History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c44.98

v2.c44.98

Very little now remains to be told of the History of Orissa. There was no disturbance at Katak, Puri or Balasore during the Mutiny of 1857, but there was considerable disturbance in Sambalpur, which had lapsed to the British Government upon the failure of the direct line in 1850. Up to 1857 Sambalpur remained attached to the South-Western Frontier Agency of Bengal. Before the death of Nārāyaṇ Singh, the last Rājā of Sambalpur, his relation, Surendra Sāhī, was kept in prison at the instance of the Rājā himself in the Jail at Hazaribagh. He was released by Mutineer Sepoys in August 1856 and came back to Sambalpur. During the Mutiny he claimed the Gadi of Sambalpur and failing to recover it, he rebelled and was joined by most of the chiefs and land-holders of the surrounding country. A military detachment sent from Katak failed to subdue the rebellion, on account of the hilly and thickly wooded nature of the country. Even after the proclamation of the Royal Amnesty at the close of 1858 the Sambalpur rebels did not surrender. The British authority was confined to the headquarters only, while the rebels plundered the cultivated tracts and inhabited areas from their strongholds in the forests. The Sambalpur rebellion continued till 1861 when additional troops were sent and further concessions promised to the rebels by the Government of Bengal. The leaders surrendered one by one and Surendra Sāhī, the chief leader, surrendered in May 1862 and was pardoned. In 1862 Sir Richard Temple, then officiating Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces, states in his administrative report of those Provinces that "The Dependencies of Sumbulpore consist of the Gurjat Tributary States, 13 in number, as named in the margin viz : 1. Patna, 2. Sonepore, 3. Bamra, 4. Kalahundy, 5. Khurriar, 6. Rehracole, 7. Raigurh, 8. Burgurh, 9. Sarungurh, 10, Phooljur, 11, Suktee, 12, Bendra Nowagurh and 13. Bora Samur." Further on Sir Richard Temple defines the position of these subordinate chiefs of Sambalpur in 1862 in the following words :