Dewas Senior Explained

Native Name:	देवास रियासत
Conventional Long Name:	Dewas State (Senior Branch)
Common Name:	Dewas
Nation:	British India
Subdivision:	State Within the Maratha Confederacy (1728 - 1818) Princely State
Year Start:	1728
Year End:	1948
Event End:	Independence of India
P1:	Maratha Empire
S1:	India
Flag P1:	Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg
Flag S1:	Flag of India.svg
Stat Area1:	1160
Stat Year1:	1901
Stat Pop1:	62,312
Today:	India

Dewas Senior was established by Tukoji Rao I Pawar during the Maratha conquest of Central India. It was a 15 Gun Salute Maratha princely state. On 12 December 1818 it became a British protectorate.

History

See also: Dewas Junior, Dhar State, Indore State and Gwalior State.

The original state was founded in 1728 by Tukoji Rao, from the Pawar clan of the Marathas who together with his younger brother Jivaji Rao, had advanced into Malwa with Peshwa Baji Rao I as part of the Maratha Conquest of Malwa.^[1] The brothers divided the territory among themselves; their descendants ruled as the senior and junior branches of the family. After 1841, each branch ruled his own portion as a separate state, though the lands belonging to each were intimately entangled; in Dewas, the capital town, the two sides of the main street were under different administrations and had different arrangements for water supply and lighting.

The two Rajas heading Dewas states both lived in separate residences in the town of Dewas, and ruled over separate areas.^[2]

The Senior branch had an area of 446sqmi and a population of in 62,312 in 1901. From 1907, both Dewas states were in the Malwa Agency of the Central India Agency. After India's independence in 1947, the Maharajas of Dewas acceded to India, and their states were integrated into Madhya Bharat, which became a state of India in 1950. In 1956, Madhya Bharat was merged into Madhya Pradesh state.

Dewas Junior Darbar (Court) was composed of Jagirdars, Sardars, Istamuradars and Mankaris.^{[3] [4]}

Rulers

Rajas

• 1728 – 16 Nov 1754 Tukoji Rao I Pawar (b. c.1696 – d. 1754)
• 16 Nov 1754 – 24 Mar 1789 Krishnaji Rao I Pawar (b. 1740 – d. 1789)
• 16 Nov 1754 – 1756 Rani Savitribai (f) -Regent
• 24 Mar 1789 – 28 Sep 1827 Tukoji Rao II Pawar (b. 1783 – d. 1827)
• 24 Mar 1789 – 4 Oct 1794 Rani Gangabai (f) -Regent
• 28 Sep 1827 – 26 Jul 1860 Rukmangad Tukoji Rao Pawar (b. 1821 – d. 1860) "Khasi Sahib"
• 28 Sep 1827 – 1835 Bhawanibai Raje Sahib (f) -Regent (d. 1835)
• 26 Jul 1860 – 12 Oct 1899 Krishnaji Rao II Pawar (b. 1849 – d. 1899) "Baba Sahib"
• 26 Oct 1860 – 23 Mar 1867 Maharani Yamunabai (f) -Regent (b. 1829 – d. 1909)
• 12 Oct 1899 – 1 Jan 1918 Tukoji Rao III Pawar "Kesho Rao" (b. 1888 – d. 1937) "Bapu Sahib" (from 12 Dec *1911, Sir Tukaji Rao III Pawar)

Maharajas

• 1 Jan 1918 – 21 Dec 1937 Sir Tukoji Rao III Pawar "Kesho Rao (s.a.) Bapu Sahib" (fled to Pondicherry, French India 26 Jul 1934)
• 21 Dec 1937 – 23 Mar 1947 Vikramsinh Rao I Pawar "Nana Sahib" (b. 1910 – d. 1983) (from 12 Jun 1941, Sir Vikramsinh Rao Pawar) (administrator from 26 Jul 1934)
• 11 Aug 1941 – 15 May 1943 Maharani Pramilabai (f) -Regent (b. 1910 – d. 2008) (1st time)
• 23 Mar 1947 – 15 Aug 1947 Maharani Pramilabai (f) -Regent (s.a.) (2nd time)
• 23 Mar 1947 – 15 August 1947 Krishnaji Rao III Pawar "Aba Sahib" (b.1932 – d. 1999)

Titular Maharajas

• 15 August 1947 – 21 Jan 1994 Krishnaji Rao III Pawar "Aba Sahib"
• 21 Jan 1994 – 19 June 2015 Tukoji Rao IV Pawar (b.1963 – d. 2015)
• 19 June 2015 – Present Vikram Singh Rao II Pawar (b.1989 – present)

See also

• Dewas Junior State
• Dhar State
• The Hill of Devi
• List of Maratha dynasties and states
• List of Indian princely states

References

22.96°N 76.06°W

Notes and References

1. Book: Mayer, Adrian C. . Caste and Kinship in Central India: A Village and Its Region: International library of sociology and social reconstruction . University of California Press . 1960 . 9780520017474 . 13 . 8 September 2012.
2. Book: Lethbridge, Sir Roper . Roper Lethbridge . The golden book of India: a genealogical and biographical dictionary of the ruling princes, chiefs, nobles, and other personages, titled or decorated, of the Indian empire . Macmillan . 1893 . 116 . 8 September 2012.
3. Book: Way of Life: King, Householder, Renouncer : Essays in Honour of Louis Dumont. Madan, T.N.. 1988. Motilal Banarsidass. 9788120805279. 129. 2015-07-04.
4. Web site: Pt. II. Descriptive articles on the principal castes and tribes of the Central Provinces. Russell. Robert Vane. 1916.