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Bhatnagar-Kayasthas is an émigré from Sujanpur Tihra. To recollect even at the cost repetition, when in the mid-eighteenth century Raja Ghamand Chand had recovered the long lost territories of his ancestors, he had drafted one of his trusted bureaucrats, Ramji Dass who had by then earned the reputation of a highly competent administrator, to assume the reins of the administration of those territories. Ramji Dass had chosen for various reasons Nagrota Bagwan as the place from where he used to operate. In due course of time, he had settled down there permanently. It is his progeny that constitutes the present ranks of the Bhatnagar-Kayasthas of Nagrota Bagwan.
Ramji Dass had been blessed with two sons, Bhuru Mal and Rattan Chand. The former, being elder of the two, had stepped into the shoes of his father as a Dewan of the State. He too was an equally competent administrator. He completed the task that had been left unaccomplished by his illustrious father. He too bore two sons, named Lahori Ram and Amar Chand (Umra to his parents and friends). In turn, the former got three sons, Bahadur Mal, Gunjari Mal and Kirpa Ram.
Bahadur Mal was the eldest of all. It is said that his brothers had not done justice to him in the distribution of the family property. As a result, he had launched a serious protest against them. In keeping with the then-prevalent methods of protest, he would not eat anything nor would he attend to any business. He would also squat on the floor at night and go without the daily shave and so on and so forth. He would not listen to anyone whoever volunteered from among the biradari (community) to patch up the dispute. At long last, the well-wishers of the family roped in one of his brothers-in-law from Paprola for whom all the three brothers had a great regard. It was upon his intervention that a compromise was negotiated between him and his brothers. Accordingly, Bahadur Mall was compensated with an eight-ghumaon piece of the prized land in the town that the latter parted at great pains. After the deal was struck, Bahadur broke his fast and the dispute came to an amicable end.
Bahadur Mal had five sons, namely Mohanlal, Prabh Dyal, Indar Mal, Harbaksh, and Zalam. While Zalam, who was said to be a burly youth, taller over six feet and stout in physique, died young as a bachelor, Mohanlal, though married did not have any son or daughter. The third son of Bahadur Mal was Harbaksh, had one son, named Kishan Chand, who, in turn did not beget any issue. As for Prabh Dyal, he had one son, Ganga Ram and one daughter. The latter was married to Rai Sahib Moti Lal Kayastha (the famous barrister-at-law). Ganga Ram was quite a well-known figure among the local Mahajans of those times. Being an ardent follower of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, he donated land and money from his pocket to build the local Arya Samaj Mandir. He had only one daughter, Jyuni, who was married in Malwan family of Kangra City to one, Hans Raj. In this way, we find that out of the five brothers, four had the misfortune of having failed to carry on their progeny. Indar Mal was the only lucky person in that respect. Indar Mal had one son, Ram Ditta Mal and five daughters. All the daughters were married at Kangra and were well settled in their respective homes. Ram Ditta Mal and his cousin, Ganga Ram who lived together, were not engaged in any lucrative business. However, they had set up a shop that served more as a pastime than a business establishment. While Ganga Ram remained occupied for most of the time with the affairs of the Arya Samaj, Ram Ditta Mal had got himself busy with the duties of the lambardarship of the nearby village Ghorub which office he had inherited from his uncle, Mohanlal. He was a good player of chess and often spent his time on it.
Ram Ditta Mal’s only son, Behari Lal had a chequered career. After trying his luck at various places, he had settled down in the ZAV High School, Sullah as a graduate teacher where he spent the best part of his life there. Toward the fag end of his life, he also worked in the District Board High School, Nagrota Bagwan and for a short while as Headmaster at Rihlu. Besides teaching, he had great interest in homeopathy. He was married, first, at Sujanpur Tira from which wife he had one daughter, Urmila. She was married to one Puran Chand of Kangra. Unfortunately, she died within less than one year of her marriage by tuberculosis. After the death of his first wife, Behari Lal married for the second time to Gyatri Devi, daughter of Mehta Ram Prashad of Paprola. From her he begot three sons and one daughter, Pramugda. The eldest son, Satyavan Bhatnagar, the author of this book, retired as a Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute of Distance Studies at the Panjab University, Chandigarh. Shravan Kumar was a Branch Manager in Life Insurance Corporation of India at Nadaun. He had a premature death, leaving behind one son and one daughter. The son, Sandeep (Tinnu to his parents and friends) works with the Punjab National Bank, while the daughter, Shaila, lives at Indonesia with her husband, Rakesh Gupta. The youngest son of Beharilal Kangriya, Satish Kumar, works with the World Bank and has served as Bank’s Financial Adviser to the Governments of a number of countries. Pramugda is married to one Dharub Chand Gupta who served the Punjab National Bank. After having superannuated, they now live at Palampur.
It may be interestingly mentioned that when Bahadur Mal’s family grew very large with five sons and daughters-in-law, the existing house became too congested to accommodate the entire family. He then decided to shift out of the ancestral house. A spacious plot of land at Dewan Bagh, about one kilometer towards the west of the older place, was selected for the purpose. A new enclave, comprising five separate houses, said to be quite imposing structures of that time, was built there. But as ill luck would have it, most of the members of the family died, in rapid succession to one another, leaving behind only a handful of them
Considering the new abode as ill ominous, they decided to shift back to the older place. All the five imposing structures were dismantled again and a new house was built at the older place. Ironically, its construction was hardly over when the earthquake took place, dashing the whole effort (as well as the money) to the ground. The entire exercise had to be repeated de novo. It is in that house that the family lives at present.
The second son of Lahori Ram was Gunjari Mal who had two sons, Sahd and Dhari. The former served the court of the Katoch Rajas at Lamba Gaon in the capacity of a minister for a number of years. He had four sons, Ram Dyal, Tulsi Ram, Moti Ram and Ishwari Prashad. Ram Dyal could beget only one son, Bhagwan Dass, and two daughters, Sukhan and Chimni. Though Patwari by profession, Bhagwan Dass was a very good calligraphist in Urdu. He could pen down one hundred lines in a post card, the size of which was pretty small as compared to the one in use these days. This author has preciously treasured one sample of his calligraphy. Unfortunately, he succumbed to the fury of the influenza epidemic of 1918, leaving behind no male heir. His sisters, Sukhan and Chimni were married a Kangra.
