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 ...
. The city is also the district headquarters of Damoh district.
History
Early history
Stone Age
The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...
tools have been found in
Singrampur
Singrampur is a historical place where final battle fought between Rani Durgawati and Mughal king Akbar's Senapati Asaf Khan. The town in named after ''Sangram'' which in Hindi means war.
Singrampur comes under district Damoh, Madhya Pradesh ...
Valley and it is believed that the area has been inhabited for thousands of years. Around the fifth century, it was part of the empire of
Guptas
The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period is considered as the Gold ...
of
Pataliputra
Pataliputra (IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliputra at t ...
. This has been evidenced by plaques and coins, and monuments from the reigns of
Samudragupta
Samudragupta (Gupta script: ''Sa-mu-dra-gu-pta'', (c. 335–375 CE) was the second emperor of the Gupta Empire of ancient India, and is regarded among the greatest rulers of the dynasty. As a son of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta I and the ...
,
Chandragupta I
Chandragupta I (Gupta script: ''Cha-ndra-gu-pta'', r. c. 319–335 or 319–350 CE) was a king of the Gupta Empire, who ruled in northern and central India. His title ''Maharajadhiraja'' ("great king of kings") suggests that he was the firs ...
, and Skandgupta. From the eighth to twelfth centuries, some parts of the Damoh district were in the Chedi Empire, ruled by the Kalchuri dynasty from its capital Tripuri. The temple at Nohta demonstrates Kalchuri's influence in the tenth century. Some regions of the district were under the Chandels of the Jejak-Bhukti.
Sultans
Around the beginning of the fourteenth century, the administrative centre of the
Chanderi
Chanderi, is a town of historical importance in Ashoknagar District of the state Madhya Pradesh in India. It is situated at a distance of 127 km from Shivpuri, 37 km from Lalitpur, 55 km from Ashok Nagar and about 46 km fr ...
province of the
Khalji dynasty
The Khalji or Khilji (Pashto: ; Persian: ) dynasty was a Turco-Afghan dynasty which ruled the Delhi sultanate, covering large parts of the Indian subcontinent for nearly three decades between 1290 and 1320.Khalji and Tuglaq Sultans. The Sultan of
Malwa
Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also sy ...
later annexed the region.
Gond and Maratha rule
In the last quarter of the fifteenth century, Sangram Shah of the Gond dynasty annexed the region into his empire organized around 52 forts. This was an era of peace and prosperity for the region. In Singrampur,
Rani Durgawati
Rani Durgavati (5 October 1524 – 24 June 1564) was the ruling Queen of Gondwana from 1550 until 1564. She was born in the family of Chandel Rajput king Salibahan at the fort of Mahoba. She was married to Dalpat Shah the son of the king San ...
attained martyrdom battling against the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
, represented by its General Asaf Khan and his army.
Bundelas entered the region for a brief time span, after which
Marathas
The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...
took over in 1732. Marathas remained in control until the British annexed the Marathas kingdom after the death of
Peshwa
The Peshwa (Pronunciation: e(ː)ʃʋaː was the appointed (later becoming hereditary) prime minister of the Maratha Empire of the Indian subcontinent. Originally, the Peshwas served as subordinates to the Chhatrapati (the Maratha king); later ...
in 1888. The Diwanji ki Talaiya and the Ram Mandir were constructed by the Maratha administrators.
Modern history
Damoh took part in the struggle for independence from the British. Under the leadership of Thakur Kishore Singh of Hindoria, Raja Devi Singh of Singrampur, Pancham Singh of Karijog,
Gangadhar Rao
Maharaja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar was the 5th raja of Jhansi situated in northern India, a vassal of Maratha Empire. He was a Marathi Karhade Brahmin. He was the son of Shiv Rao Bhau and a descendant of Raghunath Hari Newalkar (who was the first g ...
, Raghunath Rao, Mejban Singh, and Govind Rao were among those who took part in the
1857 revolt
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the for ...
.
Damoh suffered from famine in 1896-97 and 1900. By 1899 the India Midland Railway had completed the construction of Sagar–Damoh link and Damoh–Katni links. Freedom fighter
Seth Govind Das
Seth Govind Das (16 October 1896 – 18 June 1974) was an Indian independence activist and parliamentarian. He belonged to the Maheshwari merchant family of Raja Gokuldas of Jabalpur. The family began as the banking firm of Sevaram Khushal ...
was jailed in Damoh in 1923, and wrote a number of Hindi plays while imprisoned. In 1929, Acharya Shantisagar visited Damoh, the first such visit by a Digambar Muni to Damoh after several centuries.
In 1933,
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
visited Damoh. In 1946,
Sagar University
Dr. Hari Singh Gour University (Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya), formerly and more popularly known as Sagar University or University of Saugor, is a central university in the city of Sagar, the state of Madhya Pradesh or (MP), India. It ...
was established as the region's primary centre for higher education.
In 1947, with India's independence from
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 ...
, the
Central Provinces
The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Its capital was Nagpur ...
were reorganized as the state of
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 ...
. The town of Damoh had its first-degree college established in 1961 by Shiksha Prasar Samiti, a volunteer organization.
Geography
Damoh is located at . It is at an average elevation of .
According to the 2001 India
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...
, Damoh city had a population of 112,160 (total urban population is 147,661). Males constituted 53% of the population and females 47%. Damoh had an average
literacy
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in Writing, written form in some specific context of use. In other wo ...
rate of 73%, above the national average of 59.5%: male literacy was 89% and female literacy was 66%. 14% of the population was under 6 years of age.
Climate
Administration
Damoh city has a Nagar Palika Parishad with the elected head Malti Asati. Tarun Rathi is the current DM & Collector for the Damoh District.collector profile /ref> The current Member of Legislative Assembly from Damoh constituency is Mr. Ajay Kumar Tandon.