Chhatarpur Madhya Pradesh

Note - Please click Chhatarpur for similarly named villages at other places.

Chhatarpur (छतरपुर) is a tehsil and district in Madhya Pradesh.

Origin

Visit by Author

Author (Laxman Burdak) visited it on 19-20.04.1991.

History

Chhatarpur was founded in 1785 and is named after the Bundela ruler Chhatrasal, the founder of Bundelkhand independence, and contains his cenotaph. The state was ruled by his descendants until 1785. At that time the Panwar clan of the Rajputs took control of Chhatarpur. The state was guaranteed to Kunwar Sone Singh Ponwar in 1806 by the British Raj. In 1854 Chhatarpur would have lapsed to the British government for want of direct heirs under the doctrine of lapse, but was conferred on Jagat Raj as a special act of grace. The Panwar Rajas ruled a princely state with an area of 1,118 square miles (2,900 km2), and population of 156,139 in 1901, which was part of the Bundelkhand agency of Central India.

In 1901 the town of Chhatarpur had a population of 10,029, a high school and manufactured paper and coarse cutlery. The state also contained the British cantonment of Nowgong.^[1]

List of Rajas

1785–1816 Kunwar Sone Shah (d. 1816)
1816–1854 Partab Singh (d. 1854)
1854–1867 Jaghat Singh (b. 1846 – d. 1867)
1867–1895 Vishvanath Singh (b. 1866 – d. 1932)
(4 May 1649 – 20 December 1731) Maharaja Chhatrasal
1895–1932 Vishvanath Singh (b. 1866 – d. 1932)
1932–1947 Bhawani Singh (b. 1921 – d. 2006) ^[2]

After the independence of India in 1947, the Rajas of Chhatarpur acceded to India, and Chhatarpur, together with the rest of Bundelkhand, became part of the Indian state of Vindhya Pradesh. Vindhya Pradesh was later merged into the state of Madhya Pradesh in 1956.

Col. G. B. Malleson^[3] writes.... Chatarpur, Raja of. This state may be said to have been founded by Suni Sah, a servant of Hinduput, great grandson of Chattar Sal.

Hinduput was the second son of his father, but murdering his elder brother and confining the younger, he succeeded to (p.363) the inheritance left by Chattar Sal to his eldest son Hirdi Sah. After his death, however, civil war ensued, the inheritance , was dissipated, and Suni Sah saw his way to appropriating a portion to himself. After some vicissitudes, he was recognised by the British Government in 1808 as chief of Chatarpur.

In 1827, the son of Suni Sah, Pertab Singh, was made a Raja by the British Government.

The Raja having died without issue in 1854, the Court of Directors ruled that the state of Chatarpur was clearly an escheat ; but in consideration of the fidelity of the family and the good government of the late Raja, they decided, as an act of grace and favour, to grant the state to a nephew of the late Raja, Juggut Raj, the succession being limited to him and his male descendants.

Juggut Raj attained his majority in 1867, but died in 1868, leaving an infant son. His succession was recognised by the British Government, by whom the state is administered through a native superintendent. The Raja has received permission to adopt. The area of Chatarpur is 1,240 square miles, the population 120,000, and the revenue 300,000 rupees.

छतरपुर

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर^[4] ने लेख किया है ... छतरपुर (AS, p.348) बुंदेलखंड की भूतपूर्व रियासत तथा उसका मुख्य नगर. यह नगर बुंदेला नरेश छत्रसाल का बसाया हुआ है. कहा जाता है कि बाबा लालदास नामक एक संत के कहने से छत्रसाल ने यह नगर बसाया था. 18 वीं सदी के अंत में कुंवर सोनेशाह पवार ने छतरपुर की रियासत स्थापित की थी.

छतरपुर परिचय

छतरपुर नगर, उत्तर-भारत मध्य प्रदेश राज्य, मध्य भारत में स्थित है। इसकी पूर्वी सीमा के पास से सिंघारी नदी बहती है। आरंभ में पन्ना सरदारों द्वारा शासित इस नगर पर 18वीं शताब्दी में कुंवर सोन सिंह का अधिकार हो गया। यह चारों ओर से पहाड़ों से घिरा है और वृक्षों, तालाबों तथा नदियों की बहुतायत के कारण अत्यंत दर्शनीय स्थल है। राव सागर, प्रताप सागर और किशोर सागर यहाँ के तीन महत्त्वपूर्ण तालाब हैं।

इतिहास: बुंदेल राजा छत्रसाल ने 1707 में इसकी स्थापना की थी। उन्होंने मुग़लों की सत्ता का सफलतापुर्वक विरोध किया था। यह नगर अंग्रेजों की मध्य भारत एजेंसी की भूतपूर्व छतरपुर रियासत की राजधानी भी था।

उद्योग और व्यापार: इसके आसपास का क्षेत्र धसान तथा केन नदियों के बीच का उपजाऊ मैदान है, जिसके दक्षिण में कहीं-कहीं 450 मीटर तक ऊँची वनाच्छादित पहाड़ियाँ हैं।

यहाँ की पुरानी औद्योगिक गतिविधियों में चीनी और नमक का बाज़ार, टाट-पट्टी निर्माण, छोटे पैमाने पर उत्पादित काग़ज, साबुन, पीतल, लोहे के बर्तन और अपरिष्कृत छुरी-कांटे का निर्माण शामिल है। आधुनिक उद्योगों में इनके अलावा क़ालीन, दरी, कंबल, कांसे के बर्तन तथा सोने-चांदी के आभूषण व लकड़ी पर नक़्क़ाशी, प्रलाक्षाकर्म, लाख की वस्तुएं, मोटे सूती वस्त्र ‘गंज़ी’ की बुनाई और कपड़ों पर छपाई का काम शामिल है।

संदर्भ:- भारतकोश-छतरपुर