Dewas
Encyclopedia
Dewasis an ancient town situated on the Malwa plateau in the West-central part of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state called Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

, about 160 km south west from state capital, Bhopal. It is the administrative center of the Dewas District
Dewas District
Dewas District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The town of Dewas is the district headquarters.The district has an area 7,020 km², and a population 1,306,617 , an increase of 26% since 1991....

, and was formerly the seat of two princely state
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...

s during the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

, Dewas Junior state and Dewas senior state. Today, Dewas is an industrial town, with companies like Ranbaxy and Tata International being prominent players.

Origin of name

The name Dewas is derived from the Devi Vaishini hill in the city, commonly known as Tekri. The hill has a temple of deity Devi Chamunda
Chamunda
Chamunda , also known as Chamundi, Chamundeshwari and Charchika, is a fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother and one of the seven Matrikas . She is also one of the chief Yoginis, a group of sixty-four or eighty-one Tantric goddesses, who are attendants of the warrior goddess Durga...

 tulja bhavani and Kalika Mata. The word Dewas is also believed to be a sandhi
Sandhi
Sandhi is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries . Examples include the fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of sounds due to neighboring sounds or due to the grammatical function of adjacent words...

 of words Dev (deity) and Vas (Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

 for abode), thus Dewas means abode of the deity or god.

Geography

Dewas lies northeast of Indore
Indore
Indore is one of the major city in India, the largest city and commercial center of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Indore is located 190 km west of the state capital Bhopal. According to the 2011 Indian census, Indore city has a population of 1,960,631...

, southeast of Ujjain
Ujjain
Ujjain , is an ancient city of Malwa region in central India, on the eastern bank of the Kshipra River , today part of the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative centre of Ujjain District and Ujjain Division.In ancient times the city was called Ujjayini...

, and southwest of Shajapur
Shajapur
Shajapur is a town in Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh state in west-central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Shajapur District. It is a city and a municipality.-History:...

. The city is located on the level plains of the Malwa plateau; to the south, the land rises gently to the Vindhya Range
Vindhya Range
The Vindhya Range is a range of older rounded mountains and hills in the west-central Indian subcontinent, which geographically separates the Indian subcontinent into northern India and Southern India.- Introduction :...

, which is the source of the Chambal
Chambal River
The Chambal River is a tributary of the Yamuna River in central India, and forms part of the greater Gangetic drainage system. The river flows north-northeast through Madhya Pradesh, running for a time through Rajasthan, then forming the boundary between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh before turning...

 and Kali Sindh
Kali Sindh River
The Kali Sindh is a river in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, that joins the Chambal River at downstream of Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan. It belongs to the Ganga Basin. The Kali Sindh originates from Bagli in Madhya Pradesh...

 rivers that flow north through the district on their way to the Ganges.The main river in dewas is Kshipra, which is known as holy river. Dewas lies at the foot of the conical Chamunda Hill, on the summit of which is the Devi Vindhyavasini temple. Nagada, which is home to Jain and Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 temple ruins, lies just south of the city of Dewas.

Demographics

India census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, Dewas had a population of 289,438 .Dewas registered 40.1% growth in population during decade 1991–2001 which is way above Indian population growth average. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Dewas has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 77% and, female literacy is 61%. In Dewas, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age. Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

 and Hindi are widely spoken languages in Dewas.

Industrial Connection

Dewas has many industrial units providing employment to thousands of industrial workers. It has some industrial areas on Indore road and also few pockets of industries on Ujjain road. It has been recognized as 'Town of Export Excellence' for leather products by Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

.

Main industries here are

Bank Note Press - Bank Note Press, Dewas, an industrial unit of the Government of India, the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Economic Affairs was conceived in 1969 and established in 1974. Bank Note Press has been equipped with all the facilities for printing and processing of high quality bank notes and has various wings to control activities such as printing, quality control, engineering, examination, ancillary and administration. It has been awarded ISO 9001 for its superior note quality and ISO 14001 for its environmental policies. The Central Industrial Security Force has been entrusted with the maintenance of security, law and order etc. of both the press area and the colony area.

Tata International - Tata International has evolved from an export house into an international business company with a global turnover of US$ 850 million in 2006-07. In international trading, it encompasses the entire value chain from sourcing products to delivery. The company has taken on various value-added roles and has stakes in a cross-section of businesses

Dewas is an industrial city of the state. It has many mid-sized and small industries. The largest companies include Tatas, Kirloskers, Arvind Mills, S Kumars, Tata - Cummins, Gajra Gears,Gabriel India Ltd, Ranbaxy Labs, Steel Tubes and the Bank Note press. The rapid industrialization took place in the late 70s and early 80s, but due to inadequate infrastructure, the pace has been slower since the late 80s. There are still large companies delivering substantial profits however. Dewas is known as the Soya capital of India and is a major part of the soya bean processing industry in the country.

