Dungarpur District is a district of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

in western

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The town of

Dungarpur Dungarpur is a city in the southernmost part of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Dungarpur District. It is the fastest developing town in the southern part of Rajasthan, alongside Aspur ''tehsil''. History Dungarpu ...

is the district headquarters.

History

The area of Dungarpur district was occupied by the

Bhil people Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages. As of 2013, Bhils were the largest tribal group in India. Bhils are listed as tribal people of the s ...

perhaps as early as 4000 BCE. There is second largest community of

Patidar Patidar (Gujarati language, Gujarati: ) is an Indian landlord and agrarian Caste system in India, caste found mostly in Gujarat but also in at least 22 other states of India. The community comprises at multiple subcastes, most prominently the L ...

. It was invaded by

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

s in the 12th century. Dungarpur State was founded in 1197 by Guljaram Punjabikir, a Rajput prince from

Mewar Mewar or Mewad is a region in the south-central part of Rajasthan state of India. It includes the present-day districts of Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Pirawa Tehsil of Jhalawar District of Rajasthan, Neemuch and Man ...

, but Rajput control over the area took centuries. ''Bagar'' or ''Vargar'' was the name the Rajputs gave to the area of Dungarpur and

Banswara Banswara is a city in the Banswara district in southern Rajasthan, India. The name, Banswara, came from "Bans wala" (bamboo) forests, as Bamboo grew in abundance around this place within the area. Banswara is also known as "City of a Hundred ...

districts. The Bhil people remained the major ethnic group in the district during Rajput rule, and under the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

formed the core of the military and police.

Geography and climate

Dungarpur District lies in southern Rajasthan on the border with

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. The district has an area of 3,770 km² and had a population of 1,388,906 in 2011. The district is roughly triangular in shape. The

Mahi River The Mahi is a river in western India. It rises in Madhya Pradesh and, after flowing through the Vagad region of Rajasthan, enters Gujarat and flows into the Arabian Sea. It is one of the relatively few west-flowing rivers in India, alongside the ...

runs along the southeastern edge of the district, forming the boundary with

Banswara District Banswara District has an area of , which is 1.47% of Rajasthan state, India. The city of Banswara is the district headquarters. It is bounded on the north by Udaipur District, on the northeast by Pratapgarh District, on the east and southeast ...

. The Som River, a tributary of the Mahi, runs along the northern edge of the district, largely forming the boundary with

Udaipur District Udaipur district is one of the 33 districts of Rajasthan state in western India. The historic city of Udaipur is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district is part of the Mewar region of Rajasthan. History Before Udaipur d ...

. The district is bounded on the southeast by the districts of

Sabarkantha Sabarkantha district is one of the 33 districts of Gujarat state of India and is located in the northeastern part of the state. The administrative headquarters of the district are located in Himatnagar. Geography Sabarkantha District is bounded ...

Panchmahal Panchmahal, also known as Panch Mahals, is a district in the eastern portion of Gujarat State western India. ''Panch-mahal'' means "five tehsils/talukas" (5 sub-divisions), and refers to the five sub-divisions that were transferred by the Maharaj ...

and

Dahod Dahod is a city on the banks of the Dudhimati River in Dahod District in the State of Gujarat, India. It is said that it has taken its name from Saint Dadhichi, who had an Ashram on the bank of Dudhumati river. The city serves as District He ...

of the state of

. The

Vatrak River The Vatrak is a tributary of the Sabarmati River which flows for 243 kilometers in Gujarat, India. It originates in the hills of Dungarpur, Rajasthan and enters in Gujarat near village Moydi of Meghraj taluka. Basin Vatrak run parallel to the ...

originates in Dungarpur District. The district has a dry climate with a hot season from April to June; however the climate is milder than in the desert regions of Rajasthan to the north and west. The maximum temperature in the district occurs during the hot season and ranges between 40°to 45° Celsius. The minimum temperature ranges between 10° and 12° Celsius, usually occurring in January. The monsoon season, which runs from June through September, brings almost the only rain to much of the district, but some rain may fall from November through February. The annual rainfall varies extensively over the district from up to 880 mm in Dungarpur town in the northwest to under 500 mm at Nithawa in the northeast. But the rainfall is quite variable from year to year, as Nithawa had 805 mm in 2013 but only 465 mm in 2014.

Economy

In 2006 the

Ministry of Panchayati Raj The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India. Ministry of Panchayati Raj looks into all matters relating to the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The ministry is headed by a m ...

named Dungarpur one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the twelve districts in Rajasthan currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Dungarpur district has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 1,388,552, roughly equal to the nation of

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

or the US state of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. This gave it a ranking of 351st in India (out of a total of 640). The district had a population density of . Its

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

over the decade 2001-2011 was 25.39%. Dungarpur had a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...

of 990

females Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...

for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 60.78%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 3.77% and 70.82% of the population respectively.

Languages

At the time of the 2011 census, 96.00% of the population spoke

Wagdi Wagdi is a Bhil language of India spoken mainly in Dungarpur and Banswara districts of Southern Rajasthan. Wagdi has been characterized as a dialect of Bhili Bhili (Bhili: ), , is a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken in west-central India ...

and 3.02%

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

as their first language. The

Vagad Vagad (also known as Vagar, Hindi: वागड) is a region in southeastern Rajasthan state of western India. Its boundaries are roughly defined by those of the districts of Dungarpur and Banswara. Major cities of the region are Dungarpur and B ...

region of Rajasthan includes Dungarpur and Banswara districts. Vagad's population is predominantly

Bhil Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages. As of 2013, Bhils were the largest tribal group in India. Bhils are listed as tribal people of the s ...

s. These speak the

Wagdi language Wagdi is a Bhil language of India spoken mainly in Dungarpur and Banswara districts of Southern Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical are ...

(recorded under 'Wagdi' and sometimes 'Bagri' in the census).

Administrative divisions

At the 2001 Indian census the Dungarpur district was divided into four

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

s: Aspur,

Sagwara Sagwara is a city and municipality, near Dungarpur city in Dungarpur district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is one of two towns in Sagwara Tehsil, and the administrative center for the Sagwara Tehsil's additional district court and sub ...

and

Simalwara Simalwara is a census town in Dungarpur district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the administrative headquarters for Simalwara Tehsil. Geography Simalwara is located at . It has an average elevation of 244 metres (800 feet) ...

; however, around 2007 the new tehsil of Bichiwara (Bichhiwara) was created out of the western part of Dungarpur Tehsil. There are four towns in Dungarpur district: two municipalities

and

, and two census towns Seemalwara and Galiakot. As of the 2011 census there were 976 villages in the district.

References

Sources

External links

* {{coord, 23, 50, 59, N, 73, 43, 05, E, region:IN_type:city, display=title Districts of Rajasthan Districts in Udaipur division