Shad’s second Tulsi Ram had two sons, Birbal Das and Des Raj and one daughter, Kalan. The elder of the two brothers, Birbal Das was a leading confectioner of the town while his younger brother, Des Raj too earned an equally great name in the trade of cloth. The former died issueless while the latter got one son and one daughter. His son, Khushi Ram and after his death, his two sons Ajay Kumar and Anil Kumar have carried on their family business of textiles. Des Raj’s only daughter, Bhiwani was married at Paprola. To revert to Tulsi Ram, his only daughter, Kalan Devi, was married to a Patwari named Ganga Ram. Their son Roshanlal who was somewhat physically handicapped, had donated his entire property to the local Mahajan Sabha for the construction of the Mahajan Hall
The third son of Sahd was Moti Ram who begot three sons and one daughter. The eldest of the sons, Rano Ram was a Kanungo. He got only one son, Pramod Chand who did not do anything except looking after his property. Manoj Kumar and Raja survived him. Next to Rano Ram was Khazana Ram. He was a primary school teacher and had begotten five sons namely Sita Ram, Hari Ram, Sri Ram, Milap Chand and Om Prakash. While Sita Ram was in the service of the Department of Telecommunication and Om Prakash served in the armed forces of the country. Sri Ram served as a dispenser in various hospitals of the State. After his retirement, he has been running his own practice in the town. Milap Chand, the youngest son of Khazana Ram was a schoolteacher. Besides teaching, he has involved himself in the activities of the Mahajan Sabha and also that of the Arya Samaj. It was his single-minded devotion to the latter that the local Arya Samaj Mandir was rescued from its dilapidated conditions and put it on sound financial footing. The daughters of Khazana Ram, Lado and Veena are happily married.
The youngest son of Moti Ram was Chunilal. He too had been engaged in shop keeping. Besides, he had a good knowledge of ayurveda. He left behind one son, Kailash Chand and three daughters, Lalita, Shyama and Chitro. Kailash Chand too was in the Air Force. Moti Ram’s only daughter, Brajeshwari Devi was married again to a Patwari of Dheera. She had only one son, Sanjeevan Lal
To come back to Sahd, his youngest son Ishwari Prashad was a Patwari by profession. After his superannuating from service, he had set up a grocery shop that at one time was quite flourishing. He had a large family that was unfortunately devastated in the deadly earthquake of 1905. Being too old to tie the conjugal knot again, Ishwari Prashad died issueless
Gunjari Mal’s second son, Dhari had a large family of five sons. When each one of them got married and reared their own individual family, the ancestral house that had fallen to their share got too congested to accommodate all of them. Caught in that situation, Dhari too decided, like his uncle Bahadur Mall, to build a new enclave for him. The site that he chose was some 200 meters to the north of the old family enclave. It housed a mango grove, called Bagru. He felled the trees and built five beautiful houses for his sons. Having thus settled down in the Bagru, his family; from then onward, came to be called the Bagruwale. The old plot of land on which there once stood their ancestral house that had fallen flat at the time of the earthquake, was later on sold to Birbaldas and his brother Des Raj for a paltry sum of rupees five hundred only.
Nath, the eldest son of Dhari, had two sons, Mangat Ram and Sohan Lal. In turn, Mangat Ram got three sons, namely Madho Ram, Udho Ram and Hem Raj. The eldest and the youngest were lawyers by profession. They had shifted out to Kangra to set up their law practice
Besides being a renowned lawyer, Madho Ram was also quite active in the public life of the town. Being an ardent Arya Samajist, he served the local Arya Samaj as its president for a number of years. Madho Ram had seven sons and three daughters. The eldest of the sons, Satindra Kumar, was an excise inspector with the state government. Married to the daughter of a local advocate, Roshan Lal Kayastha, he had begotten one son, Girish Kumar. Unfortunately, Girish Kumar died very young. The second son, Amrit Lall was one of the Chief Engineers in the Haryana State Electricity Board. He was married at Gurdaspur to the eldest daughter of one Mulkh Raj Mahajan. From her he had two sons, Ashok and Harsh. After his retirement he had settled down at Chandigarh. Shantilal, the third son of Madho Ram, had been a Professor and Head of the Department of Geography at the Benaras Hindu University Varanassi. Like his elder brother he too decided to stay on at the place where he had spent the best part of his life. Next to him is Om Prakash. He is a practising lawyer at Kangra, carrying on his family tradition of vakils. Om Prakash’s wife, Asha, runs a first-rate high school at Kangra. Balraj, the fifth son of Madho Ram was a military officer and now lives in Delhi. Next in line are Ved Prakash and Rajeshwar Lal. While the former a librarian by profession, the latter is a geologist. The daughters of Madho Ram were married at Paprola and Dharamsala.
Next in line to Madho Ram was Udho Ram who was one of the leading cloth merchants of the town and enjoyed abundant respect and good will among his clients. He had left behind one son and three daughters. His son, Bhuvnesh Chandra has recently retired as a Professor of Chemistry from HP Agriculture University, Palampur. Ever since his return to Nagrota Bagwan after having finished his education he has been staying there and is highly engrossed in the affairs of his community. The local Mahajan Hall is a living testimony to his indefatigable dedication to his people. The daughters of Udho Ram were Krishna, Lalita and Bhuvneshwari.
Hem Raj, the youngest of all the three brothers, was one of the leading advocates at Kangra. He left behind two sons, Ramesh Chandra and Vinod Kumar and two daughters. While Ramesh Chandra has superannuated himself from the service of the State Education Service, Vinod Kumar is a Bank Officer.
Nath’s second son, Sohan Lal had one son, namely Behari Lal and four daughters, Sitto, Rakho, Bisso and Nihattu. The eldest, Sitto, was married in the family of the Mehtas of Paprola. It is said that she had hardly settled down in her new home when the horrible earthquake took place and her husband perished in it like thousands of others. She spent the whole of life in a state of widowhood as many other women had done. Her other sisters, Rakho, Bisso and Nihatu lived happily with their husbands and children at their respective homes.
Behari Lall, the only son of Sohan Lall, was a cloth merchant. He was lean and thin and unfortunately also suffered from asthma almost throughout his life. He had one son and one daughter from his first wife and, two daughters from the second wife and one son and one daughter from the third wife. Behari Lall’s premature death had left behind a large family of one wife and five children for his eldest son Hanmant Dass to look after. Young in years but man of courage as he has been, Hanmant Dasss took up his responsibilities with great sense of involvement and dedication. He handled the family business so efficiently that he not only saved it from a setback that was but inevitable under the given situation but also made it scale new heights. Sooner than later, he enlisted himself among the leading cloth merchants of the town. Unfortunately, his prosperity was short-lived. He was jolted to the hilt when the in-laws of his eldest daughter who came of the Dewan family of Kotla mercilessly burnt her to death. Besides breaking him and his wife from within, his business collapsed. The ensuing litigation that took a heavy toll of his money as well as of his precious little time, adversely told upon his business. The intensity of that tragedy could have been alleviated to some extent had his only son lent a hand of cooperation to him. But he too had turned his back against his father. Today poor Hanmant Dass licks his wounds like a fallen hero.
His younger brother, Santosh Kumar was a principal of senior secondary school. Though comparatively a happy person, he suffered from asthama. He ultimately succumbed to that disease. His son is a software engineer who works with a multinational company in USA.
