Dholpur

DHOLPUR, an Indian state in the Rajputana agency, with an area of 1,155 sq.m. All along the bank of the river Chambal the country is deeply intersected by ravines ; low ranges of hills in the western portion of the state supply inexhaustible quarries of fine grained and easily-worked red sandstone. In 1931 the population of Dholpur was 254,986.

The

TOWN OF DHOLPUR is 34 m. S. of Agra by rail. Pop. (1931) 19,586. The present town, which dates from the i6th century, stands somewhat to the north of the site of the older Hindu town built, it is supposed in the I I th century by the Tonwar Rajput Raja Dholan (or Dhawal) Deo, and named after him Dholdera or Dhawalpuri. Among the objects of interest in the town may be mentioned the fortified sarai built in the reign of Akbar, within which is the fine tomb of Sadik Mohammed Khan (d. 1595), one of his generals.

Local tradition affirms that Dholpur was ruled by the Tonwar Rajputs, who had their seat at Delhi from the 8th to the I2th century. In 1527, after a strenuous resistance, the fort was captured by Baber and with the surrounding country passed under the sway of the Moguls, being included by Akbar in the province of Agra. During the dissensions which followed the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, Raja Kalyan Singh Bhadauria ob tained possession of Dholpur, and his family retained it till 1761, after which it was taken successively by the Jat raja, Suraj Mal of Bharatpur, by Mirza Najaf Khan in 1775, by Sindhia in 1782, and in 1803 by the British. It was restored to Sindhia by the Treaty of Sarji Anjangaon, but in consequence of new arrange ments was again occupied by the British.

The maharaj rana of Dholpur belongs to the clan of Bamraolia Jats. A sixteenth-century ancestor, Singhan Deo, having dis tinguished himself in an expedition against the freebooters of the Deccan, was rewarded by the sovereignty of the small territory of Gohad, with the title of rana. In 1779 the rana of Gohad joined the British forces against Sindhia, under a treaty which stipulated that, at the conclusion of peace between the English and Mah rattas, all the territories then in his possession should be guaran teed to him, and protected from invasion by Sindhia. This pro tection was subsequently withdrawn, the rana having been guilty of treachery, and in 1783 Sindhia crushed his Jat opponent and seized the whole of Gohad. In 1804, however, the family were restored to Gohad by the British government ; but, owing to the opposition of Sindhia, the rana agreed in 1805 to exchange Gohad for his present territory of Dholpur, which was taken under British protection. The chief has a salute of 15 guns. Kirat Singh, the first maharaj rana of Dholpur, was succeeded in 1836 by his son Bhagwant Singh, who showed great loyalty during the Mutiny of 1857, and was created a K.C.S.I. and G.C.S.I. in 1869. He was succeeded in 1873 by his grandson Nehal Singh, who received the C.B. and frontier medal for services in the Tirah campaign. He died in 1901 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Ram Singh. His Highness Lt.-Col. Sir Rais-ud-Daula Jai Deo, K.C.S.I.. K.C.V.O., the present ruler, is the second son of the maharaj rana Nehal Singh and was born on Feb. 12, 1893. On the death of his brother maharaj rana Ram Singh, his Highness succeeded to the gadi in March 1911 and was invested with full ruling powers on Oct. 9, 1913.