Saraikela State also spelt Seraikela, Saraikella or Seraikella ( Odia: ଷଢେ଼ଇକଳା), was an Odia

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, ...

in India during the era 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 ...

, in the region that is now the

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

state. Its capital was at

Saraikela Saraikela (also spelled Seraikella) is the district headquarters and a nagar panchayat in the Seraikela Sadar subdivision of the Seraikela Kharsawan district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It was formerly the capital of the Odia Saraikela St ...

. The state had an area of 1163 km² which yielded an average revenue of Rs.92,000 in 1901, and was one of the nine

Chota 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 ...

under the authority of the governor of

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 ...

. The last ruler of the state, Raja Aditya Pratap Singh Deo, signed the merger agreement acceding to the Indian Union on 18 May 1948.

History

The state was founded in 1620 by Raja Bikram Singh (a forerunner to the ruling family's current nomenclature of Singh Deo. The state came under the influence of the

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

rulers of

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

in the 18th century, and became a

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in 1803, at the conclusion of the

Second Anglo-Maratha War } The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. Background The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War ...

Deogaon Deogaon is a small village on the banks of Kusei River in the Kendujhar District of Orissa, India. It lies at a distance of 10 km from Anandapur, 90 km from the district headquarters Kendujhar and 170 km from Bhubaneswar, the sta ...

of Orissa. After the war, the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

included the Saraikela princely state under the governance of the Chhota Nagpur Commissioner. In 1912 Saraikela came under the authority of the province of Bihar and Orissa, which was newly created from the eastern districts of Bengal. In 1936 the state was placed under the authority of the Orissa Province. Saraikela, along with 24 other princely states of the

Eastern States Agency 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 Agen ...

, acceded to the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

on 1 January 1948, with a will to merge the princely state with Orissa province of the Indian Republic. As a result, both Saraikela and

Kharsawan Kharsawan garh is a town and a notified area in the Seraikela Sadar subdivision of the Seraikela Kharsawan district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. History Kharsawan (also spelt as Kharsuan) was founded around 1650. It was one of the Oriya P ...

princely states were merged with Orissa in 1948. On 1 January 1948 itself, the tribals of these two princely states, who were in a majority, revolted against the merger with Orissa. This was supported by Patayet Sahib Maharajkumar Bhoopendra Narayan Singh Deo, third son of Raja Aditya Pratap Singh Deo, as a result of which he was imprisoned to ensure the popular movement died down. The central government appointed a commission under Mr. Baudkar to look into the matter. On the basis of the Baudkar commission report, Saraikela and Kharsawan princely states were merged with

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

on 18 May 1948. These two princely states became part of

when the state was separated from Bihar on 15 November 2000. From 18 May 1948 onward, many non-tribal Oriyas of the districts of Saraikela Kharsawan,

East Singhbhum East Singhbhum is one of the 24 districts of Jharkhand, India. It was created on 16 January 1990. More than 50% of the district is covered by dense forests and mountains, where wild animals once roamed freely. It is known for being a centre of ind ...

, and

West Singhbhum West Singhbhum or Pashchimi Singhbhum is one of the 24 districts of Jharkhand state, India. It came into existence on 16 January 1990, when the old Singhbhum district (then in Bihar) was bifurcated. Chaibasa is the district headquarters. The di ...

have migrated and settled permanently in Odisha.

Rulers

Former rulers bore the title of 'Kunwar' until 1884.Princely States of India
/ref> The rulers are descendants of the

Porahat Porahat is a village in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand state in eastern India. Before Indian independence in 1947, it was the capital of a princely state of British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British Ind ...

royal family.

Kunwars

* 1620 – 1677 Bikram Singh I * 1677 – 1728 Nru Singh * 1728 – 1743 Satrughan Singh *1743 – 1818 Abhiram Singh ( 1818) * 1818 – 1823 Bikram Singh II (d. 1823) * 1823 – 1837 Ajamber Singh (d. 1837) * 1837 – 1883 Chakradhar Singh (b. 1808 – d. 1883) *25 Nov 1883 – Nov 1884 Udit Narayan Singh (b. 1849 – d. 1931)

Rajas

*Nov 1884 – 9 December 1931 Udit Narayan Singh (s.a.) * 9 December 1931 – 15 August 1947 Aditya Pratap Singh (b. 1887 – d. 1969)

Titular Rajas

* Tribhuvan Singhdeo 1969 – 1993 ( b. 1930 – d. 1993) * Vikram Singhdeo 1993 – Present

References