Marathas of Saugor

The Saugor subha was a province of the Maratha Empire comprising the central Indian territories of the Peshwa or prime minister. It was ruled by hereditary Maratha Pandit governors who had their headquarters at the city of Sagar.[1][2]

Maratha province of Saugor
1735–1818
StatusProvince
CapitalSagar
Religion
Hinduism
GovernmentGovernor
Historical eraEarly modern
• Established
1735
• Cession to the British after the Third Anglo-Maratha War
1818
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Kingdom of Bundelkhand
Nagpur Kingdom
Jalaun State
Saugor and Nerbudda Territories
Today part ofIndia

History

The Bundela chieftain Chhatrasal rebelled against the Mughal Empire and established a large independent kingdom in the Bundelkhand region, including the Sagar town.[3] In 1731, Chhatrasal died and left one-third of his kingdom to the Peshwa or prime minister of the Maratha Empire- Baji Rao I in return for his assistance at the Battle of Jaitpur.[4][1] In 1733, the Peshwa sent his agent, Govind Pant Bundele to claim the territory on his behalf.[5] Thus the rule of the Maratha Pandits of Saugor began with him.[6][7]

Govind Pant Bundele founded the present settlement of Sagar and fortified the town, making it his headquarters in 1735.[1][8][9][10] After the death of Govind Pant Bundele in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1760,[11] his successors continued to rule Sagar as hereditary governors.[6][12] Govind Pant was succeeded by his son-in-law Visaji Govind Chandorkar, who was in turn succeeded by his adopted son Ranganath.[13][14]

In 1742, Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao attacked the Gond kingdom of Garha-Mandla along with Visaji Chandorkar, leader of the Sagar Marathas and killed the ruler, Maharaj Shah.[15] His son, Shivraj Singh, ascended he throne on the condition that he would pay an annual tribute of 4 lakhs to the Marathas.[16] Garha-Mandla essentially became a dependent state of the Sagar Marathas, who chose not to annex it until 1781, during the rule of Narhar Shah. Narhar Shah was imprisoned in the Khurai Fort near Sagar.[17][18][19] The anthropologist Stephen Fuchs describes- "In 1781 the last Gond ruler of Mandla, Narhar Shah, was tortured to death by the Maratha general Moraji, and Mandla became a dependency of the Saugor Marathas."[20]

The annexation of Garha-Mandla brought the Sagar Maratha family to its greatest territorial extent, controlling many districts of the former kingdom such as Jabalpur and Narsinghpur for 18 years.[21] The Bhonsles of Nagpur eventually captured the districts from the Sagar family in 1799.[5][13]

A fort was built by them in Sagar which was completed in 1780.[22] In 1818, after the Third Anglo-Maratha War, Sagar was handed over to the British government by Govindrao I, ruler of Jalaun State and descendant of Govind Pant Bundele.[1][8][3][9][5][6]

References
  1. "History of Sagar- Government of Madhya Pradesh".
  2. McEldowney, Philip Fredric. "Administrative and Social Regions of Middle India, 1500-1920". Colonial Administration and Social Developments in Middle India: The Central Provinces, 1861-1921. University of Virginia.
  3. Chaurasia, R. S. (2004). History of the Marathas. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 978-81-269-0394-8.
  4. Advance Study in the History of Modern India (Volume-1: 1707-1803). Lotus Press. 2005. p. 24. ISBN 978-81-89093-06-8.
  5. Report on the administration of the Central Provinces: for the year ... 1892/93 (1894). 1894.
  6. Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: Sagar. Government Central Press. 1967.
  7. Pradesh (India), Madhya (1965). Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: Satna. Government Central Press.
  8. "History of Sagar, Historical Monuments of Sagar city". www.sagaronline.in.
  9. Sharma, A. N.; Yadav, Ankur; Jain, Anita (2002). The Sedentrize Lohar Gadiyas of Malthon: A Socio-demographic and Health Practices Profile. Northern Book Centre. ISBN 978-81-7211-125-0.
  10. Gupta, Bhagavānadāsa (1987). A History of the Rise and Fall of the Marathas in Bundelkhand, 1731-1804: Based on Original Sources. Neha Prakashan.
  11. Sardesai, Govind Sakharam (January 1964). New History Of The Marathas Vol.2. Archived from the original on 21 January 2017.
  12. Bhave, V. S. (2000). Development of Education in Madhya Pradesh, 1861-1947. Himalaya Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-7493-776-6.
  13. Sureśa., Miśra (2007). Tribal ascendancy in Central India : the Gond Kingdom of Garha. Manak Publications.
  14. Andhare, B. R. (1984). Bundelkhand Under the Marathas, 1720-1818 A.D.: A Study of Maratha-Bundela Relations. Vishwa Bharati Prakashan.
  15. Indian Dissertation Abstracts. Popular Prakashan. 1988.
  16. Pradesh (India), Madhya (1989). Madhya Pradesh: Seoni. Government Central Press.
  17. Pradesh (India), Madhya (1965). Madhya Pradesh, District Gazetteers: Seoni. Government Central Press.
  18. Chatterton, Eyre (8 January 2021). The Story Of Gondwana. Read Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-5287-6963-1.
  19. Pradesh (India), Madhya (1965). Madhya Pradesh: Narsimhapur. Supplement. Government Central Press.
  20. Rashkow, Ezra; Ghosh, Sanjukta; Chakrabarti, Upal (18 August 2017). Memory, Identity and the Colonial Encounter in India: Essays in Honour of Peter Robb. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-351-59694-7.
  21. Abbasi, A. A. (2001). Dimensions of Human Cultures in Central India: Professor S.K. Tiwari Felicitation Volume. Sarup & Sons. ISBN 978-81-7625-186-0.
  22. ""Sagar"". Britannica.
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