Kasgumah is a village and former jagir in Bhimber district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the seat of the Rajgan of Kasgumah, a Chib Rajput family of Raja Mal Khan’s line, the house of Khari Kariali. Granted a jagir by Ranjit Singh in 1810, the family went on to produce a major general of the Kashmir State forces, a governor of Kashmir and, in Raja Muhammad Zulqarnain Khan, an Azad Kashmir minister.
At a glance
- Location
- Kasgumah, Tehsil and District Bhimber, Azad Jammu and Kashmir
- Also written
- Kasguma, Kas Gumah; Urdu راجگان کسگمہ
- Descent
- Raja Malik Daulat Khan, of the line of Raja Budha Khan, grandson of Raja Mal Khan of Khari Kariali
- Jagir
- Rs 3,000 a year, granted to Raja Azimullah Khan in 1810
- Offices
- Jagirdars, zaildars and ta’zimi sardars of the Jammu and Kashmir state
- Best-known members
- Maj. Gen. Sardar Bahadur Raja Farman Ali Khan, CIE (d. 1923); Khan Bahadur Raja Muhammad Afzal Khan; Raja Muhammad Zulqarnain Khan
- Family tree
- Compiled by Raja Sardar Ali Khan of Bandala (book, p. 414)
- Book pages
- Iftikhar Ali Khan (1997), pp. 170–173, 414
Origins of the Rajgan of Kasgumah
The Kasgumah family belongs to the western branch of the Chib Rajputs: the descendants of Raja Mal Khan, son of Baba Shadi Shaheed, who ruled the small state of Khari Kariali west of the Bhimber Nala. Among the many families sprung from Mal Khan’s grandson Raja Budha Khan, the chronicle names Kasgumah as descended from Malik Daulat Khan (p. 144). The family tree printed in the book, compiled by Raja Sardar Ali Khan of Bandala, a retired naib tahsildar of the Azad Kashmir government, runs from Raja Malik Daulat Khan through four unnamed generations to Raja Azimullah Khan, his son Raja Mustafa Khan and, after a further gap marked on the chart, Raja Amir Ali Khan, the father of three notable brothers (p. 414).
Kasgumah lay on the edge of old Chibhal: the book’s description of the Chib country’s boundaries runs from the foothills of Khari Kariali to Kasgumah and on to Khui Ratta (p. 33). The author counted Kasgumah, with Thotha Rai Bahadur, Pothi Rajgan, Panjeri and Kalri, among the most advanced villages of Raja Mal Khan’s descendants (p. 144).
The jagir of 1810
Kasgumah enters the written record at the fall of Khari Kariali. After a three-month siege of Mangla fort and the peace signed at Gujrat in 1810, Maharaja Ranjit Singh annexed the state and granted three princes of its ruling family a jagir of Rs 10,000 a year. Raja Azimullah Khan, ruler of Kasgumah, received Rs 3,000 of it, alongside Raja Amir Khan of Mangla, with Rs 4,000, and Raja Sher Jang Khan of Pothi, with Rs 3,000 (pp. 169–170). The siege is told in Mangla Fort, and the two sister families in Pothi and Lehri.
When the Dogra Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu built his new state, the family entered his service. Azimullah Khan’s son, Raja Mustafa Khan, rendered what the book calls splendid and outstanding services to Gulab Singh during the Kashmir rebellion (p. 170). From then on the Kasgumah Rajas held the honours of the Dogra state as jagirdars, zaildars and ta’zimi sardars, nobles entitled to formal marks of respect at the Maharaja’s court (pp. 170–171).
Major General Raja Farman Ali Khan
Mustafa Khan’s grandson, Sardar Bahadur Raja Farman Ali Khan, rose for distinguished service to the rank of Major General in the forces of the Kashmir State; the family tree adds the letters CIE, for Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (pp. 170, 414). A full-page photograph in the book shows him in ceremonial uniform, with a tall turban, braided aiguillettes and a sword at his side (p. 171). In 1908, styled Diwan Farman Ali Khan, jagirdar of Kasgumah, he was among the notables at the installation of Raja Muhammad Akbar Khan as head of the Bhimber royal family at Jhelum (p. 136). He had no son and died in 1923 (p. 170).
Sources differ
The text makes Farman Ali Khan’s brother, Mardan Ali Khan, head of the family, jagirdar, zaildar and ta’zimi sardar (p. 170), while the photograph caption gives these roles to Farman Ali Khan himself (p. 171). One passage calls Raja Zulqarnain Khan the grandson of Major General Raja Mardan Ali Khan (p. 172), evidently a slip, since the rank belongs to Farman Ali Khan everywhere else. The text also calls Farman Ali Khan the grandson of Mustafa Khan, whereas the chart marks a gap of a generation between Mustafa Khan and Amir Ali Khan.
Raja Mardan Ali Khan and his sons
Raja Mardan Ali Khan headed the family as jagirdar, zaildar and ta’zimi sardar (p. 170). His wife came from Bhattian Chhiban. She had been brought up by her maternal uncle, Raja Faiz Talab Khan of the Khanka branch of Mandi Da’ora, who arranged her marriage, and she was the grandmother of Raja Muhammad Zulqarnain Khan (p. 318; see Kalri and Mandi Da’ora). Mardan Ali Khan’s four sons all made careers in public life (pp. 170, 172, 414):
| Son | Career |
|---|---|
| Raja Muhammad Wilayat Khan | ADC to Maharaja Sir Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir; died without children |
| Khan Bahadur Raja Muhammad Afzal Khan, MA, LLB | Directly recruited Extra Assistant Commissioner; later Governor of Kashmir; after 1947 for a time Deputy Commissioner of Gujranwala |
| Captain Raja Muhammad Murawwat Khan | ADC to the Maharaja of Patiala; then a member of the Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly |
| Raja Muhammad Yaqub Khan | Muslim Conference candidate for Bhimber in the 1946 state assembly election; later in the state civil service, retiring as Deputy Secretary General |
The book adds that two sons-in-law of Raja Muhammad Yaqub Khan held high office when it was written: Justice Raja Muhammad Afrasiab Khan of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and Brigadier (Retd) Raja Saeed Akhtar Khan, Joint Secretary in the Establishment Division of the Government of Pakistan (p. 172). The family’s place in the politics of the state is traced in Chib Rajputs in Kashmir politics.
