Maratha Rule in Chhatisgarh

 

Maratha Rule in Chhattisgarh

 

On 1741, Bhaskar Pant attacked Ratanpur state. Raghunath Singh was the ruler at that time. He was suffering in mourning the death of his only son and He was not Fully present at that moment. So He surrendered in front of Bhaskar Pant without any opposition.

To terrorize the Ratanpur state,  Bhaskar Pant imposed a fine of ₹ 1 lakh on the people and looted treasury funds.

While returning, Bhaskar Pant appointed Raghunath Singh as Maratha representative and gave him the right to rule the Ratanpur state again.

 

Raipur Branch of Kalachuri- Amar Singh was ruling here during the invasion of Bhaskar Pant but Amar Singh did not oppose Bhaskar Pant. So Amar Singh ruled till 1750 But in 1750 Bimbaji Bhonsle deposition he from the ruling and was given three Parganas which were Raipur, Rajim and Paatan, in return he had to pay 7000 Rs. as an annual gift.

 

Raghunath Singh's elder brother wanted to crown Mohan Singh after his death.

In 1745, Mohan Singh Invaded Ratanpur with the help of Maratha ruler Raghunath and deposition Raghunath Singh

Mohan Singh was crowned as Ruler of Ratanpur state till 1758.

After the death of Mohan Singh in 1758, Bimabaji Bhonsle became the first Maratha ruler to directly rule Ratanpur state he was the son of Raghuji I.

 

BIMBAJI BHONSLE (1758-1787)

First Maratha ruler of Chhattisgarh in 1758.

Although he was appointed here as an association of the Raja of Nagpur but took advantage of circumstances and started ruling independently.

He made Ratanpur his capital.

 

Administrative Reforms

He had a separate court, minister and army in Ratanpur.

He established a regular court at Ratanpur for justice-related facilities.

BimBaji is considered to be the proposer of Pargana system in Chhattisgarh. (Father of Pargana system- Vithal Rao Dinkar)

Bimbajiji unified administration of Raipur and Ratanpur and Created two new Zamindaris of Rajnandgaon and Khujji

During his rule, Bastar was merged in Chhattisgarh under the Treaty of Kotpaad ( 6th April 1778).

 

Architectural development

He built a grand Ram temple on the hill of Ratanpur which is famous today as Ramtekari.

He reconstructed Dudhadhari monarchy situated in Raipur

Other important works

The Tradition of giving gold letters on the occasion of  Vijayadashami festival was started by Bimabaji

He started to use Marathi, Urdu and Godi scripts.

Replaced the Koudhi (Kalachuri) currency with the silver Nagpuri currency.

Bimbaji lacked soldierly qualities Hence he did not attempt to expand the empire.

He died in December 1787. On the death of BimbaJi, the people of Ratanpur were drowned in mourning.

 

 

Vyankoji Bhonsle (1787-1811)

Vyankoji Bhonsle became the next Maratha ruler after the death of BimbaJi Bhonsle. He ruled Ratanpur state indirectly by staying in Nagpur. He introduced the Suba system in Chhattisgarh

The result of this policy was that Nagpur became the centre of political activities in Chhattisgarh and The political magnificence of Ratanpur began to fade.

As the representative of the Vyankoji Bhonsle, Subedars resided in Ratanpur and started ruling in Chhattisgarh.

This policy existed until 1818 AD when Chhattisgarh came under British control.

During his reign, Vyankoji Bhonsle visited Ratanpur only three times because he was not interested in ruling in Chhattisgarh as he could never separate himself from the politics of Nagpur.

The Suba governance system established in Chhattisgarh was part of the colonial policy of the Marathas which was known as Suba Government

The Subedar stayed in the  Ratanpur headquarters and governed the entire region. This is how Marathas relaxed by giving the governance of Chhattisgarh to Subedars.

Vyakonji Bhonsle died in 1811.

 

 

In the next article, we will discuss various Subedars posted in Chhattisgarh and nature of Suba system.