PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY:
Predecessor
state was founded circa 1140. The chiefs of Rewa were Baghel Rajputs
descended
from the Solanki clan which ruled over Gujrat from the tenth to the
thirteenth
century. Vyaghra Deo, brother of the ruler of Gujarat, is said to have
made
his way into northern India about the middle of the thirteenth century
and obtained the fort of Marpha, 18 miles north-east of Kalinjar. His
son
Karandeo married a Kalchuri (Haihaya) princess of Mandla and received
in
dowry the fort of Bandhogarh which, until its destruction in 1597 by
Akbar
was the Baghel Capital. In 1298, Ulugh Khan, acting under orders of
emperor
Alauddin drove the last Baghel ruler of Gujrat from his country and
this
is believed to have caused a considerable migration of the Baghels to
Bandhogarh.
Until the 15th century the Baghels of Bandhogarh were engaged in
extending
their possessions and escaped the attention of the Delhi kings, in
1498-9,
Sikandar Lodi failed in his attempt to take the fort of Bandhogarh.
Rulers
were...
- Raja SHAKTIVAN 1495/1500
- Raja VEER SINGH Deo 1500/1540, married and had issue.
- Thakur NADBHANU [Horildeo], third son, received the
estate of Beerha
as his patrimony in 1550, he was appointed a mansabdar with the
title of Horilshah by Emperor Humayun of Delhi.
- Raja VIRBHAN SINGH 1540/1555
- Raja RAMCHANDRA 1555/1592
- Raja BIRBHADRA 1592/1618, 19th Raja of Bandhogarh.
- Raja VIKRAMADITYA 1618/1630, his accession gave rise to
disturbances,
Akbar
intervened and captured and dismantled the Bandhogarh fort in 1597
after
a siege of eight months. It is after this that the town of Rewa started
gaining in importance. It is said to have been founded by Raja
Vikramaditya
in 1618 (which perhaps means that he undertook the construction of
palaces
and other buildings there because the place had already assumed
importance
in 1554 when it was held by Jalal Khan son of emperor Shershah).
- Raja AMAR SINGH 1630/1643, married and had issue.
- Rais FATEH SINGH, rebelled against his father and
established himself
in Sohawal.
- Raja ANOOP SINGH 1643/1660
- Raja BHAV SINGH 1660/1690
- Raja ANIRUDH SINGH 1690/1700
- Raja AVDHUT SINGH 1700/1755, the state was sacked by Hirde
Shah of
Panna
in about 1731, causing the Raja to flee to Pratapgarh in Oudh; married
(amongst others), Maharani Sagun Kunwar, daughter of Umara-i-Uzzam
Maharaja Mahendra GOPAL SINGH of Bhadawar, and his fifth wife, the
daughter of Raja Madho Singh Sirnet of
Bansi.
- Raja AJIT SINGH 1755/1809
- Raja JAI SINGH 1809/1835, in 1812 a body of Pindaris raided
Mirzapur
from
Rewa territory. Upon this Jaisingh was called upon to accede to a
treaty,
in which he acknowledged the protection of the British Government, and
agreed to refer all disputes with neighbouring chiefs to their
arbitration
and to allow British troops to march through or be cantoned in his
territories.
- Raja VISHWANATH SINGH 1835/1854, married and had issue. He
died 1854.
- HH Maharaja RAGHURAJ SINGH Bahadur (qv)
- Daughter, married Maharaja RAM SINGH II of Jaipur.
- Daughter, married Maharaj Mahabat Singh of Jodhpur.
