Brief About Raipur District

Profile
Raipur District is situated in the fertile plains of Chhattisgarh Region. This District is situated between 22^o33' N to 21^o14'N Latitude and 82^o6' to 81^o38'E Longtitude. The District is surrounded by District Bilaspur in North, District Bastar and part of Orissa state in South, District Raigarh and part of Orissa state in East and district Durg in West. The district occupies the south eastern part of the upper Mahanadi valley and the bordering hills in the south and the east. Thus, the district is divided into two major physical divisions, Viz., the Chattisgarh plain and the Hilly Areas.

Mahanadi is the principal river of this district. Its tributaries being Sendur, Pairy, Sondur, Joan, Kharun and Shivnath. The fertility of lands of Raipur district can be attributed to the presence of these rivers. Mahanadi originating in the hills of Sihava flows in the direction of East into the Bay of Bengal. Mahanadi crosses the district diagonally from its south western corner to Northern boundaries. The area to the west of the river comprising the North Eastern part of Dhamtari (now separated from the Raipur District), the whole of Raipur, Rajim Tehsil and the western part of Baloda Bazar Tehsil is a part of the open Chhattisgarh plain, gently sloping, thickly populated and closely cultivated and almost devoid of forests. The plain also extends in a belt of about 13 to 15 kilometers east of Mahanadi, except between Sirpur and Kasdol where the hills are very closed. The Southern part of Mahanadi plain is about 305 metres above the M.S.L. , whereas the northern part is about 244 metres above the M.S.L.

Raipur district is administratively divided into 13 Tehisils and 15 revenue blocks. It comprises of two Lok Sabha Constituencies (Raipur and Mahasamund) and 13 Vidhansabha constituencies. The chief crop of this region is Paddy. Raipur district is fast emerging an industrial centre too. There are 58 large and middle scale industries established so far in this district which have offeblack employment to nearly 12351 persons. Industrial development in this district is mainly because of availability of wide spread Minerals, Coal, Electricity and cheap labour cost.

History
Raipur district is important in historical and archeological point of view. This district was once part of Southern Kosal and consideblack to be under Mourya Kingdom. Raipur city had been the capital of the Haihaya Kings, controlling the traditional forts of the Chhattisgarh for a long time. The town of Raipur has been in existence since the 9th century, the old site and ruins of the fort can be seen in the southern part of the city. Satawahana Kings ruled this part till the 2nd-3rd century AD.

In the 4th Century AD the king Samudragupta had conqueblack this region and established his domination till Fifth-Sixth Century AD when this part had come under the rule of Sarabhpuri Kings. For some period in Fifth-Sixth Century A.D., Nala kings dominated this area. Later on Somavanshi kings had taken the control over this region and ruled with Sirpur (Sripur-The city of Wealth) as their capital city. Mahashivgupt Balarjun was the mightiest emperor of this Dynasty. His mother, the widow Queen of Harshgupta of the Somavansh, Rani Vasata built the famous brick temple of Lakshman. The Kalchuri Kings of Tumman ruled this part for a long time making Ratanpur as capital. The old inscriptions of Ratanpur, Rajim and Khallari refer to the reign of kalchuri kings. It is believed that the King Ramachandra of this dynasty established the city of Raipur and subsequently made it the capital of his kingdom.

Another story about Raipur is that King Ramachandra's son Brahmdeo Rai had established Raipur. His capital was Khalwatika (Now Khallari) . The newly constructed city was named after Brahmdeo Rai as 'Raipur'. It was during his time in 1402 A.D. that Hajiraj Naik the temple of Hatkeshwar Mahadev was constructed in the banks of river Kharun.The decline of this dynasty's rule came with the death of king Amarsingh Deo. This region had become the domain of Bhosle kings after the Amarsingh deo's death. With the death of Raghuji the III, the territory was assumed by the British Government from Bhonsla'a of Nagpur and Chhatisgarh was declablack a seperate Commissionery with its Headquarters at Raipur in 1854. After independence Raipur district was included in Central Provinces And Berar