Kawardha district is formed by bifurcating Tehsil Kawardha from District Rajnandgaon and Tehsil Pandariya from District Bilaspur with its head quarters at Kawardha on July 06,1998.
District Kawardha extends in 4634.98 Sq K.M. area between 21.32' to 22.28' North latitude and 80.48' to 81.48' east longitude. Boundaries of district touch Dindori in north, Bilaspur and Durg in east, Rajnandgaon in South, and District Balaghat in west. The northen and western parts are surrounded by Maikal mountain ranges of Satpura. Here the highest peak is Kesmarda in Maikal mountain which is 925 meter high , while the minimum height is 320 meter.
Kawardha is a peaceful and attractive place located on the Southern bank of river Sakri. Due to the advent of Kabir Sahib and the establishment of the seat of descendants of his disciple Dharmdas, it was named as Kabirdham, and afterwards as Kawardha. Before Damakhera, District Raipur,this was the seat of Kabir Panthis.
Tehsil Kawardha included in District Kawardha was known as state Kawardha till the first half of 18th century. It came into existence as Tehsil Kawardha in District Mandla from 1895 to 1902, in District Bilaspur from 1903 to 1911, in District Raipur from 1912 to 1948, in District Durg in 1948 and remained part of Durg upto 25/01/1973. After that from 26/01/1973 this Tehsil became part of Rajnandgaon upto July 05,1998 from the time of formation of District Rajnandgaon with the division of District Durg. Likewise, the second Tehsil Pandariya included in the district was known as Pandariya Zamindari before 1952. In 1952 Pandariya become the community block Head-Quarters in Dsitrict Bilaspur. It got the status of Tehsil in 1986 and from then it remained part of District Bilaspur till July 05,1998.
Both the above Tehsil Head-Quarters of District Kawardha are important from historical point of view also. Not only Kawardha but also the place Chaura and Chhapri located at about 17 Km. from Kawardha, which is known as Bhoramdev,is a very important place historically and archeologically. This place was the capital of Nagvanshi kings from about 9th century to 14th century.After that this came under possession of Haihayvanshi kings who were related to state Ratanpur. The Archaelogical remains of the temple and old fort constructed by these kings are still available.
HISTORY
The History of kanker is started from Stone era. In starting stage here human was like abysmal and their behave was like animals. With reference of Ramayana and Mahabharat there was a dense forest area named Dandakaranya and the Kanker state belonged to Dandakaranya.According to myths the Kanker was the land of monks. A lot of Rishis (monks) named Kank, Lomesh, Shringi, Angira were lived here. In sixth century before Christ the region was affected by Buddhism. The ancient history of Kanker tells that it remained always independent state.
In 106 AD the Kanker state was under the Satvahan dynasty And the king was Satkarni, This fact is also descripted by chinese visitor Whensaung. After Satkarni his disasters named Pulumavi, Shivshri and Shivskand became the king. After Satvahans the state was under control of Nags, Vakataks and Gupt dynasties time to time.
After the Vakataks the Kanker state came under control of Nal dynasty. according to historians Vyghraraj was the first king of Nals. the second king Varahraj won the whole region of dandakaranya. after Varahraj , Bhavdutt verma became the king of Kanker state. During the kingdom of Bhavdutt Verma Vakatak king Narendra Sen attacked on state and won a little part of state, but after some years Bhavdutt Verma recollect the lost part and also expand his state up to Orrisa and Maharashtra. after the death of Bhavdutt verma his son Arthpati became the king. He got a bigger state from his father but he was a poor king and had not the qualities like his father and lost some part of states to Vatakataks. In 475 Skand Verma became the king of Kanker state and ruled up to 500 AD. He was the last memorable king of Nal dynasty. After his death the Kanker state suffered a lot of attacks and divided into many parts. After the downfall of Nal kings the state was won by famous king Pulkeshin II of Chalukya dynasty, he also won the some part of Orrisa. During his kingdom a lot of temples were constructed in kanker state. After Pulkeshin, Vikramaditya, Vinayaditya, Vijayaditya, Vikramaditya II, Kirtiverman II were the other kings of Chalukyas They Ruled the state up to 788 AD after Chalukyas the state was ruled by different dynasties time to time like Nals, Nags, Kalchuris etc up to 1100 AD.
Due to weakness of Kalchuri king Gayakarna, A brave person Singh raj won the Kanker stateand kept the foundation of Som dynasty, He ruled the state from 1125 to 1140. After the downfall of Soms A brave and strong person Dharam Dev kept the foundation of Kandra dynasty. After the downfall of Kandras the Chandra dynasty came.
The other temples that can be visited during your stay include BHOREMDEO MANDWA MAHAL and the MADAN MANJARI MAHAL. All three date from the 11th century and can be found twenty minutes north of Kawardha. Both BHOREMDEO and MANDWA MAHAL are decorated with exquisite stone carvings illustrating many of the favored Deities involved in religious activities. BHOREMDEO temple was erected next to the PUSHPA SAROVAR (lake) where beautiful Paradise Fly-Catcher birds can be spotted among the trees and bushes.
