Subarnapur

Subarnapur is a district in the State of Orissa in India. The district derives its name from its headquarter town of the same name. It is bounded on the north by Sambalpur district, on the south and the South-East by Boudh district, on the east by Rairakhol sub-division of Sambalpur district and on the west by the ex-state Patna.

Subarnapur, the City of Temples is situated between 20°30'N to 21°11'N latitude and 83°27'E to 84°16'E longitude. The district spreads over an area of 2284.89 Sq. Km.

Population of the district as per census 2001 was 541835.

There are two subdivisions, 6 tahsils, 6 development blocks (Sonepur, Binika, Tarva, Dunguripali, Ulunda, Birmaharajpur), 96 gram panchayats, and 959 villages (Inhabited-808 and Un-inhabited-151).

Histoty

History of Subarnapur is traced back from the pre-historic period. It was earlier known as Sonepur. The chronological history of sonepur starts from 8th century AD. At that time the sonepur region was known as Swarnapura and was a part of khinjali mandal. It was ruled by the Bhanjas as the feudatory of the Bhaumakaras of Tosali.

The somovamsi ruler Janmajaya-I (850-885) occupied this region from the Bhanjas and laid the foundation of Suvarnapur kingdom and made it, the imperial capital of south kosala.

In AD 1070, the Telgu-chodas as the feudatory of the Chindaka Nagas of Bustar region, occupied Suvarnapura from the then Somovamsi viceroy and ruled over this region for a period of 45 years. In AD 1113, the Kalachuris expelled the Telgu-Chodas and ruled over Suvarnapura for about 100 years.

In the mean time the Somovamsis were ousted from the Utkala region by the imperial Gangas who tried their best for 100 years to occupy Suvarnapura region from the Kalachuris. Ultimately this region was occupied by the imperial Ganga monarch Anangabhimadeva-III (AD 1211-1238).

Balabhadradeva (AD 1605-1630) occupied sonepur region from the Bhanja ruler of Boudh Siddhabhanja deva. The next chouhan ruler of Sambalpur Madhukaradeva, constituted the newly conquered territory into a vassal state and entrusted it to his second son Madan Gopal, who laid the foundation of the chouhan kingdom of sonpur on AD 1640. Since then the chouhans ruled over sonepur kingdom till its merger with the Orissa province on 1st January 1948.

After merger, it became a Sub-Division under Bolangir District. However from 1st April 1993 Sonepur was given the status of a District Headquarter.

Politics

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

64 Birmaharajpur Vidhan Sabha Constituency (SC) - 1. ULLUNDA BLOCK 2. BIRMAHARAJPUR BLOCK 3. Babupalli, Bankigirdi, Bausuni, Bhandar, Charda, Kaintara, Mahadevpalli, Meghala, Seledi, Shankara, Silati, Sindurpur and Singhijuba GPs of BINKA BLOCK 4. BINKA (NAC).

65 Sonepur Vidhan Sabha Constituency in Orissa - 1. SONEPUR BLOCK 2. TARBHA BLOCK 3.TARBHA (NAC) 4. SONEPUR (M) 5. DUNGURIPALI BLOCK 6. Julunda and Mahada GPs of BINKA BLOCK .

Places of interest
Subarnapur town, Mahima Khaliapali, Patali Khetra, Badjagannath, Bhimabhoi Pitha, Subarnameru