History of Chhattisgarh II: Marathas, British, 1857, freedom movement, state formation
2. The British: Resident, lapse and the Central Provinces
The decisive break came in 1817–18. A subsidiary treaty with Nagpur had just been concluded (sources give 1816 or 1817), and Appa Sahib (Mudhoji II), who turned against the British, was defeated at Sitabuldi in 1817 and deposed; he later escaped custody and took refuge in Jodhpur. The British set up the child Raghuji III as ruler and, from 1818 to 1830, a British Resident administered the territories on his behalf. This is the “British protectorate” of the syllabus: Chhattisgarh was ruled in the name of a Bhonsle, with British officers in control. Raghuji III took over in 1830 and ruled until his death without a male heir in 1853.
The kingdom was annexed under the doctrine of lapse after his death in 1853 (some lists give 1854 for the formal entry), and Nagpur Province was administered by a Commissioner. In 1861 the Central Provinces were formed by merging the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories with Nagpur Province. Chhattisgarh was one of its divisions, with Bilaspur and Raipur districts, and Durg was added later. In 1905, most of Sambalpur and several states (Bamra, Rairakhol, Sonpur, Patna, Kalahandi) went to Bengal, and five states (Changbhakar, Korea, Surguja, Udaipur and Jashpur) came from Bengal to the Central Provinces; in 1936 the province became the Central Provinces and Berar.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1739 | Raghuji I founds the Bhonsle kingdom of Nagpur |
| 1758–87 | Bimbaji governs Chhattisgarh from Ratanpur |
| 1817–18 | Sitabuldi; Appa Sahib deposed |
| 1818–30 | British Resident administers the territories |
| 1853 | Raghuji III dies without male heir; lapse |
| 1861 | Central Provinces formed |
3. Feudatory states and zamindaris
Besides the districts under direct rule, the region held feudatory states, ruled by their own chiefs under British paramountcy, and zamindaris, estates held by zamindars. The Chhattisgarh States numbered fourteen: Bastar, Changbhakar, Chhuikhadan, Jashpur, Kanker, Kawardha, Khairagarh, Korea, Nandgaon, Raigarh, Sakti, Sarangarh, Surguja and Udaipur, all non-salute states. They were first grouped as the Chhattisgarh States Agency, and on 1 April 1933 it was merged with the Orissa Agency to create the Eastern States Agency. After 1947 they were merged into the Central Provinces and Berar in 1948, and Bastar acceded to the Union on 1 January 1948.
| State | District at the 2000 reorganisation |
|---|---|
| Bastar; Kanker | Bastar; Kanker |
| Kawardha | Kawardha |
| Khairagarh, Nandgaon, Chhuikhadan | Rajnandgaon |
| Raigarh, Sarangarh | Raigarh |
| Sakti | Janjgir-Champa |
| Surguja, Udaipur | Surguja |
| Korea, Changbhakar | Koriya |
| Jashpur | Jashpur |
Bastar is the best-documented state. Its capital was shifted from old Bastar to Jagdalpur on the Indravati, and Rudra Pratap Deo ruled from 1891 to 1921, Maharani Prafulla Kumari Devi from 1921 to 1936, and Pravir Chandra Bhanj Deo from 1936 as the last ruling head. The zamindari estates were smaller holdings whose holders paid revenue or tribute to the ruling power; the best-known zamindari in the freedom story is Sonakhan, the estate of Veer Narayan Singh.
4. 1857 and the tribal risings: Veer Narayan Singh and Bhumkal
Veer Narayan Singh, the zamindar of Sonakhan, is regarded as the first martyr of Chhattisgarh in the 1857 revolt. In the famine of 1856 he was arrested by the British for allegedly seizing grain and distributing it to the hungry. Accounts differ on the place of arrest and on how he got free; the usual version is that he escaped from the Raipur jail with the help of Indian soldiers. Back at Sonakhan he gathered about 500 men, and a force under Captain Smith was sent against him. He was captured and hanged on 10 December 1857 at Jaistambh Chowk in Raipur, a date observed in Chhattisgarh as his martyrdom day. His memory is also held as that of a champion of the poor in famine, not only of a rebel.
