| Sitamau State | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princely State ofBritish India | |||||||
| 1701–1948 | |||||||
 Flag  Coat of arms | |||||||
| Capital | Sitamau | ||||||
| Area | |||||||
• 1901 | 906 km2 (350 sq mi) | ||||||
| Population | |||||||
• 1901 | 23,863 | ||||||
| History | |||||||
• Established | 1701 | ||||||
| 1948 | |||||||
| |||||||
Sitamau State was aprincely state of theBritish Raj before 1947. Its capital was inSitamau town,Mandsaur district,Madhya Pradesh. The total area of the state was 350 square miles. The average revenue of the state was Rs.130,000.[1]
Ratan Singh Rathore was killed in the battle of Dharmat against Aurangzeb, after which his descendants continued to rule Ratlam. During Raja Keshodas's reign some soldiers of the Raja killed theJaziya tax collectors due to which theMughals completely annexedRatlam. Keshodas stuck to imperial service during this time and on 3 September 1699, he was made thefaujdar of Nalgunda. Due to his good governance,Aurangzeb later granted Keshodas the Pargana of Titrod from which Raja Keshodas founded Sitamau State on 31 October 1701. The State of Ratlam was restored to an uncle of Keshodas called Chattrasal in 1705. In 1714 the emperorFarrukhsiyar further added the paragana of Alot to the new state.[2] Sitamau faced invasions after the decline of theMughal Empire. Nahargarh was captured byGwalior State and Alot byDewas State. This forced the rulers of Sitamau to seek the help ofJohn Malcolm who formed a treaty between Gwalior and Sitamau, through which Sitamau paid a yearly tribute of Rs.33,000 to Gwalior andScindia in return promised not to show hostility towards Sitamau. This tribute was later reduced to Rs.27,000.[1]
The rulers were Ratanawat Rathor Rajputs and descendants ofRatan Singh Rathore.[1]
Raghubir Sinh, the famous historian of Malwa and a notable student of a noted historian SirJadunath Sarkar was the eldest son of Raja Ram Singh who passed on the titular title of "Raja" to his son Krishan Singh who succeeded as the family head .
