Datia State

Datia State was a princely state in subsidiary alliance with British India.

The state was administered as part of the Bundelkhand Agency of Central India. It lay in the extreme north-west of Bundelkhand, near Gwalior, and was surrounded on all sides by other princely states of Central India, except on the east where it bordered upon the United Provinces.

History
Datia had formerly been a state in the Bundelkhand region founded in 1626. The ruling family were Rajputs of the Bundela clan; they descended from a younger son of a former raja of Orchha.

Maratha Rule
By March 1737, Maratha armies were swarming around Bhadawar the country south-east of Agra.The chiefs of Orrcha, Datia and Narwar capitulated and paid large sums of money to the Marathas.

It was second highest in the rank of all the Bundela states after Orchha, with a 17-gun salute, and its Maharajas bore the hereditary title of Second of the Princes of Bundelkhand. The land area of the state was 2130 sqmi its population in 1901 was 53,759. It enjoyed an estimated revenue of £2,00,000. The state suffered from famine in 1896–97, and again to a lesser extent in 1899–1900.

After India's independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Datia acceded unto the Dominion of India; it later merged with the Union of India. Datia, together with the rest of the Bundelkhand agency, became part of the new state of Vindhya Pradesh in 1950. In 1956, Vindhya Pradesh state was merged with certain other areas to form the state of Madhya Pradesh within the Union of India.

Raos
The following rulers carried the title "Rao":
 * 1626 - 1656: Rao Bhagwan singh
 * 1656 - 1683: Rao Subha Karan singh
 * 1683 - 1706: Rao Dalpat singh
 * 1706 – 1733: Rao Ramchandra Singh
 * 1733 – 1762: Rao Indrajit Singh
 * 1762 – 1801: Rao Shatrujit Singh
 * 1950 - 2024: Rao parivar in ashok nagar district in khejraRao

Rajas
The following rulers carried the title "Raja":
 * 1801 – 1839: Raja Parichhat Singh
 * 1839 – 20 Nov 1857: Bijai Singh
 * 1857 – 1865: Bhavani Singh (b. 1846 – d. 1907)

Maharajas
The following rulers carried the title "Maharaja Sir Lokendra". The title came into effect from the year 1877:
 * 1865 – Jul 1907: Bhavani Singh Judeo Bahadur (s.a.)
 * 5 August 1907 – 15 August 1947: Govind Singh Judeo Bahadur G.C.I.E. K.C.S.I. (b. 1886 – d. 1951)

Heads of the family in the Republic Of India

 * 1947 – 1951: Govind Singh Judeo
 * 1951 – 1978: Balbhadra Singh Judeo
 * 1978 – 2006: Kishan Singh Judeo
 * 2006 – 2020: Rajendra Singh Judeo
 * 2020 – present: Arunaditya Singh Judeo

Postal/Philatelic Information
From 1893, there were primitive stamps bearing both the names 'DUTTIA STATE' and 'DATIA STATE'. The first issue is among the rarest of all Indian princely state stamps. A total of 29 series of stamps were issued until 1920. From 1921 only Indian Stamps were valid.