part of all religious celebrations.

The family tradition goes back to the year 1000, when a Brahmin ascetic of Utaria, a village near Benares, foretold the succession of his descendants to the dominions then governed by a Hindu raja.

With the decline of Mughal Empire, in the area south of Avadh, in the fertile riverain rice growing areas of Benares, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Ghazipur, Ballia and Bihar and on the fringes of Bengal, it was the 'military' who strengthened their sway. What brought success to these Hindu princelings was the strong clan organisation on which they rested. There were perhaps as many as 100,000 Bhumihar clansmen backing the Benares rajas in what later became the districts of Benares, Gorakhpur and Azamgarh. This proved a decisive advantage when the dynasty faced its rival and nominal suzerain, the Nawab of Awadh, in the 1750s and the 1760s. Their support gave the Benares ruler the capacity to mount an exhausting guerrilla war against the Avadh camp using his Bhumihar clan levies which forced the Nawab to withdraw his main force.

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Wikipedia