The second son of Dhari, Narain Dass too was a cloth merchant. He had two sons, one of whom had died in the historic earthquake whereas the other, Sidhu Ram was a patwari. After his retirement, he had made a vain attempt to revive his father’s business. With that end in view he had even engaged his eldest, Banwari Lall with him by cutting short his education. Poor Banwari Lall had to pay a heavy price for that mistake of his father. Throughout his life, he had to live from hand to mouth. His two younger brothers, Jamawant Prashad and Baldev Raj were comparatively much better of. While the former has retired as one of the Directors of the All India Radio, the latter too was a gazetted officer in the Government of India. Both of them live at Delhi, occasionally paying a visit to their hometown. Their only sister, Dulari was married to one Des Raj at Dheera
Next to Narain Dass was Shingari Mal. He had a flourishing business of textiles. His shop was located in Lidbar, the upper bazaar of the town. He had two sons, Bhagat Ram and Ganga Ram. After the death of their father, they had carried on that business. The former had three sons and one daughter. The eldest of his sons, Shyam Lall was in the government service and had retired as a superintendent from the deputy commisssioner’s office. His other two brothers, Rattan Lall and Roshan Lall had joined their father in the family business and spent the whole of their life in that. Bhagat Ram’s only daughter, Premo was married to Mehta Ram Prashad of Paprola. As for Ganga Ram, he had only one daughter who was married locally to Mehta Jagtamba Prashad.
Dhari’s fourth son was Boggu Ram who, in turn, had four sons, Bidhu Ram, Duni Chand, Kishan Dass and Sawan Mal. Among them, only the eldest brother, Bidhu Ram had a son Uttam Chand, whereas the rest of the three brothers (Duni Chand, Kishan Dass and Sawan Mall, nicknamed Mallo) did not leave behind any male issue. In this way, it was only Bidhu Ram who could sustain the progeny, through Uttam Chand. The latter again was engaged in the retail trade of cloth. When age bent him down, he began to assist his sons in the management of their oil extracting plant. Bidhu Ram also had one daughter who was married locally to Shadi Lal Kayastha.
The youngest son of Dhari was Bhukko Ram who had five sons (Jhanko Ram, Shiv Sharan, Kannaiya Ram, Vishnoo Ram and Thakur Dass) and one daughter (Meem). But for Vishnu Ram and Thakur Dass, all others were engaged in the small trade of grocery goods. While Vishnu Ram was a patwari, Thakur Dass was a schoolteacher. Of the five brothers, the first three died issueless, while Vishnoo Ram had one son (Harbans Lal) and Thakur Das three sons, namely Samant Praskash, Bashodhan Lal and Kakoo. Their only sister, Meem, was married at Sujanpur Tihra
To revert to Lahori Ram again. His third son, Kirpa Ram, had two sons, named Blanda Ram and Kahan Chand. The former, in turn, had only one son, Ram Dyal. The latter too begot only one son, named Saran Dass. Both the father and the son did not do anything except managing their lands. Like so many of their collaterals, they too had a shop that served more as a pastime than a meaningful business establishment. Saran Dass was married at Kangra and begot six sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Raghbir Chand, an assistant in the financial commissioner’s office at Lahore, had died prematurely at the prime of his youth. His young widow, Bimla and four sons survived him. His eldest Sudesh Kumar runs his practice of dispensing medicines at Paprola. The second son, Swatantra Kumar has recently superannuated as District Education Officer. Younger to him; Ashwani Kumar is an instructor in the Polytechnic at Hamirpur. The youngest of all, Vijay works in the HP Agriculture University at Palampur. The entire family has shifted out to Paprola
The second son of Saran Dass, Prakash Chand had set up a rice-husking machine. He also acted as the lambardar of Nagrota Bagwan for some time. Both these occupations had shot him into the public life of the town. He had one son only, Sanjay and five daughters. Saran Dass’s third son, Ramesh Chand has superannuated himself as an Assistant Registrar in the Delhi High Court. He has settled down at Delhi. The fourth and the fifth sons, Harbanslal and Varindralal, retired as headmasters of government schools. The former in particular has been a highly reputed and popular teacher. Rajindralal (nick-named Gopi) the youngest son of Saran Dass also died very young, leaving behind one daughter only. Kanta and Krishna are the two daughters of Saran Dass. The former was married at Samloti to one Sita Ram Gupta who was once the secretary of the Kangra Municipal Council while the latter to one Sant Ram of Kangra.
To come to Kahan Chand, the second son of Kirpa Ram, he had only one son, Ghonnu Ram who, in turn, got three sons, Salig Ram, Nihal Chand and Ghantha Ram. The only son of Salig Ram, Shiv Prashad was an aharati (the official of commission agent) of the town. But for it, he did not do anything else. He left behind one son and one daughter (from his first wife) and two daughters, Bindro and Sampati from the second. Jagdish Chand, the only son, assisted his father in his commission agent’s business. He too had died very young, leaving behind three sons, namely Prabhash Chand, Shashi Pal and Swatantra Kumar. Their having been deprived of the loving care of their father at a very young age, they could not receive good education, with the result that they run petty shops and make their two ends meets.
Nihal Chand’s only son, Dina Nath had one daughter and no male heir to carry on his progeny. Dina Nath’s wife was named Kalan Devi. The third son of Ghonnu Ram was Ghantha Ram, who got three sons and one daughter. Of all the sons, only Bishan Dass could go in for the marriage, whereas the other two, Jagjiwanlal and Ram Prashad had deserted their parents probably to embrace Sanyas (renunciation of worldly life). Their fate could not be known right till this day. Bishan Dass begot only one son, Brij Mohan who is a junior engineer in the Himachal Government. Bishan Dass had one sister, Romo who was married to one Ghambir Chand of Kangra.
To come to Bhuru Mal’s second son, Amar Chand (Umra to his parents and friends), he had one son, Ijatu Ram who, in turn had two sons, Janardan Ram and Dhanda Ram. They were born to two different wives, Jhallo and Prito. Janardhan Ram, son of Prito, had begotten four sons. While two of them (Amolak Ram and Jhakka Ram) did not leave behind anyone to carry on their progeny, the other two (Jawaharlal and Hiralal) had one son each, respectively Govind Ram and Narain Dass. Unfortunately both of them failed to carry on their progeny. In so far as Dhanda Ram was concerned, he had one son, Nidha Ram. The latter however broke the long-found family tradition of having one offspring. He begot one son (Khembo Ram) and one daughter. Both the brother and the sister were married (the latter at Kangra) and groomed their families. Khembo Ram and his only cousin, Narain Dass lived together along with their families in two adjacent houses. They led a reasonably very good life. But as ill luck would have it, the historic earthquake broke hell over them. Each and every member of the two families perished in its fury. Khembo Ram alone could survive. Though many a family had paid a heavy toll of lives of its people, yet in his case he was the lone survivor of the fairly two large families. Though psychologically shattered, he did, however, consented to go in for another marriage. From that second marriage he got one daughter who when grew old, was married at Samloti to one Dewan Chand. Unfortunately that wife too died without delivering any male heir to him, forcing Khembo Ram to go in for the third marriage. From her he got two daughters, Toto and Krishna. After some time, the third wife too died.