In recent years, some industries have closed their operations due to a shortage of sufficient infrastructure to support growth. The main factor is the shortage of water as the water table has significantly reduced due to excessive usage in previous decades.

Due to its high location above mean sea level and at one corner of plateau, constant wind flows in the region making it perfectly suited for harvesting wind energy. MP wind farms have chosen an ideal location for planting more than 100 huge monster like wind mills on a hill some 13 km from Dewas. It generates around 15 megawatts of power. A few private companies have financed these to get un interrupted power supply.

Few other industries are:
Kirloskar Pumps,
S kumars,
Gabriel India Ltd,
The greatest widmill form like suzloan,
RANBAXY (Head Quarter of India)
Parag Fans & Cooling Systems Ltd, CUMMINS TURBO TECHNOLOGY DEWAS(TURNOVER 5 MILLION)

Education

Dewas has many good schools for education up to HSC level. For higher education there are a few colleges but students prefer to move to Indore as it has got more advanced facilities and options for higher education and various professional courses to choose from.

Major colleges

Govt. K.P. College affiliated to Vikram University,
Govt Girls Degree College,
HAHU Medical College,
Prestige Institute Of Management Dewas,
New Era Institute of Education, Moulana Azad Collage Of Professional studies (MACPS), SYNERGY INSITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, New Tech Institute of Management.
the pioneer public school,Guru vashihtha college.

Major schools

St. Mary's Convent Senior Secondary School,http://maps.google.co.in/maps/place?cid=12109327865310633572&q=ST.+MARY%27S+CONVENT+SR.+SEC.+SCHOOL+School+DEWAS&gl=in&action=uploadphoto
Vindhyachal Academy,
Kendriya Vidyalaya Dewas,
Everest English Higher Secondary School,
Gyan Sagar Academy,
Govt NVM No.1,
B.C.M School,
Central India Academy,
Holy Trinity School

Media

Print Media
Daily newspapers: Dewas Bhraman,Dainik Jagran, Raj Express, Satyakaar, Nai dunia, dewas darpan, Dainik Dewas Doot, Dainik Bhaskar.

Electronic Media
National News Channel Reporter for S1 National, Insight TV

News Network, CNEB, DD News, India TV
Regional News Channel Reporter for Etv, Sadhna news, VOI, red9 SR
Times Hindi

Airways

Nearest Airport is Devi Ahilya International Airport, Indore
Indore
Indore is one of the major city in India, the largest city and commercial center of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Indore is located 190 km west of the state capital Bhopal. According to the 2011 Indian census, Indore city has a population of 1,960,631...

 (44 K.M) which is well connected with Major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Bhopal, Gwalior, Goa, Bangalore, Jabalpur, Pune, Jaipur. Many service operators like Jet airways, Indian Airlines, Kingfisher, Kingfisher Red, Jet Lite, Sient operate on various routes giving customers flexibility to choose various levels of services.

Indore Airport is One and Half hours drive from Dewas.

Railways

Dewas Junction(DWX), is a Standard narrow Gauge Railway Station which belongs to Ratlam
Ratlam
Ratlam , known historically as Ratnapuri, is a city in the Malwa region in Madhya Pradesh state of central India. The town of Ratlam lies 480 m above sea level. It is the administrative headquarters of Ratlam District....

 Division of Western Railway (India)
Western Railway (India)
The Western Railway is one of the 16 zones of Indian Railways, and is among the busiest railway networks in India. The major railway routes of Indian Railways which come under Western Railways are: Ratlam - Mumbai Central, Surat - Mumbai, Surat - Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad - Vadodara and Palanpur -...

 Zone, is well connected with all major cities of India.

Dewas Junction lies on Indore Junction BG - Ujjain Junction
Ujjain Junction
Ujjain Junction is the main railway station of Ujjain City in the western part of Madhya Pradesh.- Location and Structure :The station is located 12 km to the east of Ujjain. The former name of this station was Avantikapuri....

 branch line and it has one line originating and going towards Maksi Junction which connects Nagda Bhopal Junction
Bhopal Junction
Bhopal Junction ‎ is a Major Railway Junction of India and main railway station of Bhopal City, the capital of Madhya Pradesh.-Construction:...

 WR-CR link line. Indore - Ujjain line is not electrified and diesel engines mostly WDM2/3 pull trains on this sector.

