Barwani State


Barwani State was a princely state in India. The seat was at Barwani.

History

The state was founded in the 11th or 14th century, at which time it was known as Avasgarh. the Rana's of Avasgarh were Sisodia's who claimed to be the descendants of Bappa Rawal. The records of the state claim that Awasgarh had 51 Rana's however there is little information about their names or the dates they reigned in. Parsan Singh, the 35th Rana was defeated by the Sultan of Delhi and taken as prisoner, the rana agreed to covert to Islam on the condition that he gets his ancestral lands back. 3 of Parsans descendants were Muslims although they followed their Hindu customs, the Rana's eventually converted back to hinduism. The 41st Rana Chandra Singh moved his capital to the safer position of Barwani. The state lost most of its territory during the Maratha domination in the 17th century, however it never became tributary to any Major power.
Under the British Raj, Barwani was a state of the Bhopawar Agency, a division of the Central India Agency. The state lay in the Satpura Range south of the Narmada River. It had an area of and a population, in 1901, of 76,136. The average revenue of the state was Rs.4,00,000. The inhabitants were predominantly Bhil tribals. The forests were under a British official.
After India's independence in 1948, the Rana of Barwani acceded to India, and Barwani became part of the Nimar District of Madhya Bharat state. Madhya Bharat was merged into Madhya Pradesh on 1 November 1956.

Rulers

Barwani State was an 9 gun salute state. The rulers of the State, whose title was Rana, were Rajputs of the Sesodia clan, descended from the ruling dynasty of Udaipur.

Ranas