Hathuwa Raj was a zamindari belonging to Bhumihars which encompassed 1,365 villages, was inhabited by more than 391,000 people, and produced an annual rental of almost a million rupees. It is located in the Saran Division of Bihar.
Sir Kishen Pratap Sahi Bahadur who was the Maharaja between 1874 to 1896 was an ascetic. Soon after his coronation, he set out on a pilgrimage to the shrines of Northern India. Later on he used to regularly go on traveling and pilgrimage, mostly in Benares.
Due to its central location, Hathwa was the seat of the raja's residential palace and its nearby villages housed most of the key retainers of the estate. In addition to the estate Kachcheri (office), located in the Hathwa cluster of villages, were the estate manager's bungalow, the Diwan's house, the Hathwa Eden School, the post office, the Raj dispensary, and the temple called Gopal mandir.
By the 1840s Hathwa was described as having large bazaars and bi-weekly markets. By the early nineteenth century, there were forts, palaces, and several temples constructed. An early twentieth-century account describes Hathwa as an impressive standard market, its shops offering a range of agricultural and consumer goods and its specialists providing a variety of services. The presence of schools and temples further accentuated its centrality in the locality. The estate collected ₹1400 annually as professional tax from traders stationed at Hathwa.
Durga Puja
Durg Puja was a major attraction for the Hathwa Raj family and all the family members would gather to worship their Durga at Thawe Mandir. Rituals consisted of the Maharaja traveling in a buggy to the Gopal Mandir, and then to the Sheesh Mahal for the annual durbar and onwards on an elephant for darshan of the Maiyya on Vijayadashmi. The Hathwa family still celebrates some of the customs including sacrificing buffaloes and goats during puja.