Kurundvad Senior, also spelt as 'Kurundwad', was one of two

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

princely states 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 ...

: '

Kurundvad Junior Kurundvad Junior, also spelt as 'Kurundwad', was of two Maratha princely states during the British Raj: ' Kurundvad Senior' and Kurundvad Junior. The two states separated in 1854 and less than a century later, on 8 March 1948, both states acce ...

' and Kurundvad Senior. The two states separated in 1854 and less than a century later, on 8 March 1948, both states acceded to the Indian Union. Kurundvad Senior State was administered as part of the

Deccan States Agency The Deccan States Agency, also known as the Deccan States Agency and Kolhapur Residency, was a political agency of India, managing the relations of the Government of India with a collection of princely states and jagirs (feudal 'vassal' estat ...

of the Bombay Presidency. Its capital was at

Kurundvad Kurundwad is a town on the banks of the Panchganga river, 55 km from Kolhapur ( Kolhapur district) in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Geography It is in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is 55 km from the dis ...

a small town by the

Panchganga river The Panchganga River is one of the important rivers of India located in Maharashtra. In English, the name translates as "Five Rivers". It is a major tributary of Krishna River, which it flows into at Narsobawadi. Origin The Panchganga River of ...

in Kolhapur district. The surface of was 479 km², larger than Kurundvad Junior; its population in 1881 was 35,187 and by 1901 it reached 42,474 inhabitants, of which 34,000 were Hindu, 4,500 Muslim and 3,500 Jain.

History

The predecessor of the two states, Kurundvad State, was founded in 1733 following a grant by the Maratha

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 ...

to Trimbakrao Patwardhan. A first division occurred in 1811. In 1819, Kurundvad State became a

British protectorate British protectorates were protectorates under the jurisdiction of the British government. Many territories which became British protectorates already had local rulers with whom the Crown negotiated through treaty, acknowledging their status wh ...

. On 5 April 1854, Kurundvad State split into a Senior Branch and a Junior Branch. Although they held different territories, the capital, Kurundvad, was shared between the two states. The territory of both was widely scattered, forming

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

s within other native states and British districts. Kurundvad Senior retained 37 villages. The greater part of the state was formed by 25 villages located south of

Belgaum Belgaum (Kannada ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma'', ), officially known as Belagavi (also Belgaon), is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located near its northern western border in the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters ...

. Another 10 villages were located in the valley of the

Kistna The Krishna River in the Deccan plateau is the third-longest in India, after the Ganga and Godavari. It is also the fourth-largest in terms of water inflows and river basin area in India, after the Ganga, Indus and Godavari. The river, also ca ...

river, mostly dispersed with swathes of

British territory British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

in between, but a few of these villages were also located within the

Sangli Sangli (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Sāṁgalī''; ) is a metropolitan town and the headquarters of Sangli District in Maharashtra, in south-western India. It has earned the nickname "Turmeric City of India" for being the hub of the Asia's largest produ ...

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

and

Miraj State Miraj Senior was one of two Maratha princely states during the British Raj: ' Miraj Junior' and Miraj Senior. The two states separated in 1820. It was under the southern division of the Bombay Presidency, forming part of the southern Mahratta ...

s. The remaining two villages were particularly isolated from the rest of the princely state. These were the villages of Tikota (an enclave in Bijapur District, now in

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

) and

Wategaon Wategaon is a town in Sangli district, Maharashtra, India. Wategaon (pop. 4,255) is a village in walva taluka (ten miles) west of Uran Islampur, Islampur and about northwest of Peth. Notable residents * Annabhau Sathe, social reformer and wri ...

village (an enclave in Satara District, now in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

) both separated from the rest of the territory.

Rulers

The rulers of the state belonged to the Patwardhan dynasty and bore the title 'Rao'.Princely States of India
/ref> *1733 – 1771 Trimbakrao I "Appa Sahib" Patwardhan (d. 1771) *1771 – 3 March 1771 Nilkanthrao "Dada Sahib" Patwardhan (b. 1726 – d. 1771), son of Trimbakrao I *1771 – 1801 Raghunathrao I "Dada Sahib" Patwardhan (b. 1750 – d. 1801), son of Nilkanthrao *1801 – 18.. Trimbakrao II "Appa Sahib" Patwardhan, (years of rule unknown), son of Raghunathrao I *18.. – 1827 Keshavrao "Baba Sahib" Patwardhan (b. ... – d. 1827), son of Trimbakrao II *1827 – 1876 Raghunathrao II "Dada Sahib" Patwardhan (b. 1812 – d. 1876), son of Keshavrao *25 Jan 1876 – 16 February 1908 Chintamanrao I "Bala Sahib" Patwardhan (b. 1849 – d. 1908), son of Raghunathrao II *16 Feb 1908 – 10 September 1927 Bhalchandrarao "Anna Sahib" Patwardhan (b. 1873 – d. 1927), son of Chintamanrao I *1927 – 1937 (regency) Sitabai Bhalchandrarao Patwardhan "Mai Sahib" (b. 1901 – d. 1969), wife of Bhalchandrarao and mother of Chintamanrao II *1937-1942 Ramchandra Bhalchandrarao Patwardhan (b.1900-1974) *1942 – 8 March 1948 Chintamanrao II "Bala Sahib" Patwardhan (b. 1921 – d. 1980), son of Bhalchandrarao On 8 March 1948, the state acceded to India. Titular rulers of Kurundwad Senior in independent India have been: *8 March 1948 – 15 January 1975 Chintamanrao II "Bala Sahib" Patwardhan (b. 1921 – d. 1980), son of Bhalchandrarao *1975-1977 Vasantrao Ramchandra Patwardhan (b.1944-1991), Son of Ramchandra The heir to the throne is Agastyanand Vasantrao Patwardhan (b.1974), only son of Vasantrao *15 Jan 1980 – Present Bhalchandrarao II Chintamanrao Patwardhan (b. 1953) The heir to the throne is Raghunathrao Bhalchandrarao Patwardhan (b. 1988), only son of the incumbent

References

{{Coord, 16, 41, N, 74, 38, E, region:IN-KN_type:city_source:kolossus-cawiki, display=title Princely states of Maharashtra History of Maharashtra Bombay Presidency Kolhapur district ca:Kurundwad

History

Rulers

See also

References