Raja Muhammad Zulqarnain Khan
In the book’s own day the most prominent member of the family was Raja Muhammad Zulqarnain Khan, son of Khan Bahadur Raja Muhammad Afzal Khan and head of the Kasgumah jagir (pp. 172, 318). The author describes him as one of the top leaders of the Muslim Conference, several times elected to the Azad Kashmir Assembly, and for some ten consecutive years, from 1985 to 1995, minister of finance, of local bodies, of rural development and of electricity in the Azad Kashmir government. When the book was written he was a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Council in Islamabad and an adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan (pp. 172–173). His later career lies beyond the scope of the 1997 book.
He also appears at the family’s spiritual centre. A photograph in the book shows him laying a chadar, a ceremonial cloth, on the tomb of Baba Shadi Shaheed as he opened the saint’s annual urs, held on Shab-e-Meraj, and the caption calls him the most distinguished living descendant of Raja Shadab Khan (p. 106). Another member of the family, Raja Walid Khan of Kasgumah, sat on the advisory committee of the shrine (p. 187).
Major Raja Raj Muhammad Khan’s line
The third brother, Major Raja Raj Muhammad Khan, held the rank of major in the army. Two of his three sons, Raja Muhammad Muazzam Khan and Raja Muhammad Azam Khan, were celebrated horsemen and tent-peggers whose fame in riding and neza-bazi spread across Jammu and Kashmir and the Punjab. Muazzam Khan also served as a revenue officer, and his son is Raja Hasan Akhtar Khan. Of Azam Khan’s three sons, Shamim, Naeem and Naseem Akhtar Khan, Raja Shamim Akhtar Khan was Superintendent of Police at Kotli when the book was written, and Raja Naseem Akhtar Khan died in 1988. Raj Muhammad Khan’s third son was Raja Muhammad Akram Khan (p. 173).
Family tree of the Rajgan of Kasgumah
The outline below follows the chart on p. 414 and the text on pp. 170–173. A crease in the page hides some names in the youngest generation.
- Raja Malik Daulat Khan — four generations later:
- Raja Azimullah Khan — jagir of Rs 3,000, 1810
- Raja Mustafa Khan — served Maharaja Gulab Singh
- Raja Amir Ali Khan — after a gap marked on the chart
- Maj. Gen. Sardar Bahadur Raja Farman Ali Khan, CIE — no son; d. 1923
- Raja Mardan Ali Khan — head of the family
- Raja Muhammad Wilayat Khan — ADC to the Maharaja; no children
- Khan Bahadur Raja Muhammad Afzal Khan — Governor of Kashmir
- Raja Muhammad Zulqarnain Khan — Azad Kashmir minister, 1985–1995; sons Qaiser and Umar Zulqarnain Khan and a third
- Captain Raja Muhammad Murawwat Khan — ADC, Patiala; member of the State Assembly
- Raja Muhammad Yaqub Khan — Deputy Secretary General
- Major Raja Raj Muhammad Khan
- Raja Muhammad Muazzam Khan — son Raja Hasan Akhtar Khan
- Raja Muhammad Azam Khan — sons Shamim, Naeem and Naseem Akhtar Khan
- Raja Muhammad Akram Khan
- Raja Amir Ali Khan — after a gap marked on the chart
- Raja Mustafa Khan — served Maharaja Gulab Singh
- Raja Azimullah Khan — jagir of Rs 3,000, 1810
Frequently asked questions
Where is Kasgumah?
Kasgumah is a village in Tehsil and District Bhimber, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, on the western edge of the old Chib country of Chibhal. It is the seat of the Rajgan of Kasgumah, a Chib Rajput jagirdar family.
How did the Kasgumah family get its jagir?
When Ranjit Singh annexed the Chib state of Khari Kariali in 1810, he granted Raja Azimullah Khan of Kasgumah a jagir of Rs 3,000 a year, as one of three princes of its ruling family.
Who was Major General Raja Farman Ali Khan?
Sardar Bahadur Raja Farman Ali Khan, CIE, of Kasgumah rose to the rank of major general in the forces of the Kashmir State. He had no son and died in 1923.
Who is Raja Muhammad Zulqarnain Khan?
Raja Muhammad Zulqarnain Khan of Kasgumah, son of Khan Bahadur Raja Muhammad Afzal Khan, is described in the 1997 Chib chronicle as a leader of the Muslim Conference who served as an Azad Kashmir minister, including finance, from 1985 to 1995.
How is Kasgumah related to Pothi and Lehri?
All three families descend, according to the Chib chronicle, from Raja Budha Khan of Khari Kariali, and all three received jagirs from Ranjit Singh in 1810 after the fall of Mangla.
Sources
- Raja Muhammad Iftikhar Ali Khan, Raja Shadab Khan alias Hazrat Baba Shadi Shaheed (Urdu, Barhang/Karachi, 1997), pp. 33, 106, 136, 144, 169–173, 187, 318, 414.
- Family tree of the Rajgan of Kasgumah, compiled by Raja Sardar Ali Khan of Bandala, as printed in the book, p. 414.
This article is part of our series based on the 1997 Chib history; see the book, chapter by chapter. Spellings of names follow the book.
