a rival claimant Surendra Sai. The insurgency lasted for a long time until British troops defeated the insurgents. The British then deposed the rani and placed a distant descendant on the throne. When Sambalpur's ruler died without a direct male heir in 1849, the British seized the state under the doctrine of lapse. During the 1857 rebellion, mutineers stationed in Sambalpur broke Surendra Sai and his companions out of jail, and they soon raised an army against the British. While initially he simply wanted his and his brother's sentences commuted, when the British proposed harsher punishments and began closely guarding him, he escaped to where his brother had gathered 2000 men. Many of the principal zamindars were mustering their paiks against the British. However, the British came down with troops from Nagpur, the Madras Presidency and Chota Nagpur. They defeated the insurgents in open country and by February 1858 had taken back most of the district, but the insurgents were able to use the dense jungles and difficult terrain to their advantage. By 1861, the British adopted a more conciliatory approach to surrendering rebels, and finally in 1862 Surendra Sai surrendered. However the insurgency still continued and in 1864, Surendra Sai was arrested and his brothers too. They were all put in prison, where they died. Today Surendra Sai and his rebels are honoured as freedom fighters. It was attached to the British Bengal Presidency, but was transferred to the Central Provinces in 1862. The district was transferred back to Bengal in 1905, but the subdivisions of Phuljhar and Chandarpur-Padampur remained with the Central Provinces. Bengal's Odisha division became part of the new province of Bihar and Orissa in 1912, and in 1936 became the separate province of Odisha. In 1890, the British replaced Odia with Hindi as the language of administration. Beginning in Sambalpur and spreading throughout the state, the Odia language agitation forced the British to back down. Sambalpur had its own contributions to the freedom struggle such as Chandra Shankar Behera, Nilakantha Das, Kastaram Tanti, who propagated ideals of freedom struggle among the people. After Indian Independence in 1947, Odisha became an Indian state. Earlier Sambalpur District included also the districts of Bargarh, Jharsuguda and Debagarh. which was subsequently divided into four separate districts. Bargarh was separated in 1993, and Jharsuguda and Debagarh districts were separated in 1994. It is currently a part of the Red Corridor.