Kursi Nashin – Facts and Fabrications

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If your WhatsApp connections are in India, there’s a good chance that you have come across a meme like this. There are plenty of patriots in India, which is a good thing for any country, and some are still fighting the British any way they can. Sometimes, this involves fabricating or bending the truth. By placing inside the container of an image, it becomes easier to circulate. Never let facts get in the way of a good story.

Even people such as Harsh Goenka tweeted that image:

In the pre-independence days, Indians were not allowed to sit on the chair while waiting for a British official unless he had this certificate.
Do reflect……those who take our independence for granted! pic.twitter.com/gAXiRebMCo

— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) August 13, 2022

Authenticity of the Certificate

Is the above certificate genuine? The position of Kursi Nashin was real, but can you decipher the signature? The the Deputy Commissioner of Delhi District in July 1887 was G.W. Rivaz. He held the position from July 16, 1887, until August 22, 1887. He was preceded by C.M. Rivaz and was succeeded by Edward Brien. The certificate is dated 1 July 1887, while the signature looks like “Brien”. Perhaps this matter was trivial enough for the certificate to be prepared and put aside until Brien had time to sign and issue it.

Who Was Ram Narain?

Ram Narain, son of Sheo Parshad was a prominent figure in Delhi during the late 19th century. He was a Banker and Honorary Magistrate in Delhi.

Ram Narain was a well-known member of the Aggarwal community and came from a family of influential bankers. The family was also active in civic and social affairs. His father, Sheo Parshad, was also a prominent citizen.

Records of Ram Narain, son of Sheo Parshad, appear in:

• District and Provincial Gazettes: These documents often listed notable residents and their civic roles.
• Official Correspondence: Letters and reports from British officials in the Delhi district often mentioned him in his capacity as a banker or honorary magistrate.
• Genealogical and family histories of the Aggarwal community.

His role as a Banker and an Honorary Magistrate would have made him an important figure in the financial and legal life of Delhi during that period.

Origin of the Kursi Nashin

An 1879 reference, “A Hindustani-English Law and Commercial Dictionary” by S. W. Fallon contains the following definition. This dictionary is still in print.

Kursi Nashin – Noun masculine. One entitled to a seat in a Darbar, or to the honor of a chair.

Samples of this Certificate

Here are some examples found online.

Reductio ad Absurdum

The last, absurd example of the certificate shows a few errors in the mind of its creator:

• King George V was a mere 22-year-old prince in 1887, when Queen Empress Victoria was on the  throne, and his dad the Prince of Wales and the future Edward VII was getting old, waiting for his mum to pass on.
• The East India Company had been dissolved in 1883 and removed from the scene in 1858.
• No certificate had “British Raj” on it.

Other Citations

Here is a citation of a scholarly text.

Magistrates were advised to ensure that the summary authority vested
in them by sections 109-110 was displayed publicly and ritualistically,
to replenish their authority at outposts of rule. Around November, as
the days became delightfully crisp, the district magistrate would go off
on an inspection tour of police stations, ordering thanedars in advance
to round up the bad characters. It was with the greatest approval that
the Indian Police Commission (1902-1903) cited James Monroe’s
account of how, as magistrate of Jessore, he had conducted enquiries
into bad-livelihood:
I rode out to the spot…. They (the villagers) all sat down and I commenced to
record their depositions on oath …. I had no difficulty in getting respectable
Brahmins, Purohits, traders, etc., to state what they knew.. .the man was
undoubtedly tried by a jury of his countrymen, the Magistrate’s order being
merely the channel…. The accused could point out his field if he said he
lived by cultivation; he could produce his employer if he said he was a daily
labourer … .53
Such occasions gave meaning to the distinctions which the colonial
administration conferred on the loyal and respectable, among them
the kursi nashin (those holding certificates), which entitled them ‘to the
Courtesy of a seat when visiting officers and Gentlemen’. On-the-spot
enquiry was supposed to act as a check on the thanedar’s account, but it
also allowed him to dispose of all section 109-110 cases in one sweep,
avoiding the expense and trouble of dragging suspects and witnesses
to a distant court.

Bench Magistrate

An article titled, “Wadero Ghulam Kadir Dayo: Forgotten Lord of Larkana” has this reference:

In his book Landlord Power and Rural Indebtedness in Colonial Sind, historian David Chessman discusses this, saying, “The British administration introduced a special bench magistrate system to support good governance and writ of law. They were also recognised as chair holders or Kursi Nashin.”

Sufi Saints and State Power

The book “Sufi Saints and State Power – The Pirs of Sind, 1843 1947“, by Sarah Ansari covers the background of Kursi Nashins, on and around page 47-48 (of the book, not the PDF).

The term originates from Sufi saints and the seats they were given in Mughal courts. The British Collectors and Commissioners replaced the Mughal darbars. A Commissioner’s Kursi was considered a higher honour than a Collector’s Kursi.

You will find a few Bench Magistrates in other parts of India, while the Kursi Nashin title was used in the North and North-West.

The title of Bench Magistrate carried on well past Independence.

Therefore, the silly claim by patriots that Indians needed a piece of paper to sit down in front of a British administrator is false.

Handy Meme

Please forward this meme to your WhatsApp groups and add some objectivity to WhatsApp University.

Added: I found a recent article about this with more references:

The Kursi Nashin Certificate: Unveiling Colonial Hierarchies, Patronage, and Humiliation in British India