Keonjhar

Keonjhar developed as a hill state in northern Odisha, with a ruling tradition connected to the older Khijjinga country around Khiching. Its territory did not always match the later district. For a long period the state occupied mainly the northern part of that country, before expansion under Govinda Bhanja in the later fifteenth century brought the southern portion under his rule.

This enlargement connected the state with neighbours from Singhbhum in the north to Sukinda in the south, and from Mayurbhanj toward Bonai, Pallahara and Angul. Later rulers continued to alter its holdings through transactions as well as conquest. During Pratap Balabhadra Bhanja's reign, from 1764 to 1792, Tillo and Jujhpada were purchased from the zamindar of Kantajhari. In 1804 the East India Company issued Raja Janardan Bhanja a sanad recognising these areas as part of Keonjhar. The state's early modern geography therefore emerged through a succession of expansion, purchase and formal recognition, while its ruling house retained a distinct territorial identity.