PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY:
Predecessor
state founded about 1450, the modern state of Panna was
founded in
1731, becoming the capital of Maharaja Chhatar Sal.
Champat Rai, a
descendant of Raja Rudra Pratap of Orchha,
rebelled against the Mughals, later his fourth son,
Maharaja Chhatar
Sal, became the most prominent Bundela leader, as well as
being a good
administrator and a brave warrior, who led a revolt
in 1671 against the Mughal
Empire and soon captured Naugaon in
present-day Chhatarpur District. In 1680 he conquered
Mahoba, and went
on to
control much of Bundelkhand, ruling from Panna. He formed
an alliance
with
the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I, who was challenging the
Mughals for
control of central India, and in 1729, Baji Rao sent a
Maratha army to
aid
Chhatar Sal
against the Marathas. Upon his death in 1731, his kingdom
was divided
amongst his
sons,
with one-third (including Mahoba, Banda, and Jhansi) going
to his ally,
the Maratha Peshwa Baji
Rao I. The portion containing Panna went to Harde Sah, the
eldest son
of
Chhatar Sal, other descendants ruled the states of
Panna, Ajaigarh (founded 1765), Charkhari (founded 1765),
Chhatarpur
(went to the Ponwar Rajputs in 1785), and
Jaso. In the early 19th century, Panna became a princely
state
of
British India, and gained control of the states of Sohawal
and
Nagod. Raja Nirpat Singh assisted the British in the
Revolt of 1857,
and the
British rewarded him with the title of Maharaja. Maharaja
Mahendra
Yadvendra Singh acceded to the Government of India on 1st
January 1950,
and
the former Princely State became Panna District of the new
Indian state
of Vindhya
Pradesh. Vindhya Pradesh was merged into Madhya Pradesh on
1st November
1950.
Rulers were...
- Raja HARDE SAH, 1st Raja of Panna 1731/1739,
eldest
son of Raja
Chhatarsal,
received
Panna from his father,
valued at 39 lakhs annually in 1731, sacked the Rewah
State in about
1731, causing Raja Avadhoot Singh to flee to
Pratapgarh in Oudh,
married and had issue. He died
1739.
- Raja Sabha Singh (qv)
- Rajkumar Prithvi Singh, claimed the succession
after his
father's
death,
and with the help of the Marathas managed to take
control of the
Shahgarh
area of Panna state, becoming its first Raja around
1744, married and
had issue.
- Raja Mardan Singh, Raja of Garhakotah fl.1810,
married
and had issue. He died about 1810.
- Raja Arjun Singh of Shahgarh, died 1842.
- Kumar (name
unknown), married and had issue.
- Raja Bakht Bali Singh, Raja of Shahgarh,
he
joined the Mutiny in 1857, but later gave
himself up and was
imprisoned. He died after 1869.
- Raja SABHA SINGH, 2nd Raja of Panna
1739/1752,
married and had issue.
He died
1752.
- Raja Aman Singh (qv)
- Raja Hindupat Singh (qv)
- Raja AMAN SINGH, 3rd Raja of Panna 1752/1758,
constructed a palace at
Fort
Kalinjer,
donated
Alipura pargana to Rao Mukund Singh, a sardar of
Panna, died 1758,
murdered
by his brother.
- Raja HINDUPAT SINGH, 4th Raja of Panna
1758/1778,
constructed Jugal
Kishore
Temple at
Panna, he granted territory of Maihar to his Minister
Beni Hujoori
[Hazuri] in 1778, married and had
issue. He died 1778.
- Raja Anirudh Singh (qv)
- Raja Dhokal Singh (qv)
- Raja ANIRUDH SINGH , 5th Raja of Panna
1778/1779,
succeeded his father
after an
older brother was overlooked in the succession, being
a minor, the
state was
managed by
Beni
Hazuri and Khemraj Chaube, a Brahmin, and Sonesah
Ponwar, who as a
result of their jealousy and suspicions of each other,
caused the state to fall into civil war which was
intensified by the
death of the Raja, and the rivalry of
numerous
claimants. During this period the area of Panna State
was much reduced
as these three carved out for themselves Maihar,
Paldeo and Chhatarpur
respectively, as free states. Ultimately Dhokal
Singh, brother of
Raja Anirudh Singh was able to establish himself on
the gaddi.
