Bamra State or Bamanda State, covering an area of 5149 km², was one of the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

s of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

during the period of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

, its capital was in

Debagarh Debagarh, also known as Deogarh, is a city in Odisha state of eastern India. Located in the North-Western region of the state, it is the headquarters of Debagarh District that was created on 1 January 1994, after being bifurcated from Sambal ...

(Deogarh). Bamra State acceded to India in 1948. The state was located in a hilly area between the

Mahanadi The Mahanadi is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and finally merged with Bay o ...

valley and the Chhota Nagpur Plateau. Most of its territory was forest, producing timber and

lac Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is ''Kerria lacca''. Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infes ...

but said to be rich in iron ore. The most important river was the

Brahmani River The Brahmani is a major seasonal river in the Odisha state of eastern India. The Brahmani is formed by the confluence of the Sankh and South Koel rivers, and flows through the districts of Sundargarh, Deogarh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, ...

. The state was one of the five

Orissa Tributary States The Orissa Tributary States, also known as the Garhjats and as the Orissa Feudatory States, were a group of princely states of British India now part of the present-day Indian state of Odisha. The Orissa Tributary States were located in the Ga ...

which were transferred from the

Central Provinces The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Its capital was Nagpur. ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

on the reconstitution of that province in October 1905. The capital is situated at Deogarh.

History

As per the documents preserved by the courts and legends of the historical events, the first ruler of the Bamra state Saraju Gangadeb was the son of the local

Eastern Ganga dynasty The Eastern Ganga dynasty also known as Purba Gangas, Rudhi Gangas or Prachya Gangas were a large medieval era Indian royal dynasty that reigned from Kalinga from as early as the 5th century to the mid 20th century. Eastern Gangas ruled much of ...

administrator of Patna region Hattahamir Deb, who was the son of Eastern Ganga ruler Bhanudeva II. Hattahamir Deb was overthrown in 1360 CE by

Ramai Deva Ramai Deva or Ramai Deo was a Rajput ruler who founded the Chauhan Dynasty rule in the erstwhile Patna state in today’s Bolangir district of Odisha in the year 1360 A.D. At the young age of twenty he staged a coup with the popular support of ...

of the Chauhan dynasty who led the foundation of

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

state, while the tribal chieftains installed Saraju Gangadeb as the ruler in Tikilipada near Kuchinda and later the capital was shifted to Deogarh. This laid the foundation of the Bamanda branch of the

. The

Bengal-Nagpur Railway The Bengal Nagpur Railway was one of the companies which pioneered development of the railways in eastern and central India. It was succeeded first by Eastern Railway and subsequently by South Eastern Railway. History The opening of the ...

passed through the northeastern part of Bamra, with two stations in the state: Bamra Road and Garpos.''Imperial Gazetteer of India'', v. 6, p. 344.
/ref> The state was under the political control of the Commissioner of the

Chhattisgarh Division Chhattisgarh Division was an administrative division of the Central Provinces of British India. It was located in the east of the Central Provinces and encompassed the upper Mahanadi River basin, in the central part of present-day Chhattisgarh st ...

of the

until 1905, under the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

until 1912, under the

Bihar and Orissa Province Bihar and Orissa was a province of British India, which included the present-day Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha. The territories were conquered by the British in the 18th and 19th centuries, and were governed by the then Indian Ci ...

until 1936 and under

Orissa Province Orissa Province was a province of British India created in April 1936 by the partitioning of the Bihar and Orissa Province. Its territory corresponds with the modern-day State of Odisha. On 22 March 1912, both Bihar and Orissa divisions were s ...

until it ceased to be a princely state. On 1 January 1948 Bamra's last princely ruler signed the accession to the Indian Union.

Rulers

The rulers from the Bamanda branch of the

:Indian Princely States
/ref> * Saraju Gangadeb (1360 CE) * Raj Narayan Deb * Jagannath Deb * Gangadhara Deb * Jag Jyesthi Tribhuban Deb * Rudranarayan Deb * Kanphoda Sudhal Deb * Raghunath Deb * Kasturi Deb * Ram Chandra Deb (1545–1578) * Bikram Deb (1578–1625) * Haru Deb (1625–1641) * Chandra Sekhar (1641–1673) * Bhagirath Deb (1673–1713) * Pratap Deb (1713–1745) * Sidasar Deb (1745–1779) * Arjun Deb (1779–1819) * Balunkabrusabha Deb (1819–1832) * Khageswar Deb (1832) * Brajasundar Deb (1832–12 May 1869) *

Basudeb Sudhal Deb Raja Sir Basudeb Sudhal Deb (16 May 1850 – 19 November 1903) was the Raja of Bamra from 1869 to 1903. In 1865 he was adopted by Brajasundar Deb, his uncle, and he ascended upon his death on 12 May 1869. He was said to have been a benevolent a ...

(12 May 1869–19 November 1903) * Satchitananda Tribhuban Deb (19 November 1903–11 March 1916) * Dibyashankar Sudhal Deb (11 March 1916–1 January 1920) * Bhanuganga Tribhuban Deb (1 January 1920–1 January 1948)

Titular

* Bhanuganga Tribhuban Deb (1 January 1948–1982) * Pradipta Ganga Deb (1982–1997) *

Nitesh Ganga Deb Nitesh Ganga Deb is an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India from Sambalpur, Odisha in the 2019 Indian general election as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is also the current titul ...

(1997–current)

References

Princely states of Odisha History of Odisha 14th-century establishments in India 1360 establishments in Asia 1948 disestablishments in India States and territories disestablished in 1948 Debagarh district {{Odisha-geo-stub

History

Rulers

Titular

See also

References