The great tribal rising of the region is the Bhumkal of 1910 in Bastar (bhumkal means earthquake). It began on 2 February 1910 and was led by Gunda Dhur with Lal Kalendra Singh, a diwan and cousin of the ruler. The chief grievances were the reservation of forests, with contractors given timber rights in 1908 soon after a famine, and the ban on locally made liquor; the ruler at the time was Rudra Pratap Deo. Mango twigs, earth, arrows and chillies were passed from village to village to call the people out. The rising overwhelmed a small police force and was put down within weeks with outside troops; the reservation plan was cut to half its original area, a rare concession. It is the one named tribal rising of the state that the syllabus line “tribal movements” most often means.
5. The freedom movement: Gandhian phase, labour and peasant movements
Pandit Sundarlal Sharma (21 December 1881, Chandrasur near Raipur – 28 December 1940) is the pioneer. In 1920 he led the Kandel Nahar (canal) satyagraha at Kandel in Dhamtari tehsil, a peasant protest against an irrigation tax, and organised Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to Raipur and Dhamtari in December 1920. He was arrested in 1921–22, described as the first arrest in Chhattisgarh connected with the freedom movement. A postage stamp in his name was issued in 1990. Gandhi came again in November 1933 to Durg, where he was the guest of Ghanshyam Singh Gupta. The non-cooperation phase (1920–22) and the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930) were both active in the region, and the Quit India Movement of 1942 was its peak, with students, workers and farmers in protests and underground work.
Thakur Pyarelal Singh (born 21 December 1891 at Daihan near Rajnandgaon, died 20 October 1954) led the Rajnandgaon cotton-mill workers’ strike of 1920, which lasted well over a month (sources give about 36 to 37 days) and is called a pioneering long strike; a second strike in 1924 turned violent and won more concessions. He led the Flag Satyagraha in Chhattisgarh in 1923, took charge of the liquor-shop picketing and boycott in 1930 and was jailed for a year, and in 1952 joined Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement. His work spans labour, cooperatives and Congress politics. In the later labour tradition, Shankar Guha Niyogi organised mine workers through the Chhattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh (from 1977) and was shot dead on 28 September 1991.
| Movement | Year | Leader | Cause or type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sonakhan revolt | 1857 | Veer Narayan Singh | Famine, zamindar against the British |
| Bhumkal, Bastar | 1910 | Gunda Dhur | Forest reservation; liquor ban |
| Kandel Nahar satyagraha | 1920 | Sundarlal Sharma | Irrigation tax; peasants |
| Rajnandgaon mill strike | 1920, 1924 | Thakur Pyarelal Singh | Mill workers’ conditions |
6. The road to Chhattisgarh state
After independence the Central Provinces and Berar became Madhya Pradesh in 1950. The demand for a separate Chhattisgarh is commonly said to have been first raised at the Raipur Congress in 1924. In 1954 the States Reorganisation Commission did not accept it, and in 1955 it was raised in the Nagpur assembly. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 reconstituted Madhya Pradesh (with Bhopal as capital), and the Chhattisgarh region stayed within it until 2000. In the 1990s the Chhattisgarh Rajya Nirman Manch, whose prominent leader was Chandulal Chandrakar, gave the demand a mass base.
The Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 (Act 28 of 2000) received the President’s assent from K. R. Narayanan on 25 August 2000, and the Government fixed 1 November 2000 as the appointed day on which Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh, with Raipur as the capital. The new state began with sixteen districts: Bastar, Bilaspur, Dantewada, Dhamtari, Durg, Janjgir-Champa, Jashpur, Kanker, Kawardha, Korba, Koriya, Mahasamund, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajnandgaon and Surguja. Ajit Jogi was the first Chief Minister, chosen by the Congress, which had a majority in the interim assembly. The number of districts has risen since, so any current count needs a dated source.
Key takeaways
- Bhonsle rule began with the 1740s conquest; Bimbaji governed from Ratanpur in 1758–87 and the subah system followed. After Sitabuldi (1817) a British Resident ran the territories in 1818–30; the kingdom lapsed in 1853 and the Central Provinces were formed in 1861.
- Fourteen non-salute Chhattisgarh States (Bastar to Udaipur) were grouped into the Chhattisgarh States Agency, merged into the Eastern States Agency on 1 April 1933 and merged into the Central Provinces and Berar in 1948; Bastar acceded on 1 January 1948.
- Veer Narayan Singh of Sonakhan, arrested in the 1856 famine, led the 1857 revolt and was hanged on 10 December 1857 at Jaistambh Chowk, Raipur. He is the first martyr of Chhattisgarh in 1857.