Once again, poor Khambo Ram had to face the ticklish issue as to who would carry on his progeny. Placed in that unfortunate situation, there was no other alternative but to take yet another chance and have a son. If that were not to happen, his vast estate would pass on to his collaterals and not even to his sisters. For, as alluded above, the then Hindu society regarded the claims of the former superior to those of the latter. To avoid that situation, Khemobo Ram could have consented to take yet another chance. But there were other hurdles in his way. In the first place, his age seriously militated against him. Which parent would offer the hand of his daughter to a person in his mid-sixties? In those days even bachelors would not find suitable match for them perhaps because of the adverse ratio of the women to men. Then, on top of it all, his financial condition was too bad to lend some credence to his case for matrimony. Thus, the situation was too grim for him, but it was bound to come to an end one day. For, nature is never so cruel to anybody as to make one suffer endlessly. That day dawned at long last. One of his collaterals that had died long ago had not left behind any male heir. As a result, his property had become a bone of contention between his daughter and his collaterals, he being one of them. A case was pending before a court of law for quite some time. To the good luck of Khembo Ram, the two parties compounded that case at that crucial juncture of time when he was badly in need of money. He decided to dispose of the share of that property that had fallen to his lot. Finding Kedar Nath, a man of money, he immediately approached him for the purpose. Though an adversary at that time (for he was the person who had entangled Khembo Ram and all his collaterals into that dispute), Kedar Nath pounced upon the offer and purchased Khemobo Ram’s entire share for rupees nine thousand (a very handsome amount in those days). That money enabled him to fetch a wife for himself. His wish was thus fulfilled. That wife bore for him not one but four sons, namely Premlal, Subash Chandra, Satish Chandra and Kaka. It may be added that Khembo Ram had inherited from his father the lambardarship of Nagrota Bagwan which office had kept him busy for most of the time.
Premlal, the eldest son, did not do anything because of his being somewhat physically not so well. He died prematurely, leaving behind his young widow, two sons and three daughters. Soon after his death, his younger son too died at a very tender age. The elder son and the daughters are now married and well settled. As for Subhash Chandra, he worked as an accountant in the local co-operative bank. He too died young, leaving behind two sons only. Satish Chandra, the third son of Khembo Ram, is a postmaster while his younger brother runs a shop of grocery. Khembo Ram had one sister. She was married to one Chaudhry Kirpa Ram, a renowned Ayurvedic Physician (vaidya) of Kangra. She begot two daughters, Ruro, and Lachho
The second son of Ramji Dass was Rattan Chand. He had only one son, Ujjagar Ram, one of whose grandsons was married to one Jayantu Devi. The latter had only one daughter named Durgi Devi, who, in turn, was married to Achhar Singh Mehta of Haripur whose family was quite close to the royal house of Guler. Being the sole apparent successor to her mother’s vast estate, Durgi Devi and her husband Achhar Singh spent most of their time with their parents. After their death, they shifted bag and baggages to Nagrota Bagwan and took over the charge of their parents’ landed estate. Durgi Devi and her husband had been blessed with two sons and one daughter. After doing his matriculation at Kangra, Kedar Nath, like any other young man of ambition of those days, had joined the college at Lahore. To the good luck of the family, a Sadhu descended at Nagrota Bagwan from somewhere. He pitched up his camp and started his religious discourses and kirtan on the tiala of the lower bazar of the town. Impressed by the depth of his knowledge, many a person flocked to his congregations. Both the mother and the grandmother of Kedar Nath too came to be deeply influenced by him. Moved by their service and devotion to him, the Sadhu told young Kedar Nath that his higher studies would not be of much help to him to rise high in life. Instead, he should better go and meet the Maharaja of Balrampur (then a princely state in Uttar Pradesh) who too was one of his keen disciples. It was a prized offer, for, the state service was regarded in those days a passport to plenty and prosperity that only a few lucky ones could get. Pouncing upon that God-sent opportunity, Kedar Nath gave up his studies and took a train to Balrampur. Finding the young man armed with the recommendatory letter of his master and mentor, the Maharaja appointed him to some dignified position in the service of his state. Thus, a new chapter opened in the life of Kedar Nath. With the passage of time, he rose from position to position and emerged in due course as a highly influential and wealthy person of the State. To impress his people back at home, he built a magnificent house at Nagrota Bagwan. To commemorate the cherished memory of his grandmother Jyantu Devi, he set up in her name a hospital there and handed it over to the District Board to manage it. Kedar Nath was married in the Dewan family of Kotla. Two sons and one daughter survived him. While the elder son, Narindra, was in the Indian Foreign Service and retired as an Ambassador to Brazil, the younger son, Varindra, managed the farms at Balrampur. The daughter, Ashwin, was married locally to Colonel Madhusudan Kayastha.
The younger son of Durgi Devi was Govind Ram. After qualifying himself as an advocate, he had set up his practice at Kangra. He was married, first at Sadarpur. From that wife he got only one daughter, Indra who was married to Yashodhanlal Mehta of Paprola. After the death of his first wife, he married, Satya, the daughter of Rai Sahib Shyam Lal Kayastha of Nagrota Bagwan. He was then blessed with two daughters and one son. The latter, Sadhindra Gupta runs a highly flourishing law practice at Kangra. He is also engaged in the service and management of a number of social organizations.
The account of the family history of Kedar Nath-Govind Ram would remain incomplete without relating the historic dispute over the property of Jyanto Devi. As mentioned earlier, she had only one daughter, Durgi Devi and no son. Any other mother placed in her situation would have tended to bequeath her property to her daughter. Jayantu Devi also did likewise. But her collaterals did not cherish that act on her part. For, they had entertained the hope that after her death it would be they who would get that property as per the Hindu law of those days that preferred the collaterals to the daughters. No sooner did she breathe her last than they filed a civil suit against Durgi Devi, thereby dragging Kedar Nath and his brother to the court of law. The case wriggled on for a couple of years. At long last, the two parties reached a compromise whereunder Durgi Devi and the collaterals mutually shared the disputed property in the ratio, respectively three-eighth and five-eighth. In that way, that highly acrimonious issue had come to an end.
It may be underlined that to vindicate their claim to the property of their grandmother, both the brothers had contested the case quite zealously, spending money lavishly on it. But little did they know that a day would come when destiny would take them away from Nagrota Bagwan and that neither of the two would enjoy the fruits of that labour. That property today stands deserted all together. However, this is not something peculiar with them only. Instead, this is the order of the day now. The quest for better stations in life takes people far and wide, quite away from their ancestral homes. Thus planted in new environments, they are left with no other alternatives but to build relationship with new people. These two brothers have not been the sole exception. While many others have gone out, an equally great number of people have immigrated to this place. This story of emigration and immigration would continue unabated for ages.
