Bamra State or Bamanda State, covering an area of 5,149 km², was one of the princely states of India during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. Its capital was in Debagarh (Deogarh). Bamra State acceded to India in 1948. The state was located in a hilly area between the

Mahanadi The Mahanadi River is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam which was the first major multipurpose river valley project after India's independenc ...

valley and the

Chhota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau () is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and th ...

. Most of its territory was forest, producing timber and

lac Lac may refer to: Places Africa * Lac Region, a district in Chad * Lac Prefecture, a district in Chad America * Rivière du Lac, a tributary of the Montmorency River, in Capitale-Nationale, Quebec, Canada Europe * Laç, a city in Albania * Lac ...

but said to be rich in iron ore. The most important river was the

Brahmani River The Brahmani is a major seasonal river in the Odisha state of eastern India. The Brahmani is formed by the confluence of the Sankh and South Koel rivers, and flows through the districts of Sundargarh, Deogarh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, ...

. The state was one of the five Orissa Tributary States which were transferred from 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. Nagpur was the primary ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

on the reconstitution of that province in October 1905. The capital is situated at Deogarh.

History

As per the documents preserved by the courts and legends of the historical events, the first ruler of the Bamra state Saraju Gangadeb was the son of the local

Eastern Ganga dynasty The Eastern Ganga dynasty (also known as Purba Gangas, Rudhi Gangas or Prachya Gangas) were a large medieval era Indian royal Hindu dynasty that reigned from Kalinga from as early as the 5th century to the mid 20th century. Eastern Gangas rul ...

administrator of Patna region Hattahamir Deb, who was the son of Eastern Ganga ruler Bhanudeva II. Hattahamir Deb was overthrown in 1360 CE by Ramai Deva of the Chauhan dynasty who led the foundation of

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

state, while the tribal chieftains installed Saraju Gangadeb as the ruler in Tikilipada near Kuchinda and later the capital was shifted to Deogarh. This laid the foundation of the Bamanda branch of the

. The Bengal-Nagpur Railway passed through the northeastern part of Bamra, with two stations in the state: Bamra Road and Garpos.''Imperial Gazetteer of India'', v. 6, p. 344.
/ref> The state was under the political control of the Commissioner of the Chhattisgarh Division of the

until 1905, under the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

until 1912, under the

Bihar and Orissa Province Bihar and Orissa was a province of British India, which included the present-day Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and parts of Odisha. The territories were conquered by the British in the 18th and 19th centuries, and were governed by the then ...

until 1936 and under

Orissa Province Orissa Province was a province of British India created in April 1936 by the partitioning of the Bihar and Orissa Province and adding parts of Madras Presidency and Central Provinces. Its territory corresponds with the present-day state of Odi ...

until it ceased to be a princely state. On 1 January 1948 Bamra's last princely ruler signed the accession to the Indian Union.

Rulers

The rulers from the Bamanda branch of the

:Indian Princely States
/ref> * Saraju Gangadeb (1360 CE) * Raj Narayan Deb * Jagannath Deb * Gangadhara Deb * Jag Jyesthi Tribhuban Deb * Rudranarayan Deb * Kanphoda Sudhal Deb * Raghunath Deb * Kasturi Deb * Ram Chandra Deb (1545–1578) * Bikram Deb (1578–1625) * Haru Deb (1625–1641) * Chandra Sekhar (1641–1673) * Bhagirath Deb (1673–1713) * Pratap Deb (1713–1745) * Sidasar Deb (1745–1779) * Arjun Deb (1779–1819) * Balunkabrusabha Deb (1819–1832) * Khageswar Deb (1832) * Brajasundar Deb (1832 – 12 May 1869) * Basudeb Sudhal Deb (12 May 1869 – 19 November 1903) * Satchitananda Tribhuban Deb (19 November 1903 – 11 March 1916) * Dibyashankar Sudhal Deb (11 March 1916 – 1 January 1920) * Bhanuganga Tribhuban Deb (1 January 1920 – 1 January 1948)

Titular

* Bhanuganga Tribhuban Deb (1 January 1948 – 1982) * Pradipta Ganga Deb (1982–1997) * Nitesh Ganga Deb (1997–present)

References

Princely states of Odisha History of Odisha 14th-century establishments in India 1360 establishments in Asia 1948 disestablishments in India States and territories disestablished in 1948 Debagarh district {{Odisha-geo-stub

History

Rulers

Titular

See also

References