- The Bhumkal of 1910 in Bastar, led by Gunda Dhur with Lal Kalendra Singh, rose against forest reservation and the liquor ban and was suppressed within weeks.
- Sundarlal Sharma (Kandel Nahar satyagraha 1920, Gandhi’s Raipur visit 1920) and Thakur Pyarelal Singh (Rajnandgaon mill strikes 1920, 1924) anchor the Gandhian, peasant and labour strands; Quit India in 1942 was the peak.
- Demand for a separate state: Raipur Congress 1924, continuation in the reconstituted Madhya Pradesh 1956, Chhattisgarh Rajya Nirman Manch in the 1990s; MP Reorganisation Act 2000 (assent 25 August 2000) created the state on 1 November 2000 with sixteen districts and Raipur as capital.
Practice questions (18)
Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.
Who was appointed governor of Chhattisgarh by the Bhonsles of Nagpur in 1758 and ruled it from Ratanpur until 1787?
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Answer: B — Bimbaji Bhonsle
Bimbaji was the Maratha governor of Chhattisgarh in 1758–87. Mohan Singh is the tempting answer but he was the Haihaya ruler who fell ill and died while preparing to oppose Bimbaji; Appa Sahib and Raghuji III belong to the Nagpur dynasty of the 1810s onwards.Consider Maratha rule in Chhattisgarh. P: Bimbaji governed from Ratanpur from 1758 to 1787. Q: He paid an annual tribute of Rs 7,000 to Nagpur. R: The subah system was adopted after his death. S: The Maratha governorship of Chhattisgarh began in 1817 after the Battle of Sitabuldi. Which are correct?
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Answer: C — P, Q and R only
P, Q and R are the recorded facts. S is false: Maratha rule began decades earlier, with the 1740s conquest and Bimbaji’s governorship from 1758; Sitabuldi (1817) concerned the Nagpur court itself. It is the tempting statement because Sitabuldi is the best-known Maratha battle.Arrange in chronological order, earliest first:
P. Raghuji III dies without a male heir.
Q. Sitabuldi and the deposition of Appa Sahib.
R. Formation of the Central Provinces.
S. Bimbaji’s governorship begins.Show answer
Answer: A — S, Q, P, R
Bimbaji’s governorship began in 1758, Sitabuldi was in 1817, Raghuji III died in 1853 and the Central Provinces were formed in 1861. Putting the Central Provinces before the lapse is the tempting mistake, since the 1861 province followed the annexation.In which year were the Central Provinces formed by merging the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories with Nagpur Province?
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Answer: B — 1861
The merger happened in 1861. 1853 is the year of Raghuji III’s death and the lapse; 1905 saw boundary transfers; 1936 added Berar to form the Central Provinces and Berar.By what means was the Bhonsle kingdom of Nagpur, including Chhattisgarh, brought under direct British administration after the death of Raghuji III in 1853?
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Answer: B — Doctrine of lapse
Raghuji III died without a male heir and the kingdom lapsed to the British. The subsidiary treaty came earlier, around 1816–17, and is the tempting answer because it also brought British control; Deogaon (1803) followed an earlier war.Which of the following was NOT among the fourteen Chhattisgarh States of the Eastern States Agency?
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Answer: B — Kalahandi
Kalahandi was a salute state of the Odisha group, transferred to Bengal in 1905, and is not among the fourteen Chhattisgarh States, all of which were non-salute. Sarangarh, Nandgaon and Chhuikhadan are on the list.Consider the 1905 boundary changes. P: Changbhakar, Korea, Surguja, Udaipur and Jashpur were transferred from Bengal to the Central Provinces. Q: Most of Sambalpur district and the states of Patna and Kalahandi were transferred to Bengal. R: Bastar was transferred to Bengal. S: The Chhattisgarh Division was abolished. Which are correct?
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Answer: A — P and Q only
P and Q record the exchange of 1905: five Chhattisgarh-side states came in and Sambalpur with some Odisha states went out. R and S are false; Bastar stayed in the Central Provinces and the Chhattisgarh Division continued.Where was Veer Narayan Singh of Sonakhan hanged on 10 December 1857?
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Answer: D — Jaistambh Chowk, Raipur
He was hanged at Jaistambh Chowk in Raipur. Sonakhan is the tempting answer as it was his own estate, but he was hanged in Raipur, not at his estate.What was the incident in 1856 that led the British to arrest Veer Narayan Singh?
