Kanker

Kanker was a forest kingdom on the upper Mahanadi, north of Bastar. Its Chandra rulers traced their line to the prince Veer Kanhar Dev, said to have ruled at Sihawa until 1404.

The kingdom took shape when Bastar split in the fifteenth century. Its raja held Dhamtari as a tributary of the Haihaiyavansi kings, then owed the Marathas 500 soldiers after 1740. The Bhonsles of Nagpur annexed Kanker in 1809, but the British resident restored Raja Bhup Deo in 1818; his tribute was remitted in 1823.