Bhitarwar is a city and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Gwalior district Gwalior district () is one of the 52 districts of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The historic city of Gwalior is its administrative headquarters. Other cities and towns in this district are Antari, Bhitarwar, Bilaua, Dabra, Morar C ...

in the state of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The town is surrounded by a river called Parbati. As of 2011, the population of Bhitarwar town is 19,096, in 3,422 households. Bhitarwar is the headquarters of a

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...

, Vidhan Sabha constituency, as well as a

community development block In India, a community development block (CD block) or simply Block is a sub-division of District, administratively earmarked for planning and development. In tribal areas, similar sub-divisions are called tribal development blocks (TD blocks). T ...

. The block is divided between the tehsils of Bhitarwar and Chinour; Chinour tehsil was created out of Bhitarwar tehsil in 2008.

Geography

Bhitarwar is located at . It has an average elevation of 227 metres (745 feet).

History

Earliest maintain of this city found place in the writings of Bhavbhuti as Pawaya which was situated on the River Para (modern Parbati) and Chandrabhaga (modern

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

). Pawaya was ancient capital of Naga dynasty and it had relationships with

Gupta Empire The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian ...

too. Current pawaya village is situated in east direction (7 km radius) from modern town. It was captured by Maratha kings of Gwalior (

Scindias House of Scindia or earlier known as the Sendrak was a Hindu Maratha Royal House that ruled the erstwhile Gwalior State in central India. Ranoji Scindia rose as a prominent military commander under Peshwa Bajirao I. Ranoji and his descendants, a ...

) in a small clash. Afghans has important role in this war The Bhitarwar Fort was established by Hanselia

Jat The Jat people (, ), also spelt Jaat and Jatt, are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, many Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in l ...

ruler Raja Berajshah in 16th century.He also built a Fort at the nearby hill known as Laxmangarh for his brother Laxman Singh. There are many other building of Hanselia

rulers in Bhitarwar.There are many other fort build by Hanselia rulers like Mastura Fort, Kiror Fort and Gijora Fort. By the early 20th century, Bhitarwar was the seat of the

pargana Pargana or parganah, also spelt pergunnah, equivalent to Mohallah as a subunit of Subah (Suba), was a type of former administrative division in the Indian subcontinent during the time of the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal and British Colonial empire ...

of Mastura. It was hit hard by the Indian famine of 1899-1900, and many people died. Early-20th-century Bhitarwar had a post office run by

Gwalior State The Gwalior State was a List of Maratha dynasties and states, state within the Maratha Confederacy located in Central India. It was ruled by the Scindia, House of Scindia (anglicized from Sendrak), a Hindu Maratha Confederacy, Maratha dynasty. ...

, a police station, and a small, poorly maintained fort. The 1901 census recorded its population as 1,530 people (815 male and 715 female).

Demographics

India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Bhitarwar had a population of 25,670. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Bhitarwar has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 82% and female literacy of 64%. 17% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Transportation

Bhitarwar is situated on Dabra - satanwada state highway and connected to all nearby cities by road. Nearest railway station is in

Dabra Dabra (Hindi: डबरा) is a town and municipality in Gwalior district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India located near National Highway 44 (India), National Highway 44 (NH-44). It is known for its cascading landscape and production of dha ...

, and major railway junction is

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

which is around 72 km away from the town and jhansi 75 km . Nearest airport is Rajmata vijyaraje Scindia airport Gwalior. There is no hope for railway line to this town

Economy

Economy of the city is based on agriculture. The main crop of this area is wheat, rice and sugarcane, there is a sugar factory in this city. Other than this cottage industries also found place in the town.

Brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

s are the most important manufactured goods produced in Bhitarwar. Red marble and mika also found in this area

Tourist attractions

There is many places of interest in the town like Dhumeswar, Lakheswari and Diyadah. Around 15 km away is an ancient city called ''Padma Pavaya''. Goleswar temple is another place for visit in the city. There is a small fort in the old bhitarwar city which has need to be restoration. Some parks are also build by the govt in the town are lakhmibai park, laxamangarh park Harsi dam etc.

List of villages

Bhitarwar block contains 165 rural villages, split between the tehsils of Bhitarwar and Chinour. As of 2011, the total population of these villages is 182,935, in 35,545 households. The villages are as follows:

References

{{Gwalior Division Cities and towns in Gwalior district