About Us
General
Information
Chhindwara
district was formed on 1st November 1956. It
is located on the South-West region of 'Satpura Range of
Mountains'. It is spread from 21.28 to 22.49 Deg. North
(longitude) and 78.40 to 79.24 Deg. East (latitude) and
spread over an area of 11,815 Sq. Km. This district is
bound by the plains of Nagpur District (in Maharashtra
State) on the South, Hoshangabad and Narsinghpur
Districts on the North, Betul District on the West
and Seoni Districts on the East.
Basic
Information
Chhindwara
District ranks 1st in area (11,815 Sq. Km.) in Madhya
Pradesh State and occupies 3.85% of the area of the
state. The District is divided into 9 Tahsils
(Chhindwara, Parasia, Junnardeo, Tamia, Amarwara,
Chourai, Bicchua, Sausar and Pandhurna), 11 Development
Blocks (Chhindwara, Parasia, Junnardeo, Tamia, Amarwara,
Chourai, Bicchua, Harrai, Mohkhed, Sausar and Pandhurna).
There are 8 Nagar Palikas (Chhindwara, Parasia, Junnardeo
and Pandhurna), 8 Nagar Panchayats (Sausar, Amarwara,
Chandameta Butaria, Newton Chikli, Harrai, Mohgaon,
Chourai, and Lodhikheda). Apart from this there are 10
small towns (Dighawani, Jatachapar, Iklehara, Pagara,
Kalichapar, Damua, Pala Chourai, Bhamori, Ambada and
Badkuhi).
There are
1984 villages in the district, out of which 1903 villages
are habitated. The district is divided into 19 Revenue
Circles, 319 Patwari Halkas. There are 808 Panchayats in
the district. As per Census 1991, the total population of
the district is 15,68,702 out of which 76.90% belong to
rural areas. The Scheduled Caste population is 1,91,419
and Scheduled Tribes population is 5,40,708. There are
933 females for every 1000 males, and the population per
square kilometer is 133. 'Chhindwara' is the
Parliamentary Constituency in the district and there are
8 Assembly Segments (Jamai, Chhindwara, Parasia, Damua,
Amarwara, Chourai, Sausar and Pandhurna). As per Census
2001 the total population of Chhindwara town is 1,22,309
and of the district is 18,48,882. There are 953 females
for every 1000 males as per Census 2001.
Geographical
Information
From the
Geographical point of view Chhindwara district can be
divided into three main regions - 1) The plains near
Nagpur region comprising of Tahsils Sausar and Pandhurna,
2) the central region comprising of Chhindwara, Southern
part of Amarwara region and and Northern part of Sausar
region. This region is also known as the Satpura mountain
region and 3) The third region is mostly the Northern
region comprising of hilly terrain.
There are
five major rivers which flow through the district namely
Kanhan, Pench, Jam, Kulbehra, Shakkar and Doodh. Kanhan
river flows in the Southern direction through the western
parts of Chhindwara Tahsil and mixes with the Wenganga
river. Jam river flows mostly through the Sausar region
and joins with the Kanhan river. Pench river flows in the
border areas of Chhindwara and Seoni Districts and mixes
with the Kanhan river in Nagpur District. Kulbehra river
starts at Umreth and flows through Chhindwara and Mohkhed
and joins with Pench river.
Historical
Details
It is
believed that once upon a time the Chhindwara District
was full of "Chhind" (Date-Palm) trees, and the
place was named "Chhind"-"Wada" (wada
means place). There is also another story that because of
the population of Lions (in Hindi it is called
"Sinh"), it was considered that making entry
into this district is akin to passing through the
entrance of Lions' den. Hence it was called "Sinh
Dwara" (means through the entrance of lion). In due
course of time it became "Chhindwara".
