| Maihar State | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princely State ofBritish India | |||||||
| 1770–1948 | |||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||
 Maihar State in theImperial Gazetteer of India | |||||||
| Area | |||||||
• 1940 | 1,054 km2 (407 sq mi) | ||||||
| Population | |||||||
• 1940 | 79,558 | ||||||
| History | |||||||
• Established | 1770 | ||||||
| 1948 | |||||||
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| Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer. p.1122 | |||||||
Maihar State was aprincely state in India during theBritish Raj, located in what is todayMadhya Pradesh, central India. The state had an area of 1,050 square kilometres (407 sq mi), and a population of 63,702 in 1901. The state, which was watered by theTons River, consists mainly of alluvial soil covering sandstone, and is fertile except in the hilly district of the south.[1] A large area was under forest, the produce of which provided a small export trade.[1]
The state gained India-wide and later, worldwide fame forMaihar gharana, agharana or school of Indian classical music. It is one of the most prominent gharanas of the 20th century; much of the fame ofHindustani classical music in the west stems from this gharana.[2]
Maihar was originally a dependency ofRewa, butHarde Sah, the eldest son ofChhatrasal, took advantage of the minority of Audhut Singh Ju Deo ofRewa, attacked him, and annexed Maihar andBijairaghogarh to his territories.[3][4]Hindupat, theRaja ofPanna, granted Maihar as ajagir to his minister,Beni Singh (or Beni Hazuri), in 1770.[5]Beni was a grandson of Bhim Singh who servedChhatrasal.[6] After the death ofBeni Singh, his sonRajdhar succeeded him.[7] Like other chiefs ofBundelkhand, he was conquered byAli Bahadur.[7]Ali Bahadur later restored Maihar to Beni Singh's younger son, Durjan Singh.[7] WhenBundelkhand fell to theBritish, Durjan executed a deed of allegiance to theBritish government in 1806.[8] It was then administered as part of theBundelkhand Agency under theCentral India Agency.[8] After Durjan's death in 1826, his territory was divided between his two sons.[7] The eldest,Bishan Singh, succeeded him as the ruler of Maihar, while the younger,Prag Das, received the estate ofBijairaghogarh.[7] Due to the rebellion ofPrag's son,Surju Prasad, his estate was confiscated by theBritish government in 1858 and incorporated into the territories under thechief commissioner of theCentral Provinces.[5] Maihar claimed thatBijairaghogarh, which was originally part of it, should be restored to it.[9] However, the claim was denied.[9] However, due to the valuable services rendered to the British by the ruler of Maihar in 1857, he was granted 11 villages from the confiscated state in 1859.[10]
In 1871 the eastern states of Bundelkhand Agency, including Maihar, were separated to form the newBagelkhand Agency in Central India. In 1933 Maihar, along with ten other states in western Bagelkhand, were transferred back to theBundelkhand Agency.[citation needed]
The state suffered severely from famine in 1896–1897.[1] Maihar became a station on theEast Indian Railway[1](now theWest Central Railway) line betweenSatna andJabalpur, 156 kilometres (97 mi) north ofJabalpur. Extensive ruins of shrines and other buildings surround the town.[1] As of 1940 it had a population of 79,558 and an area of 412 square miles. In 1948 Maihar was merged into India.
Brijnath Singh, one of Maihar's rulers, was a great patron of music and had learned it underAllaudin Khan, who settled in his dominions in 1918.[11][12] He madeAllaudin a musician in hisdurbar.[13][14] Though theMaihar gharana existed beforeAllaudin's arrival, he made it more famous, and as such, the success of thegharana is attributed to him.[14] Thisgharana is unique because its tradition is passed down not through family members but from teacher to student.[14]
The ancestors of the royal family are believed to have migrated fromAlwar in the 17th or 18th century and acquired land from the then ruler ofOrchha.[15] The rulers of Maihar claimed to beRajputs of theKachhwaha clan and asserted their relation to the royal families ofJaipur andAlwar.[16] However, no evidence supported this claim, and it was denied byJaipur and otherKachhwaha families.[17] Ruler was entitled to a salute of nine guns.[18] The rulers were:
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