Khaniadhana or Khaniyadhana was a princely state of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

ruled by the Judev dynasty of

Bundela The Bundela is a Rajput clan. Over several generations, the cadet lineages of Bundela Rajputs founded several states in area what came to be known as Bundelkhand anciently known as Chedi Kingdom from the 16th century. Etymology As per Jaswa ...

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

s. The capital of the State was

Khaniadhana Khaniyadhana is a tehsil and a Nagar Palika in Shivpuri district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is known for its eight Jain temples. History Before Indian independence in 1947, Khaniyadhana was the capital of a judev maharaj kalkhsin ...

. It was part of 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 B ...

and later the

Central India Agency The Central India Agency was created in 1854, by amalgamating the Western Malwa Agency with other smaller political offices which formerly reported to the Governor-General of India. The agency was overseen by a political agent who maintained ...

. The princely state of Khaniadhana, was made of several small enclaves, bounded on the east by the British district of

Jhansi Jhansi ( ) is a historic city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. (Toshan) Balwant Nagar was the old name of Jhansi. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand, on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme ...

but otherwise completely surrounded by the Narwar district of

Gwalior State The Gwalior State was a List of Maratha dynasties and states, state within the Maratha Confederacy located in Central India. It was ruled by the Scindia, House of Scindia (anglicized from Sendrak), a Hindu Maratha Confederacy, Maratha dynasty. ...

. Khaniadhana State was part of the

Gwalior Residency Gwalior Residency was a political office in the British Indian Empire, which existed from 1782 until the British withdrawal from India in 1947. The Gwalior Residency was placed under the Central India Agency in 1854, and separated from it in ...

. It was located to the west of

Orchha State Orchha State (also known as Urchha, Ondchha and Tikamgarh) was a kingdom situated in the Bundelkhand region and later a princely state in British India. The state was ruled by Bundela clan of Rajput, Rajputs. It was located within what is now the ...

. It covered a total area of 101 sq m spread over 55 villages and the total population of the territory during the British rule was 20,124 as per census of 1941.

History

In 1724, Raja Udot Singh of

granted Khaniadhana and several other villages to his son Amar Singh. When the

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

became the paramount power in

Bundelkhand Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central and North India. It corresponds to the Post-Vedic Chedi kingdom. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Prad ...

, the

Peshwa The Peshwa was the second highest office in the Maratha Empire, next in rank and prestige only to that of the Chhatrapati. Initially serving as the appointed prime minister in the Maratha Kingdom, the office became hereditary when Shahu gave t ...

granted Amar Singh a

sanad Sanad may refer to: People Given name *Sanad Al Warfali (born 1992), Libyan footballer *Sanad Ali (born 1988), Emirati footballer *Sanad Bushara Abdel-Nadief (born 1947), Sudanese footballer *Sanad ibn Ali, 9th century Iraqi Jewish astronomer, tran ...

in 1751 confirming him in his grant. After this time, suzerainty was always in dispute between Orchha and the Maratha state of Jhansi, the Peshwa's eventual successor. When

Jhansi State Jhansi was an independent princely state ruled by the Maratha (caste), 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, a ...

lapsed in 1854, the Khanadhiana jagirdar claimed absolute independence. The matter was only settled in 1862 when Khaniadhana was declared to be directly dependent from the British government as successor to the Jhansi darbar and the Peshwa. The State was one of the original constituent members of the

Chamber of Princes The Chamber of Princes (''Narendra Mandal'') was an institution established in 1920 by a royal proclamation of King-Emperor George V to provide a forum in which the rulers of the princely states of India could voice their needs and aspiration ...

, an institution established in 1920.David P. Henige, ''Princely states of India: a guide to chronology and rulers'', Orchid Press, 2004 pp:104-5 In 1948, the Khaniadhana State acceded to the

Union of India Union of India or Indian Union may refer to: * The country of India * Dominion of India (1947–1950), which was also known as the Union of India * The Government of India, which "may sue or be sued by the name" of ''Union of India'', as per Articl ...

and about half of Khaniadhana (27 villages) was included in

Shivpuri district Shivpuri District () is a Districts of Madhya Pradesh, district of Madhya Pradesh States and territories of India, state of India. The town of Shivpuri is the district headquarters. National Highway 3 (India), National Highway 3 (NH-3) runs through ...

Madhya Bharat Madhya Bharat, also known as Malwa Union, was an Indian state in west-central India, created on 28 May 1948 from twenty-five princely states which until 1947 had been part of the Central India Agency, with Jiwajirao Scindia as its Rajpramuk ...

while the other half (28 villages) was included in

Vindhya Pradesh Vindhya Pradesh was a former state of India. It was created in 1948 as Union of Baghelkhand and Bundelkhand States from the territories of the princely states in the eastern portion of the former Central India Agency. It was named as Vindhya P ...

., which all are now part of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

Rulers

The ruling family of Khaniadhana were Bundela Rajputs. The ruler of the princely state of Khaniadhana held the hereditary title of Rao or Jagirdar, but from the year 1911, the ruler was granted the title and style of

Raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

. It was a non-salute state and the native ruler or the Raja of the princely state exercised the powers and authority of a ruling chief.

Rajas

*1724–17. . Amar Singh *1760–1869 Unknown succession of Rajas *1869–1909 Chitra Singh *1909–1938 Khalak Singh *1938–1948 Davendra Pratap Singh *1948~today Bhanu Pratap Singh

References

External links

Indian Princely State Khaniadhan Fiscal Court fee and Revenue Stamps

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