Nagpur Kingdom

Origins

Raghuji Bhonsle, a Maratha general, was sent to Berar and Gondwana and around 1739 established himself at Nagpur, absorbing the Gond kingdom of Deogarh. His armies invaded Bengal repeatedly in the 1740s, and in 1751 Nawab Alivardi Khan ceded Orissa to him.

Rule and society

The Bhonsles were among the great Maratha houses, often rivals of the Peshwa, and ruled a large but thinly populated realm of central India. Raghuji II was defeated with Scindia at Assaye and Argaon in 1803 and lost Orissa and western Berar by the Treaty of Deogaon. Appa Sahib's attack on the British at Sitabuldi in 1817 led to the loss of more land and close British control.

Decline and legacy

When Raghuji III died without a son in 1853, Lord Dalhousie annexed the kingdom under the doctrine of lapse. Its lands formed the Nagpur Province and later the Central Provinces.