Kalahandi State, also known as Karond 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

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 ...

. It was recognized as a state in 1874 and had its capital in

Bhawanipatna Bhawanipatna is a city and the headquarter of Kalahandi district in the state of Odisha, India. Bhawanipatna has numerous temples dedicated to different deities of the Hindu pantheon. Geography and climate Bhawanipatna is located at . It h ...

. Its last ruler signed the accession to the Indian Union on 1 January 1948. The present titular head of the former state is Anant Pratap Deo who resides in the Kalahandi Palace in

History

Kalahandi was the largest of the 26 feudatory states 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 ...

. According to local tradition, the state originated with Raja Raghunath Sai of the Naga dynasty, who traced descent from the Nagabanshis of Chotanagpur of Eastern India, beginning to rule the Kalahandi area in 1005 CE.J. P Singh Deo, History and Culture of Kalahandi: Political Scenario of Kalahandi, Feb 2010, page: 41-43 As per the traditional records preserved in Kalahandi Darbar, the Nagas succeeded the Gangas in Kalahandi when the last Ganga Governor of Kalahandi, Jagannath Deo's only daughter was married to Raghunath Sai, a prince of the Naga clan. However, historians have disputed the early date for the establishment of Naga dynasty rule in Kalahandi but most agree the Nagas succeeded the Gangas as the feudatories in the region during the 15th century, taking advantage of the weakness of the central authority as the power of the

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 ...

started to decline in Odisha. Hence the state's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

had two

cobra COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

s facing each other and the presiding deity of the dynasty is Manikeswari. In August 1947 Kalahandi became part of the Eastern States Union, an entity that was formed in Rajpur and that gathered most of the princely states of Orissa and

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

. The Eastern States Union was dissolved in 1948. The formerly princely state's territory is now within Kalahandi District.

List of rulers

The rulers of Kalahandi princely state were granted a hereditary salute of 9 guns by the British.Princely States of India
/ref> ;Rulers of the Naga dynasty of Kalahandi are– *Raghunath Sai (1005–1040) *Pratap Narayan Deo (1040–1072) *Birabar Deo (1072–1108) *Jugasai Deo I (1108–1142) *Udenarayan Deo (1142–1173) *Harichandra Deo (1173–1201) *Ramachandra Deo (1201–1234) *Gopinath Deo (1234–1271) *Balabhadra Deo (1271–1306 *Raghuraj Deo (1306–1337) *Rai Singh Deo I (1337–1366) *Haria Deo (1366–1400) *Jugasai Deo II (1400–1436) *Pratap Narayan Deo II (1436–1468) *Hari Rudra Deo (1468–1496) *Anku Deo (1496–1528) *Pratap Deo (1528–1564) *Raghunath Deo (1564–1594) *Biswambhar Deo (1594–1627) *Rai Singh Deo II (1627–1658) *Dusmant Deo (1658–1693) *Jugasai Deo III (1693–1721) *Khadag Rai Deo (1721–1747) *Rai Singh Deo III (1747–1771) *Purusottam Deo (1771–1796) *Jugasai Dei IV (1796–1831) *Fateh Narayan Deo (1831–1853) *Udit Pratap Deo I (1853–1881) *Raghu Keshari De (1894–1897) * Court of Wards (1897–1917) *Brajamohan Deo (1917–1939) * Pratap Keshari Deo (1939–1947)

Titular rulers

*Pratap Keshari Deo (1948 – 8 October 2001) *Udit Pratap Deo II (8 October 2001 – 2 November 2019) * Anant Pratap Deo (2 November 2019 – current)

Gallery

File:Palace_of_Kalahandi_King.jpg, View of the royal palace of the Kalahandi Rajas in Bhawanipatna File:ManikeswarTemple.jpg, Manikeswari Temple at Bhawanipatna

References

External links