Place · Kalachuri capital · India
Ratanpur
The medieval Haihaya-Kalachuri dynasty capital at Ratanpur in Bilaspur district, Chhattisgarh — the capital of the Haihaya kings of Dakshina Kosala from 1050 to 1738 CE under the Ratnadeva-Prithvideva-Kalyanasagara line and the subsequent 1741 Maratha absorption. The city's 36-fort network — the Chhattisgarh ('36 forts') region takes its name from the Haihaya fortifications centred on Ratanpur — makes it the central-Indian capital that connects the Deccan plateau to the Mahanadi plain. The 11-century Mahamaya Devi temple (one of the 51 Shakti Pithas said to hold Sati's shoulder), the Jatashankara and Ramateka temples, and the 1736 Marathi-period Rang Mahal palace preserve the Ratanpur heritage. The site is Chhattisgarh's chief medieval royal centre and anchors the state's cultural identity.
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Tradition
- Central Indian and Bastar traditions
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 22.290, 82.170
Connections (1)
- Successor capital ofSirpur
Sirpur was the Panduvamshi capital of Dakshina Kosala in the sixth and seventh centuries and Ratanpur the Kalachuri capital from the eleventh, seventy kilometres apart on the same Mahanadi plain. The shift of political centre is also a religious one: Sirpur has Buddhist viharas beside its Shaiva and Vaishnava temples, and Ratanpur has a goddess temple and no Buddhism at all.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Ratanpur, Chhattisgarh”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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