 HH Maharaja RAGHURAJ SINGH
Bahadur 1854/1880, born 1834, at the mutiny
of 1857, Maharaja Raghuraj Singh helped the British in quelling the
uprisings
in the neighbouring Mandla and Jabalpur districta, and in Nagod which
is
now a part of Satna district, for this, the Maharaja was rewarded by
restoration
to him of the Sohagpur (Shahdol) and Amarkantak parganas, which had
been
seized by the Marathas in the beginning of the century, Maharaja
[cr.1857],
married eight wives, including HH Maharani Appala Kondyamba, daughter
of
Maharaja Mirza Pusapati Sir VIJAYARAMA GAJAPATHI Raju Bahadur of Vizianagram,
died 14th December 1912, and had issue. He died 5th February 1880.
- Lt.Col.
HH Samrajya Maharajadhiraja Bandhresh Shri Maharaja Sir VENKAT RAMAN
RAMANUJ PRASAD SINGH Ju Deo Bahadur (qv)
- Daughter, married Maharaj Kishore Singh of Jodhpur.
- Daughter, married 1903, HH Maharao Raja Sir RAGHUBIR
SINGHJI Sahib
Bahadur
of Bundi. She died 1904.
- Lt.Col.
HH Samrajya Maharajadhiraja Bandhresh Shri Maharaja Sir VENKAT RAMAN
RAMANUJ PRASAD SINGH Ju Deo Bahadur 1880/1918,
born 23rd
July 1876, G.C.S.I. [cr.1897], married 1stly, the daughter of Maharaja
Sir RADHA PRASAD SINGH Bahadur of Dumraon
in Bihar, married 2ndly, the daughter of HH Maharaja RANJIT SINGH of Ratlam,
died 1913, married 3rdly, the daughter of a Parihar Thakur in Oudh, and
had issue. He died 3rd November 1918.
- HH Bandhvesh Maharaja Sir GHULAB SINGH Bahadur (qv)
- Maharajkumar Ravendra Ramanuj Prasad Singh, born 10th
January 1917.
- HH Maharani Sudarshan
Prasad Kumari, born 5th September 1906, married 18th April 1922, HH
Maharajadhiraj Sri SADUL SINGH
of Bikaner, and had issue. She died
19th December 1971.
- Major-General HH Samrajya Maharajadhiraja Bandhresh Shri
Maharaja Sir GHULAB SINGH Ju Deo Bahadur
1918/1946 (deposed 30th
January 1946), born 12th March 1903, G.C.I.E. [cr.1.1.1931], K.C.S.I.
[cr. 1.1.1927], married 1stly, 15th June 1919, HH
Bandhveshwari Shri Maharani Sahiba Samrajyi Kunwar of Jodhpur,
married 2ndly, 18th February 1925, the daughter of HH Maharaja MADAN
SINGH
of Kishangarh, and had issue. He
died
13th April 1950.
 HH Samrajya Maharajadhiraja Bandhresh Shri Maharaja
MARTAND SINGH Ju Deo Bahadur 1946/1995, born 15th March
1923, elected to
the
Fifth, Seventh and Eighth Lok Sabha representing Rewa Parliamentary
Constituency
of Madhya Pradesh during 1971-1977 and 1980-1989. An agriculturist and
businessman by profession, he was Raj Pramukh of Vindhya Pradesh. He
was
a very popular and active social worker. As a philanthropist, he built
hospitals, dispensaries and organised camps for providing medical aid
to
indigent and sick people. He donated his palace at Satna and other
properties
for establishment of educational institutions like Banaras Hindu
University
and College in Satna. A widely travelled person, he evinced keen
interest
in the fields of sports, education, photography, archaeology and
wildlife
preservation. He established and developed National Park at Bandhogarh.
He had served as a member of All India Wildlife Preservation Board and
as the Director of Madhya Pradesh Udyog Vikas Nigam, Bhopal. He also
made
special efforts for development of irrigation, industries, transport,
electrification
and rail services in his area, married 1943, HH Maharani Pravin
Kunverba
of Kutch and had issue. He died
20th November
1995 at Rewah.
- HH Samrajya Maharajadhiraja Bandhresh Shri Maharaja
PUSHPRAJ SINGH Ju Deo Bahadur (son) (see above)
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