Bhonsles of Nagpur

The Bhonsale family were originally headmen from Deor or Deur under the forts Chandan Vandan (presently in Koregaon Taluka, District Satara and was under Deshmukhi rights of Bhoite Clan), a village in Satara district. Raghoji's grandfather and his two brothers had fought in the armies of Shivaji, and to the most distinguished of them was entrusted a high military command and the collection of chauth (tribute) in Berar.

Nagpur was then the capital of a Gondwana Kingdom ruled by the Gond house of Devagad, who had moved the capital to Nagpur from Deogarh. On Raja Gond's death in 1739, there were disputes as to his succession, and his widow invoked the aid of Raghoji I Bhonsle, who was governing Berar on behalf of the Maratha. Raghoji, on being called in by the contending Gond factions, replaced the two sons of Raja Gond on the throne from which they had been ousted by a usurper, and retired to Berar, with a suitable reward for his assistance. Dissensions, however, broke out between the brothers, and in 1743 Raghoji again intervened at the request of the elder brother and drove out his rival. But he had not the heart to give back a second time the country he held within his grasp. Burhan Shan, the Gond Raja, though allowed to retain the outward insignia of royalty, became practically a state pensioner, and all real power passed to the Marathas.[2]

The Bhonsles of Nagpur were near relations of Chhatrapati Shahu, who raised them to riches and power.[3] Raghoji I Bhonsle overran Bengal & Bihar during the reign of Alivardi Khan,occupying Orissa from the Nawab.[4][5] However, they did not play any part in the Third Battle of Panipat and First Anglo-Maratha War, so they gradually sank to a secondary position in the Maratha Confederacy.[3] The reason for their half-hearted cooperation with the other Maratha chiefs was that they were bribed by Warren Hastings.[3] They were generally opposed to the Peshwa, and claimed independent authority as they essentially controlled the Gond king of Nagpur.[4]

Raghuji Bhonsle III died without a male heir in 1853, and the kingdom was annexed by the British under the doctrine of lapse.[6][1] The territories of the former kingdom was administered as Nagpur Province, under a commissioner appointed by the Governor-General of India, until the formation of the Central Provinces in 1861.[2]

• Raghoji I Bhonsle (1739 – 14 Feb 1755)
• Janoji Bhonsle (1755 – 21 May 1772)
• Mudhoji Bhonsle (1772 – 19 May 1788)
• Raghoji II Bhonsle (1788 – 22 Mar 1816)
• Parsoji Bhonsle (1816 – 2 Feb 1817) (b. 1778 – d. 1817)
• Mudhoji II Bhonsle "Appa Sahib" (1817 – 15 Mar 1818) (b. 1796 – d. 1840)
• Raghuji Bhonsle III (1818 – 11 Dec 1853) (b. 1808 – d. 1853)