Gwalior

GWALIOR, one of the five leading Indian States, and the dominion of the Sindhia family of Mahrattas. The State consists of two well-defined parts which may roughly be called the northern and the southern. The former is a compact mass of territory, bounded north and north-west by the Chambal river, and wedged in between Rajputana and British territory. The southern, or Malwa, portion is made up of detached or semi-detached districts, between which are interposed parts of other States, which again are mixed up with each other in bewildering intricacy. The two portions have a total area of sq.m. Pop. (1931), 3,523,070.

Physical Characters.

The State may be divided into plain, plateau and hilly country. The plain country extends from the Chambal river southwards for about 8o m., with a maximum width from east to west of about 120 miles. This plain, though broken in its southern portion by low hills, has generally an ele vation of only a few hundred feet above sea-level, and endures great heat, though the rainfall is good. South of this tract there is a gradual ascent to the Central India plateau, and at Sipri the general level is 1,50o ft. above the sea; the elevation giving this region a moderate climate during the summer as compared with the plain country, while the winter is warmer and more equable. The hilly portion of the State lies in the Bhil country and com prises only the small district of Amjhera, among the Vindhya mountains. Of these three natural divisions the plateau possesses the most fertile soil, generally of the kind known as "black cot ton," but the low-lying plain has the densest population. The State is watered by numerous rivers. The Nerbudda, flowing west, forms the southern boundary. The greater part of the drainage is discharged into the Chambal, which forms the north-western and northern and eastern boundary. The Sind, with its tributaries the Kuwari, Asar and Sankh, flows through the northern division.

Crops and Industries.

The chief products are wheat, millets, pulses of various kinds, maize, rice, linseed and other oilseeds, sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco, indigo, garlic, turmeric and ginger. The chief industry is cotton, and the State abounds in gins, presses and spinning factories. The late maharajah pursued an enlight ened policy of developing the economic wealth of his State, by the encouragement of industries, the establishment of a fine irri gation system, and a network of light railways. The revenue of the State is about f 1,400,000, and it lent three millions to the Government of India for railway construction. The State main tains a large force of imperial service troops, and the late maha rajah saw service in the expedition to China. The present ruler is a minor ; his salute is 21 guns.

Buildings.

Commanding the city and surrounding country is the magnificent fort, one of the most impressive of the mediaeval strongholds in India. It crowns a precipitous isolated rock of sandstone, about I a m. in length, but at no point more than 900 yd. broad, and averaging about 30o ft. in height. Its military strength is written in its long and chequered history; its chief interest now lies in the group of splendid palaces and temples which have grown up within its walls, and in the marvellous Jain sculptures on the rock-face below them. Of the palaces, that which was built by Man Singh (1486-1516) exemplifies the best Hindu architecture of its class in India. Its massive towers and latticed battlements vie in beauty with the internal scheme of decoration in enamelled tiles. The Karan palace, which adjoins it, is singu larly interesting in the devices which the Hindu architect adopted to secure the effect of the Mohammedan vault, its domed roof being supported on eight carved ribs, which intersect and form a flat square. Between these two lies a third Hindu palace, and two others of less interest were added by Delhi emperors. The group is unequalled for picturesque beauty by anything in central India. Of the temples, the pair known as Sas-bahn (mother-in-law and daughter-in-law), date from A.D. 1093, and stand on richly carved plinths. The Teli-ka-Mandir (oilman's temple) is 1 rth century work, and was originally constructed as a Vishnavite shrine, but was afterwards converted to Saivite uses.

Of the Jain remains, the most striking are the unique series of sculptures excavated out of the solid rock under the fortress. There are caves and caverns, often occupied by ascetics; deep niches for statues; and several groups of gigantic figures. One colossus is 57 ft. high; and the south-west group, occupying half a-mile of cliff, has a number of figures from 20 to 3o ft. in height. From the accompanying inscriptions they appear to have been all constructed between A.D. 1441 and 1474, and they were badly mutilated 5o years later by order of the emperor Baher. The city consists of the old town, lying under the north end of the rock, and the new town of Lashkar to the south of the fort.

The old town is in decay, but has a beautiful mosque and the tomb of Ghaus Mohammed, a fine specimen of early Mogul archi tecture. Lashkar dates from the beginning of the 19th century, and has some handsome streets and buildings. Besides the maha raja's palaces and the houses of the chief nobles, there are the Victoria college, hospitals for men and women, a museum, paper mills and a printing press. A few miles east of the fort is the cantonment of Movar. Like the fort, it used to be garrisoned by British troops, but in 1886 was handed over to Gwalior in exchange for Jhansi fort and a strip of territory along the west of the Jhansi district. The population of the city as a whole was 86,767 in 1931.

History.-The

Sindhia family, the rulers of the Gwalior state, belong to the Mahratta nation. Their first appearance in Central India was early in the 18th century in the person of Ranoji (d. . In 1726, together with Malhar Rao Holkar, the founder of the house of Indore, he was authorized by the peshwa to collect tribute (cliauth) in the Malwa districts. He established his head quarters at Ujjain, which thus became the first capital of Sindhia's dominions.

