Raksel

The Raksels were a Rajput clan holding the forested Palamu plateau south of Bihar. Their rajas built an old fort on the Auranga River and ruled there before the Mughal advance.

In 1574 Akbar’s commander Man Singh marched into Palamu and secured their submission. The Raksels expelled the Mughal garrison in 1605, but later lost Palamu when the Chero chief Bhagwant Rai rebelled during his Raksel overlord’s absence. The raja withdrew to Surguja and founded a state with its capital at Ambikapur; in 1818 Surguja became a British protectorate.