 The ruling family claims descent from the God Shiva and benefits greatly from pilgrimages to Benares.In 1948 the 88th ruler of Kashi Sir Vibhuti Narayan Singh accepted the request of the first Indian Prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and signed the accession to the Indian Union.The earliest rulers of the later princely state of Benares were "zamindaris" for the Awadh (Oudh) province of the Mughal Empire.