Shivpuri - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Shivpuri is a city and a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

in Shivpuri district

Shivpuri District

Shivpuri District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state of India. The town of Shivpuri is the district headquarters. Important towns in the district are: Badarwas, Karera, Khaniyadhana, Kolaras, Narwar and Pichhore....

in the 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

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 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....

. It is in the Gwalior Division

Gwalior Division

Gwalior Division is an administrative subdivision of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. It includes the districts of Ashoknagar, Datia, Guna, Gwalior, and Shivpuri...

of northwest 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....

and is the administrative headquarters of Shivpuri District

Shivpuri District

. It is situated at an altitude of 1515 feet (461.8 m) above sea level.

History

Shivpuri is an ancient town and a sacred place. It was formerly known as Sipri. It received its current name after independence in honor of the God Shiva

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

. It is steeped in the royal legacy of its past, when it was the summer capital of the Scindia rulers of Gwalior. Earlier to that, Shivpuri's dense forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s were the hunting grounds of the Mughal emperors. Emperor Akbar captured herds of elephants for his stables while returning from Mandu

Mandu

Mandu or Mandavgad is a ruined city in the Dhar district in the Malwa region of western Madhya Pradesh state, central India. The distance between Dhar & Mandu is about 35 km. In the 11th century, Mandu was the sub division of the Tarangagadh or Taranga kingdom...

in year 1564. The thick forests are still there and continue to be a source of forest-produce for domestic and industrial use.

Shivpuri was awarded as Jagir to the Kachwaha

Kachwaha

Kachwaha are a Suryavanshi Kshatriya clan who ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states in India such as Alwar, Maihar, Talcher, while the largest kingdom was Jaipur which was founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727...

s of Narwar

Narwar

Narwar is a town and a nagar panchayat in Shivpuri district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Narwar is a historic town and the Narwar Fort is just east of the Kali Sindh River and is situated at a distance of 42 km from Shivpuri. Narwar was known as Narwar District during the times of...

in the 17th century.Shivpuri king and fort was won by Ranoji Bhoite

Ranoji Bhoite

Ranoji Bhoite was a Maratha chieftain of the Bhoite clan who lived in the 18th century. The Commander in Chief of the Maratha army, his ancestry traces back to the Aryan royal clan. He was a contemporary of Ranoji Shinde, Dattaji Shinde, and others. Bhoite was an active Commander in Maratha's...

,a Maratha General of Chhatrapati of Satara on instructions of Jankoji Shinde,Gwalior Chief. In February 1781, the Scindias lost a battle to the British there, which resulted in a mutual-defense treaty the following October. Shivpuri again came under the rule of the Scindias in 1804, who granted it to one of their 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;...

generals by name Ingle. Later, it was transferred to the HEIC

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

in 1817 under a treaty, but the Scindias regained it in 1818.

Tantya Tope was awarded death sentence on 17 April 1859 by 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...

for his part in the Revolt of 1857 in nearby Jhansi

Jhansi

Jhansi Hindi:झाँसी, , Marathi: झाशी, is a historical city of India. Jhansi is the administrative headquarters of Jhansi District and Jhansi Division. The original walled city grew up around its stone fort, which crowns a neighboring rock. This district is on the bank of river Betwa.The National...

. He was hanged to death in Shivpuri, at a site near the present collectorate.

Geography

Shivpuri is located at coor d|25.43|N|77.65|E|. It has an average elevation of 468 metres (1535 feet).

Demographics

As of 2001 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...

, Shivpuri had a population of 146,859. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Shivpuri has an average literacy rate of 66%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 74%, and female literacy is 57%. In Shivpuri, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Local attractions

Shivpuri’s royal ambience lives on in the exquisite palaces and hunting lodges and graceful erected by the Scindia rulers. Intricately embellished marble cenotaph

Cenotaph

A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...

s commemorating the Scindia rulers are a special attraction in Shivpuri.

George Castle was built in 1911 by the Scindia ruler Jiyaji Rao Scindia within the National Park at its highest point, for an overnight halt for tiger shooting by George V

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

. He was to pass that way during his visit to India. It so happened that King could shoot a tiger on the way itself and did not stop at Madhav National Park. View of the lake and downhill surroundings from this point at the sunset is unique.

Sailing club is one of the famous club for sailing and boating in the area.

Health problems

In the tribal district of Shivpuri alone, more than 4,500 children suffer from acute malnourishment. Unicef officials say close to 1,000 have been classified into Grade 4 - which means they are critical http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4962880.stm
The tribals in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh earn their livelihood by working in illegal mining. However, the working conditions are so appalling that most of the workers suffer from advanced tuberculosis with no hope of survival. And with medical facilities being practically non-existent, their suffering is often compounded.http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=health&id=88382&callid=1
According to official figures, 860 people in Shivpuri district have respiratory disorders while 38 serious TB patients were admitted to hospitals. But of them, only one man has stayed while the others left without recovering because of the unhealthy conditions. "There is an acute shortage of staff in the hospital. There is only one nurse instead of the requirement of four. There are only two ward boys, one of whom is working in the chief medical officer's house," said Dr R K Jain, Nodal officer, District TB Hospital, Shivpuri.http://www.centralchronicle.com/20060527/2705108.htm
A UNDP India report lists fourteen districts in Madhya Pradesh that have the worst gender ratio, fertility rate and female infant mortality rate at age 2. Guna District is the third worst and Shivpuri district is the seventh worst.http://www.undp.org.in/REPORT/IDF98/idfhot.htm

Sailing club is one of the famous club for sailing and boating in the area.

Industries

The Gwalior Forest Products Ltd is a 60 year old company located in Shivpuri that manufactures standardized Herbal Products and Phytochemical products. GFP Herbal is one of the largest employers in the town and has a 100 acre (0.404686 km²) facility.http://www.gfpherbal.in/

Notable people

Col. G.S. Dhillon, an associate of Subhas Chandra Bose of Indian National Army
Indian National Army
The Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj was an armed force formed by Indian nationalists in 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. The aim of the army was to overthrow the British Raj in colonial India, with Japanese assistance...

, was one of famous people from Shivpuri who have put their life and family at risk for the pride of Indian nationality. He was one of the accused in Historic trial on 5 November 1945 at Red Fort. He was living at village Hatod in Shivpuri during his last days of life.