Deccan States

Part of today's Maharashtra and Karnataka states, the former Deccan States Agency was a conglomeration of the Marathi Princely States that was one of the earliest States to join the newly formed Indian Union without much hassle. Kolhapur being the largest, the Deccan States at the time of independence consisted of the following States: 

1. Bhor (in Pune district)
2. Kolhapur
3. Jath (Jat, in Sangli district, Maharashtra)
4. Jamkhandi (in Bagalkot district, Karnataka)
5. Akalkot (Akkalkot, in Solapur district, Maharashtra)
6. Aundh (in Pune district)
7. Sawantwadi (in Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra)
8. Janjira (in Raigad district, Maharashtra)
9. Mudhol (in Bagalkot district, Karnataka)
10. Sangli
11. Kurundwad Senior (in Kolhapur district)
12. Kurundwad Junior (in Kolhapur district)
13. Miraj Junior (in Sangli district)
14. Miraj Senior (in Sangli district)
15. Phaltan (in Satara district)
16. Ramdurg (in Belgaum district)
17. Savanur (Savanuru, in Haveri district, Karnataka)

Although, the Deccan States Agency was relatively new among the other Princely States agencies (created in 1933), the history of this region goes back even to the Vedic Age. The ancient settlement of Karahataka (identified with today's Karad, Satara district) is mentioned in the Mahabharata. The Konkan coast is also mentioned in this era as Aparanta. The city of Kolhapur has its ancient remains in the settlement of Kolhapura or Kollapura, mentioned in Bhagavata-Purana as well. The ancient Greeks have also mentioned Kolhapur as Hippokoura as the capital of a medieval Hindu King Vilvayakura, which they misspelt as Baleokouros. Moving on to the 6th century AD, the Rashtrakutas (राष्ट्रकूट) were a major ruling dynasty that reigned all throughout Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and parts of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and few pockets of Gujarat, Rajasthan as well as Uttar Pradesh. Although their capital was at Manyakheta (in Gulbarga district), the Deccan region around these townships was in constant conflict with the rising Chalukyas between 550 to 700 AD. 

Another town named Kurundwad that belonged to the Deccan States also has an ancient lineage, when it became one of the important towns of the Chalukyas who shifted their base on the Konkan coast in the 8th century AD. Kurundwad was then known as Kurundaka. With the rise of Islam in the northern parts of the subcontinent in around the 13th century AD, new townships such as Pranala (Panhala, in Kolhapur), Kollapura (Kolhapur), Gove (Goa) etc. emerged, swinging the Deccan between the Chalukyas, Kadambas, Silharas and other Hindu powers. Both Kollapura and Kurundaka were major centres of practising Shaktism, Shaivism, Jainism and Vaishnavism between the 8th and 12th centuries. Although Goa's history is largely Portuguese after its annexation process starting from the 16th century, the medieval Goa or Gove / Gomantak / Sandabur etc. was a known name in international trade routes that connected Gujarat and Dhibat Al-Mahal, the medieval name for the Maldives. Gove / Sindubar was also a prominent trading port during the Bahamani Sultanate in the 14th century and along with it, towns such as Madhol, Venugrama, Vijayadrug, Jamkhandi etc. came into the limelight. These settlements would be the future Princely States which would strengthen during the Maratha times. But centuries before the Marathas when the Portuguese vessels were washing off their bloody battles on the Western Ghats, the Deccan region sprawled with skirmishes between the disintegrated factions of the Delhi Sultanate and the rising Vijayanagara Empire. The Adil Shahis of the Bijapur Sultanate was the period when townships such as Keladi (in Shimoga, Karnataka), Belgaum, Bijapur, etc. were the highlights. 

But amidst the chaotic warfares of various kingdoms, there was always a religious touch that was important to soothe people's wounds from the merciless slaughters happening almost every other day. Kolapura was one of the travel destinations of the 16th-century Hindu philosopher, Vallabhacharya (or Vallabha) who is known as the founder of the Pushtimarg sect of Vaishnavism. Coming to the 17th and the 18th centuries when Kolhapur would be slightly more important as there were the Adil Shahis of Bijapur battling the Marathas while the European powers of British and Portuguese were at the seacoast. The territory was untouched by the rising Mughals in the north and Kolhapur would become a major Maratha township, although its capital would be the neighbouring city of Satara. But at the same time, Goa had become a major trading hub and consequently the capital of Portuguese India (Estado da Índia). With the context of European trading, the Deccan region around Kolhapur was famous for trading muslins, cotton cloths and pepper. 

