Tarakote State


Tarakote or Tarakote State was a princely state in Korai, Odisha which was established under the Mughal Empire and was later reduced to a Zamindari state during the subsequent Maratha and the British rule. Its capital was at Barundei-Tarakot, in the western part of the present day Korai block.
The state was bounded in the north by Baitarani River, Labanga village in the west, Madala village in the east and by the Brahmani river in the south.

History

The Tarapur/Tarakote state was established in the 1680s in Korai by the Mughal general Syed Habibullah Ali Mirja, from the territories presented to him by Ekram Khan, the Mughal Subedar of Odisha. He styled himself as Rajah Miyan after acquiring the jaagirs. The Tarakote rulers had shown extreme resistance and had fought back the Marathas from Odisha in the battle of Kanthajharigada. During the reign of Shahjahan, Orissa was reorganised into 12 Sarkars and 276 Mahals in places of 3 Sarkars and 62 original Parganas. This reorganisation took place in 1692 A.D., after Orissa being separated from Bengal constituted a separate Subah under the Mughal Empire. Tarakote fell under the Jajpur/Tarakote Sarkar which had 5 Mahals under it. A total sum of Rs 1, 27, 208 was assessed from these 5 Mahals.
After Odisha was handed over to the Marathas by the Mughals in 1751, Tarakote's territories were gradually erroded away. By the second half of the eighteenth century, more than half of Tarakot had been ceded to the Marathas, who reduced it to an intermediary Quasi Princely Zamindari state. Tarakote was only left with Bansipur, Gourpur, Icchapur, Jaintria, Jugala, Jugalakana, Khosalpur, Kundapur, Nayahat Patna, Sahaspur, Talia, Tulasipur, Bangarkote, Barundai, Biruanapada, Khajuribindha, Khajurinaula, Santsahi, Tarapada, Uttarakhajira, Uttarkot, Pacchikote, Godarapal, Kadama, Paramanandpur and Patarakna. After the British occupation of Odisha in December 17, 1803, Tarakote along with the other subsidiary Maratha zamindari states in Odisha fell under the Company's rule. The glory of the state was further reduced when the Raja Miyan could not pay the taxes to the British on time as a result of which a major portion of the state including Godarapal, Kadama, Paramanandpur and Patarakna villages were auctioned and sold out to the Raja of Pacchikote, who in turn also made attempts to annex the rest of the territories of Tarakote. This led to a series of war between the rulers of the two states, in which Raja Syed Irfan Ali Choudhury of Tarakote defeated the Raja of Pacchikote. In 1886 Raja Syed Irfan Ali built the first girls school in the district, which is presently known as Tarakot Urdu girls Makhtab school. Later in the 1920s the largest source of revenue of Raja Syed Irfan Ali Choudhury, the "haat" or the local bazaar was also sold off by the British. With the abolition of the Zamindari system in India in 1956, Tarakot state was abolished.

Rulers

The rulers of Tarakote state were Sunni Muslims of the Sayyid branch, who bore the title of Raja Miyan till the year 1892.
Tarakote gets reduced to a Zamindari state
After the British acquisition of the state, the British changed its name to Tarakot from Tarapur, as they considered it too small a state to be called "pur". The Tarakote state was legally abolished in the year 1956 with the abolition of the zamindari system in India.
Titular rulers