Koriya
| Koriya | |
|---|---|
| Former Princely state | |
| Country |
 India |
| State | Chhattisgarh |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Hindi, Chhattisgarhi |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
Koriya, also spelled as Korea, was a princely state of the British Raj.[1] After Indian independence in 1947, the ruler of Koriya acceded to the Union of India on 1 January 1948, and Koriya was made part of Surguja District of Central Provinces and Berar province. On January 1950, “Central Provinces and Berar” province was renamed Madhya Pradesh state. After November 2000, Koriya and the former princely state of Changbhakar became Koriya district of Chhattisgarh state.
Koriya had an area of 1,631 sq. miles and a population of 126,874 as of 1941.
Location
The state of Koriya, which included 400 villages, was in what is now Chhattisgarh state. It bordered Rewa to the north and alsoto the southwest; Surguja to the east; the British district of Bilaspur (Central Provinces) to the south; and Changbhakar to the west.
History
The ruling family of Koriya were Chauhan Rajputs who came to Koriya from Rajputana in the 13th century and conquered the country. Before the coming of the Marathas, it is alleged that the rajas of Koriya “lived in perfect independence, and never having been necessitated to submit to the payment of any tribute, they had no occasion to oppress their subjects.” This situation changed in 1790, and Koriya had to pay tribute to the Marathas. Koriya also seems to have had some indefinite feudal relations with Surguja, but the British government ignored this claim when Koriya was ceded to them by the Bhonsle raja of Nagpur in 1818. Upon the extinction of the direct line in 1897, a distant collateral branch of the ruling family was recognized as successor by the British Raj.
In 1891, the Raj decided that the five states of the Surguja group (Surguja, Udaipur, Jashpur, Koriya, and Changbhakar), and the states of Bonai, Gangpur, Seraikela, and Kharsawan, formerly known as the Tributary Mahals of Chhota Nagpur, were not part of British India, and revised sanads were issued in 1899 formally recognizing them as feudatory states and defining their relations with the British Raj.
The rulers of the state have apparently always held the title of raja and were so recognized by the British as early as 1819.[2]
References
- ड़ा.संजय अलंग-छत्तीसगढ़ की रियासतें और जमीन्दारियाँ (वैभव प्रकाशन, रायपुर1 ISBN 81-89244-96-5
- ड़ा.संजय अलंग-छत्तीसगढ़ की जनजातियाँ/Tribes और जातियाँ/Castes (मानसी पब्लीकेशन, दिल्ली6 ISBN 978-81-89559-32-8