Tigiria 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 ...
. It was located in present-day
Tigiria
Tigiria is a tehsil (block) of Cuttack district. There are 14 ''(Town Panchayat (T.P.), panchayats)'' with a total of 50 villages under the Tigiria administrative division.
Tigiria is part of the Athagarh (Odisha Vidhan Sabha constituency), Athaga ...
block of
Cuttack district
Cuttack district is one of the 30 districts of Odisha state in India. It is located in the coastal part of the state and its administrative headquarters are located in the city of Cuttack. As of 2011 Census, after Ganjam district, Ganjam, it is t ...
,
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 ...
. Although it was the smallest of the states of the
Orissa States Agency it was the most densely populated.
The last ruler of Tigiria joined the state to the
Indian Union by signing the
instrument of accession
The Instrument of Accession was a legal document first introduced by the Government of India Act 1935 and used in 1947 to enable each of the rulers of the princely states under British paramountcy to join one of the new dominions of Dominion ...
in 1948.
The state was bound in the north by
Dhenkanal State
Dhenkanal State was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. The area of the former state is now referred to as Dhenkanal district, Odisha, with Dhenkanal, India, Dhenkanal town as its district headquarters.Dh ...
, in the east by
Athgarh State
Athgarh was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. The state was founded by Raja Niladri Bebarta Patnaik in 1178 and had its capital in Athgarh (Athagad) town.
It was made part of Cuttack district after its ...
, in the south by the
Mahanadi River
The Mahanadi River is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam which was the first major multipurpose river valley project after India's independence ...
and in the west by
Baramba State
Baramba State () was one of the princely states of India during the British Raj. It had its capital in Baramba town. The last ruler acceded to the Indian Union on 1 January 1948. Baramba state was made part of Cuttack district of Odisha in 194 ...
.
[Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 23, p. 357.](_blank)
/ref>
History
The name 'Tigiria' likely originated in the Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
''Trigiri'', meaning "Three Hills". Most of the inhabitants of Tigiria were Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
, members of the Chasa caste, and important places of worship were located within the area of Tigiria State.
Tigiria was founded at an uncertain date in the sixteenth century by a ruler named Nityananda Tunga of the local Kshatriya Tunga clan of Central Odisha region. According to legends he was directed to the spot in a dream while on a pilgrimage to Puri
Puri, also known as Jagannath Puri, () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state ca ...
.[Tigiria Princely State – "The Golden Book of India"; LETHBRIDGE, Roper, MacMillan & Co., 1893 p. 539](_blank)
/ref> and was the final surviving royal of the British Raj-era princely states until he breathed his last in 2015.
Rulers
The rulers of Tigiria state of the Tunga dynasty.
/ref>
*Nityananda Tunga (1682-1682
*Sankarsen Tunga (1682–1742)
*Gopinath Chamupati Singh (1743–1767..)
*Jadumani Rai Singh (..1767–1793)
*Jagannath Chamupati Singh (1797–1844)
*Harihar Kshatriya Birbar Chamupati Singh (1844–8 April 1886)
*Banamali Kshatriya Birbar Chamupati Singh (8 April 1886 – 1933)
*Sudarshan Kshatriya Birbar Chamupati Singh (1933–1943)
* Brajraj Kshatriya Birbar Chamupati Singh Mahapatra (1943–1 January 1948)
Titular
* Brajraj Kshatriya Birbar Chamupati Singh Mahapatra (1 January 1948 – 30 November 2015)
*Bir Pratap Birbar Kshatriya Chamupati Singh Mahapatra (30 November 2015–current)
See also
*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 ...
*Orissa Province
Orissa Province was a province of British India created in April 1936 by the partitioning of the Bihar and Orissa Province and adding parts of Madras Presidency and Central Provinces. Its territory corresponds with the present-day state of Odi ...
*Political integration of India
Before it gained independence in 1947, India (also called the Indian Empire) was divided into two sets of territories, one under direct British rule (British India), and the other consisting of princely states under the suzerainty of the Briti ...
References
{{Princely states of the Eastern States Agency
Princely states of Odisha
Cuttack district