Page:The Imperial Durbar Album of the Indian princes, chiefs and zamindars.djvu/141

 Dhar.

THE Mahratta State of Dhar is one of the eleven States of the Central India Agency in direct treaty relation with the British Government, lying in the Bhopawar Political charge, and stands sixth in Central India in order of precedence. The State lies on both sides of the Vindhya range which passes almost centrally through it, dividing it into two distinct portions characterised by difference of configuration of soil and product.

The State takes its name from the chief town of Dhar, one of the most ancient and famous towns of India. The name is supposed to be derived from ' Dhara^nagari,' or 'the City of sword'blades' possibly referring to its acquisition by conquest.

The Pawar rulers of Dhar are Kshatriya Mahrattas, and are descended from the famous Parmars, who ruled in Malwa from the 5th to the 13th century, having their capitals at Ujjain and Dhar. The dynasty rose to prominence during the reigns of the semi-mythological heroes and kings, Munja and Bhoja, the latter of whom is said to have transferred his capital from Ujjain to Dhar, making it renowned in India as a seat of learning and scholarship, where literary men and poets like Kalidas flourished under his patronage. It was from the time of Bhoja that dame Fortune is said to have left riding with the dynasty, and Bhoja suffering reverses at the hands of the Chedi Kings of Gujarath, the Pa wars were driven into the Deccan; and the kingdom began to decline till it was absorbed into the Delhi Empire, when Malwa became its province in the fourteenth century. Dilawar Khan Ghori, the first of its governors, built mosques for his followers with the materials of Hindu temples, and established his capital at Mandoo. The Rajput Pawars who were driven into the Deccan and became absorbed in the population rose again into prominence in the seventeenth century by supplying distinguished generals to Shiwaji and his warlike successors.

In the reign of Shahu and the Peshwaship of Balaji Vishwanath, the two Pawar brothers, Kaluji and Sambhaji, went on a conquering expedition to Malwa, and their sons succeeded in establishing the principalities of Dewas and Dhar. Tukoji and Jiwaji, the two sons of Kaluji, established themselves in the two branches of Dewas, while the haughty and warlike Udaji, son of Sambhaji, conquered Dhar. Anand Rao I, his younger brother, however, is regarded to be the founder of the present principality of Dhar, as he was the first to obtain the sanad of the Peshwa Baji Rao I and to realise the tributes from Rajput chiefs. He was succeeded by his son Yashwant Rao Pawar at the age of 25. He was killed at the battle of Paniput in 1 76 1 A.D. and was succceeded by his minor son Khande Rao. In 1774 A.D. Khande Rao espoused the cause of Raghoba Dada Peshwa and gave shelter to his wife Anandi Bai in the Dhar Fort, where in captivity the Peshwa Baji Rao II was born,

Khande Rao died in 1780 A.D. and after six months a posthumous child was* born, who succeeded him as Anand Rao II. A period of distraction then followed for Dhar and it was subjected to a continued spoliation by Sindhia and Holkar, and was saved from utter ruin by the courage and skill of the heroic Maina Bai, wife of Anand Rao II and adoptive mother of Ramchandra Rao Pawar, who entered into a treaty with