History
records the place from the time of the rule of Bhakth
Bulund King, whose kingdom was spread over the Satpura
range of hills and it is belived that his rule was upto
the 3rd Century. One ancient plaque, belonging
to "Rashtrakut" dynasty, found in
"Neelkanth" village. This dynasty ruled upto
the 7th Century. Then came the
"Gondvana" dynasty which ruled the area with
"Devgarh" as the capital. King 'Jatav' of
'Gond' community has built the Devgarh fort. Bhakth
Bulund King was most powerful in the dynasty and he has
adopted Muslim religion during the rule of Emperor
"Aurangjeb". Later the power has changed many
hands and finally 'Maratha rule' ended in 1803. On 17
September 1803, East India Company had taken over this
kingdom by defeating 'Raghuji II', starting the British
rule. After Independence 'Nagpur' was made the capital of
Chhindwara District, and on 1st November 1956
this district was re-constituted with Chhindwara as the
capital.
More Details ..
Freedom
Movement
Some of the
events during the freedom struggle are mentioned below.
The first
Freedom Movement in this district has started in
1857-58 with the arrival of 'Tantia Tope'.
As a part
of National Awareness Moment Dr.B.S.Gunj and Dada
Saheb Khapre visited this place on 11th
May 1906.
The
people of Chhindwara participated in fight against
Rolect Act., Non-Cooperation movement, fight against
Symon Commission, Jhanda Satyagrah, Jungle Satyagrah,
Quit India Movement, Dhanoura Kand etc.
Mahatma
Gandhi visited this place on 6th Jan 1921,
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru visted on 31st
December 1936 and Sarojini Naidu on 18th
April 1922.
The
people who laid down their life during the freedom
struggle include - Sri Chain Shah (Jagirdar of
Sonpur), Sri Thakur Rajba Shah (Jagirdar,
Partapagadh) and Sri Mahaveer Sinh (Jagirdar,
Harrakot), Sarvasree Badal Bhai (Pagara), Swami
Shyamanand (Amarwara), Rajaram Shukla (Chhindwara),
Atul Rahman (Chhindwara), Nathu Lakshman Gosai
(Sausar), Waman Rao Patel (Wanora).
Out of
the 138 Freedom Fighters of Chhindwara region, the
names of Late Sarvasree Vishwanath Salpekar, Arjun
Singh Sisodiya, Gulab Singh Choudhary, K.G.Rekhde,
Premchand Jain, Ramchand Bhai Shah, R.K.Haldulkar,
Pilaji Srikhande, Suran Prasad Singare, Sooraj Prasad
Madhuria, Jagmohanlal Srivastav, Chunnilal Rai,
Mahadev Rao Khatourkar, Chotelal Chavre, Tukaram
Thosre, Govind Ram Trivedi, Mahadev Ghote, , Durga
Prasad Mishra, Harprasad Sharma, Shivkumar Shukla,
Choukhelal Mandhata, Manik Rao Choure,
Vinshwambharnath Pandey, Ramnivas Vyas, Guru Prasad
Shrivastav, Dayal Malviy, Prahlad Bavse, Satyavati
Bai, Jayaram Verma and so on are included.
Culture
Chhindwara
District has majority of tribal population. The tribal
communities include Gond, Pardhan, Bharia, Korku. Hindi,
Marathi, Gondi, Urdu, Korku, Musai, Parvari etc.
languages/dialects are in use in the district. Majority
of the tribals speak in Gondi and Hindi mixed with
Marathi. Among the cultural functions/festivals in the
district Pola, Bhujalia, Meghnath, Akhadi, Harijyoti etc.
are famous ones. 'Gotmat Mela' of Pandhurna is unique and
world renowned fair. On Shivrathri day 'Mahadev Mela'
will be celebrated each year on "Choudagadh".
Tourist
Places
Prominent
Tourist Spots in the District include Patalkot, Tamia,
Tribal Museum, Chota Mahadev Cave, Devgarh Fort,
Nadadwari, Hot Water Spring at Anhoni and Radhadevi Caves
and Jam Sanvli Temple (Near Sausar).
Last update : 23/05/2009
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