If we talk about maps of this era, the settlement of Kolhapur and adjoining Deccan areas were not really marked by European cartographers. The part of Deccan they would mark would be Visapour (referring to Bijapur) and nearby towns such as Rebach, Bande, Corepatan etc. apart from Goa. The region Deccan is itself a misspelling of Dakkhin, meaning 'south' in various Indian languages, a crude for of what would fine on several 18th century maps as Deckan. The Maratha stronghold of Satara is written as Satturah and as we move more towards the end of the 18th century, settlements such as Rajapur, Vingorla (Vengurla), Mollundi (Malwan), etc, would be more prominent and a more familiar spelling to Visiapur was mentioned as Bejapur. The Bhonsles clan of the Marathas is also seen on these maps misspelt as Bounsellos, with towns such as Malwan, Codally (Kudal) and Vingorla as the most common settlements.

As we move towards mid-19th century maps, it is here when townships of Kolapur (Kolhapur), Karar (Karad), Sattara (Satara), Sohapur, Rutnagiri (Ratnagiri), Dabul (Dabhol, in Ratnagiri), Fort Victoria (Bankot, in Ratnagiri), Ghirriah (Vijaydurg Fort, in Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra), Samunt Warri (Sawantwadi) etc. would start appearing.  With the fall of the Marathas in the 19th century and rise of English East India Company's territories, mapping was now far more accurate as compared to the previous eras. Eventually, by the end of the 19th century, proper locations of places with almost correct spellings could be found. Kolapoor, Kurrar, Beejapoor, Viziadroog, Vingoorla would be such examples. It's interesting as Kolhapur was recognized as an independent Maratha state by Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj, the grandson of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 1730, although the first Maharaja of Kolhapur State (Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu) was coronated in 1894. What is even more interesting is that such an important kingdom's name was off-charts from European maps till the end of the 19th century.  

The British would restore the Bhonsle family of Marathas at Satara between 1817 to 1819. With the dissolving of the Maratha Confederacies in 1818, the title Peshwa was disposed off. States such as Savantwadi and Kolhapur came under British protection in 1819 and 1812 respectively. The adjoining Marahta Jagirs of the Raichur Doab and Dharwar were annexed in 1819 and 1817 respectively. Between 1829 to 1848, these Maratha territories were officially part of British India. Between 1819 to 1822, certain territories of the neighboring Nizam's Hyderabad state were added to Satara state. By mid-1850s, boundary rearrangement was done by the British by which the Deccan territories were divided into districts such as Sattara, Rutnagherry and Belgaum as part of the Bombay Presidency, while Kolapoor, Sawunt Warree and various Jaghires as Princely States. During the 1857 rebellion, the Deccan States remained neutral. In the year 1933, 17 Deccan States and one estate of Bombay Province was removed to create a new administrative unit, known as the Kolhapur Residency and Deccan States Agency. 

During the freedom struggle, Satara was one of the few places in India that ran a parallel government briefly during the 1942 Quit India Movement. Other cities such as Midnapore, Bhagalpur, Ballia and Basudevpur witnessed the same kind of rebellion. The parallel government in Satara, known as Prati Sarkar was a guerilla type of struggle, operated over 150 villages and there were raids on taluka treasuries and armouries that affected the British government directly. As a result of this, public utilities such as market system, food supplies, judicial systems, law and order etc. was disrupted by this self-proclaimed Toofan Sena. Although Satara was the only Princely State in the Deccan States to rebel against the British during the 20th century, violent activities were witnessed in neighbouring towns of Belgaum, Dharwar, Gulbarga, Poona and Sholapur. 

Post-independence, all the Deccan States merged into the newly independent Bombay State between 1948 to 1949. After the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, the districts of Bijapur, Belgaum, Dharwar and North Canara were annexed to the Mysore state, that got renamed in 1973 as Karnataka. Kolhapur and remaining parts of the former Deccan States were retained in the Bombay State. With the creation of Mahrashtra in 1960, Kolhapur and adjoining areas became the southernmost districts of the state bordering Karnataka and Goa in its south and east. 

Below here is a reconstruction of two maps - one dating 1821 and another dating 1946. Just a brief introduction to the map here, with certain names that are unfamiliar to today. The territory of Beejapoor is shown surrounded by regions such as Mortizabad (Guntur), Ryebaug (Raibag, in Belgaum / Belagavi district, Karnataka), Assodnagur and Azimnaggur (the Hyderabad-Karnataka region of Karnataka).