Ranoji's son and successor, Jayapa Sindhia, was killed at Nagaur in 1759, and was succeeded by his son Jankoji Sindhia. But the real founder of the state of Gwalior was Mahadji Sindhia, a natural son of Ranoji, who, after narrowly escaping with his life from the terrible slaughter of Panipat in 1761 (when Jan koji was killed), obtained a re-grant of his father's possessions in Central India (1769). During the struggle which followed the death of Madhu Rao Peshwa in 1772 Mahadji seized every occa sion for extending his power and possessions. In 1775, however, when Raghuba Peshwa threw himself on the protection of the British, the reverses which Mahadji encountered at their hands Gwalior being taken by Major Popham in 1780-opened his eyes to their power. By the treaty of Salbai (178 2) it was agreed that Mahadji should withdraw to Ujjain, and the British retire north of the Jumna. Mahadji, who undertook to open negotiations with the other belligerents, was recognized as an independent ruler, and a British resident was established at his court. Mahadji, aided by the British policy of neutrality, now set to work to es tablish his supremacy over Hindustan proper. Mahadji's dis ciplined troops made him invincible. In 1785 he re-established Shah Alam on the imperial throne at Delhi. In 1788 he took ad vantage of the cruelties practised by Ghulam Kadir on Shah Alam, to occupy Delhi, where he established himself as the pro tector of the aged emperor. Though nominally a deputy of the peshwa he was now ruler of a vast territory, including the greater part of Central India and Hindustan proper, while his lieutenants exacted tribute from the chiefs of Rajputana.

Mahadji died in 1794, and was succeeded by his adopted son, Daulat Rao Sindhia, a grandson of his brother Tukoji. When, during the period of unrest that followed the deaths of the pesh wa, Madhu Rao II., in 1795 and of Tukoji Holkar in 1797, the Mahratta leaders fought over the question of supremacy, the peshwa, Baji Rao II., the titular head of the Mahratta confedera tion, fled from his capital and placed himself under British pro tection by the treaty of Bassein (December 31, 1802). This interposition of the British government was resented by the con federacy, and it brought on the Mahratta War of 1803. In the campaign that followed a combined Mahratta army, in which Daulat Rao's troops furnished the largest contingent, was de feated by General Arthur Wellesley at Assaye and Argaum in Central India; and Lord Lake routed Daulat Rao's European trained battalions in Northern India at Agra, Aligarh and Las wari. Daulat Rao was then compelled to sign the treaty of Sarji Anjangaon (December 3o, 1803), which stripped him of his terri tories between the Jumna and Ganges, the district of Broach in Gujarat and other lands in the south. By the same treaty be was deprived of the forts of Gwalior and Gohad ; but these were restored by Lord Cornwallis in 1805, when the Chambal river was made the northern boundary of the state. By a treaty signed at Burhanpur in 1803 Daulat Rao further agreed to maintain a sub sidiary force, to be paid out of the revenues of the territories ceded under the treaty of Sarji Anjangaon. When, however, in 1816 he was called upon to assist in the suppression of the Pin daris, though by the treaty of Gwalior (18i 7) he promised his co operation, his conduct was so equivocal that in 1818 he was forced to sign a fresh treaty by which he ceded Ajmere and other lands.

Daulat Rao died without issue in 1827, and his widow, Baiza Bai (d. 1862), adopted Mukut Rao, a boy of eleven belonging to a distant branch of the family, who succeeded as Jankoji Rao Sindhia. His rule was weak and, in 1843, he was succeeded by an other boy, adopted by his widow, Tara Bai, under the name of Jayaji Rao Sindhia. The growth of turbulence and misrule now induced Lord Ellenborough to interpose, and a British force under Sir Hugh Gough advanced upon Gwalior (December 1843).

The Mahratta troops were defeated simultaneously at Maharaj pur and Punniar (December 29), with the result that the Gwalior Government signed a treaty ceding territory with revenue suffi cient for the maintenance of a contingent force to be stationed at the capital. In 1857 the Gwalior contingent joined the muti neers; but the maharaja himself remained loyal to the British, and fled from his capital until the place was retaken and his authority restored by Sir Hugh Rose (Lord Strathnairn) on June 19, 1858. He was rewarded with the districts of Neemuch and Amjhera, but Gwalior fort was occupied by British troops and was only restored to his son in 1886 by Lord Dufferin. Jayaji Rao, who died in 1886, did much for the development of his state. He was created a G.C.S.I. in 1861, and subsequently be came a counsellor of the empress, a G.C.B. and C.I.E.

His son, the maharaja, Madhava Rao Sindhia, G.C.S.I., was born in 1877. During his minority the state was administered for eight years by a council of regency. He was entrusted with ruling powers in 1894. The present ruler is H. H. Maharajah George Jivaji Rao Scindis Alijah Bahadur, born in 1916, who suc ceeded in 1925.