He died 1779.
INTERREGNUM 1779/1785
- Raja
DHOKAL SINGH, 6th Raja of Panna 1785/1798,
married and had issue.
- Raja KISHOR SINGH, 7th Raja of Panna
1798/1834
(1840), confirmed in his
possessions
by sanads granted in 1807 and 1811,
constructed Jaggananth ji
temple
at Panna, was awarded control of Sohawal state and
Nagod state by the
British
authorities, married and had issue.
- Raja Harbans Singh Ju Deo Bahadur [Harbans Rai]
(qv)
- Maharaja Mahendra Nirpat Singh Ju Deo Bahadur (qv)
- Raja HARBANS SINGH Ju Deo Bahadur, 8th Raja
of Panna
1834/1849.
- Maharaja Mahendra NIRPAT SINGH Ju Deo Bahadur,
9th
Maharaja of Panna 1849/1870,
assisted the
British
during the mutiny, by holding the forst of Kalinjar
and clearing Damoh
District of rebels, for which he was rewarded with a khilat
worth
20,000Rs, and the Samaria pargana, and in 1869
was granted the
title
of Maharaja as a personal distinction. In 1862 a sanad
of
adoption
was granted him, and in 1863 he ceded the land
required for the East
Indian
Railway, constructed Lokpal Sagar (Tank) near Panna,
developed the
commercial
area in Panna known as Bada Bajar, constructed
the Ram Janki
temple
at Panna, married and had issue.
- HH Maharaja Mahendra Sir Rudra Pratap Singh Ju Deo
Bahadur (qv)
- HH Maharaja Mahendra Lokpal Singh Ju Deo Bahadur
(qv)
- Kunwar Lakshman Singh Ju Deo, adopted by Rao
Bhopal Singh
of Jigni and succeeded there as Rao Lakshman Singh
II Bahadur of Jigni.
- Rao Raja Khuman Singh Ju Deo, married and had
issue. He
was murdered in June 1901.
- Capt. HH Maharaja Mahendra Sir Yadvendra Singh
Ju Deo
Bahadur (qv)
- HH Maharani Padmini Kunverba Sahiba, married
18th June
1917, Lt.-Col.
HH
Maharana Shri Sir Vijaysinhji Chhatrasinhji Sahib,
Maharaja of Rajpipla,
and had issue.
- HH Maharaja Mahendra Sir RUDRA PRATAP SINGH Ju
Deo
Bahadur, 10th Maharaja of Panna 1870/1893,
born
10th July 1848, succeeded 9th June 1870 (#1),
K.C.S.I. [cr.1876], granted the title of Maharaja,
which was made
hereditary,
and received an addition of 2 guns to his salute as a
personal honour
in
1877, one of the best rulers of Panna, he constructed
Baldeoji Temple
and
Govindji
Temple, constructed many roads and cavelets and a
bridge over the river
in Panna, also constructed the Ajaigarh ghat. He died
sp.
- HH Maharaja Mahendra LOKPAL SINGH Ju Deo Bahadur,
11th Maharaja of Panna 1893/1898,
married (amongst others), HH
Maharani Sujan Kanwar, and had issue. He died 1898.
- HH Maharaja Mahendra Madho Singh Ju Deo Bahadur
(qv)
- HH Maharaja Mahendra MADHO SINGH Ju Deo Bahadur,
12th Maharaja of Panna 1898/1902,
constructed
the Mahendra Bhavan Palace in Panna, deposed for
complicity in the
murder
of his uncle, Rao Raja Khuman Singh. He died after
1925 (#2).
-
 Col.
HH Maharaja Mahendra Sir YADVENDRA SINGH Ju Deo
Bahadur, 13th
Maharaja of Panna 1902/1963,
born
31st
January 1893, K.C.I.E. [cr.1.1.1922], K.C.S.I.
