Article
Rewa State
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Coat of arms
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Established : Indian Independence : Area (901) : Today part of |
1790
1948
33670 km2 (13000 sq mi)
India |
Rewa State, also known as Rewah, was a princely state of India, surrounding its eponymous capital, the town of Rewa.
The Govindgarh palace of the Maharaja of Rewa in 1882
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Flag of Rewa State in the 19th century |
With an area of about 34,000 km2 (13,000 sq mi), Rewa was the largest princely state in the Bagelkhand Agency and the second largest in Central India Agency. The British political agent for Bagelkhand resided at Satna, on the East Indian railway. The Bagelkhand Agency was dissolved in 1933 and Rewa was placed under the authority of the Indore Residency.
Rulers of Rewa
The predecessor state Bandhogarh was founded c. 1140. The chiefs of Rewa were Baghel Rajputs descended from the Solanki clan, which ruled over Gujarat from the 10th to 13th century. Vyaghra Deo, a brother of a ruler of Gujarat, is said to have made his way into northern India about the middle of the 13th century and gained the fort of Marpha, 29 km (18 mi) north-east of Kalinjar. His son Karandeo married a Kalchuri (Haihaya) princess of Mandla, and received in dowry the fort of Bandhogarh which, until its destruction in 1597 by Akbar the Great, was the Baghel capital. In 1298, Ulugh Khan, acting under orders of Mughal Padshah (emperor) Alauddin, drove the last Baghel ruler of Gujrat from his country and this is believed to have caused a considerable migration of Baghels to Bandhogarh. Until the 15th century, the Baghels of Bandhogarh were engaged in extending their possessions and escaped the attention of the Delhi Sultans, in 1498–1499, Sikandar Lodi failed in his attempt to take the fort of Bandhogarh.
Elephant Carriage of the Maharaja of Rewa, Delhi Durbar of 1903. |
List of rulers
The following is a list of known rulers of Rewa (or its predecessor state, Bandhogarh), in chronological order by their reign. They took the title of Raja or, from 1857, Majaraja or Maharaja.
- Raja Shaktivan Deo, r.1495–1500, Raja of Bandhogarh
- Raja Veer Singh Deo, r.1500–1540
- Raja Virbhan Singh, r.1540–1555
- Raja Ramchandra Singh, r.1555–1592
- Raja Duryodhan Singh Birbhadra Singh, r.1593–1618 (deposed), 19th Raja of Bandhogarh
- Raja Vikramaditya, r.1618–1630. His accession gave rise to disturbances. Akbar intervened, captured and dismantled the Bandhogarh fort in 1597 after a siege of eight months. It is after this that the town of Rewa started gaining importance. It is said to have been founded by Raja Vikramaditya in 1618 (which perhaps means that he undertook the construction of palaces and other buildings there because the place had already assumed importance in 1554 when it was held by Jalal Khan, son of emperor Shershah).
- Raja Amar Singh II, r.1630–1643
- Raja Anoop Singh, r.1643–1660
- Raja Bhao Singh, r.1660–1690. He married twice but died childless.
- Raja Anirudh Singh, r.1690–1700, a grandson of Raja Anoop Singh, he was adopted by and succeeded his childless uncle, Raja Bhao Singh.
- Raja Avadhut Singh, r.1700–1755. The state was sacked by Hirde Shah of Panna, c.1731, causing the Raja to flee to Pratapgarh in Oudh (Awadh).
- Raja Ajit Singh, r.1755–1809.
- Raja Jai Singh, b.1765, r.1809–1835. In 1812, a body of Pindaris raided Mirzapur from Rewa territory, for which Jai Singh was called upon to accede to a treaty acknowledging the protection of the British Government, and agreed to refer all disputes with neighbouring chiefs to their arbitration and to allow British troops in his territories.
- Raja Vishwanath Singh, b.1789, r.1835–1854.
- Raja Raghuraj Singh Ju Deo Bahadur, b.1831, r.1854–1857 as Raja then as Majaraja 1857–1880. He helped the British quell the uprisings in the neighbouring Mandla and Jabalpur districts in the mutiny of 1857. For this service the Sohagpur (Shahdol) and Amarkantak parganas were restored to his rule (having been seized by the Marathas in the beginning of the century), and he was made the first Majaraja of Rewa, ruling until his death on 5 February 1880.
- Lt.Col. HH Samrajya Maharajadhiraja Bandhavesh Shri Maharaja Sir Venkat Raman Ramanuj Prasad Singh Ju Deo Bahadur, b. 23 July 1876, r.1880–1918, G.C.S.I. [cr.1897].
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