Gangpur State

Gangpur State, also known as Gangpore State,^[1] was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. Until 1905 it was one of the Chhota Nagpur States^[2] under the Eastern States Agency.

Gangpur State
Princely State of British India
1804–1948
Gangpur State in the Imperial Gazetteer of India
Area
• 1941	6,454 km2 (2,492 sq mi)
Population
• 1941	398,171
History
• Established	1804
• Accession to the Indian Union	1948
Succeeded by India

Covering an area of 6,454 km², in 1941 Gangpur had a population of 398,171. The population was predominantly Odia speaking.^[3] It was made part of India on 1 January 1948. The capital of Gangpur State was modern Sundargarh of Odisha.

History

According to tradition, the dynasty was established by Gangadhar Sekhar Deo, a scion of the Sekhar dynasty from Sikharbhum near the Singhbhum region of Eastern India with the help of the dominant local Bhuyan clans. Written archival records point to the reign of Indra Shekhar Deo under whom the region formally became a part of the British Empire after the defeat of the Marathas in the Second Anglo-Maratha War.^[4][5][6][7]

Gangpur was a feudatory estate of Sambalpur. In 1821 the British authorities canceled the feudatory rights of Sambalpur over Gangpur and the ruler was granted a sanad, by which Gangpur was recognized as a princely state in its own right.^[8] On 1 January 1948 the last ruler of Gangpur signed the document of accession to the Indian Union after independence, following which it merged with the state of Odisha, forming a part of the Sundergarh district.

Rulers

The rulers of Gangpur of Sekhar dynasty:^[9]

• Gangdhar Sekhar Deo
• ...
• Indra Sekhar Deo (1804 – 1820)
• Parshuram Sekhar Deo (1820 – 1831)
• Jagadev Sekhar Deo (1831 – 1852)
• Chandrabhanu Sekhar Deo (1852 – 1858)
• Mohan Sekhar Deo (1858)
• Raghunath Sekhar Deo (28 Oct 1858 – 10 June 1917)
• Bhabani Shankar Sekhar Deo (10 June 1917 – 5 May 1930)
• Bir Mitra Pratap Sekhar Deo (5 May 1930 – 26 December 1938)
• Rani Janaki Rathnayammarjee of Kurupam (f) - Regent (5 May 1930 – 26 December 1938 and 26 December 1938 – 27 November 1944)
• Bir Udit Pratap Sekhar Deo (26 December 1938 – 1 October 1948)

Titular

• Bir Udit Pratap Sekhar Deo (1 October 1948 - 1967)
• Birendra Sekhar Deo (1967 - 2010)
• Samarendra Sekhar Deo (2010 - current)

References

1. "Imperial Gazetter of India, Volume 21, page 199 - Imperial Gazetteer of India - Digital South Asia Library". dsal.uchicago.edu.
2. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gangpur" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 452.
3. Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer p. 660
4. ODISHA DISTRICT GAZETTEERS SUNDARGARH (PDF), GAD, Govt of Odisha, 2014, p. 53-57
5. Harihar Panda (October 2015), Princely State of Gangpur (PDF), Odisha Review
6. Pratap Kishore Mohanty (September 2015), LAND & FOREST GOVERNANCE IN SUNDARGARH (PDF), Vasundhara, p. 3, archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2022, retrieved 7 March 2021
7. Harihar Panda, "THE ROYAL STORIES OF ODISHA PRINCELY STATE OF GANGPUR", Academia.edu, p. 3
8. "Imperial Gazetter of India, Volume 12, page 146 - Imperial Gazetteer of India - Digital South Asia Library". dsal.uchicago.edu.
9. "Indian states before 1947 A-J". rulers.org.

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