Bhatnagar-Kayasthas is an émigré from Sujanpur Tihra. To recollect even at the cost repetition, when in the mid-eighteenth century Raja Ghamand Chand had recovered the long lost territories of his ancestors, he had drafted one of his trusted bureaucrats, Ramji Dass who had by then earned the reputation of a highly competent administrator, to assume the reins of the administration of those territories. Ramji Dass had chosen for various reasons Nagrota Bagwan as the place from where he used to operate. In due course of time, he had settled down there permanently. It is his progeny that constitutes the present ranks of the Bhatnagar-Kayasthas of Nagrota Bagwan.
Ramji Dass had been blessed with two sons, Bhuru Mal and Rattan Chand. The former, being elder of the two, had stepped into the shoes of his father as a Dewan of the State. He too was an equally competent administrator. He completed the task that had been left unaccomplished by his illustrious father. He too bore two sons, named Lahori Ram and Amar Chand (Umra to his parents and friends). In turn, the former got three sons, Bahadur Mal, Gunjari Mal and Kirpa Ram.
Bahadur Mal was the eldest of all. It is said that his brothers had not done justice to him in the distribution of the family property. As a result, he had launched a serious protest against them. In keeping with the then-prevalent methods of protest, he would not eat anything nor would he attend to any business. He would also squat on the floor at night and go without the daily shave and so on and so forth. He would not listen to anyone whoever volunteered from among the biradari (community) to patch up the dispute. At long last, the well-wishers of the family roped in one of his brothers-in-law from Paprola for whom all the three brothers had a great regard. It was upon his intervention that a compromise was negotiated between him and his brothers. Accordingly, Bahadur Mall was compensated with an eight-ghumaon piece of the prized land in the town that the latter parted at great pains. After the deal was struck, Bahadur broke his fast and the dispute came to an amicable end.
Bahadur Mal had five sons, namely Mohanlal, Prabh Dyal, Indar Mal, Harbaksh, and Zalam. While Zalam, who was said to be a burly youth, taller over six feet and stout in physique, died young as a bachelor, Mohanlal, though married did not have any son or daughter. The third son of Bahadur Mal was Harbaksh, had one son, named Kishan Chand, who, in turn did not beget any issue. As for Prabh Dyal, he had one son, Ganga Ram and one daughter. The latter was married to Rai Sahib Moti Lal Kayastha (the famous barrister-at-law). Ganga Ram was quite a well-known figure among the local Mahajans of those times. Being an ardent follower of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, he donated land and money from his pocket to build the local Arya Samaj Mandir. He had only one daughter, Jyuni, who was married in Malwan family of Kangra City to one, Hans Raj. In this way, we find that out of the five brothers, four had the misfortune of having failed to carry on their progeny. Indar Mal was the only lucky person in that respect. Indar Mal had one son, Ram Ditta Mal and five daughters. All the daughters were married at Kangra and were well settled in their respective homes. Ram Ditta Mal and his cousin, Ganga Ram who lived together, were not engaged in any lucrative business. However, they had set up a shop that served more as a pastime than a business establishment. While Ganga Ram remained occupied for most of the time with the affairs of the Arya Samaj, Ram Ditta Mal had got himself busy with the duties of the lambardarship of the nearby village Ghorub which office he had inherited from his uncle, Mohanlal. He was a good player of chess and often spent his time on it.
Ram Ditta Mal’s only son, Behari Lal had a chequered career. After trying his luck at various places, he had settled down in the ZAV High School, Sullah as a graduate teacher where he spent the best part of his life there. Toward the fag end of his life, he also worked in the District Board High School, Nagrota Bagwan and for a short while as Headmaster at Rihlu. Besides teaching, he had great interest in homeopathy. He was married, first, at Sujanpur Tira from which wife he had one daughter, Urmila. She was married to one Puran Chand of Kangra. Unfortunately, she died within less than one year of her marriage by tuberculosis. After the death of his first wife, Behari Lal married for the second time to Gyatri Devi, daughter of Mehta Ram Prashad of Paprola. From her he begot three sons and one daughter, Pramugda. The eldest son, Satyavan Bhatnagar, the author of this book, retired as a Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute of Distance Studies at the Panjab University, Chandigarh. Shravan Kumar was a Branch Manager in Life Insurance Corporation of India at Nadaun. He had a premature death, leaving behind one son and one daughter. The son, Sandeep (Tinnu to his parents and friends) works with the Punjab National Bank, while the daughter, Shaila, lives at Indonesia with her husband, Rakesh Gupta. The youngest son of Beharilal Kangriya, Satish Kumar, works with the World Bank and has served as Bank’s Financial Adviser to the Governments of a number of countries. Pramugda is married to one Dharub Chand Gupta who served the Punjab National Bank. After having superannuated, they now live at Palampur.
It may be interestingly mentioned that when Bahadur Mal’s family grew very large with five sons and daughters-in-law, the existing house became too congested to accommodate the entire family. He then decided to shift out of the ancestral house. A spacious plot of land at Dewan Bagh, about one kilometer towards the west of the older place, was selected for the purpose. A new enclave, comprising five separate houses, said to be quite imposing structures of that time, was built there. But as ill luck would have it, most of the members of the family died, in rapid succession to one another, leaving behind only a handful of them
Considering the new abode as ill ominous, they decided to shift back to the older place. All the five imposing structures were dismantled again and a new house was built at the older place. Ironically, its construction was hardly over when the earthquake took place, dashing the whole effort (as well as the money) to the ground. The entire exercise had to be repeated de novo. It is in that house that the family lives at present.
The second son of Lahori Ram was Gunjari Mal who had two sons, Sahd and Dhari. The former served the court of the Katoch Rajas at Lamba Gaon in the capacity of a minister for a number of years. He had four sons, Ram Dyal, Tulsi Ram, Moti Ram and Ishwari Prashad. Ram Dyal could beget only one son, Bhagwan Dass, and two daughters, Sukhan and Chimni. Though Patwari by profession, Bhagwan Dass was a very good calligraphist in Urdu. He could pen down one hundred lines in a post card, the size of which was pretty small as compared to the one in use these days. This author has preciously treasured one sample of his calligraphy. Unfortunately, he succumbed to the fury of the influenza epidemic of 1918, leaving behind no male heir. His sisters, Sukhan and Chimni were married a Kangra.
