Ratlam
Encyclopedia
Ratlam known historically as Ratnapuri, is a city in the Malwa region in 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
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of central 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...

. The town of Ratlam lies 480 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...

. It is the administrative headquarters of Ratlam District
Ratlam District
Ratlam District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The town of Ratlam is administrative headquarters of the district.-Geography:Ratlam District has an area of 4,861 km²...

.

Ratlam is one of the important Districts of Madhya Pradesh Which is situated in the North West part of the State "The MALWA" Region. The New Town of Ratlam was founded by Captain Borthwick in 1829 with regular and broadened streets and well built houses. Ratlam was once one of the first Commercial Towns in Central India being the centre of an extensive trade in opium, tobacco and salt. It was also famous in Malwa for its bargains called Sattas. Before the opening of the Railway Line to Kahndwa in 1872, there was no better mart than Ratlam.
The District of Ratlam was created in June 1948 and was reorganised in January 1949. It covers the area of the former princely State of Ratlam, Jaora, Sailana, Piploda. Ringnod Tehsil of Dewas Senior, A lot Tehsil of Dewas Junior and parts of Mandsaur Tehsil of Gwalior State, a few villages of Dhar State and Chief Commissioners provinces of Pant Piploda.
The District is known after the Headquarters town, Ratlam which was also the headquarter of Princely State of Ratlam.

General Introduction

No. of Revenue District 1
Population 1,214,536
No. of Tehsil 5
Block H.Q. 6
Total Villages 1051
No. of Villages(Inhabited) 985

Early history

Ratlam was given to Ratan Singh Rathore a as a gift by Shah Jahan.Shah Jahan loved watching elephant fights therefore he held an event and chose his favorite war elephants and invited all the clans of rajputana to watch and from the Rathore clan Ratan Singh was chosen. As the festival was beginning one of the elephants went berserk and was going towards Shah Jahan and no one in the crowd was brave enough to take a step to protect him,everyone fearing for their own lives fled but one, it was Ratan Singh, he swiftly climbed the elephant and stabbed the elephants head with his sword and killed it .Shah Jahan who saw this with his own eyes was so impressed by his bravery that he gave him the whole ratlam state and proclaimed him as the king of Ratlam.

Princely history

Ratlam was a 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 ...

 in British India, part of Malwa agency of Central India
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...

. For long period the Ratlam region was under rule of the Rathor
Rathor
Rathor may refer to:* Rathore or Rathor, a Suryavanshi Rajput clan of India and Pakistan* Rathor, Pakistan...

's. The rulers were Suryavanshi Rathors to which Maharaja of Jodhpur
Jodhpur
Jodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located west from the state capital, Jaipur and from the city of Ajmer. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...

, Bikaner and Kishangarh
Kishangarh
Kishangarh is a city and a municipality in Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It lies 18 miles north-west of Ajmer. It is well connected via Indian Railways and National Highway #8. It is the birth place of the Kishangarh style of painting, which is known for the beautiful depiction...

 belonged.The first Ruler was the Maharaja Ratan Singh, he married 12 wives (amongst others), Maharani Sukhroopde Kanwar Shekhawat
Shekhawat
Shekhawat is a sub-clan of Kachwaha Rajputs found mainly in Rajasthan, India. The Shekhawat clan claims descent from the great rajput warrior Maharao Shekha Ji. The Shekhawats were the most prominent among all sub clans of Kachwahas of Jaipur. Shekhawats were the rulers of Shekhawati.-History:The...

 Ji Sahiba, daughter of Kunwar Purshottam Das of Jhajhar
Jhajhar
Jhajhar is situated in the erstwhile province of Shekhawati of Rajasthan, India. It is located in the district of Jhunjhunu, approximately 7 km from Nawalgarh...

 (Shekhawati) in Rajasthan. She committed sati in 1658. The state had an area of 902 sq. mi., which was closely interlaced with the territory of the princely state of Sailana
Sailana
Sailana is a town and a nagar panchayat in Ratlam district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is located in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. Sailana is 25 km from Ratlam town and 50 km away from Banswara district of the neighboring state of Rajasthan.A Fort belonging to the former...

, Semaliya, Kanwas,. In 1901, the state had a population of 83,773; the town of Ratlam had a population of 36,321. The state enjoyed an estimated revenue, Rs.34,000 and paid a tribute of Rs.2,850. The town was a junction on the Rajputana-Malwa Railway
Rajputana-Malwa Railway
The Rajputana-Malwa Railway was a railway line which ran from Delhi to Indore and to Ahmedabad....

, and was an important trade centre, especially of opium.

Picnic spots

Ratlam is surrounded with lots of picnic spots in all the directions. At the one end the JVL temple which is a huge and very beautiful place for visit. And at another end the Paryavaran Park which is famous for its location. And the most famous is Kalika Mata Mandir at the center of Ratlam . It is also surrounded by ample of waterfalls at the outskirts like Jaman-Patli, Kedareshwar,Isarthuni and many more..

Specialities of Ratlam

Ratlam is known for its savory snacks that are made from chick-pea flour, cloves, and pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...

