Kanker State


Kanker State was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. Its last ruler signed the accession to the Indian Union in 1947.
Kanker State was located north of Bastar State and, except for the valley of the Mahanadi in its eastern part, it consisted mostly of hills covered by forests in which teak, sirsā, śāl and bījāsāl predominated. The state had 63,610 inhabitants in 1881 and 103,536 in 1901, more than half of which were Gonds. Kanker town in Kanker District, Chhattisgarh, was the capital of the state and the see of the Raja's residence. The languages spoken in the state were mainly Chhattisgarhi and Gondi.

History

The early history of the state is obscure. According to tradition Kanker was founded in the early 2nd century by Raja Satkarni of the Satavahana dynasty. The state was occupied by the Marathas of Nagpur in 1809 and the Raja of Kanker was deprived of its power. In 1818, following the defeat of the Maratha Empire and when the Nagpur kingdom became a British protectorate, local rule was restored by the British authorities on payment of a tribute of Rs 500. The tribute imposed on Kanker State was remitted in 1823.
At the time of the British Raj Kanker was one among the 26 feudatory states of the Chhattisgarh States Agency. The state's accession to the Indian Union was signed by its last ruler Bhanupratap Deo on 15 August 1947.

Rulers

The Rajas of the princely state were: