Tonk is a city in the Indian state of
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 ...
. The city is situated 95 km (60 mi) by road south from
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
, near the right bank of the
Banas River
The Banas is a river which lies entirely within the state of Rajasthan in western India. It is a tributary of the Chambal River, itself a tributary of the Yamuna, which in turn merges into the Ganga. The Banas is approximately 512 kilometre ...
. It is the administrative headquarters of
Tonk District
Tonk district is a district of the state of Rajasthan in western India. The city of Tonk is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district is bounded on the north by Jaipur district, on the east by Sawai Madhopur district, on ...
. Tonk was also the capital of the
eponymous
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
princely state
A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...
of
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
from 1817 to 1947. Kamal Amrohi's movie ''
Razia Sultan'' were shot in Tonk in 1981–82. Famous places in Tonk include: Shahi Jama Masjid, Bisalpur Dam, Arabic Persian Research Institute, Sunhari Kothi, Hathi Bhata, Annapurna Dungri Ganesh Temple, Rasiya Ki Tekri, Kidwai Park, Ghantaghar, Kamdhenu Circle, Nehru Garden, Chaturbhuj Talab Lake. It is also known as
Rajasthan's ''Nawabo ka shahar.''
Demographics
In the 2011 Indian
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 ...
, Tonk had a population of 165,294, with 48% being female. 14% of the population is age six and under. Tonk has an average literacy rate of 68.62%: 77.68% in males, and 59.18% in females.religion in Tonk City Muslim 48% and Hindu 50% and jain 1.8% and 0.2% others.
History
The founder of the state and its first ruler was Pindari Nawab
Muhammad Amir Khan
Nawab Muhammad Amir Khan (1769–1834) was a military general in the service of Yashwantrao Holkar of the Maratha Empire and later became the first ruler of the princely state of Tonk (in the present day Rajasthan state of India). He was of Pas ...
(1769–1834), a leader of Pashtun descent from
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. In 1806, Khan conquered the area, taking it from a retreating regime
Yashwant Rao Holkar
Yashwant Rao Holkar (c. 1776-1811) also known as Jaswantrao Holkar belonging to the Holkar dynasty of the Maratha Empire was the Maharaja of the Maratha Empire. He was a gifted military leader and educated in accountancy as well as literate in ...
. The British government captured it in turn. Khan then received the
state of Tonk from the British Government who returned it. In 1817, after the
Third Anglo-Maratha War
The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the English East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha ter ...
, Amir Khan submitted to the British
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
and kept his territory of Tonk while receiving the title of
Nawab
Nawab (Balochi language, Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب;
bn, নবাব/নওয়াব;
hi, नवाब;
Punjabi language, Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ;
Persian language, Persian,
Punjabi language, Punjabi ,
Sindhi language, Sindhi,
Urd ...
. Tonk was founded one year later after Khan was granted land by the ruler of
Indore
Indore () is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is t ...
.
During the regime of
Nawabs
Nawab ( Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب;
bn, নবাব/নওয়াব;
hi, नवाब;
Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ;
Persian,
Punjabi ,
Sindhi,
Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, ...
, the natives were invited to an Islamic function of
Milad-un-nabi
Mawlid, Mawlid an-Nabi ash-Sharif or Eid Milad un Nabi ( ar, المولد النبوي, translit=mawlid an-nabawī, lit=Birth of the Prophet, sometimes simply called in colloquial Arabic , , among other vernacular pronunciations; sometimes , ) ...
without regard to
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
, color or creed. It was organised by the ruling Nawabs for a period of seven days in the month of
Rabi al-awwal.
Tonk was known as Samwad Lakshya in the
Mahabharat
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuru ...
period. In the
Mauryan
The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until ...
regime, it was under the Mouryas and then it was merged into
Malvas. Most of the period was under
Harsh Vardhan.
Ancient history
According to
Huen Tsang, visitor to China, it was under
Bairath State or
Viratnagar
Viratnagar previously known as Bairat (IAST: ) or Bairath (IAST: ) is a town in northern Jaipur district of Rajasthan, India.
History
Ancient era
According to Huen Tsang, visitor to China, Tonk was under Bairath State or Viratnagar pre ...
previously known as ''Bairat'' or ''Bairath''.
According to the 6th BCE Buddhist text
Anguttara Nikaya, the modern site of
Bairat
Viratnagar previously known as Bairat ( IAST: ) or Bairath ( IAST: ) is a town in northern Jaipur district of Rajasthan, India.
History
Ancient era
According to Huen Tsang, visitor to China, Tonk was under Bairath State or Viratnagar p ...
corresponds to the ancient city of
Viranagara, which was the capital of the Iron Age
Matsya kingdom (c. 1400-c. 350 BC), which was one of the solasa (sixteen)
Mahajanapadas (great kingdoms).
Kuru
Kuru may refer to:
Anthropology and history
* Kuru (disease), a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy associated with the cannibalistic funeral practices of the Fore people
* Kuru (mythology), part of Meithei mythology
* Kuru Kingdom, ...
and
Surasena
Kingdom of Surasena (or Sourasena) (Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indian region corresponding to the present-day Braj region in Uttar Pradesh, with Mathura as its capital city. According to the Buddhist text '' Anguttara Nikaya'', Surasena was on ...
mahajanapadas bordered the
Matsya kingdom to the north and east, respectively.
In the regime of the
Rajputs
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 ...
, this state was under,
Solankis of
Toda and later Kachvahs took over when Man Singh defeated the Rao of Toda. Later, it was under the regime 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 ...
and
Sindhia
The Scindia dynasty (anglicized from Shinde) is a Hindu Maratha dynasty of maratha origin that ruled the erstwhile State of Gwalior. It had the Patil-ship of Kumberkerrab in Wai. It was founded by Ranoji Scindia, who started as a personal serva ...
.
See also
*
Tonk (princely state)
Tonk was a Princely State of India at the time of the British Raj. The town of Tonk, which was the capital of the state, had a population of 273,201 in 1901. The town was surrounded by a wall and boasted a mud fort. It had a high school, the ...
*
Wali Hasan Tonki
Wali Hasan Tonki (born; 1924 - 3 February 1995) ( Urdu: ) was a Pakistani Mufti, Islamic scholar, judge and writer.
Early life and education
Wali Hasan was born in 1924 to Mufti Anwarul Hassan Khan in Tonk district. His father and grandfather, ...
References
External links
Genealogy of the ruling chiefs of Tonk
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Tonk district