It is predominantly an Oriya-majority area and was helper to Sambalpur state but it was accidentally placed under Chhattisgarh division of Central Provinces and never transferred to Orissa.

According to legend, Sarangarh state was founded in the first century AD by members of the Gond clan that had migrated from Bhandara.

It was originally a dependency of the Ratanpur Kingdom and later became one of the eighteen Garhjat states under Sambalpur State[2] The Sambalpur kings favoured Sarangarh owing to its readiness to help their kingdom during military campaigns.

Between 1878 and 1889 Sarangarh state was placed under the direct administration of British India owing to economic mismanagement and the infancy of the ruler Bhawani Pratap Singh.

[4] Sarangarh was a small feudatory state, part of the Chhattisgarh division.