[cr.1.1.1932], son of
Rao Raja Khuman
Singh,
educated at Mayo College, Ajmer; invested with full
ruling powers on
4th February 1915, appointed UpRaj Pramukh of Vindhya
Pradesh after the
merger of his
state into the Indian Republic; married 1stly,
1912, HH Maharani
Shri
Manhar Kunverba, died 1927, daughter of HH Maharaja
Raol Shri
Bhavsinhji II Takhatsinhji of Bhavnagar,
and his first wife, HH Maharani Dev Kunverba Sahiba,
married 2ndly,
1928, HH Maharani Shri Gopal Kumari, daughter of
Thakur Saheb Sawai
Singhji, Raja Saheb
of Isarda, and his
wife, Thakurani
Sugan Kunwar, and had issue. He died 4th
August 1963.
- HH Maharaja Mahendra Narendra Singh Ju Deo Bahadur
(qv)
- HH Maharani Kanchan Prabha Devi (eldest daughter),
married 28th
May 1931, Capt.
HH Bisam-Samar-Bijayi Mahamahodya Pancha-Srijukta
Maharaja Manikya Sir
Bir Bikram Kishore Dev Varman Bahadur of Tripura.
- Maharaj Pushpendra Singh, born 1916, educated at
Mayo
College, Ajmer
(Class-Captain
1935/36).
- Maharajkumari Indira Kumari, born 1918, died
unmarried
16th June 2006 at Rajmandir Palace, Panna.
- Maharajkumari Pushpa Kumari Devi, born 1920,
married 11th
February
1940,
Maharaj Kumar Nagendra Singh of Dungarpur.
She died 11th August 1996.
- Maharajkumari Sarla Kumari
- Maharajkumari Nirmala Devi, born 1931, married
30th
November 1951,
Rana
Ramchandra
Pal Singh of Bhajji,
and had issue. She
died 2002.
- HH Maharaja Mahendra NARENDRA SINGH Ju Deo
Bahadur,
14th Maharaja of Panna 1963/-,
born
29th May 1915,
educated at Mayo College, Ajmer; Member of the
Legislative Assembly of
Madhya Pradesh in 1957, 1962 and
1967; Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) in 1971 from
Satna; Member of
Parliament
(Lok Sabha) in 1977, from Damoh; Social worker and
founder of many
educational
institutions in Panna; married 24th February 1937 at
Kathmandu in
Nepal,
HH Maharani Durga Rajya Laxmi Devi, daughter of
Lt.-Gen. Maharajkumar
Shingha
Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana of Lambjang and Kaski in Nepal,
and had
issue.
- HH Maharaja Mahendra Manvendra Singh Ju Deo
Bahadur (qv)
- Maharaj Lokendra Singh, Member of the Legislative
Assembly (Madhya
Pradesh)
in 1977 and 1993, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
in 1989, married
Rani Nishi
Kumari [née Baisa Indira Kumari], daughter of
Major Apji Abhay
Singh of Palaitha, and
his wife, Rani
Chand Kumari, and has issue.
- Rajkumari Kamaksha Kumari Devi, married Rajkumar
Preetendra Singh of Nagod.
- Rajkumari Sulakshana Kumari [Yuvrani Sahib
Sulakshana
Kumari of Bhinga], married (as his first wife),
22nd January
1995, Yuvaraj Rudramani Kant Singh of Bhinga.
She died sp 29th July 1998.
- Maharajkumari Kumkum Kumari, married Yuvaraj
Balwant
Singh of Chhatarpur,
died 1990, and has issue, one son.
- HH Maharaja Mahendra MANVENDRA SINGH Ju Deo
Bahadur,
15th Maharaja of Panna -/2009,
born 26th June 1939 in Mussoorie, educated at Mayo
College, Ajmer;
married HH Maharani Dilhar
Kumari, fourth daughter of HH Maharaja
Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavsinhji of Bhavnagar,
and his wife, HH Maharani Vijayba Sahiba, and had
issue. He died 8th
October 2009.
- Yuvaraj Ragvendra Singh (succeeded as HH Maharaja
Mahendra Ragvendra Singh Ju Deo Bahadur) (qv)
- Maharajkumari Krishna Kumari, born 1972, married
4th
February 1995
(div. May
2004),
Kunwar Purujit Singh, born 10th July 1970, son of
Rajkumar Tara Singh
of Koti.
- HH Maharaja Mahendra RAGVENDRA SINGH Ju Deo
Bahadur
(see
above)
OTHER MEMBERS:
- Rajkumar Hira Singh, Honourary Lieutenant 1914/-
|