Mahidpur City is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, near Ujjain city in Ujjain district in the

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 ...

n state of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

. The modern town of Mahidpur is situated on the bank of river Shipra. It is located in the

Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syno ...

region. At present, the town is a tehsil place of Ujjain district. Several

chalcolithic The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

remains have been excavated in this town. The Battle of Mahidpur between the

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

s and the British was also fought in this location.

Geography

Mehidpur road Station nearest to Mehidpur City

It is situated at a distance of 56 km southwest of Ujjain town by bus and 18 km from Mahidpur-Road Railway station on Delhi-Mumbai line of Western Railway. The town is well connected by road to

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani language, Hindustani pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Prad ...

, Ratlam, Nagda, and

Agar Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from ogonori (''Gracilaria'') and "tengusa" (''Gelidiaceae''). As found in nature, agar is ...

History

Mahidpur or mehidpur during British India was in Indore state of Central India, on the right bank of the Kshipra, above sea level, and north of Ujjain, which in 1901 had a population of 6,681. Mahidpur belonged to Rajewagh (Now Waghraje).Though of some antiquity and frequented by Hindu pilgrims, it is best known for the battle fought in the neighbourhood on 20 December 1817 ( Battle of Mahidpur), in which Sir John Malcolm defeated the army of

Holkar The Holkar (Pronunciation: �o(ː)ɭkəɾ dynasty was a Maratha clan of Dhangar origin in India. The Holkars were generals under Peshwa Baji Rao I, and later became Maharajas of Indore in Central India as an independent member of the Marat ...

. The result was the Treaty of Mandasor and the pacification of Malwa. Mahidpur was again the scene of fights during the

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

. The British cantonment, placed here in 1817, was removed in 1882. Located at the bank of river Kshripra, city still has dilapidated old fort. Remnants of the war could be seen at a place named "Bhasmi Tekri" (Ashes Hill). City also has one of the oldest Mahalakshmi temples in the battlefield. ''Tala Kunchi ki Bawdi'' (Lock & Key Well) near the battlefield is supposedly the underground link to flee Mahidpur fort.

Demographics

India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, Mahidpur had a population of 34,365. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Mahidpur has an average literacy rate of 62%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 70%, and female literacy is 52%. In Mahidpur, 17% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Industry

A major chunk of the population is employed in the agricultural and related sectors, dealing directly or indirectly with the agricultural produce. Major crops grown are wheat, chick pea, pigeon pea,

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu an ...

, and corn. Mahidpur is known for agricultural produce such as ghee, mawa (thickened milk) and namkin.

Bibliography

References

{{Ujjain Division Cities and towns in Ujjain district Cities in Malwa Zen