Chhatarpur 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 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 ...

during the period of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Q ...

. The state was founded in 1785 and its capital was located in

Chhatarpur Chhatarpur is a city and a municipality in Chhatarpur district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Chhatarpur District. Chhatarpur is a city and a municipality in Chhatarpur district in the state of ...

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

. Chhatarpur's last ruler signed the accession to the Indian Union on 1 January 1950.

History

Chhatarpur was founded in 1785. It is named after the

Chhatrasal Chhatrasal Bundela (4 May 1649 – 20 December 1731) was an Indian warrior and ruler from the Bundela Rajput clan, who fought against the Mughal Empire, and established his own kingdom in Bundelkhand during the 17th-18th centuries. Early l ...

, the founder of

Bundelkhand Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central & North India. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the larger portion lying ...

independence, and contains his

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

. The state was ruled by his descendants until 1785. The state was guaranteed to Kunwar Sone Singh Ponwar in 1806 by the

. In 1854 Chhatarpur would have lapsed to the British government for want of direct heirs under 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 ...

, but was conferred on Jagat Raj as a special act of grace. The Rajas ruled a

with an area of , and population of 156,139 in 1901, which was part of the Bundelkhand agency of

Central India Central India is a loosely defined geographical region of India. There is no clear official definition and various ones may be used. One common definition consists of the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which are included in alm ...

. In 1901 the town of Chhatarpur had a population of 10,029, a high school and manufactured paper and coarse cutlery. The state also contained the British cantonment of

Nowgaon Nowgong is a city of Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. The town had a population of 11,507 in 1952. Vindhya Pradesh was merged into Madhya Pradesh on 1 November 1956. Nowgaon was declared capital of Madhya Pradesh, but after six months Bho ...

. After the independence of India in 1947, the Rajas of Chhatarpur acceded to India, and Chhatarpur, together with the rest of Bundelkhand Agency, became part of the Indian state of

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 ...

. Vindhya Pradesh was merged into the state of

in 1956.

Rulers

The rulers bore the title of Raja and latter Maharaja.

Rajas

The Pawar (Parmar) Rajput dynasty ruled Chhatarpur State. * 1785 – 1816 Kunwar Sone Shah (b. circa 1765 – d. 1816) * 1816 – 1854 Partap Singh (b. circa 1810 – d. 1854) * 1854 – 4 November 1867 Jaghat Singh (b. 1846 – d. 1867) * 14 November 1867 – 1895 Vishwanath Singh (b. 1866 – d. 1932)

Maharajas

* 1895 - 5 April 1932 Vishwanath Singh (s.a.) * 5 Apr 1932 – 15 Aug 1947 Bhawani Singh (b. 1921 - d. 2006)

Titular Maharajas

* 1947 – 2006 Bhawani Singh (S.A) * 2006 – Present Vikram Singh Bahadur

References