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Indore City

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.

{Indur). — Capital of the State of the same name in Central India, situated in 22° 43' N. and 75° 54' E., on the banks of two small streams, the Saraswati and Khan, tributary to the Sipra, and on the Ajmer-Khandwa section of the Rajputana-Malwa Railway, 440 miles from Bombay. 'J'he city stands 1,738 feet above sea-level, and covers an area of about 5 square miles. A village appears to have been founded here in 1715, when certain zanilndars from the village of Kampel, 16 miles east of Indore, came and settled on the banks of the Khan river, attracted by the trade with the camps of the Maratha chiefs passing on their way to and from the Deccan, this spot being one of the regular stages on the route north of the Narbada. In 1 741 they erected the temple of Indreshwar, of which the present name is a very common corruption.

Ahalya Bai is said to have been attracted by the place, and, though Maheshwar remained the chief town in Holkar's territory, she moved the district head-quarters here from Kampel. In 1801, however, the growing prosperity of Indore received a severe check, during the hostilities between ] )aulat Rao Sindhia and Jaswant Rao Holkar. An engagement took place in which Jaswant Rao was defeated and forced to retire to Jam in the vindhyas. The town was delivered up to the mercies of the notorious Sarje Rao Ghatke, who plundered the bazar, razed all houses of any importance to the ground, and inflicted every form of atrocity on the inhabitants, so that the wells in the neighbour- hood were filled with the corpses of unfortunate women who had committed suicide to escape dishonour. Jaswant Rao always made Rampura and Bhanpura his administrative hcad-cjuartcrs, and it was not till after the Treaty of Mandasor (i8i<S) that Indore became the capital of the State in fact as well as in name. In 1857 Indore and the Residency were the scene of considerable disturbances. Holkar's Muhammadan troops mutinied and, after attacking the Resident's house on July 1, marched northwards to join the rebels at (iwalior. The Maharaja, however, gave all the assistance he could, and, in spite of the demands of his troops, refused to surrender a number of Christians to whom he had given sanctuary in his palace.

Population is rising steadily: (1881) 75,401, (1891^) 82,984, and (1901) 86,686. These figures do not include the residents in the adjoining tract called the Agent to the Governor-Cieneral's Camp, which is described below. In 1901 Hindus numbered 65,103, or 75 per cent.; Musalmans, 18,652, or 21 per cent. 3 Jains, 2,558; and ParsTs, 7.

Indore, always an important commercial town, is now one of the largest trade centres in Central India, and the chief collecting and distributing centre for Southern Malwa. The chief articles of export are grain, tobacco, opium, country paper, cloths, and metal vessels ; the chief imports are European hardware, cloth, stores, machinery, building materials, kerosene oil, and raw cotton. There are no arts or manufactures of any importance, except the weaving of coarse cloth carried on in the city cotton mill.

The city is divided into two main divisions : Old Indore, and the modern city with its continually spreading suburbs. The main thoroughfare leads across the Khan river into the great square in front of the palaces, and the remaining streets are poor and narrow. No buildings have special claims to architectural importance in the city, the most striking being the old palace, a lofty and imposing structure towering above all other buildings ; but many houses are adorned with fine wood-carving. Outside the city proper, on the western side of the railway, lie the cotton-mill, the new town hall, called the King P^dward Hall, and the State officers' club : while to the east a new quarter known as Tukoganj is being opened out, containing the official residences of State officers and other houses. The remaining buildings of importance are the new palace constructed by Maharaja Sivaji Rao Holkar, the Tukoji Rao Hos[)ital, State offices, guesthouse, English school, jail, barracks for the Imperial Service and State troops, and cenotaphs of deceased chiefs. The Holkar College stands upon the Agra-Bombay road, about 2 miles from the city.

Municipal self-government was instituted in 1870, and the committee consists of seventeen members, four of whom are State officials. The conservancy^ lighting, roads, and general administration of the city are in its hands. Funds are obtained from octroi and other taxes, the annual income amounting to about Rs. 70,000.

After the Treaty of Mandasor in 1818, a piece of land with an area of 1-35 square miles was assigned by the Indore Darbar for the use of the Resident at the court of Holkar. In 1854, on the appointment of an Agent to the Governor-General for Central India, this became his head-quarters, and is still commonly known to Europeans as the Residency or Camp. In 1857, during the Mutiny, the officiating

• \gent to the Governor-General, Colonel Durand, was obliged to retire to Sehore. The Residency house, which was built between 1820 and

1827, is a substantial structure of basalt, standing in fine open park- like surroundings near the Khan, a tributary of the Sipra, which has been dammed so as to form a lake. Besides the Residency, the Camp contains official houses for the Resident at Indore (see Indore Residency), two Assistants to the Agent to the Governor-General, the Residency Surgeon, and other officers. Other buildings of importance are the liead-quarters ofiices, the Daly College for sons of Central India chiefs, a church and a Roman Catholic chapel, a large civil hospital, and a Central jail. The station is garrisoned by one company of British infantry and the Mahva Bhil Corps, besides the Agent's escort of a detachment of Central India Horse. The population in 1901 was 11,118. The head-quarters of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission, including a large college, are situated in the station. The Residency bazar, originally a small settlement, has expanded into a large trade centre, and is under the immediate administrative control of an Assistant to the Agent to the Governor-General. A considerable income is derived from cesses and taxes, yielding Rs. 50,000 per annum, which is expended on sanitation, education, medical relief, and the policing of the station. The head-quarters of the Malwa Opium Agency are also situated here, including a set of Government scales at which duty is paid on opium for export. Administrative and juris- dictional powers within Residency limits are vested in the Agent to the Governor-General {see Central India).

Places to visit

The Times of India, Aug 26, 2011

The capital of Madhya Pradesh. See Lalbagh Palace, one of the grandest monuments of the Holkar dynasty. It is a fine blend of baroque and renaissance styles; Kanch Mandir, built entirely of glass; Krishnaputra chhattris, the cenotaphs of the last three Holkar rulers; Rajwada or the Holkar Palace, a magnificent structure flanked by bastions and balconies