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Kanker District

Kanker district
कांकेर जिला
District of Chhattisgarh
Location of Kanker district in Chhattisgarh
Location of Kanker district in Chhattisgarh
Country India
State Chhattisgarh
Administrative division Bastar
Headquarters Kanker
Tehsils 7
Government
 • Lok Sabha constituencies 1
 • Assembly seats 2
Area
 • Total 5,285 km2 (2,041 sq mi)
Population (2001)
 • Total 651,333
 • Density 120/km2 (320/sq mi)
Major highways N.H.-30
Website Official website

Kanker District is located in the southern region of the state of Chhattisgarh, India within the longitudes 20.6-20.24 and latitudes 80.48-81.48. The total area of the district is 5285.01 square kilometers. The population is 651,333.

The Kanker town (the district's headquarters) is situated on the National Highway NH-43. It lies between the two well developed cities of Chhattisgarh namely Raipur (Capital of Chhattisgarh) and Jagdalpur (the district headquarters of the neighboring Bastar district).

The history of Kanker is started from Stone Era. With reference of Ramayana and Mahabharat there was a dense forest area named Dandakaranya and the Kanker state belonged to Dandakaranya. According to myths the Kanker was the land of monks. A lot of Rishis (monks) named Kank, Lomesh, Shringi, Angira were lived here. In sixth century before Christ the region was affected by Buddhism. The ancient history of Kanker tells that it remained always independent state.

In 106 AD the Kanker state was under the Satvahan dynasty and the king was Satkarni, This fact is also described by Chinese visitor Whensaung. After Satvahans the state was under control of Nags, Vakataks, Gupt, Nal and Chalukya dynasties time to time. Som dynasty was founded by the king Singh Raj and this dynasty ruled the state from 1125 to 1344. After the downfall of Soms a brave and strong person Dharam Dev kept the foundation of Kandra dynasty. Kandra dynasty ruled the state up to 1385. After the downfall of Kandras the Chandra dynasty came. According to a myth the first king of this dynasty was Veer Kanhar Dev. He ruled the state up to 1404. This dynasty ruled the state up to 1802. This district is also affected from naxalite.

The Kanker state came under the control of the Bhosales of Nagpur during the reign of Bhoop Dev from 1809 to 1818. During the kingdom of Narhari Deb the Kanker state came under control of British from Maratha. As British government gave the adoption to Narhari Dev and He gave the acknowledgement of fealty to British. In 1882 the control of Kanker State handed over to Commissioner Raipur.

During the rule of Narhar Deo, a palace near Gadiya Mountain, printing press, library, Radhakrishna Temple, Ramjanki Temple, Jagannath Temple and Balaji Temple were constructed. He made a plan named Ratna Bhandar for keeping grain in stock for his people. He established a new town named Narharpur near Kanker.

In 1904 Komal Dev became the king of Kanker. During his kingdom one English high school, one Girls school and 15 primary Schools were established and also two hospitals one in Kanker and the other in Sambalpur were constructed. He established a new town near Kanker named Govindpur. He also tried to make capital at Govindpur instead of Kanker. He died on 8 January 1925. After his death, Bhanupratap Dev became the king. Bhanupratap Dev was the last king of Kanker before independence of India. After independence he was elected as a member of the legislative assembly from Kanker constituency two times.After the presidency of bhanupratap dev due to friendly terms with malgujar's of mulla and bhanupratappur the terms and land was transferred to Champalal chopda


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