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Answer: B — Allegedly seizing grain in a famine and giving it to the hungry
In the famine of 1856 he was arrested for allegedly looting a grain store and distributing the grain to the poor. The irrigation tax belongs to the Kandel satyagraha of 1920, and forest reservation to the Bhumkal of 1910.The Bhumkal of 1910 in Bastar was led by Gunda Dhur. What was among its chief grievances?
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Answer: C — The reservation of forests and a ban on country liquor
The reservation of forests, with contractors given timber rights in 1908, and the ban on locally made liquor were the chief grievances. The others are not recorded as causes of the Bhumkal; the plains’ revenue settlements are the tempting wrong answer as they belong to British Chhattisgarh, not Bastar.Match the leader with the movement. Leaders: P Veer Narayan Singh; Q Gunda Dhur; R Sundarlal Sharma; S Thakur Pyarelal Singh. Movements:
(i) Kandel Nahar satyagraha, 1920;
(ii) Rajnandgaon mill workers’ strike, 1920;
(iii) Sonakhan revolt, 1857;
(iv) Bhumkal, 1910.Show answer
Answer: A — P-iii, Q-iv, R-i, S-ii
Veer Narayan Singh led the Sonakhan revolt, Gunda Dhur the Bhumkal, Sundarlal Sharma the Kandel Nahar satyagraha and Thakur Pyarelal Singh the Rajnandgaon mill strike. The swapped option puts the two 1920 events on the wrong leaders, the commonest slip.The Kandel Nahar satyagraha of 1920, led by Sundarlal Sharma, took place in which tehsil, and against what?
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Answer: A — Dhamtari tehsil, against an irrigation tax
Kandel lies in Dhamtari tehsil and the protest was against an irrigation tax. Rajnandgaon’s issue was mill labour, and forest reservation was the cause in Bastar in 1910.The Rajnandgaon cotton-mill workers’ strike of 1920 was led by whom?
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Answer: C — Thakur Pyarelal Singh
Thakur Pyarelal Singh led it, and a second strike in 1924. Sundarlal Sharma is the tempting answer as he is the other great Gandhian of the region and was active in 1920 too, but his campaign was the Kandel canal satyagraha.Arrange in chronological order, earliest first:
P. Gandhi’s visit to Durg.
Q. The Bhumkal in Bastar.
R. The Rajnandgaon mill workers’ strike.
S. Hanging of Veer Narayan Singh.Show answer
Answer: A — S, Q, R, P
The sequence is 1857 (Veer Narayan Singh), 1910 (Bhumkal), 1920 (mill strike) and November 1933 (Gandhi at Durg). Gandhi’s 1933 Durg visit is the latest of the four; the tempting error is to confuse it with his 1920 visit to Raipur and Dhamtari and place it before the strike.Who was the last ruling head of Bastar state, who came to the throne in 1936?
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Answer: D — Pravir Chandra Bhanj Deo
Pravir Chandra Bhanj Deo came to the throne in 1936 and was the last ruling head. Rudra Pratap Deo ruled 1891–1921 and Prafulla Kumari Devi, the tempting answer as she immediately preceded him, 1921–1936.Under the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, on which date did Chhattisgarh come into being as a state?
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Answer: C — 1 November 2000
The Government fixed 1 November 2000 as the appointed day. 25 August 2000, the date of the President’s assent, is the tempting alternative.Consider the formation of the state. P: According to the commonly cited account, the Raipur Congress raised the demand for a separate Chhattisgarh in 1924. Q: The new state began in 2000 with sixteen districts. R: Ajit Jogi was the first Chief Minister. S: The President’s assent to the Act was given on 1 November 2000. Which are correct?
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Answer: D — P, Q and R only
P, Q and R are correct. S is false: assent was given on 25 August 2000, and 1 November 2000 was the appointed day on which the state was formed.Madhya Pradesh was reconstituted with the Chhattisgarh area inside it under one Act, and Chhattisgarh became a separate state under another. Which pairing is correct?
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Answer: B — States Reorganisation Act, 1956, then Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 reconstituted Madhya Pradesh with the Chhattisgarh region inside it, and the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 separated Chhattisgarh from it. The reversed order is a tempting trap but the 1956 Act came first; the 1935 and 1947 Acts did not reconstitute or divide Madhya Pradesh.