The Eastern States Agency was an agency or grouping of princely states in eastern India, during the latter years of the Indian Empire. It was created in 1933, by the unification of the former Chhattisgarh States Agency and the Orissa States Agency; the agencies remained intact within the grouping. In 1936, the Bengal States Agency was added.

History

Since the 19th century the princely states and the tributary states of Orissa and Chhota Nagpur were not part of Bengal, but British relations with them were managed by its government through the Bengal Presidency. The Eastern States Agency was created on 1 April 1933. This agency dealt with forty-two princely states in eastern India, located in the present-day Indian states of

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura. Before the creation of the Eastern States Agency in 1933, twenty-three native states of the former Orissa Tributary States and

Chhota Nagpur States The Chota Nagpur Tributary States or Chota Nagpur States were a group of non-salute states (minor princely states) at the time of British Raj, located on the Chhota Nagpur Plateau. British suzerainty over the states was exercised through the g ...

were under the

suzerainty Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...

of the British provinces of

Bihar and Orissa 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 ...

and sixteen were under that of 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. ...

The Agent reported to the Governor General of India and two Political Agents under his supervision were posted at Sambalpur and Raipur. Cooch Behar and Tripura were transferred from Bengal Province to the Eastern States Agency on 1 November 1936. On 1 December 1944, the status of this agency was raised to that of a first class residency. These states were grouped into three political agencies, under the "Resident" in Calcutta. The headquarters of the Orissa States Agency was at Sambalpur, the headquarters of the Chhattisgarh States Agency was at Raipur and the headquarters of the Bengal States Agency was at Calcutta. After the withdrawal of the British from India in 1947, the states acceded to the new Union of India and some of the states formed the Eastern States Union, an organisation that failed. Later they were integrated into the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa.Amalgamation of Princely States
/ref> The eastern portion of Madhya Pradesh and the southern portion of Bihar became the states of

and Jharkhand, respectively, in November 2000.
Link to the Map of Eastern States Agency

Princely states of the Eastern States Agency

Orissa States Agency

Salute state A salute state was a princely state under the British Raj that had been granted a gun salute by the British Crown (as paramount ruler); i.e., the protocolary privilege for its ruler to be greeted—originally by Royal Navy ships, later also ...

s, by precedence : * Kalahandi, title HH Maharaja, Hereditary salute of 9-guns * Mayurbhanj, title HH Maharaja, Hereditary salute of 9-guns * Patna, title HH Maharaja, Hereditary salute of 9-guns * Sonepur, title HH Maharaja, Hereditary salute of 9-guns Non-salute states, alphabetically : * Athgarh, title Raja * Athmallik, title Raja * Bamra, title Raja * Baramba, title Rawat * Baudh, title Raja *

Bonai Bonai State ( or, ବଣାଇ), was a princely state during the British Raj in what is today India. It was one of the Chota Nagpur States and had its capital at Bonaigarh,Malleson, G. B.: An historical sketch of the native states of India, Londo ...

, title Raja * Daspalla, title Raja *

Dhenkanal Dhenkanal is a town and a municipality in Dhenkanal district in the state of Odisha, India. Geography Dhenkanal is at . It has an average elevation of 80 metres (262 feet). Demographics As per the 2011 India census, Dhenkanal had a p ...

, title Raja (from 1869 Maharaja) * Gangpur, title Raja * Hindol, title Raja * Keonjhar, title Raja *

Khandpara Khandapada (also spelt as Khandapara) is a town and a notified area committee in Nayagarh district in the Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the valley of nine mountains. Geography Khandapada is located at . It has an average elevati ...

, title Raja * Kharsawan, title Thakur (from 1907 Raja) * Nayagarh, title Raja * Narsinghpur, title Raja * Nilgiri, title Raja *

Pal Lahara Pal Lahara is a small town in Angul district of the state of Odisha and located on NH6, where it intersects with NH23, by road north of Angul. Not far from the banks of the Rengali Reservoir which is to the west, the Malayagiri Forest Rang ...

, title Raja * Rairakhol, title Raja * Ranpur, title Raja * Saraikela (Seraikela), title Kunwar (from 1884 Raja) * Talcher, title Raja * Tigiria, title Raja

Chhattisgarh States Agency

Only non-salute states : * Bastar, title Raja (from 1936 Maharaja) * Changbhakar (Chang Bhakar), title Raja (from 1865, Bhaiya) * Chhuikandan (Kondka), title Mahant * Jashpur, title Raja * Kanker, title Maharajadhiraja * Kawardha, title Thakur * Khairagarh, title Raja * Koriya (Korea), title Raja * (Raj) Nandgaon, title Manhat *

Raigarh Raigarh is a city in Eastern Chhattisgarh. History The tradition preserved by the ruling family of the erstwhile state of Raigarh maintains that the Raj Gond family migrated to this region from Bairagarh/Wariagarh of Chanda district of Mahara ...

, title Raja Bahadur * Sakti, title Rana * Sarangarh, title Raja * Surguja, title Raja (from 1820 HH Maharaja Bahadur) * Udaipur, (Dharamjaigarh)(-Chhattisgarh), title Raja Bahadur

Bengal States Agency

Salute states : * Cooch Behar, title Maharaja, Hereditary salute of 13-guns * Tripura, title Maharaja, Hereditary salute of 13-guns

References

External links and Sources

WorldStatesmen – India – Princely States
{{Coord, 21, 22, N, 85, 15, E, region:IN_type:agency_source:kolossus-cawiki, display=title Agencies of British India History of Odisha History of Chhattisgarh 1933 establishments in India 1947 disestablishments in India Bengal Presidency