Shad’s second Tulsi Ram had two sons, Birbal Das and Des Raj and one daughter, Kalan. The elder of the two brothers, Birbal Das was a leading confectioner of the town while his younger brother, Des Raj too earned an equally great name in the trade of cloth. The former died issueless while the latter got one son and one daughter. His son, Khushi Ram and after his death, his two sons Ajay Kumar and Anil Kumar have carried on their family business of textiles. Des Raj’s only daughter, Bhiwani was married at Paprola. To revert to Tulsi Ram, his only daughter, Kalan Devi, was married to a Patwari named Ganga Ram. Their son Roshanlal who was somewhat physically handicapped, had donated his entire property to the local Mahajan Sabha for the construction of the Mahajan Hall
The third son of Sahd was Moti Ram who begot three sons and one daughter. The eldest of the sons, Rano Ram was a Kanungo. He got only one son, Pramod Chand who did not do anything except looking after his property. Manoj Kumar and Raja survived him. Next to Rano Ram was Khazana Ram. He was a primary school teacher and had begotten five sons namely Sita Ram, Hari Ram, Sri Ram, Milap Chand and Om Prakash. While Sita Ram was in the service of the Department of Telecommunication and Om Prakash served in the armed forces of the country. Sri Ram served as a dispenser in various hospitals of the State. After his retirement, he has been running his own practice in the town. Milap Chand, the youngest son of Khazana Ram was a schoolteacher. Besides teaching, he has involved himself in the activities of the Mahajan Sabha and also that of the Arya Samaj. It was his single-minded devotion to the latter that the local Arya Samaj Mandir was rescued from its dilapidated conditions and put it on sound financial footing. The daughters of Khazana Ram, Lado and Veena are happily married.
The youngest son of Moti Ram was Chunilal. He too had been engaged in shop keeping. Besides, he had a good knowledge of ayurveda. He left behind one son, Kailash Chand and three daughters, Lalita, Shyama and Chitro. Kailash Chand too was in the Air Force. Moti Ram’s only daughter, Brajeshwari Devi was married again to a Patwari of Dheera. She had only one son, Sanjeevan Lal
To come back to Sahd, his youngest son Ishwari Prashad was a Patwari by profession. After his superannuating from service, he had set up a grocery shop that at one time was quite flourishing. He had a large family that was unfortunately devastated in the deadly earthquake of 1905. Being too old to tie the conjugal knot again, Ishwari Prashad died issueless
Gunjari Mal’s second son, Dhari had a large family of five sons. When each one of them got married and reared their own individual family, the ancestral house that had fallen to their share got too congested to accommodate all of them. Caught in that situation, Dhari too decided, like his uncle Bahadur Mall, to build a new enclave for him. The site that he chose was some 200 meters to the north of the old family enclave. It housed a mango grove, called Bagru. He felled the trees and built five beautiful houses for his sons. Having thus settled down in the Bagru, his family; from then onward, came to be called the Bagruwale. The old plot of land on which there once stood their ancestral house that had fallen flat at the time of the earthquake, was later on sold to Birbaldas and his brother Des Raj for a paltry sum of rupees five hundred only.
Nath, the eldest son of Dhari, had two sons, Mangat Ram and Sohan Lal. In turn, Mangat Ram got three sons, namely Madho Ram, Udho Ram and Hem Raj. The eldest and the youngest were lawyers by profession. They had shifted out to Kangra to set up their law practice
Besides being a renowned lawyer, Madho Ram was also quite active in the public life of the town. Being an ardent Arya Samajist, he served the local Arya Samaj as its president for a number of years. Madho Ram had seven sons and three daughters. The eldest of the sons, Satindra Kumar, was an excise inspector with the state government. Married to the daughter of a local advocate, Roshan Lal Kayastha, he had begotten one son, Girish Kumar. Unfortunately, Girish Kumar died very young. The second son, Amrit Lall was one of the Chief Engineers in the Haryana State Electricity Board. He was married at Gurdaspur to the eldest daughter of one Mulkh Raj Mahajan. From her he had two sons, Ashok and Harsh. After his retirement he had settled down at Chandigarh. Shantilal, the third son of Madho Ram, had been a Professor and Head of the Department of Geography at the Benaras Hindu University Varanassi. Like his elder brother he too decided to stay on at the place where he had spent the best part of his life. Next to him is Om Prakash. He is a practising lawyer at Kangra, carrying on his family tradition of vakils. Om Prakash’s wife, Asha, runs a first-rate high school at Kangra. Balraj, the fifth son of Madho Ram was a military officer and now lives in Delhi. Next in line are Ved Prakash and Rajeshwar Lal. While the former a librarian by profession, the latter is a geologist. The daughters of Madho Ram were married at Paprola and Dharamsala.
Next in line to Madho Ram was Udho Ram who was one of the leading cloth merchants of the town and enjoyed abundant respect and good will among his clients. He had left behind one son and three daughters. His son, Bhuvnesh Chandra has recently retired as a Professor of Chemistry from HP Agriculture University, Palampur. Ever since his return to Nagrota Bagwan after having finished his education he has been staying there and is highly engrossed in the affairs of his community. The local Mahajan Hall is a living testimony to his indefatigable dedication to his people. The daughters of Udho Ram were Krishna, Lalita and Bhuvneshwari.
Hem Raj, the youngest of all the three brothers, was one of the leading advocates at Kangra. He left behind two sons, Ramesh Chandra and Vinod Kumar and two daughters. While Ramesh Chandra has superannuated himself from the service of the State Education Service, Vinod Kumar is a Bank Officer.
Nath’s second son, Sohan Lal had one son, namely Behari Lal and four daughters, Sitto, Rakho, Bisso and Nihattu. The eldest, Sitto, was married in the family of the Mehtas of Paprola. It is said that she had hardly settled down in her new home when the horrible earthquake took place and her husband perished in it like thousands of others. She spent the whole of life in a state of widowhood as many other women had done. Her other sisters, Rakho, Bisso and Nihatu lived happily with their husbands and children at their respective homes.
Behari Lall, the only son of Sohan Lall, was a cloth merchant. He was lean and thin and unfortunately also suffered from asthma almost throughout his life. He had one son and one daughter from his first wife and, two daughters from the second wife and one son and one daughter from the third wife. Behari Lall’s premature death had left behind a large family of one wife and five children for his eldest son Hanmant Dass to look after. Young in years but man of courage as he has been, Hanmant Dasss took up his responsibilities with great sense of involvement and dedication. He handled the family business so efficiently that he not only saved it from a setback that was but inevitable under the given situation but also made it scale new heights. Sooner than later, he enlisted himself among the leading cloth merchants of the town. Unfortunately, his prosperity was short-lived. He was jolted to the hilt when the in-laws of his eldest daughter who came of the Dewan family of Kotla mercilessly burnt her to death. Besides breaking him and his wife from within, his business collapsed. The ensuing litigation that took a heavy toll of his money as well as of his precious little time, adversely told upon his business. The intensity of that tragedy could have been alleviated to some extent had his only son lent a hand of cooperation to him. But he too had turned his back against his father. Today poor Hanmant Dass licks his wounds like a fallen hero.
His younger brother, Santosh Kumar was a principal of senior secondary school. Though comparatively a happy person, he suffered from asthama. He ultimately succumbed to that disease. His son is a software engineer who works with a multinational company in USA.
