Rewa, India

Rewa district is a district of the Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The city of Rewa is the district headquarters. Rewa is known for world famous beetle nut toys. Rewa is also known as the 'Land of White Tigers' as the first White Tiger was discovered here by Maharaja of the province, Martand Singh in 1951 in the nearby jungle of Govindgarh. In the memory of Maharaja Martand singh Ju deo and the first white tiger mohan the very first white tiger safari has been opened in 2018 in mukundpur Rewa. Madhya Pradesh's only Sainik School is also situated in Rewa. Rewa was capital city of Vindhya Pradesh.

History

Present day Rewa was part of Baghelkhand region which expanded from present day Prayagraj in North to Ratanpur in South, Jabalpur in West to Surajpur in East.

Baghel Dynasty

Baghel Dynasty was founded by Bhimaldev (son of Vyaghradev, the chieftain of Vyaghrapalli) in 1236 CE. Baghelas are basically Chalukyans of Anhilwara (Gujarat).

The region was earlier governed by Lodhi and Sengar chieftains of Rajgond Dynasty. Lodhi's Diwan Tiwari conspired with Baghelas and assisted in foundation of Baghela Rule in the Gahora Patti region. In return of this favour, Baghelas granted title of "Singh Tiwari" or "Adhrajiya Tiwari" to the Diwan Tiwari.

Raja Ramchandra shifted capital to Bandhavgarh, and later Raja Vikramjit Singh shifted capital to Rewa in 1605 CE.

Bandhavgarh Fort was sieged by Mughals. Tansen and Birbal (Mahesh Das) were in court of Ramchandra Singh Baghel.

Raghuraj Singh Baghel built Govindgarh Fort, which lies in between Govindgarh lake. Govindgarh is famous for its exquisite varieties of mangoes.

Raja Gulab Singh was called "social reformer King" of Rewa. Raja Martand Singh was the last Baghela Ruler. Later, the state joined the Union of India, after independence.

Revolt of 1857

Thakur Ranmat Singh of Mankahri revolted against British, and was hanged in 1859.

Geography

Rewa lies between 24° 18’ and 25° 12’ north latitudes and 81° 2’ and 82° 18’. The district is bounded on the north by Uttar Pradesh, on the east and southeast by Sidhi, on the south by Shahdol, and on the west by Satna. Rewa district is part of Rewa Division and has an area of 6,240 km².

The Huzur, Sirmour and Mauganj tehsils lie between the Kaimur Range in the south, and the Binjh pahar in the north, and form what is known as the Rewa plateau or uprihar. To the north lies the Teonther tehsil which is quite different in its physical and other features from the plateau tehsils. The Rewa plateau decreases in height from south to north. In the south, the Kaimur Range rises to more than 450 meters above sea level, whereas the alluvial plain of Teonthor is just 100 meters above sea level. In the eastern side of Rewa some small cities and towns are there like Manikwar , Mauganj , Mangawan , Hanumana.

The district has a varied terrain that includes alluvial plains, hills, ravines, scarp, rivers, and water-falls. The rain-water of the district flows out along two tributary rivers of the Ganges, the Tons or Tamas and the Son. The Bichiya River flows through the heart of Rewa city. Other rivers are - Beehar, Mahana, Odda, Nihai, Belan etc.

The Tamsa or Tons and its tributaries form waterfalls as they descend from the Rewa Plateau, including: the Chachai Falls (127m) on the Bihar River, a tributary of the Tamsa, the Keoti Falls (98m) on the Mahana River, a tributary of the Tamsa, Bahuti fall on Nihai river (Chataniha or Odda river) beside Hatwa Bhudhar village, Bahuti- Mauganj, and the Purwa Falls (70m) on the Tamsa or Tons.

Demographics

As of 2011 census, total population of Rewa district is 2,365,106 of which 12,25,100 are males and 11,40,006 are males. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 16.22% and 13.19% of the population respectively.

Hinduism is majority religion in Rewa district with 95.93% followers. Islam is second most popular religion of Rewa with approximately 3.61% following it. Christianity is followed by 0.08%, Jainism by 0.03%, Sikhism by 0.04% and Buddhism by 0.04%. Around 0.01% stated 'Other Religion', approximately 0.26% stated 'No Particular Religion'.

At the time of the 2011 census, 65.01% of the population spoke Bagheli and 34.34% Hindi as their first language.

Society

The region is home to Kol Tribes of Madhya Pradesh. Rewa Riyasat had gave royal patronage to three Brahmins, today known as Tiwari, Mishra and Dubey (Parauha). These three formed closed matrimonial alliances.

Tiwari had assisted Vyaghra Singh Deo Baghel and his sons to orchestrate Coup d'état of Lodhis and ascend the throne of Rewa Estate. In return of the favor, Tiwari and his successors called "Adhrajiya Tiwari" with title of "Singh Tiwari". The other known Tiwari clans are - Tiwani, Hanna etc.

Mishras belong to four clans - Amanv ( Chakghat), Anjora ( Teonthar), Umapur ( Prayagraj) and Tudihar (Mirzapur). Last brahmin to receive royal patronage was - Parauha, which used title Dubey or Dwivedi. Some other major Brahmin clans of Rewa are - Shukla, Gautam, Garg, Pandey, Tripathi etc.

Kurmi people are landed wealthy agriculturalists of the region with expertise in mango, tobacco, linseed and rice cultivation.

Cuisine

The region has highest production of pulses, tobacco, mangoes, flaxseeds, Mahua etc. Thus, cuisines enjoyed by people are -

# Indrahar - paste of several pulses mixed and baked in steam
# Kadhi - kadhi uses Rasaj ( gram flour cakes), Sooran ( elephant foot yam) and Indrahar
# Bagza - aam kery pana with toppings of gram flour spaghettis and fried with cumin