Place:Dhar, Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, India

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Dhar is a city located in Dhar district of the Malwa region in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of the Dhar district. Before Indian independence from Great Britain, it was the capital of the Dhar princely state.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The town of Dhar, derived from Dhārā Nagara ('city of sword blades'), is of considerable antiquity,^[1] the first reference to it appearing in an inscription in Jaunpur during the Maukhari dynasty (6th century). Dhar rose to prominence when it was made the primary seat of the Paramara chiefs of Malwa by Vairisiṃha (circa 920-45 CE). Vairisimha appears to have transferred his headquarters to Dhar from Ujjain. During the rule of the Paramāras, Dhar was a respected centre of culture and learning,^[1] especially under the rule of King Bhoja (circa 1000-1055). The wealth and splendor of Dhar drew the attention of competing dynasties in the 11th century. The Cāḷukyas of Kalyāṇa under Someśvara I (circa CE 1042-68) captured and burnt the city, also occupying Māṇḍū (ancient Māṇḍava). Dhar was subsequently sacked by the Cāḷukyas of Gujarāt under Siddharāja. The devastation and political fragmentation caused by these wars meant that there was no significant opposition when Ala ud din Khilji, the Sultān of Delhi, dispatched an army to Mālwa in the early 14th century. The region was annexed to Delhi, and Dhar was made the capital of the province under 'Ayn al-Mulk Mūltānī, who served as governor until 1313. The events that occurred during the following seventy years are unclear, but some time in A.H. 793/C.E. 1390-91 Dilawar Khan was appointed muqṭi' of Dhar (and also the governor of Mālwa) by Sulṭān Muḥammad Shāh. Dilāwar Khān took the title 'Amīd Shāh Dā'ūd' and mandated the khutba to be read in his name in A.H. 804/C.E. 1401-02, thereby establishing himself as an independent sulṭān. Upon his death in 1406, his son Hoshang Shah became king, with his capital situated in Māṇḍū. In the time of Akbar, Dhar fell under the dominion of the Mughals, and remained under Mughal control until 1730, when the town was conquered by the Marathas.^[1]

In late 1723, Bajirao, at the head of a large army and accompanied by his lieutenants Malharrao Holkar, Ranoji Shinde (Scindia) and Udaji Rao Pawar, swept through Malwa. A few years earlier, the Mughal Emperor had been forced to relinquish to the Marathas the right to collect Chauth taxes in Malwa and Gujarat. This levy was financially beneficial to the Maratha caste, as both the king Shahu and his Peshwa, Bajirao, were in large amounts of debt at the time. Agriculture in the Deccan depended heavily on the timeliness and duration of the monsoons. The most important source of royal revenue was, therefore, the Chauth (a 25% tax on produce) and Sardeshmukhi (a ten per cent surcharge) exacted by the Marathas. The revenues the Marathas collected from their own lands were not sufficient to run the administration of their state and finance their large military expenditure, as their government was focused on conquest and not economic development.

The Marathan armies eventually defeated the Mughal governor and attacked the capital Ujjain. Bajirao established military outposts in the country as far north as Bundelkhand.

Towards the end of the 18th century and in the early part of the 19th century, the Marathan state was subject to a series of spoliations by Scindia of Gwalior and Holkar of Indore, (descendants of Ranoji Scindia and Malharao Holkar), but was saved from annihilation by the strong rule of the adoptive mother of the fifth raja.

Dhar State

After the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1818, Dhar fell under British rule. The Dhar State was designated as a princely state of British India, in the Bhopawar Agency of the Central India Agency. It included several Rajput and Bhil feudatories and had an area of . The state was confiscated by the British after the Revolt of 1857. In 1860, it was restored to Raja Anand Rao III Pawar, then a minor, with the exception of the detached district of Bairusia which was granted to the Begum of Bhopal. Anand Rao, who received the personal title Maharaja and the KCSI in 1877, died in 1898; he was succeeded by Udaji Rao II Pawar.^[1]

Dhar Thikanas

A separate department whose purpose was to superintend Thakurs and Bhumias, called "Department of Thakurans, Bhumians and Thikanejat", was established in 1921. At the time there were 22 such estates in the state of Dhar.

The jagir lands of the nobles of Dhar (feudatory estates), all of whom paid tribute to the Darbar, were divided between Thakurs and Bhumias.

The Thakurs, with a few exceptions, were Rajput landholders whose estates were located in the north of the state. Locally, the Thakurs were called Talukdars and their holdings called kothari. By caste, there were 8 Rathore Rajputs, one Pawar and one Kayasth.

The Bhumias, or "Allodial" Chiefs, were all Bhilalas, a clan claiming to be of mixed Bhil and Rajput (Chauhan) descent. Their grants were originally obtained from the Darbar on the understanding that they would keep the peace among the Bhils and other hill tribes. They paid yearly tribute to the Darbar, in turn receiving cash allowances (Bhet-Ghugri), an ancient feudal custom.

Political representation and Royal Legacy

Bhartiya Janata Party politician Neena Vikram Verma serves as a member of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly for the Dhar-Vidhan-Sabha Constituency.

In 2019, Chattar Singh Darbar of the Bharatiya Janata Party was elected as a Member of Parliament representing the Dhar constituency.

Maharaja Shrimant Hemendra Singh Rao Pawar is the present titular head of the Kshatriya Maratha Pawar (Puar/Parmar) dynasty of the State of Dhar.

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

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