Rafa'at wa Awal-i-Martabat Raja Sri Chait Singh's (চৈত সিং) father Balwant Singh, was merely an Amil, or farmer and collector of the revenues, for Shuja-ud-Daulla (সুজা-উদ-দৌল্লা) the nawab Wazir of Oudh (Ayodhya or Varanasi). When, upon the death of his father, Chait Singh was confirmed in the office of collector for the Wazir, he paid 200,000 pounds as a gift or Nuzzeranah, and an additional rent of 30,000 pounds per annum. As his father was no more than an Amil, Chait Singh succeeded only to his rights and pretensions. But by a Sanad granted to him by the Nawab Shuja-ud-Daulla in September 1773 AD, through the influence of Warren Hastings, he acquired a legal title to property in the land, and was raised from the office of Amil to the rank of Zamindar. The Kjng of Oudh, Suja-ud-Daula died in 1775 AD, and Warren Hastings, then Governor-General, took advantage of the death of the old ally of the British to extend British dominion and power. In May 1775 a new treaty was ratified between his son and successor, Asaf-ud-Daula, by which Benares was ceded to the East India Company, and Raja Chait Sing became a vassal of the British. Thus five years after the death of Balwant Singh, the Governor General and Council of Bengal obtained the sovereignty paramount of the province of Benares. On the transfer of this sovereignty, the Governor and Council proposed a new grant to Chait Singh, confirming his former privileges, and conferring upon him the addition of the sovereign rights of the Mint, and the powers of criminal justice with regard to life and death. He was then recognized by the Company as one of their Zamindars of the British empire in India.

In 1778, Hastings (then Governor General) made an extraordinary demand of five lack rupees on Raja Chait Singh. In July 1778 Warren Hastings wrote to Chait Singh, "War having been declared between the Courts of Great Britain and France, by the former on the 18th March ... I am to request of you, in my own name and that of the Board, as a subject of the Company, bound to promote their interest on every occasion, to contribute your share of the burden of the present war." The fact is that the Zamindars paid as much to Government as their lands could afford. A second year's contribution of five lakhs (£ 50,000) was demanded from Chait Singh, then a third year's contribution of five lakhs, and then a fourth year's contribution, besides expenses of troops. Chait Singh had to pay above fifty lacks, whereas his rent was not even twenty-four lacks. He refused to comply with the engagements requiring the contribution of cavalry and maintenance grants for battalions of sepoys, and began corresponding with the company's enemies.

In September 1781 AD Hastings came to Benaras to collect the fine which he had levied upon Raja Chait Singh, on behalf of the East India Company. Hastings sent a couple of hundred native soldiers, sepoys under command of 3 young English lieutenants. The Raja submitted without a word. Chait Singh was stripped of his position and placed under house arrest pending an interview with Hastings. The arrest enraged Chait Singh's people, and all Benaras came storming about the palace and threatening vengeance. The mob broke into the fort and massacared the helpless soldiers and their officers. Chait Singh escaped by climbing down to the river from a small window on the north wall of his fort aided by his followers who fashioned a rope out of their turbans. In skirmishes with the Company forces, Chait Singh's troops were easily defeated, the rebellion crushed and the zamindari confiscated and given over to his nephew Raja Sri Mahip Narayan Singh on 14^th September, 1781. Chait Singh himself fled to Awadh, then to Gwalior, where he was granted a jagir for a while until it was later confiscated. He died in Gwalior on 29^th March 1810 in obscurity, leaving three sons.