There are regular trains plying to Mumbai (BCT), Delhi (NDLS), Kolkata (HWH), Chennai (MAS), Pune (PUNE), Ahmedabad (ADI), Lucknow (LKO), Jaipur (JP), Kanpur (CNB), Patna (PNBE), Thiruvananthpuram (TVC), Coimbatore (CNB), Eranakulam (ERS), Nagpur (NGP), Jammutavi (JAT), Amritsar (ASR), Dehradun (DDN), Ajmer (AII), Jodhpur (JU), Chhindwara (CWA), Jablapur (JBP), Gandhinagar (GNC), Gwalior (GWL) and other major cities.

All trains, including superfast and express trains, stop here. The electrification of the Indore- Ujjain section is underway and expected to be finished soon. This would rather increase some more speed and connectivity.

Roadways

Dewas is well connected to major cities in state and Central India through extensive network of national and state highways. NH3 Agra Mumbai National highway (A.B. Road) passes through the town.
NH 86 starts from Dewas and goes up to UP border passing through Chhatarpur - Hirapur - Banda - Sagar - Rahatgarh - Vidisha - Raisen - Bhopal - Sehore - Ashta.
  • Distance from Indore
    Indore
    Indore is one of the major city in India, the largest city and commercial center of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Indore is located 190 km west of the state capital Bhopal. According to the 2011 Indian census, Indore city has a population of 1,960,631...

    : 35 km
  • Distance from Bhopal: 148 km
  • Distance from Ujjain
    Ujjain
    Ujjain , is an ancient city of Malwa region in central India, on the eastern bank of the Kshipra River , today part of the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative centre of Ujjain District and Ujjain Division.In ancient times the city was called Ujjayini...

    : 37 km
  • Distance from Mumbai
    Mumbai
    Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

    : 638 km
  • Distance from Sonkatch
    Sonkatch
    Sonkatch is a town and a nagar panchayat in Dewas district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.-Demographics: India census, Sonkatch had a population of 15,543. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Sonkatch has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average...

    : 33 km

Princely history

Dewas was formerly the capital of not one but two princely states of British India. The original state was founded in the first half of the 18th century by the brothers Tukaji Rao (senior) and Jivaji Rao (junior), from the Pawar clan of Maratha
Maratha
The Maratha are an Indian caste, predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. The term Marāthā has three related usages: within the Marathi speaking region it describes the dominant Maratha caste; outside Maharashtra it can refer to the entire regional population of Marathi-speaking people;...

s, who advanced into Malwa with the Maratha Peshwa
Peshwa
A Peshwa is the titular equivalent of a modern Prime Minister. Emporer Shivaji created the Peshwa designation in order to more effectively delegate administrative duties during the growth of the Maratha Empire. Prior to 1749, Peshwas held office for 8-9 years and controlled the Maratha army...

, Baji Rao, in 1728. The brothers divided the territory among themselves; their descendants ruled as the senior and junior branches of the family. After 1841, each branch ruled his own portion as a separate state, though the lands belonging to each were so intimately entangled, that even in Dewas, the capital town, the two sides of the main street were under different administrations and had different arrangements for water supply and lighting. The senior branch had an area of 446 sq mi (1,155.1 km²). and a population of in 62,312 in 1901, while the area of the junior branch was 440 sq mi (1,139.6 km²). and had a population of 54,904 in 1901. Both Dewas states were in the Malwa Agency of the Central India Agency
Central India Agency
The Central India Agency was a political office of the British Indian Empire, which covered the northern half of present-day Madhya Pradesh state. The Central India Agency was made up entirely of princely states, which were under native rulers...

. After India's independence in 1947, the Rajas of Dewas acceded to India, and their states were integrated into Madhya Bharat
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 Jivaji Rao Scindia as its Rajpramukh...

, which became a state of India in 1950. In 1956, Madhya Bharat was merged into Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

 state.

The E.M. Forster connection

A description of life in Dewas at the eve of Independence is provided in the book, The Hill of Devi
The Hill of Devi
The Hill of Devi is an account by E. M. Forster of two visits to India in 1912-1913 and 1921, during which he worked as the private secretary to the Maharaja of the state of Dewas Senior. The book was first published in 1953.E. M...

 by E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...

, who was private secretary to Tukojirao III
Tukojirao III
Tukojirao III was the ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Dewas from 1900 to 1937. He succeeded to the gadi of Dewas following the death of his uncle, Raja Krishnajirao II. The first Maharaja of Dewas, he was granted the title by the British Government on his thirtieth birthday in 1918...

 the raja of Dewas Senior. The title of the book itself refers to the hill on which the temple to Chamunda
Chamunda
Chamunda , also known as Chamundi, Chamundeshwari and Charchika, is a fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother and one of the seven Matrikas . She is also one of the chief Yoginis, a group of sixty-four or eighty-one Tantric goddesses, who are attendants of the warrior goddess Durga...

is located.

External links

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