Gangpur State, also known as Gangpore State, was one of the princely states of

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

during the period of 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 ...

. Until 1905 it was one of the Chhota Nagpur States under 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 British Raj. It was created in 1933, by the unification of the former Chhattisgarh States Agency and the Orissa States Agenc ...

. Covering an area of 6,454 km², in 1941 Gangpur had a population of 398,171. The population was predominantly Sambalpuri speaking. It was made part of

on 1 January 1948. The capital of Gangpur State was modern

Sundargarh Sundargarh is a town in Sundergarh district of the Indian state of Odisha. As of 2011 census, the municipality had a population of 45,036. Sundargarh is recognized as an industrial district in Odisha. Steel, fertilizer, cement, ferrovanadium, ...

Western Odisha Western Odisha is the western part of the state of Odisha in India, extending from the Kalahandi district in the south to the Sundargarh district in the north. History Historically it has been included within the larger region of Greater Kal ...

History

According to tradition, the dynasty was established by Gangadhar Sekhar Deo, a scion of the Sekhar dynasty from Sikharbhum near the

Singhbhum Singhbhum was a district of India during the British Raj, part of the Chota Nagpur Division of the Bengal Presidency. It was located in the present-day Indian state of Jharkhand. Chaibasa was the district headquarters. Located in the southern l ...

region of Eastern India with the help of the dominant local

Bhuyan The Bhuiyan or Bhuiya are an indigenous community found in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. They are not only geographically disparate but also have many cultural variations an ...

clans. Written archival records point to the reign of Indra Shekhar Deo under whom the region formally became a part of the British Empire after the defeat of the Marathas in the

Second Anglo-Maratha War Second Anglo-Maratha War (from 1803 –1805) was a large conflict within the Maratha Confederacy, Maratha Empire involving the British East India Company. It resulted in major loss of territory for the Marathas, including regions around Delhi a ...

. Gangpur was a feudatory estate of

Sambalpur Sambalpur () is the fifth largest city in the Indian State of Odisha. It is located on the banks of river Mahanadi, with a population of 335,761 (as per 2011 census). Prehistoric settlements have been recorded there. It is the home of the Samb ...

. In 1821 the British authorities canceled the feudatory rights of Sambalpur over Gangpur and the ruler was granted a ''sanad'', by which Gangpur was recognized as a princely state in its own right. On 1 January 1948 the last ruler of Gangpur signed the document of accession to the Indian Union after independence, following which it merged with the state of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

, forming a part of the

Sundergarh district Sundargarh District is a district in the northwestern part of Odisha state in eastern India. Sundargarh district is bounded by Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh in the west, Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh in the North-West, Simdega district o ...

Rulers

The rulers of Gangpur of Sekhar dynasty: *Gangdhar Sekhar Deo *... *Indra Sekhar Deo (1804 – 1820) *Parshuram Sekhar Deo (1820 – 1831) *Jagadev Sekhar Deo (1831 – 1852) *Chandrabhanu Sekhar Deo (1852 – 1858) *Mohan Sekhar Deo (1858) *Raghunath Sekhar Deo (28 Oct 1858 – 10 June 1917) *Bhabani Shankar Sekhar Deo (10 June 1917 – 5 May 1930) *Bir Mitra Pratap Sekhar Deo (5 May 1930 – 26 December 1938) *Rani Janaki Rathnayammarjee of Kurupam (f) - Regent (5 May 1930 – 26 December 1938 and 26 December 1938 – 27 November 1944) *Bir Udit Pratap Sekhar Deo (26 December 1938 – 1 October 1948)

Titular

*Bir Udit Pratap Sekhar Deo (1 October 1948 - 1967) *Birendra Sekhar Deo (1967 - 2010) *Samarendra Sekhar Deo (2010 - current)

References

Princely states of Odisha History of Odisha Sundergarh district 1804 establishments in India 1948 disestablishments in India {{Sundargarh-geo-stub