Dripnath Shah
Dripnath Shah was a Nagvanshi king in the 18th century. His capital was at Palkot. He succeeded Maninath Shah and ruled from 1762 to 1790 CE. He became a vassal of the East India Company in 1771. He submitted list of Nagvanshi kings to Governor general of India in 1787.
Reign
Attempt to Subjugate Kolhan
Dripnath Shah succeeded Maninath Shah who conquered the territory of Tamar, Silli, Barwe after subjecting their chief. During the reign of Dripnath Shah, the Nagvanshi were independent. The Mughals became weak and incapable of asserting their authority over Chotanagpur. He twice attempted to subjugate Kolhan but failed. In May 1770, he and the King of Tamar attempted to subjugate Lakra Kol of Kolhan but failed and hundreds of their men were killed. Lakra Kol pursued the Nagvanshi forces. They burned down several villages and several villages were depopulated. The southern part of the Nagvanshi kingdom was in constant trouble due to pillaging by Lakra Kols.Pillages by Ramgarh Raj
of Ramgarh carried out several pillages and looting in Nagvanshi territory as an excuse to collect revenue, as in the past the Nagvanshi were giving tribute to the Mughals through Ramgarh Raj.Vassal of East India Company
After the Battle of Buxar, East India Company got rights to collect taxes from Bihar and Bengal territory. Dripnath Shah declined to pay tax to East India Company when Company official met him in Palkot.Later Dripnath Shah decided to become a vassal of the East India Company; when he came to know about Captain Camac's activity who was successful in subjugating the Chero ruler of Palamu. In 1771, after the fall of the Palamu Forts, Dripnath Shah met Captain Camac and wished to become a vassal of the East India Company and agreed to six thousand rupees as tribute and six thousand nazrana annually, the same amount of tax that was paid to Mughal. He formalised it with exchanging his headgear with the cap of Captain Camac. Captain Camac expected the help of Dripnath Shah in an expedition against Jainath Singh of Palamu, Mukund Singh the ruler of Ramgarh, and the Marathas.
Due to high amount of taxes Mukund Singh of Ramgarh was not ready to accept suzerainty of East India company. He made alliance with Maratha. Capitain Jacob declared Tej Singh Thakurai as King of Ramgarh and gave him leadership to lead the battle. His forces, forces of Nagvanshis and Palamu attacked Ramgarh but were defeated by joint forces of Maratha and Ramgarh. Later Captain Jacob and Tej Singh Thakurai attacked Ramgarh with large company forces and Mukund Singh surrendered without any resistance as he was not able to get help from Maratha forces. Then Tej Singh Thakurai became new king of Ramgarh.