princely state
A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...
in India. The seat was at
Barwani
Barwani or Badwani ( hi, Baḍwāni) is a municipal town in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh, India, that is situated near the left bank of the Narmada River. It is the administrative headquarters of Barwani district and has also served a ...
.
History
The state was founded in the 11th or 14th century, at which time it was known as Avasgarh. the Rana's of Avasgarh were Sisodia's who claimed to be the descendants of Bappa Rawal. The records of the state claim that Awasgarh had 51 Rana's however there is little information about their names or the dates they reigned in. Parsan Singh, the 35th Rana was defeated by the Sultan of Delhi and taken as prisoner, the rana agreed to covert to Islam on the condition that he gets his ancestral lands back. 3 of Parsans descendants were Muslims although they followed their Hindu customs, the Rana's eventually converted back to Hinduism. The 41st Rana Chandra Singh moved his capital to the safer position of Barwani. The state lost most of its territory during the Maratha domination in the 17th century, however it never became tributary to any Major power.
Under the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was him ...
, Barwani was a state of the Bhopawar Agency, a division of the
Central India Agency
The Central India Agency was created in 1854, by amalgamating the Western Malwa Agency with other smaller political offices which formerly reported to the Governor-General of India. The agency was overseen by a political agent who maintained ...
. The state lay in the Satpura Range south of the Narmada River. It had an area of and a population, in 1901, of 76,136. The average revenue of the state was Rs.4,00,000. The inhabitants were predominantly
Bhil
Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages. As of 2013, Bhils were the largest tribal group in India.
Bhils are listed as tribal people of ...
tribals. The forests were under a British official.
After India's independence in 1947, the Rana of Barwani acceded to India, and Barwani became part of the Nimar District of
Madhya Bharat
Madhya Bharat, also known as Malwa Union, was an Indian state in west-central India, created on 28 May 1948 from twenty-five princely states which until 1947 had been part of the Central India Agency, with Jiwajirao Scindia as its Rajpramukh. ...
state. Madhya Bharat was merged into
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second ...
on 1 November 1956.
Rulers
Barwani State was an 9 gun
salute state
A salute state was a princely state under the British Raj that had been granted a gun salute by the British Crown (as paramount ruler); i.e., the protocolary privilege for its ruler to be greeted—originally by Royal Navy ships, later also ...
. The rulers of the State, whose title was
Rana
Rana may refer to:
Astronomy
* Rana (crater), a crater on Mars
* Delta Eridani or Rana, a star
People, groups and titles
* Rana (name), a given name and surname (including a list of people and characters with the name)
* Rana (title), a historica ...
, were
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
s of the
Sisodia
The Sisodia is an Indian Rajput dynasty belonging to the clan that ruled over the kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan. The name of the clan is also transliterated as ''Sesodia'', ''Shishodia'', ''Sishodia'', ''Shishodya'', ''Sisodya'', ''Sisodiya'',
...
clan, descended from the ruling dynasty of
Udaipur
Udaipur () ( ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic ...
Political integration of India
After the Indian independence in 1947, the dominion of India was divided into two sets of territories, one under direct British rule, and the other under the suzerainty of the British Crown, with control over their internal affairs remainin ...