Rampura-Bhanpura
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Rampura-Bhanpura
District of the Indore State, Central India, made by combining the old zilas of Rampura and Bhanpura, Though consisting of several detached blocks of territory, the district lies generally between 23 54' and 25 7' N. and 74 57' and 76 36' E., with an area of 2,123 square miles. The southern sections he in the undulating Malwa plateau region ; but north of Rampura the district enters the hilly tract formed by the arm of the Vmdhyas which strikes across east and west from Chitor towards Chanden and forms the border of the table-land known as the Pathar.
The numerous remains scattered through this district point to its having been of much importance m former times. From the seventh to the ninth century it offered an asylum to the Buddhists, then fallen on evil days. At DHAMNAR and Poladongar, and at Kholvi and other places close by, are the remains of their caves, both chaitya halls and S) all of late date, excavated in the latente hills which rise abruptly from the plateau in this region. From the ninth to the four- teenth century it was part of the dominions of the Paramara Rajputs, to whose rule the remains of numerous Jain temples testify. An inscription belonging to this dynasty was lately discovered at Mori village. In the fifteenth century it fell to the Muhammadan dynasty of MALWA, passing in the last years of their rule to the chiefs of Udaipur. Under Akbar the district lay partly in the Subah of Malwa and partly in that of Ajmer. The Chandra wat Thakurs, who claim descent from Chandra, second son of Rahup, Rana of Udaipur, settled at Antrl, which was granted to Sheo Singh Chandrawat by Dilawar Khan of Malwa in the fifteenth century. They gradually acquired the surrounding country from the Bhils. To this day the head of the family, on his succession, receives the ttka from the hand of a Bhil descendant of the founder of Rampura. These Thakurs, though virtually independent, appear to have recognized to some extent the suzerainty of Udaipur, to which State the District certainly belonged in the seventeenth century. In 1729 it was given to Madho Singh, second son of Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur, from whom it passed to Holkar about 1752. The district was intimately associated with the fortunes of Jaswant Rao Holkar, who practically made Rampura his capital instead of Maheshwar.
The population decreased from 285,825 in 1891 to 156,021 in 1901, the density in the latter year being 73 persons per square mile. The district contains four towns, RAMPURA (population, 8,273), BHANPURA (4,639), MANASA (4,5 8 9)> SUNEL (3,655), with GAROT (3,456), the head-quarters ; and 868 other villages. For administrative purposes it is divided into ten parganas^ with head-quarters at Garot, Bhanpura, Chandwasa, Zirapur, Manasa, Nandwai, Narayangarh, Rampura, Sunel, and Talen-lataheri. The district is in charge of a Subah^ subordinate to whom are naib-subahs at Rampura and Bhanpura, and amlns in the remaining parganas. The total revenue is 6-9 lakhs.
The district is traversed by the metalled road from Nimach to Manasa, where it meets a branch road from Piplia to Manasa and con- tinues to Rampura and Jhalrapatan in Rajputana. Other roads are in course of construction ; and the new Nagda-Muttra branch of the Bombay, Baroda, and Central Indian Railway will pass through Shamgarh, 6 miles from Garot.