The second son of Dhari, Narain Dass too was a cloth merchant. He had two sons, one of whom had died in the historic earthquake whereas the other, Sidhu Ram was a patwari. After his retirement, he had made a vain attempt to revive his father’s business. With that end in view he had even engaged his eldest, Banwari Lall with him by cutting short his education. Poor Banwari Lall had to pay a heavy price for that mistake of his father. Throughout his life, he had to live from hand to mouth. His two younger brothers, Jamawant Prashad and Baldev Raj were comparatively much better of. While the former has retired as one of the Directors of the All India Radio, the latter too was a gazetted officer in the Government of India. Both of them live at Delhi, occasionally paying a visit to their hometown. Their only sister, Dulari was married to one Des Raj at Dheera
Next to Narain Dass was Shingari Mal. He had a flourishing business of textiles. His shop was located in Lidbar, the upper bazaar of the town. He had two sons, Bhagat Ram and Ganga Ram. After the death of their father, they had carried on that business. The former had three sons and one daughter. The eldest of his sons, Shyam Lall was in the government service and had retired as a superintendent from the deputy commisssioner’s office. His other two brothers, Rattan Lall and Roshan Lall had joined their father in the family business and spent the whole of their life in that. Bhagat Ram’s only daughter, Premo was married to Mehta Ram Prashad of Paprola. As for Ganga Ram, he had only one daughter who was married locally to Mehta Jagtamba Prashad.
Dhari’s fourth son was Boggu Ram who, in turn, had four sons, Bidhu Ram, Duni Chand, Kishan Dass and Sawan Mal. Among them, only the eldest brother, Bidhu Ram had a son Uttam Chand, whereas the rest of the three brothers (Duni Chand, Kishan Dass and Sawan Mall, nicknamed Mallo) did not leave behind any male issue. In this way, it was only Bidhu Ram who could sustain the progeny, through Uttam Chand. The latter again was engaged in the retail trade of cloth. When age bent him down, he began to assist his sons in the management of their oil extracting plant. Bidhu Ram also had one daughter who was married locally to Shadi Lal Kayastha.
The youngest son of Dhari was Bhukko Ram who had five sons (Jhanko Ram, Shiv Sharan, Kannaiya Ram, Vishnoo Ram and Thakur Dass) and one daughter (Meem). But for Vishnu Ram and Thakur Dass, all others were engaged in the small trade of grocery goods. While Vishnu Ram was a patwari, Thakur Dass was a schoolteacher. Of the five brothers, the first three died issueless, while Vishnoo Ram had one son (Harbans Lal) and Thakur Das three sons, namely Samant Praskash, Bashodhan Lal and Kakoo. Their only sister, Meem, was married at Sujanpur Tihra
To revert to Lahori Ram again. His third son, Kirpa Ram, had two sons, named Blanda Ram and Kahan Chand. The former, in turn, had only one son, Ram Dyal. The latter too begot only one son, named Saran Dass. Both the father and the son did not do anything except managing their lands. Like so many of their collaterals, they too had a shop that served more as a pastime than a meaningful business establishment. Saran Dass was married at Kangra and begot six sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Raghbir Chand, an assistant in the financial commissioner’s office at Lahore, had died prematurely at the prime of his youth. His young widow, Bimla and four sons survived him. His eldest Sudesh Kumar runs his practice of dispensing medicines at Paprola. The second son, Swatantra Kumar has recently superannuated as District Education Officer. Younger to him; Ashwani Kumar is an instructor in the Polytechnic at Hamirpur. The youngest of all, Vijay works in the HP Agriculture University at Palampur. The entire family has shifted out to Paprola
The second son of Saran Dass, Prakash Chand had set up a rice-husking machine. He also acted as the lambardar of Nagrota Bagwan for some time. Both these occupations had shot him into the public life of the town. He had one son only, Sanjay and five daughters. Saran Dass’s third son, Ramesh Chand has superannuated himself as an Assistant Registrar in the Delhi High Court. He has settled down at Delhi. The fourth and the fifth sons, Harbanslal and Varindralal, retired as headmasters of government schools. The former in particular has been a highly reputed and popular teacher. Rajindralal (nick-named Gopi) the youngest son of Saran Dass also died very young, leaving behind one daughter only. Kanta and Krishna are the two daughters of Saran Dass. The former was married at Samloti to one Sita Ram Gupta who was once the secretary of the Kangra Municipal Council while the latter to one Sant Ram of Kangra.
To come to Kahan Chand, the second son of Kirpa Ram, he had only one son, Ghonnu Ram who, in turn, got three sons, Salig Ram, Nihal Chand and Ghantha Ram. The only son of Salig Ram, Shiv Prashad was an aharati (the official of commission agent) of the town. But for it, he did not do anything else. He left behind one son and one daughter (from his first wife) and two daughters, Bindro and Sampati from the second. Jagdish Chand, the only son, assisted his father in his commission agent’s business. He too had died very young, leaving behind three sons, namely Prabhash Chand, Shashi Pal and Swatantra Kumar. Their having been deprived of the loving care of their father at a very young age, they could not receive good education, with the result that they run petty shops and make their two ends meets.
Nihal Chand’s only son, Dina Nath had one daughter and no male heir to carry on his progeny. Dina Nath’s wife was named Kalan Devi. The third son of Ghonnu Ram was Ghantha Ram, who got three sons and one daughter. Of all the sons, only Bishan Dass could go in for the marriage, whereas the other two, Jagjiwanlal and Ram Prashad had deserted their parents probably to embrace Sanyas (renunciation of worldly life). Their fate could not be known right till this day. Bishan Dass begot only one son, Brij Mohan who is a junior engineer in the Himachal Government. Bishan Dass had one sister, Romo who was married to one Ghambir Chand of Kangra.
To come to Bhuru Mal’s second son, Amar Chand (Umra to his parents and friends), he had one son, Ijatu Ram who, in turn had two sons, Janardan Ram and Dhanda Ram. They were born to two different wives, Jhallo and Prito. Janardhan Ram, son of Prito, had begotten four sons. While two of them (Amolak Ram and Jhakka Ram) did not leave behind anyone to carry on their progeny, the other two (Jawaharlal and Hiralal) had one son each, respectively Govind Ram and Narain Dass. Unfortunately both of them failed to carry on their progeny. In so far as Dhanda Ram was concerned, he had one son, Nidha Ram. The latter however broke the long-found family tradition of having one offspring. He begot one son (Khembo Ram) and one daughter. Both the brother and the sister were married (the latter at Kangra) and groomed their families. Khembo Ram and his only cousin, Narain Dass lived together along with their families in two adjacent houses. They led a reasonably very good life. But as ill luck would have it, the historic earthquake broke hell over them. Each and every member of the two families perished in its fury. Khembo Ram alone could survive. Though many a family had paid a heavy toll of lives of its people, yet in his case he was the lone survivor of the fairly two large families. Though psychologically shattered, he did, however, consented to go in for another marriage. From that second marriage he got one daughter who when grew old, was married at Samloti to one Dewan Chand. Unfortunately that wife too died without delivering any male heir to him, forcing Khembo Ram to go in for the third marriage. From her he got two daughters, Toto and Krishna. After some time, the third wife too died.
