The undermentioned family tree, up till Shriman Neel Kantha, was used to be memorized by all the growing children in our extended family at our ancestral village at Puranankar-Balha, District-Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
Though we, the siblings of Shriman Shyamnandan Singh, were born and brought up at Kolkata, our father used to invariably take us to our ancestral village during our summer vacations. As per my knowledge and belief, this used to be mandatory for all the children till the demise of my grandfather Shriman Kanhaiyya Lal Singh (1879-1962 C.E.).
Though we, the siblings of Shriman Shyamnandan Singh, were born and brought up at Kolkata, our father used to invariably take us to our ancestral village during our summer vacations. As per my knowledge and belief, this used to be mandatory for all the children till the demise of my grandfather Shriman Kanhaiyya Lal Singh (1879-1962 C.E.).
This was the sole reason for me to search for our "Mul/Beej Purush".
For reference and authenticity, I quote the book "Mithila under the Karnatas" by Prof. CPN Sinha[i]-
"It is more likely that 'Mulas' were divided into twelve important name of those twelve persons, who accompanied Raja Nanyadeva from Karnataka desha to Mithila. The 'Kayasthas' were divided into four main group:-
- Those twelve 'Kayasthas', who came from Karnataka, were placed in the first group.
- The second group comprised of those twenty families which were invited to Mithila for settling down after the establishment of the 'Karnata Dynasty' in 1097 C.E..
- The third group consisted of those thirty families which came to Mithila later on.
- The fourth group was composed of those families which were last to settle down there, during around 227 years reign of 'Karnat Dynasty' on Mithila (1097 C.E.-1324 C.E.).
Suryakara Thakkara, a descendant of Sridhardasa, took an important part in the organisation of the 'Panji' system.
The twelve kayasthas who accompanied Nanyadeva were:
The twelve kayasthas who accompanied Nanyadeva were:
- Lakshmikara
- Prabhakara
- Devidasa
- Punyakardeva
- Srikara
- Syama
- Salakhanadeva
- Sripati
- Srivarma
- Harihara
- Ratikara
- Ratnadeva."
Again as per Dr. Benod Bihari Verma's book "Maithili Karna Kayasthaka Panjik Sarvekshan", page-2, and Saharsa/ Tadipatra/Khand 1, my Mul/Beej purush is "Devidasa". Given below is the family tree of my generation, of Mul-"Garhbear san Godhiary Chhatanbara Dih dera".
All these facts and names are in accordance with "Saharsa/Tadipatra/Khand-1".
Given below are the manuscripts dated 1769 C.E.(Hijri San 1166) and 1799 C.E.(Hijri San 1196); the originals are still preserved by our family. The first one denotes the title of "Thakur Singh" or "Kesari Singh" given to our ancestor Shriman Jagmohan(Jagan) Singh and the second one refers to the bestowal of the 'Zamindari' of Barail Pargana, in Bihar, to us by Raja Madhav Singh (1775-1807 C.E.) of Raj Darbhanga.
The above manuscripts are preserved with our family for around 300 years.
