Harpreet Singh Kohli at 06:55, 4 May 2025

2025-05-04T06:55:57Z

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{{Short description|Province of the Maratha Empire}}
{{Infobox country
| common_name = Saugor Subha
| conventional_long_name = Maratha province of Saugor
| status = [[Province]]
| status_text =
| era = [[Early modern]]
| year_start = 1735
| year_end = 1818
| event_end = Cession to the British after the [[Third Anglo-Maratha War]]
| government_type = [[Governor]]
| capital = [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Sagar]]
| religion = [[Hinduism]]
| p1 = Panna State{{!}}Kingdom of Bundelkhand
| s1 = Kingdom of Nagpur
| s2 = Jalaun State
| s3 = Saugor and Nerbudda Territories
| image_map =
| image_map_caption =
| common_languages =
| today = [[India]]
}}

The '''Saugor [[Subah|subha]]''' was a province of the [[Maratha Empire]] comprising the [[central India]]n territories of the [[Peshwa]] or prime minister. It was ruled by hereditary [[Maratha]] [[Pandit]] governors who had their headquarters at the city of [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Sagar]].<ref name="sagar">{{cite web |title=History of Sagar- Government of Madhya Pradesh |url=https://sagar.nic.in/en/history/}}</ref><ref name="admin">{{cite book |last1=McEldowney |first1=Philip Fredric |title=Colonial Administration and Social Developments in Middle India: The Central Provinces, 1861-1921 |publisher=University of Virginia |url=https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/n583xv002 |language=en |chapter=Administrative and Social Regions of Middle India, 1500-1920}}</ref>

==History==
The [[Bundela]] king [[Chhatrasal]] rebelled against the [[Mughal Empire]] and established a large independent kingdom in the [[Bundelkhand]] region, including the [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Sagar town]].<ref name="h">{{cite book |last1=Chaurasia |first1=R. S. |title=History of the Marathas |date=2004 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |isbn=978-81-269-0394-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D_v3Y7hns8QC&dq=govind+pant+bundele+sagar&pg=PA86 |language=en}}</ref> 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 Bundelkhand|Battle of Jaitpur]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Advance Study in the History of Modern India (Volume-1: 1707–1803) |date=2005 |publisher=Lotus Press |isbn=978-81-89093-06-8 |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UkDi6rVbckoC&pg=PA19 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="sagar"/> In 1733, the [[Peshwa]] sent his agent, [[Govind Pant Bundela|Govind Pant Bundele]] to claim the territory on his behalf.<ref name="report">{{cite book |title=Report on the administration of the Central Provinces: for the year ... 1892/93 (1894) |date=1894 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g-i7oPuQfD0C&dq=Maratha+Pandits+of+Saugor&pg=PA15 |language=en}}</ref> Thus the rule of the [[Maratha]] [[Pandit]]s of [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Saugor]] began with him.<ref name="district"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pradesh (India) |first1=Madhya |title=Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: Satna |date=1965 |publisher=Government Central Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qo1hAAAAIAAJ&q=govind+pant+bundele+sagar |language=en}}</ref>

[[Govind Pant Bundela|Govind Pant Bundele]] founded the present settlement of [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Sagar]] and fortified the town, making it his headquarters in 1735.<ref name="sagar"/><ref name="on">{{cite web |title=History of Sagar, Historical Monuments of Sagar city |url=https://www.sagaronline.in/city-guide/history-of-sagar |website=sagaronline.in}}</ref><ref name="lohar">{{cite book |last1=Sharma |first1=A. N. |last2=Yadav |first2=Ankur |last3=Jain |first3=Anita |title=The Sedentrize Lohar Gadiyas of Malthon: A Socio-demographic and Health Practices Profile |date=2002 |publisher=Northern Book Centre |isbn=978-81-7211-125-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T_v9SYKv6mwC&dq=Govind+Rao+Pandit+sagar&pg=PA13 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="rise">{{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Bhagavānadāsa |title=A History of the Rise and Fall of the Marathas in Bundelkhand, 1731–1804: Based on Original Sources |date=1987 |publisher=Neha Prakashan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2YeAAAAMAAJ&q=govind+pant+bundele+sagar |language=en}}</ref> After the death of [[Govind Pant Bundela|Govind Pant Bundele]] in the [[Third Battle of Panipat]] in 1760,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sardesai |first1=Govind Sakharam |title=New History Of The Marathas Vol.2 |date=January 1964 |url=http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/32142 |archive-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.32142 |archive-date=21 January 2017 |language=en}}</ref> his successors continued to rule [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Sagar]] as hereditary governors.<ref name="district">{{cite book |title=Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: Sagar |date=1967 |publisher=Government Central Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0ZuAAAAMAAJ&q=govind+pant+bundele+sagar |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bhave |first1=V. S. |title=Development of Education in Madhya Pradesh, 1861–1947 |date=2000 |publisher=Himalaya Publishing House |isbn=978-81-7493-776-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-R6cAAAAMAAJ&q=govind+pant+bundele+sagar |language=en}}</ref> Govind Pant was succeeded by his son-in-law Visaji Govind Chandorkar, who was in turn succeeded by his adopted son Ranganath.<ref name="tribal"/><ref name="the">{{cite book |last1=Andhare |first1=B. R. |title=Bundelkhand Under the Marathas, 1720–1818 A.D.: A Study of Maratha-Bundela Relations |date=1984 |publisher=Vishwa Bharati Prakashan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qWYeAAAAMAAJ&q=govind+pant+bundele+sagar |language=en}}</ref>

