Kawardha

Kawardha is a district in Chhattisgarh state of India. It is now known officially as District Kabirdham. Kawardha is headquarter town of this district.

District Kabirdham extends in 4447.05 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 meters.

This district was carved out of District Rajnandgaon and Bilaspur. Tehsil Kawardha from District Rajnandgaon and Tehsil Pandariya from District Bilaspur were joined together to constitute a new district specifying the head quarters at Kawardha in the then Madhya Pradesh, a state in India. Thus District Kawardha which is at present known as (District Kabirdham) came into being existence on July 06,1998, which is now in Chhattisgarh state which was carved out of Madhya Pradesh. Kabirdham is a peaceful and attractive place located on the Southern bank of river Sakri. To pay respect to the great saint poet and philosopher Kabir and the establishment of the seat of descendants of his disciple Dharmdas, it was named Kabirdham. Before emergence of Damakhera, District Raipur, this was the seat of Kabir Panthis (the followers of Kabir).

Kawardha was a state untill the first half of 18th century and Kabirdham tehsil was part of it. 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 District Bilaspur. It got the status of tehsil in 1986 and from then it remained part of District Bilaspur till July 05,1998.

Apart from Kabirdham other important historical and archeological places include Pandariya, Chaura and Chhapri located at about 17 Kms from Kabirdham, which is also known as Bhoramdev. This place was the capital of Nagvanshi kings from circa 9th century to 14th century. After that this came under possession of Haihayvanshi kings who were related to state Ratanpur. We have only archaelogical remains of the temple and old fort constructed by these kings.

Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) constituencies and their areas after delimitation order of 2008

71 Pandariya Vidhan Sabha Constituency - I. Pandariya Tehsil (Including Pandariya NP), II. Kawardha Tehsil (Part) - (i) Dasragpur R.I. Circle and (ii) Virendra Nagar R.I. Circle.

72 Kawardha Vidhan Sabha Constituency - I. Kawardha Tehsil (Part) - (i) Kawardha-1 R.I. Circle (ii) Kawardha-2 R.I. Circle, (iii) Bodala R.I. Circle, (iv) Rengakhar R.I. Circle, (v) S-Lohara R.I. Circle and Kawardha (M+OG).