Palamau

Palamau is a forested country of hills and river valleys on the northern edge of Chota Nagpur. Its twin forts stand near the Auranga River and recall the Chero rulers who held this upland kingdom. Stone gates and walls guarded their seat amid the forests, where the chiefs defended their authority against repeated incursions from the plains.

The Chero ruler Bhagwant Rai established his family’s power in the early seventeenth century. His successors faced Mughal expeditions, and the forts eventually surrendered to the forces of Daud Khan during Aurangzeb’s reign. A mosque in the old fort commemorates the period of Mughal occupation. Medini Rai remained prominent in local memory as a powerful Chero ruler who strengthened Palamau and its fortifications. By the eighteenth century succession disputes weakened the ruling house. In 1771 Captain Camac marched against the fort on behalf of the East India Company; after its surrender, the Company installed Gopal Rai as ruler. The wooded stronghold had passed into a new political order, although its walls continued to bear witness to the earlier Chero kingdom.