It had an area of 13,062 square miles (33,830km2)[2] and a population of 306,501 in 1901, when its capital city at Jagdalpur, situated on the banks of Indravati river, had a population of 4,762.[2]
History
Traditionally the area is mentioned as Dandakaranya in the epic Ramayana, and part of the Kosala Kingdom in the Mahabharata. Around 450 AD, the Bastar area was ruled by a Nala king called Bhavadatta Varman, who is recorded as having invaded the neighbouring Vakataka kingdom during the reign of its king, Narendrasena (440-460) [3]
A brother of Prataparudra II, Annamaraja, has been associated with ruling what eventually became the state of Bastar. This appears likely to be historical revisionism, dating from a genealogy published by the ruling family in 1703, because the document records only eight generations spanning almost four centuries of rule. Such revisionism and tenuous claims of connection to the Kakatiyas was not uncommon because it was perceived as legitimising the right to rule and a warrior status. Talbot notes that there is a record of a brother called Annamadeva and that:
He is said to have left Warangal for the northeast after anointing Prataparudra's son as king. Thus, the founder of the family fortunes in Bastar may very well have been a Telugu warrior from Telangana who was familiar with the prevalent legends about the Kakatiyas.[4]
According to this chronology, the state was established around 1324 CE and the founder established his kingdom at Bastar under the tutelage of a local goddess, Danteshwari. That goddess remains the tutelary deity of Bastar region and the Danteshwari Temple stands today at Dantewada.[5] He ruled till 1369 when he was followed successively by Hamir Deva (r. 1369-1410), Bhaitai Deva (1410–1468), Purushottama Deva (1468–1534), Pratapa Raja Deva (1602–1625) and Dikpala Deva (1680–1709), after which the Bastar branch of the dynasty became extinct in the third generation with him, after which a descendant of the younger brother of Prataparaja Deva, Rajapala Deva became the next King in 1709. Rajapala Deva had two wives, first a Baghela princess, married, who had a son, Dakhin Singh, secondly, a Chandela Princess, who has two sons, Dalapati Deva and Pratap, trouble however struck again when after the death of Rajapala Deva in 1721, the elder queen ousted other claimants and placed her brother on the throne of Bastar, Dalapati Deva took refuge in the neighbouring kingdom of Jeypore and finally regained his throne a decade later in 1731.[6][7]
Its capital was Jagdalpur, where Bastar royal palace built by its ruler, when its capital was shifted here from old capital Bastar.[6]
Later at some point in the 15th century Bastar was divided into two kingdoms, one based in Kanker and the other ruled from Bastar.[8] The present Halba Tribe claims to descend from the military class of these kingdoms.
Until the rise of the Marathas, the state remained fairly independent until the 18th century. In 1861, Bastar became part of the newly formed Central Provinces and Berar, and in 1863, after years of feud, over the Kotapad region, it was given over to the neighbouring Jeypore state in 1863, on the condition of payment of tribute of Rs. 3,000, two-thirds of which sum was remitted from the amount payable by Bastar. By virtue of this arrangement the tribute of Bastar was, reduced to a nominal amount.
H H Maharaja Pravir Chandra Bhanj Deo was immensely popular among the tribals. He was shot dead in a "police action" on 25 March 1966 while leading a tribal movement against encroachment of land by outsider in concert with the authorities in Bastar. He was executed on the steps of his own Palace in Jagdalpur. Scores of other tribals and courtiers too were murdered by the police.[citation needed]
Rulers
Map of the Central Provinces and Berar in 1909 showing the districts, divisions, and Bastar princely state under the authority of the province, as well as the 1905 changes to the eastern boundary.
Raja Annam Dev (1324 – 1369) - brother of the Kakatiya Raja of Warangal, Pratap Rudra Dev
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Halba are a tribal community found in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha in India. They speak the Halbi language. They are primarily agricultural community. Halbas are mixed tribes or tribal caste, descended from the unions of Gonds and Hindus. Linguistic evidence also points to the fact that the Halbas are an aboriginal tribe, who have adopted Hinduism and an Indo-European language. They were cultivators and farm servants whose home is the south of the Raipur District and the Kanker and Bastar States; from here small numbers of them have spread to Bhandara, parts of Berar and also into Koraput in Odisha.
Pravir Chandra Bhanj Deo, King of Bastar was the 20th Maharaja of Bastar State who was shot in 1966 after a long career championing the rights of his subjects and in particular those of tribal peoples. He represented the Jagdalpur Assembly constituency in the undivided Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly following the general election of 1957.
Maharaja Sri Rama Chandra Bhanja Deo was the Maharaja of Mayurbhanj State of India.
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The Bastar Rebellion, also known as the bhumkal movement was an Adivasi rebellion in 1910 against the British Raj in the princely state of Bastar in central India. It was primarily led by Gunda Dhur, a tribal leader, as well as by a diwan and cousin of the king, Lal Karendra Singh. The tribals mobilized, which led to the entire state rising in revolt against the British colonial government, overwhelming the small 250-strong police force in the state, and was marked by widespread rioting, looting and arson. By the end of February, however, additional troops from neighbouring Jeypore and Bengal had quelled the revolt and arrested the leaders.
Maharaja of Jeypore was the principal title used by the rulers of the Kingdom of Jeypore until its dissolution in 1947. It was also used by the titular rulers until the removal of titles and privileges of all princely states and estates by the 26th amendment of the Constitution of India. However, due to the significance given to the traditional and religious role of a king, evidently, Vishweshwar Dev in 2013 became the Maharaja of Jeypore in pretense.
Maharajah Vikram Dev I or Vikram Dev was the king of Jeypore kingdom from 1758 to 1781. He was born in the Suryavansh Shankara Dynasty that ruled the region since 1443. He succeeded his brother Maharaja Lal Krishna Dev in a military coup in what is described as a critical period when the kingdom was under attack from all directions. The king battled and protected his kingdom from the French East India Company in Malkangiri, Marathas in Umerkote belt and the East India Company - Pusapati alliance in Jeypore and Rayagada. He retransferred the capital from Narayanapatna to Jeypore which had been deserted from the time of Balaram Dev in 1711. In the last years of his reign, the kingdom was demoted to a zamindari after they were defeated by the British. He was the 19th king of the Suryavansh dynasty of Kalinga that previously ruled the kingdom from Nandapur.
Rani Profulla Kumari Devi of Bastar was the Rani regnant of the Indian Princely Bastar State between 1922 and 1936.
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