In 1742, [[Peshwa]] [[Balaji Baji Rao]] attacked the [[Gondi people|Gond]] kingdom of [[Garha Kingdom|Garha-Mandla]] along with Visaji Chandorkar, leader of the Sagar Marathas and killed the ruler, Maharaj Shah.<ref>{{cite book |title=Indian Dissertation Abstracts |date=1988 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yu8agexm5TUC&q=govind+pant+bundele+sagar |language=en}}</ref> His son, Shivraj Singh, ascended he throne on the condition that he would pay an annual tribute of 4 lakhs to the Marathas.<ref name="seoni">{{cite book |last1=Pradesh (India) |first1=Madhya |title=Madhya Pradesh: Seoni |date=1989 |publisher=Government Central Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyVuAAAAMAAJ&q=bakht+buland+shah |language=en}}</ref> [[Garha Kingdom|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|Khurai Fort]] near Sagar.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pradesh (India) |first1=Madhya |title=Madhya Pradesh, District Gazetteers: Seoni |date=1965 |publisher=Government Central Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4dhAAAAIAAJ&q=Maratha+Pandits+of+Sagar |language=en}}</ref><ref name="gond">{{cite book |last1=Chatterton |first1=Eyre |title=The Story Of Gondwana |date=8 January 2021 |publisher=Read Books Ltd |isbn=978-1-5287-6963-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7UTEAAAQBAJ&dq=Saugor&pg=PT23 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pradesh (India) |first1=Madhya |title=Madhya Pradesh: Narsimhapur. Supplement |date=1965 |publisher=Government Central Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pR5uAAAAMAAJ&q=Maratha+Pandits+of+Saugor |language=en}}</ref> 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."<ref name="colonial">{{cite book |last1=Rashkow |first1=Ezra |last2=Ghosh |first2=Sanjukta |last3=Chakrabarti |first3=Upal |title=Memory, Identity and the Colonial Encounter in India: Essays in Honour of Peter Robb |date=18 August 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-351-59694-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJ4xDwAAQBAJ&dq=Narhar+Shah&pg=PT229 |language=en}}</ref>

The annexation of [[Garha Kingdom|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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abbasi |first1=A. A. |title=Dimensions of Human Cultures in Central India: Professor S.K. Tiwari Felicitation Volume |date=2001 |publisher=Sarup & Sons |isbn=978-81-7625-186-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jUwFL3IipK0C&dq=Maratha+Pandits+of+Sagar&pg=PA59 |language=en}}</ref> The [[Bhonsles of Nagpur]] eventually captured the districts from the Sagar family in 1799.<ref name="report"/><ref name="tribal">{{cite book |last1=Sureśa. |first1=Miśra |title=Tribal ascendancy in Central India : the Gond Kingdom of Garha |date=2007 |publisher=Manak Publications |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R4MMAQAAMAAJ&q=govind+pant+bundele+sagar}}</ref>

A fort was built by them in [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Sagar]] which was completed in 1780.<ref>{{cite web |title="Sagar" |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Sagar |website=Britannica}}</ref> In 1818, after the [[Third Anglo-Maratha War]], Sagar was handed over to the [[Company Rule in India|British government]] by Govindrao I, ruler of [[Jalaun State]] and descendant of [[Govind Pant Bundela|Govind Pant Bundele]].<ref name="sagar"/><ref name="on"/><ref name="h"/><ref name="lohar"/><ref name="report"/><ref name="district"/>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Maratha Empire}}

[[Category:Maratha Empire]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1735]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1818]]

Marathas of Saugor - Revision history

Harpreet Singh Kohli at 06:55, 4 May 2025