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Princely state in India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rewa State, also known as Rewah, was a kingdom and later princely state of India, surrounding its eponymous capital, the town of Rewa.[citation needed]
With an area of about 43,530 km2 (16,807 sq mi),[1] Rewa was one of the largest princely states in the Bagelkhand Agency and the second largest in Central India Agency. Rewa was also the third-wealthiest principality in Central India, with an average revenue of 2.9 million rupees in 1901.[2] The Bagelkhand Agency was dissolved in 1933, following which Rewa was placed under the authority of the Indore Residency. Rewah state had a 15-gun salute.[citation needed]
According to legend, the kingdom of Rewa was founded around 1140 CE. On 5 October 1812, it became a British protectorate. Between 1 April 1875 and 15 October 1895, Rewa remained under the direct colonial administration of British India.[3]
The ruler of Rewa ruled from Bandhavgarh during the founding reign of Raja Vyaghra Dev, who was a direct descendant of Gujarati warrior king Vir Dhawal. In 1617, Maharaja Vikramaditya Singh moved his capital to Rewa. Maharaja Martand Singh was the last ruler of Rewa who acceded to the Union of India after the country became India.[citation needed]
Akbar was given refuge at Rewa at age 10, when his father Humayun fled India following a defeat in war. Prince Ramchandra Singh and Akbar grew up together as royal heirs. Maharaja Ramchandra Singh and Akbar remained friends. In the mid-1550s, Raja Ramachandra Singh Baghela maintained a musically talented court, including the legendary Tansen. Two of the Navratnas of Akbar, Tansen and Birbal (originally named Mahesh Das) were sent from Rewa by Maharaja Ramchandra Singh once Akbar became Emperor of India. In 1580, Akbar reorganized his empire into 12 Subahs and combined the provinces of Jaunpur Sultanate, Kara-Manikpur and territory of Bandhogarh into the Subah of Ilahabad.[citation needed]
Raja Vishwanath Singh abolished Sati in the state under British pressure in 1847. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Rewa State sided with the British East India Company.[4] Rewa State was important for the British Raj from perspective of logistics as roads and railway lines connecting Gangetic plains to Deccan passed through the state.[4]
Rewa was the first princely state in India to declare Hindi the national language, in the times of Maharaja Gulab Singh. He is also credited for declaring the first responsive government in modern India, providing citizens of Rewa state a right to question their monarch's decisions.[citation needed]
The state came under British paramountcy in 1812 and remained a princely state within the British Raj until India's independence in 1947.[citation needed]
During the long minority of Raja Venkat Raman Singh (b.1876, r.1880–1918), the administration of the state was reformed. In 1901, the town boasted a high school, a "model jail" and two hospitals: the Victoria hospital and the Zenana hospital. However, Lord Irwin criticized the lagging of state in terms of development and he spoke of Rewa's need to end its aloofness with the world and it was still adjudged among the most backward areas of the country by V.P. Menon, after he visited the state in 1947.[citation needed]
During Gulab Singh's reign, the state turned more towards autocracy and regional autonomy with tahsildars needing His Highness' permission for petty decisions.
Upon India's independence in 1947, the maharaja of Rewa acceded unto the Dominion of India. Rewa later merged with the Union of India and became part of Vindhya Pradesh, which was formed by the merger of the former princely states of the Baghelkhand and Bundelkhand agencies. Rewa served as the capital of the new state.[citation needed]
In 1956, Vindhya Pradesh was merged with other nearby political entities to form the Indian constitutive state of Madhya Pradesh. The Maharaja's palace was converted into a museum.[citation needed]
In February 2007, an extensive book on the history of Rewa, Baghelkhand, or the Tigers' Lair by Dr D.E.U Baker, was published by Oxford University Press.[citation needed]
Thakur Ranmat Singh[5] of Mankahri revolted against the British and was hanged in 1859.
In the context of the 1857 Indian Rebellion, the princely state of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh played a significant role, but a controversial one. Thakur Ranmat Singh, a notable leader from Mankhari village in Satna district, emerged as a key figure in the uprising within the region. Holding the rank of Sardar in the Maharaja of Rewa's service, Thakur Ranmat Singh became increasingly discontented with British interference, particularly by the Resident Political Agent, Willoughby Osborne.
Inspired by the rebellion's broader momentum, Ranmat Singh led a formidable group of 2,000 rebels, besieging Osborne's bungalow. Although Osborne escaped, the rebels continued their struggle, engaging in multiple battles across areas like Nagod, Bhilsain, Chitrakoot, Nowgong, and Keoti. These activities made Thakur Ranmat Singh a significant threat to British control in the area [6][7]
However, the Maharaja of Rewa, under British pressure, eventually turned against Ranmat Singh. Despite initial sympathies for his cause, the Maharaja facilitated Ranmat Singh's capture. Thakur Ranmat Singh was arrested, charged with the murder of Europeans, and hanged in August 1860.[8]
This betrayal by the Rewa state highlights the complexities and internal conflicts during the 1857 Rebellion, where loyalty and resistance often intertwined in the fight against colonial rule.
The predecessor state, Bandhogarh, was founded c. 1140. Vyaghra Deo, a brother of a ruler of Gujarat, is said to have made his way into northern India around 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, was the Baghel capital. In 1298, Ulugh Khan, acting under orders of the sultan of Delhi, Alauddin Khilji, drove the last Vaghela ruler of Gujarat 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.[citation needed]
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, Maharaja.
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