Nayagarh State 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 from 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 ...

. It was located in present-day

Nayagarh district Nayagarh district is one of the 30 districts of Odisha state in eastern India. It was created in 1st April 1993 when the erstwhile Puri District was split into three distinct districts, namely Khordha, Nayagarh and Puri. The district is bord ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. The state was bounded in the north by

Khandpara State Khandpara State was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. It was located in present-day Nayagarh district, Odisha. The state was bounded in the north by the Mahanadi River. The main town was Kantilo, but the ...

and

Puri District Puri district is a coastal district of the Odisha state of India. It has one sub-division, 11 tahasils and 11 blocks and comprises 1722 revenue villages. Puri is the only municipality of the district. Konark, Pipili and Nimapara are the thre ...

. The capital was at

Nayagarh Nayagarh is both a town and the municipality headquarters of the Nayagarh district in the Indian state of Odisha. Geography Nayagarh is located at with an average elevation of 178 metres (584 feet). It was the Rukhi mountain to the south ...

. The southern part of the state was forested and

mountainous A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

and was inhabited mainly by

Khonds Khonds (also spelt Kondha, Kandha etc.) are an indigenous Adivasi tribal community in India. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, they are divided into the hill-dwelling Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds for census purposes; All the Khonds identif ...

History

According to traditions, Nayagarh state was alleged to have been founded by a scion from the

Rewa State Rewa State, also known as Rewah, was a Rajput princely state of India, surrounding its eponymous capital, the town of Rewa. With an area of about , Rewa was the largest princely state in the Bagelkhand Agency and the second largest in Centra ...

before 15th century, but lack of written archival historical records marks them as untenable due to the non-alignment of timelines of both Nayagarh and its collateral Khandpara state with that of the corresponding Rewa state which was founded in 1618 succeeding from Bandhavgarh kingdom, which possibly points to its legendary origins due to the historical obscurity. None of the chiefs of Nayagarh appear to have received farmans from both Mughals and Marathas until when the Bhonsle Maharaja of Nagpur

Raghoji I Bhonsle Raghoji Bhonsle or Raghoji I Bhonsale or Raghuji the Great (1695 – February 1755) of the Bhonsale dynasty, was a Maratha general who took control of the Nagpur Kingdom in east-central India during the reign of Shahu I. His successors ruled ...

gifted the chiefs for his assistance during the Maratha conquest of Orissa. Although it is likely that a local chieftain by the name Baghel Singh (1480-1510 CE) who is reputed to be the founder of Nayagarh, as it was known as ''Baghua Nayagarh'', may likely be the founder of the state and also the progenitor of the dynasty with the same name. Under Raghunath Singh's (1565-1595) successors

which was initially part of Nayagarh State became a separate kingdom in 1599 with his younger son Jadunath Singh inheriting Khandpara while his elder son Harihar Singh continuing at Nayagarh. The last ruler signed the instrument of accession to the Indian Union on 1 January 1948, merging his state into

forming a part of the

Rulers

The rulers of Nayagarh State bore the title of

Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

. The emblem of the Nayagarh royal family was the head of a

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

, the same state symbol as that of the rulers in neighbouring Khandpara State.Princely States of India
/ref> *Baghel Singh (1480–1510 CE) *N/A *Raghunath Singh (1565–1595) *Harihar Singh *N/A *Chandrasekhar Singh Mandhata *Purushottam Singh Mandhata *Mrutyunjay Singh Mandhata (...–1784) *Binayak Singh Mandhata (1784–1825) *Braja Bandhu Singh Mandhata (1825 – 30 September 1851) *Ladhu Kishore Singh Mandhata (30 September 1851 – 1889) *Balbhadra Singh (1889–1890) *Raghunath Singh Mandhata (2 Mar 1890–4 Sep 1897) *Narayan Singh Mandhata (1897 – 7 Dec 1918) *Krushna Chandra Singh Mandhata (7 Dec 1918 – 1 January 1948)

Titular

*Krushna Chandra Singh Mandhata (1 January 1948 – 24 June 1983) *Amarendra Kishore Singh Mandhata (13 Feb 1983 – 7 Mar 2002) *Rameswar Prasad Singh Mandhata (7 Mar 2002–Date)

References

Princely states of Odisha History of Odisha Nayagarh district {{india-hist-stub

History

Rulers

Titular

See also

References