. The Ratlami Sev is a speciality snack which is famous all over India, Daal Baati/Daal Bafla, with laddu
Laddu
Laddu or Laddoo is a ball-shaped sweet popular in South Asian countries including India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh as well as countries with immigrants from South Asia. Laddu is made of flour and sugar with other ingredients that vary by recipe...

 and clarified butter
Clarified butter
Clarified butter is milk fat rendered from butter to separate the milk solids and water from the butterfat. Typically, it is produced by melting butter and allowing the different components to separate by density...

 is traditional food of Malwa region which is also common in Ratlam.

Ratlam is also growing in the field of education. It also has two engineering college with IT/CS/Elect branches to specialize in.

Ratlam provides a good market for gold and silver with many shops selling a range of quality jewellery, chandni chowk is the place famous in all of the malwa, for gold trade

Ratlam is a Western Railways Junction, with connectivity to almost all the major cities in India.

Looking to the strategic location of Ratlam due to its proximity to Gujarat and Rajasthan with itself in Madhya Pradesh, and being a prominent rail junction, this town is considered an important conduit for illegal opium grown in the neighbouring districts of Mandsaur and Neemuch. Incidentally, Ratlam is the Head Quarters of the Regional Narcotics Operations and an Important and Strategic Location for the Law Enforcement Agencies (Narcotics) for this reason.

For Education also Ratlam has ample facilities, Ratlam house Govt Arts & Science College, Commerce College, Law College, & Homeopethic college. Ratlam is also having Impact Education as one of the best centre for Technical(Software & Hardware) and Job Oriented courses.

Business

Ratlam's Chandani Chowk specially famous for its Gold and Silver Business.people come to ratlam for purchase Gold and Silver.It has a lot of jewellery shops.

Ratlam has several chemical factories namely JVL, Hightech, IPCA, Shaba Chemicals, Bordiya Chemicals, Sujjan Chemicals etc. There are a number of manufacturing units of Copper wires and plastic rope etc. Ratlam is also famous for its gold and ornaments for its purity and designs. Ratlami Namkin (sev) is famous throughout the country.Famous namkin's shops are gelda namkin,amar nakmin and jalaram sweets.

It is also Famous for its Mava, (also known as Khoa/khoya/Ricotta Cheese) (which is a by product of Milk) which is distributed from Ratlam to other part of state.

The city Ratlam is well connected with other commercial cities of India.

Geography

Ratlam, like most of Madhya Pradesh, has a transitional climate between a tropical wet and dry and a humid sub-tropical climate. Three distinct seasons are observed, summer, monsoon and winter. Summers start in mid-March and can be extremely hot in April and May. Highs can reach 45 °C (113 °F), although the humidity is extremely low. The monsoon season starts in late June, with temperatures averaging around 26 °C (78.8 °F), with sustained, torrential rainfall and high humidity. The average rain fall is 36 inches. Winters start in mid-November and are dry, mild and sunny. Temperatures average about 4–15 °C (39.2–59 F), but can fall close to freezing on some nights. In summer temperature can be sometimes as high as 48–50 °C (118.4–122 F) and in winters it can be as low as 2 °C (35.6 °F).

Ratlam gets moderate rainfall of 35 to 38 in (889 to 965.2 mm) during July–September due to the southwest monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...

.

Major crops grown in Ratlam include wheat, barley, gram with some variety of fruits including grapes.

Railways

Ratlam Junction
Ratlam Junction
Ratlam is a major junction and rail division on Indian Railways on meter and broad gauge lines. It comes under Western Railways zone of Indian Railways.There are Four major Railway Tracks passes through Ratlam City, these are along Mumbai, Delhi,...

 is a major junction and rail division on Indian Railways
Indian Railways
Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....

 on meter and broad gauge lines. It comes under Western Railways zone of Indian Railways
Indian Railways
Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....

.

There are Four major Railway Tracks passes through Ratlam City, these are along Mumbai, Delhi, Ajmer and Khandwa, among which the railway track along Khandwa is a Meter Gauge track.

Depictions

In the movie The Burning Train
The Burning Train
The Burning Train is a Bollywood action film released in 1980 directed by Ravi Chopra and featuring a huge all-star cast. The plot revolves around a fast train named Super Fast Express, that catches fire on its inaugural run from New Delhi to Mumbai....

, Ratlam's was the first railway station where the authorities realize that the train will not stop.

Ratlam was allegedly depicted in a scene of the Hindi film Jab We Met
Jab We Met
Jab We Met is a 2007 Hindi romantic comedy film directed and written by Imtiaz Ali. The film, produced by Dhillin Mehta under Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision Ltd, stars Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor in their fourth film together...

where the protagonists get stranded after missing a train.

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...

, Ratlam had a population of 221,267. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Ratlam has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 69%. In Ratlam, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Education

Ratlam is self dependent up to school level education having lots of English medium and Hindi medium schools.
but for higher Education people of ratlam go towards 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...

, 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...

 and Bhopal.
Ratlam has 3 government colleges, one homeopathic college, and 2 Engineering colleges.
people of ratlam are looking forward to have a medical college also.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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