Hasht-Bhaiya
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The Hasht-Bhaiya ( hi, आठभैया meaning 'Eight Brothers') (e)states were a group of jagirs (small feudatory estates, formally ranking below a proper princely state) of Central
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 him ...
. They belonged to the
Bundelkhand Agency The Bundelkhand Agency was a political agency of the British Raj, managing the relations of the British government with the protected princely states of the Bundelkhand region. History Historical background The Marathas ceded parts of Bu ...
and all of them had been originally part of the princely state of
Orchha Orchha is a town, near city of Niwari in Niwari district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was established by rajput ruler Rudra Pratap Singh some time after 1501, as the seat of an eponymous former princely state of covering parts of c ...
. The Hasht-Bhaiya Jagirs were British protectorates between 1823 and 1947. Their last jagirdars (rulers) joined the Indian Union in 1948.


History


Early history

Towards 1690 Udot Singh, the Maharaja of Orchha, gave to his brother, Diwan Rai Singh, the jagir of Baragaon near
Jhansi Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative head ...
. After Rai Singh's death, the jagir went to his sons and it was divided into eight parts ''(hasht)'' among the brothers ''(bhaya)'' in order to form the following estates: *
Kari Kari or KARI may refer to: Places *Kari, Jhunjhunu, a village in Rajasthan, India * , a village in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso *Kari, Tikamgarh, a town in Madhya Pradesh, India * Kari, Iran, a village in Bushehr Province, Iran * Kari-ye Bozorg ( ...
(extinct) * Pasari (extinct) * Tarauli (extinct) * Banka-Pahari 13 km2, pop. 1056 in 1901 * Bijna 70 km2, pop. 1578 in 1901 *
Chirgaon Chirgaon is a town and a municipal board in Jhansi district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Chirgaon is located 30 km away from Jhansi, situated on Jhansi–Kanpur National Highway 27. There is a fort in the middle of the to ...
(annexed by the British in 1841) * Dhurwai 47 km2, pop. 1826 in 1901 * Tori-Fatehpur 93 km2, pop. 7099 in 1901 Three jagirs were merged into the others, owing to lack of issue, a fourth would later be annexed by the British. In the 18th century the dismemberment of Orchha State by the
Marathas 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 ...
and the formation of
Jhansi State Jhansi was an independent princely state ruled by the Maratha Newalkar dynasty under suzerainty of British India from 1804 till 1853, when the British authorities took over the state under the terms of the Doctrine of Lapse, and renamed it the ...
brought about disputes regarding the sovereignty and control of the remaining five Hasht-Bhaiya estates.


British rule

In 1818 the British established their rule and in 1821 a settlement was reached by which the five jagirs would remain under direct dependence 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 British decided that the tribute levied by Jhansi should be paid through the Hasht-Bhaiya jagirs and that their rulers would keep and respect the traditional protocol towards the Maharaja of Orchha as head of the ruling families of the jagirs. The jagirdars were granted in 1821 and 1823. In 1841, following the rebellion of Jagirdar Bakht Singh, the British authorities took possession of Chirgaon jagir, invoking 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 ...
. After this, only four of the original eight principalities remained.


See also

*
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 ...
*
Vindhya Pradesh Vindhya Pradesh was a former state of India. It occupied an area of 23,603 sq. miles. It was created in 1948 as Union of Baghelkhand and Bundelkhand States, shortly after Indian independence, from the territories of the princely states in the ea ...


References

{{coord, 25, 30, N, 79, 00, E, display=title Princely states of Bundelkhand Princely states of Madhya Pradesh Tikamgarh district Jagirs 1690 establishments in Asia