CHHINDWARA, a town and district in British India, in the Nerbudda division of the Central Provinces. The town is situated on the Satpura plateau about 2,000 feet high. There are low hills in the neighbourhood and it is a pleasant station with a fairly temperate climate. The extension of the Satpura narrow gauge system of the Bengal Nagpur Railway from Seoni to Chhindwara was opened in 1905. Some years later the town was connected with Nagpur, and some small coal branches extended to the Pench valley coalfield. The town had a population of 8,626 in 1872, which had slightly increased to 9,736 in 1901 ; since the railways were constructed the population has grown, the figure in 1931 being 17,080.
It is just a market town with small local industries, and a trading centre for the open plateau lying mid-way between Nagpur on the south and Piparia on the G.I.P. Railway on the north. The town has the ordinary institutions of a district headquarters, and the Swedish Lutheran mission also has a station there.
District of Chhindwara.—The district has an area of square miles and consists of three distinct types of country. On the north, bordering the Hoshungabad and Narsinghpur districts, are high hills, and rugged country constituting the Jagirs or feudal estates, held by old Gond chiefs, who were at one time marauders levying blackmail on travellers and raiding the open country on their borders. South of the Jagirs is the more level Satpura plateau extending from Betul on the west to Seoni on the east, and drained by the Pench and Kanhan rivers. The southern and eastern portions of the plateau are level, and include the fertile wheat plain of Chaurai. On the south again the country drops into the Nagpur plain, to which it geographically belongs. This is a rich cotton and juar (big millet) growing area, where the lan guage is Marathi, and is the richest and most populous part of the district. On the south-east the plateau, here called the Lahmarpani, projects into the plain country, and this portion is noted for its breed of cattle. There are fairly extensive coalfields to the north of Chhindwara, connected by narrow gauge railway with Chhind wara town and by broad gauge line with Betul. In the south of the district, near the Nagpur border, are some valuable deposits of manganese.
The lowlands of the district are hot and the uplands have a temperate climate. The Jagir hills bordering the Mahadeo range just outside the district, rise to about 3,00o feet. These hills con tain some sal forest. The Government forests on the southern slopes of the plateau and in the west of the district contain teak and other timber, but they are not very valuable.
The population of the district is 573,272. It suffered decline in the influenza decade, but shows a large increase on the 1872 figure of 316,00o. About 75% are Hindus and most of the rest Gonds and other aboriginal tribes. Mohammedans are under 16,000. The literate population is small in the district as a whole, but the portion adjacent to Nagpur is the most advanced.