Once again, poor Khambo Ram had to face the ticklish issue as to who would carry on his progeny. Placed in that unfortunate situation, there was no other alternative but to take yet another chance and have a son. If that were not to happen, his vast estate would pass on to his collaterals and not even to his sisters. For, as alluded above, the then Hindu society regarded the claims of the former superior to those of the latter. To avoid that situation, Khemobo Ram could have consented to take yet another chance. But there were other hurdles in his way. In the first place, his age seriously militated against him. Which parent would offer the hand of his daughter to a person in his mid-sixties? In those days even bachelors would not find suitable match for them perhaps because of the adverse ratio of the women to men. Then, on top of it all, his financial condition was too bad to lend some credence to his case for matrimony. Thus, the situation was too grim for him, but it was bound to come to an end one day. For, nature is never so cruel to anybody as to make one suffer endlessly. That day dawned at long last. One of his collaterals that had died long ago had not left behind any male heir. As a result, his property had become a bone of contention between his daughter and his collaterals, he being one of them. A case was pending before a court of law for quite some time. To the good luck of Khembo Ram, the two parties compounded that case at that crucial juncture of time when he was badly in need of money. He decided to dispose of the share of that property that had fallen to his lot. Finding Kedar Nath, a man of money, he immediately approached him for the purpose. Though an adversary at that time (for he was the person who had entangled Khembo Ram and all his collaterals into that dispute), Kedar Nath pounced upon the offer and purchased Khemobo Ram’s entire share for rupees nine thousand (a very handsome amount in those days). That money enabled him to fetch a wife for himself. His wish was thus fulfilled. That wife bore for him not one but four sons, namely Premlal, Subash Chandra, Satish Chandra and Kaka. It may be added that Khembo Ram had inherited from his father the lambardarship of Nagrota Bagwan which office had kept him busy for most of the time.
Premlal, the eldest son, did not do anything because of his being somewhat physically not so well. He died prematurely, leaving behind his young widow, two sons and three daughters. Soon after his death, his younger son too died at a very tender age. The elder son and the daughters are now married and well settled. As for Subhash Chandra, he worked as an accountant in the local co-operative bank. He too died young, leaving behind two sons only. Satish Chandra, the third son of Khembo Ram, is a postmaster while his younger brother runs a shop of grocery. Khembo Ram had one sister. She was married to one Chaudhry Kirpa Ram, a renowned Ayurvedic Physician (vaidya) of Kangra. She begot two daughters, Ruro, and Lachho
The second son of Ramji Dass was Rattan Chand. He had only one son, Ujjagar Ram, one of whose grandsons was married to one Jayantu Devi. The latter had only one daughter named Durgi Devi, who, in turn, was married to Achhar Singh Mehta of Haripur whose family was quite close to the royal house of Guler. Being the sole apparent successor to her mother’s vast estate, Durgi Devi and her husband Achhar Singh spent most of their time with their parents. After their death, they shifted bag and baggages to Nagrota Bagwan and took over the charge of their parents’ landed estate. Durgi Devi and her husband had been blessed with two sons and one daughter. After doing his matriculation at Kangra, Kedar Nath, like any other young man of ambition of those days, had joined the college at Lahore. To the good luck of the family, a Sadhu descended at Nagrota Bagwan from somewhere. He pitched up his camp and started his religious discourses and kirtan on the tiala of the lower bazar of the town. Impressed by the depth of his knowledge, many a person flocked to his congregations. Both the mother and the grandmother of Kedar Nath too came to be deeply influenced by him. Moved by their service and devotion to him, the Sadhu told young Kedar Nath that his higher studies would not be of much help to him to rise high in life. Instead, he should better go and meet the Maharaja of Balrampur (then a princely state in Uttar Pradesh) who too was one of his keen disciples. It was a prized offer, for, the state service was regarded in those days a passport to plenty and prosperity that only a few lucky ones could get. Pouncing upon that God-sent opportunity, Kedar Nath gave up his studies and took a train to Balrampur. Finding the young man armed with the recommendatory letter of his master and mentor, the Maharaja appointed him to some dignified position in the service of his state. Thus, a new chapter opened in the life of Kedar Nath. With the passage of time, he rose from position to position and emerged in due course as a highly influential and wealthy person of the State. To impress his people back at home, he built a magnificent house at Nagrota Bagwan. To commemorate the cherished memory of his grandmother Jyantu Devi, he set up in her name a hospital there and handed it over to the District Board to manage it. Kedar Nath was married in the Dewan family of Kotla. Two sons and one daughter survived him. While the elder son, Narindra, was in the Indian Foreign Service and retired as an Ambassador to Brazil, the younger son, Varindra, managed the farms at Balrampur. The daughter, Ashwin, was married locally to Colonel Madhusudan Kayastha.
The younger son of Durgi Devi was Govind Ram. After qualifying himself as an advocate, he had set up his practice at Kangra. He was married, first at Sadarpur. From that wife he got only one daughter, Indra who was married to Yashodhanlal Mehta of Paprola. After the death of his first wife, he married, Satya, the daughter of Rai Sahib Shyam Lal Kayastha of Nagrota Bagwan. He was then blessed with two daughters and one son. The latter, Sadhindra Gupta runs a highly flourishing law practice at Kangra. He is also engaged in the service and management of a number of social organizations.
The account of the family history of Kedar Nath-Govind Ram would remain incomplete without relating the historic dispute over the property of Jyanto Devi. As mentioned earlier, she had only one daughter, Durgi Devi and no son. Any other mother placed in her situation would have tended to bequeath her property to her daughter. Jayantu Devi also did likewise. But her collaterals did not cherish that act on her part. For, they had entertained the hope that after her death it would be they who would get that property as per the Hindu law of those days that preferred the collaterals to the daughters. No sooner did she breathe her last than they filed a civil suit against Durgi Devi, thereby dragging Kedar Nath and his brother to the court of law. The case wriggled on for a couple of years. At long last, the two parties reached a compromise whereunder Durgi Devi and the collaterals mutually shared the disputed property in the ratio, respectively three-eighth and five-eighth. In that way, that highly acrimonious issue had come to an end.
It may be underlined that to vindicate their claim to the property of their grandmother, both the brothers had contested the case quite zealously, spending money lavishly on it. But little did they know that a day would come when destiny would take them away from Nagrota Bagwan and that neither of the two would enjoy the fruits of that labour. That property today stands deserted all together. However, this is not something peculiar with them only. Instead, this is the order of the day now. The quest for better stations in life takes people far and wide, quite away from their ancestral homes. Thus planted in new environments, they are left with no other alternatives but to build relationship with new people. These two brothers have not been the sole exception. While many others have gone out, an equally great number of people have immigrated to this place. This story of emigration and immigration would continue unabated for ages.