BALASIN

BALASINOR

(Wadasinor)

The Babi Dynasty

BRIEF HISTORY

The Balasinor family is a junior branch of the Babi dynasty of Junagadh. Balasinor was separated from the other family domains by Nawab Bahadur Khanji I of Junagadh in 1748, for his younger son Sardar Muhammad Khan, and willed to him at his death in 1758. Nawab Sardar Muhammad's grandson and successor, Nawab Salabat II Khan, died without issue in 1820. He was succeeded by his adopted son and first cousin, Shri 'Abid Khan, the son of his aunt. Nawab 'Abid Khan was deposed in favour of his elder brother and son-in-law, Shri Jalal Khan [Edul Khan]. The succession, thereafter remaining with the descendants of Nawab Jalal Khan. Three of his descendants succeeded as minors, the state being ruled by government appointed administrators for many years. The last Nawab of the independent state, Nawab Muhammad Salabat Khan II, succeeded at the age of nine months. Too young to be involved in the great decisions of his age, the Maharaja of Lunawarda was appointed to represent him in signing the instrument of accession to the Dominion of India in 1947. Since independence, he has turned his principal palace into an hotel.

SALUTE:
9-guns.
Copyright© Christopher Buyers
ARMS:
Vert on a bend or between two garbs proper, three Katars gules. Crest: A cescent upright gules on a wreath. Supporters: Pigeons proper. Motto: "Lenar pasae thi lidhu" (I took from the taker) or on a riband gules. Lambrequins: Vert and or.

FLAG:
4x4.5 green rectangle with the arms in red in the centre.

STYLES AND TITLES:
The ruling prince: Nawab Shri (personal name) Khan Sahib Bahadur, Nawab of Balasinor, with the style of His Highness.
The consort of the ruling prince: Nawab (personal name) Begum Sahiba, with the style of Her Highness.
The sons of the ruling prince: Nawabzada Shri (personal name) Khanji (father's name) Khanji Babi.
The daughters of the ruling prince: Nawabzadi Bima Shri (personal name) Bakhte Sahiba.
The grandsons and other male descendants of the ruling prince, in the male line: Suba Shri (personal name) Khanji (father's name) Khanji Babi.
The granddaughters and other female descendants of the ruling prince, in the male line: Bima Shri (personal name) Bakhte Sahiba.

ORDERS & DECORATIONS:
None.

RULES OF SUCCESSION:
Male primogeniture, amongst the adherents of the Islamic faith.

SOURCES:
Rancodji Amarji. Tarikh-I-Sorath: A History of the Provinces of Sorath and Halar in Kathiawad. Education Society Press, & Thacker & Co. Ltd., London, 1882.
Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, since 1826
S.M. Edwardes & L.G. Fraser. Junagadh: Being a Historical, Archaealogical, Political and Statistical Account of the Premier State of Kathiawar. Times of India Press, Bombay, 1907.
Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency. Volume VIII. Kathiawar. Government of Bombay, Bombay, 1884.
Waman P. Kabadi (ed.), Indian Who's Who 1937-38. Yeshanand & Co., Bombay, 1937.
Sir Roper Lethbridge, KCIE. The Golden Book of India. Macmillan and Co., London, 1893.
List of Ruling Princes and Chiefs in Political Relations with the Government of Bombay and their Leading Officials, Nobles and Personages. Government of India Central Publication Branch, Calcutta, 1931.
M. F. Lokhandwala (transl.). Mirat-I-Ahmadi, a Persian History of Gujarat (English Translation), Translated from the Persian Original of Ali Muhammad Khan. Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1965.
Memoranda of Information regarding certain Native Chiefs. Volume I, Bombay. IOR/L/PS/20/F76/I, Oriental & India Office Collection, British Library, St Pancras, London.
Memoranda on The Indian States 1940 (Corrected up to the 1st January 1940). Manager of Publication, Government of India, Delhi, 1940.
Political Internal Department Collection: Bombay States: Balasinor, Affairs, Succession. IOR/L/P&S/13/1096, Oriental & India Office Collection, British Library, St Pancras, London.
The Ruling Princes, Chiefs and Leading Personages in the Western India States Agency, 1st edition. Rajkot, 1928.
The Ruling Princes, Chiefs and Leading Personages in the Western India States Agency, 2nd Edition, Delhi, 1935. IOR/V/27/70/71. Correction slips to 2nd Edition 1936-1946, IOR/V/27/70/72, Oriental & India Office Collection, British Library, St Pancras, London.
Thacker's Indian Directory, Thacker's Press & Directories, Ltd., Calcutta 1863-1956.
Who Was Who, Vol. I to Vol. VII, A&C Black, London, 1915 - 1980.
Who's Who in India 1911.
Who's Who in India, Burma & Ceylon, Who's Who Publishers (India) Ltd., Bombay, 1940.
Capt. H. Wilberforce-Bell, The History of Kathiawad, from the earliest times. William Heinemann, London, 1916.
Copyright© Christopher Buyers
SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
Nawab Abdul Majid Khan.
Father Lawrence Ober, SJ.

BALASINOR 2

BALASINOR 3

JUNAGADH

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