History

In the Tretha Yug Durg was well known as Shivadurga of ‘Dakshin Kaushal’ Province. In the Hindu Granth ‘Ramayana’, Maharaja Dasharatha Of Uttar Kaushal married with Kaushalya, the daughter of Maharaja Kaushal. It’s apparent that the District Durg was included in Ashoka’s Empire.However, the first exact reference with regard to the word “Durg” comes around the 8th century A.D. through two stone inscriptions; which is deposited in the Raipur Museum. The First inscription mentions the name of a Maharaja Shiva Deva. The 2nd inscription associates the name of Sivapura with that of Maharaja Shiva Durga, indicating thereby that during Maharaja Shivadeva’s reign the town and the fort were separate.
The present name “Durg”is evidently a contraction of the old shivadurga, which he built. The river on whose banks stands the present town is also called “Shivnath River”. With the coming of the Kalachuri dynasty of Tripuri in A.D. 1182, Durg came under their Maharajadom. From then on it remained under the Kalachuries, till 1742 A. D. when the Marathas deposed them.In 1877, after the Marathas lost the IIIrd Anglo- Maratha War, the tract of Chhattisgarh passed into British hands.
Caption Edmonds was the First British Officer posted in Chhattisgarh as Collector and Magistrate to carry on the administration. For the purpose of Administration Durg was attached to Bhandara District (now in Maharashtra) but in 1857 it was separated and made into a tehsil of Raipur district to which it remained attached till 1906.In 1906 Durg was created as a separate district. The Collectorate building was built in the year 1907. Interestingly, cement was not used in the construction of the collectorate building, instead a mixture of limestone, gum, sand and fruit pulp was used as the binding agent.
Today even though 100 years have gone by, the collectorate building stands strong as it might have been built yesterday. Soon after, 350 acres (140 ha) of land from Kasaridih Village, was acquired by the government to build official residences. It is on this land that we find today’s Civil Lines, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla Stadium, Chaupati, Rajendra Park, New Bus Stand, Municipal Corporation Office, Polytechnic College and the Surana Law College.