Udaipur 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 Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

s of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

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 him ...

. The town of Dharamjaigarh was the former state's capital. After the

Independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...

Udaipur State was merged with the

s of

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 ...

, Sakti,

Sarangarh Sarangarh is a New District in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. History During the British Raj era, Sarangarh State was one of several princely states governed by the Raj Gond dynasty of Rajputs. It was originally a dependency of the Rat ...

and

Jashpur Jashpur District is a district of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh bordering Jharkhand and Odisha. Jashpur Nagar is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district was formerly a princely state before Indpendence. Highly mou ...

to form the

Raigarh district Raigarh district is a district of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raigarh is the district headquarters. The district was formed by merging the princely states of Raigarh, Sakti, Sarangarh, Udaipur and Jashpur. Jashpur is now a sepa ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second ...

. Now the district of Raigarh is part 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 Prad ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Geography

The State of Udaipur was bounded by

Surguja State Surguja State, was one of the main princely states of Central India during the period of the British Raj, even though it was not entitled to any gun salute. Formerly it was placed under the Central India Agency, but in 1905 it was transferred to ...

and

Jashpur State Jashpur State, was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. The town of Jashpur was the former state's capital. The rulers were Rajputs of the Chauhan dynasty. After the Independence of India Jashpur State was me ...

on its northern side, on the east by Gangpur State and the British

Ranchi district Ranchi district is the most populous district of Jharkhand state in eastern India. Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, is the district headquarters. It was established as a district in 1899. History Iron slag, potsherds and iron tools have been ...

, on the south by

Raigarh State Raigarh was a princely state in India at the time of the British Raj. The state was ruled by a Gond dynasty of Gond clan. History Raigarh estate was founded in 1625 by Madan Singh. He was descended from the Gond kings of Chanda. In 1911 Ra ...

and on the west by the British Bilaspur district 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 ...

. In 1881 the State contained 196 villages and covered an area of 2,732 square km. The total population according to the 1901 Census of India was around 45,000, mostly Hindus. The state was mostly covered by forested hills of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

with carboniferous strata, but the extensive coalfields were not exploited. Gold and iron were also found, but in much smaller quantities. The ranges in the area of the state were relatively low, the highest point being Lotta Hill, reaching an elevation of 640 m. The forests were dense, composed mainly of sāl, mahua,

kusum ''Schleichera'' is a monotypic genus of plants in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. There is only one species, ''Schleichera oleosa'', a tree that occurs in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Species ''Schleichera oleosa'', kusum ...

and tendu. The Mand River rises near Girsa in Surguja, draining the southern part of the Mainpat Plateau to the north.

History

Udaipur State was founded in 1818 as an offshoot of

(Surguja). From 1860 the rulers were

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

s of the

Raksel dynasty Raksel is a Rajput clan. They are the descendants of the Haihaiyavanshi. The Raksel Rajputs ruled several states in India (mainly in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand) during the Middle Ages and British rule, including Surguja State and Udaipur. Rakse ...

. The younger son of Maharaja Amar Singh Deo of Surguja State was granted the rule of Udaipur State. The first Rajput Raksel ruler was Raja Bahadur Bindeshwari Prasad Singh Deo CSI. The family of the

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 ...

is very ancient, and is stated to belong to the Rajputs of the Lunar race. The present ruling family is said to be descended from a Raksel Raja of Palamau. The state became a British protectorate in 1818. In 1852 the ruler Kalyan Singh and his two brothers Shivraj Sing and Dheeraj Singh, of Rajgond dynasty were accused by the British of murder and were jailed. There was an

interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...

during which the state was ruled directly by the British authorities who invoked the

doctrine of lapse The doctrine of lapse was a policy of annexation initiated by the East India Company in the Indian subcontinent about the princely states, and applied until the year 1858, the year after Company rule was succeeded by the British Raj under the ...

. Finally in 1860 local rule was restored when Lal Bindeshwari Prasad Singh Deo was granted the rule of Udaipur State by the British for his services in the

Sepoy Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the for ...

. He was succeeded by Swasti Sri Prabal Pratap Udit Pratap Sampanna Sitare Hind Maharajadhiraj Kumar Rajadhiraj Sri Srimant Raja Bahadur Bindeshwari Prasad Singh Deo CSI (1829–1876), ruling chief Udaipur state. The Chief resided at Partabpur, the headquarters of a tract which he held as a maintenance grant in Surguja, and was a ruler of considerable ability and force of character. In 1871 he aided in the suppression of a rebellion in the

Keonjhar State Keonjhar State ( or, କେନ୍ଦୁଝର), also known as Keunjhar, was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. The second largest of the states of the Orissa States Agency, it was located in present-day Ken ...

, for which he received the thanks of Government, and gifts of an elephant with gold-embroidered trappings and a gold watch and chain. He obtained the title of Raja Bahadur as a personal distinction, and was also made a Companion of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India. The Elder son of the chief succeeded to gaddi Sri Raja Bahadur Dharamjeet Singh Deo and younger son Sri Lal Shaheb Dharampal Singh Deo was granted the estate of Dhourpur. Lal Saheb Dharampal Singh Deo was the Grandson of Maharaja Bahadur Amar Singh Deo of "

Surguja state Surguja State, was one of the main princely states of Central India during the period of the British Raj, even though it was not entitled to any gun salute. Formerly it was placed under the Central India Agency, but in 1905 it was transferred to ...

" and younger son of Raja Bindeshwari prasad Singh Deo of Udaipur state (Dharamjaigarh). Dhourpur and Dharamjaigarh were named after both the brother Lal Saheb Dharampal Singh Deo and Raja Bahadur Dharamjeet Singh Deo. Sri Lal Saheb Dhrampal Singh Deo was succeeded by his only son Sri Lal Saheb Chandeshwer Prasad Singh Deo as the head of the ''

jagirdari A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, star ...

'' estate of Dhourpur. Udaipur was one of the 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 ...

. The last ruler of this princely state signed the accession to the Indian Union on 1 January 1948.

Rulers

The rulers of Udaipur State bore the title of 'Raja Bahadur'.States before 1947
/ref>

Rajas

*1818–1852- Kalyan Singh (RajGond) *1852–1857- Interregnum *1857-1858- Dhiraj Singh *1858-Sheoraj Singh *1858-1859- British raj. The younger son of Maharaja Bahadur Amar Singh Deo of & younger brother of Maharaja Indrajit Singh of

, from the junior branch of the

Surguja Surguja district is a district of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The district is one of the oldest districts of Chhattisgarh. The headquarters of the district is Ambikapur. The district lies in its eponymous Surguja dialectal region (where ...

royal family, was granted the rule of Udaipur State. *1860–1876 – Swasti Sri Prabal Pratap Udit Pratap Sampanna Sitare Hind Maharajadhiraj kumar Rajadhiraj Sri Srimant Raja Bahadur BINDESHWARI PRASAD Singh Deo C.S.I (1829–1876) *18 March 1876 – 1900 Sri Srimant Raja Bahadur DHARAMJEET Singh Deo (1857–1900?) *December 1900 – 8 December 1927 Sri Srimant Raja Bahadur CHANDRA SHEKHAR PRASAD Singh Deo O.B.E (1889–1927) By adoption 3rd son of Maharaja Ramanuj Saran Singh Deo Surguja State *1927 – 15 August 1947 Raja Bahadur CHANDRA CHUR PRASAD Singh Deo (1923–1979) before and after Independence After Independence *1979 – VIJAY Singh (26 August 1944 – )

References

External links