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Jhalawar

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency, pop. (1901), 90,175; estimated revenue, £26,000; tribute, £2000. Area, 810 sq. m. The ruling family of Jhalawar belongs to the Jhala clan of Rajputs, and their ancestors were petty chiefs of Halwad in the district of Jhalawar, in Kathiawar. About 1709 one of the younger sons of the head of the clan left his country with his son to try his fortunes at Delhi. At Kotah he left his son Madhu Singh, who soon became a favourite with the maharaja, and received from him an important post, which became hereditary. On the death of one of the Kotah rajas (1771), the country was left to the charge of Zalim Singh, a descendant of Madhu Singh. From that time Zalim Singh was the real ruler of Kotah. He brought it to a wonderful state of prosperity, and under his administration, which lasted over forty-five years, the Kotah territory was respected by all parties. In 1838 it was resolved, with the consent of the chief of Kotah, to dismember the state, and to create the new principality of Jhalawar as a separate provision for the descendants of Zalim Singh. The districts then severed from Kotah were considered to represent one-third (£120,000) of the income of Kotah; by treaty they acknowledged the supremacy of the British, and agreed to pay an annual tribute of £8000. Madan Singh received the title of maharaja rana, and was placed on the same footing as the other chiefs in Rajputana. He died in 1845. An adopted son of his successor took the name of Zalim Singh in 1875 on becoming chief of Jhalawar. He was a minor and was not invested with governing powers till 1884. Owing to his maladministration, his relations with the British government became strained, and he was finally deposed in 1896, "on account of persistent misgovernment and proved unfitness for the powers of a ruling chief." He went to live at Benares, on a pension of 2000; and the administration was placed in the hands of the British resident. After much consideration, the government resolved in 1897 to break up the state, restoring the greater part to Kotah, but forming the two districts of Shahabad and the Chaumahla into a new state, which came into existence in 1899, and of which Kunwar Bhawani Singh, a descendant of the original Zalim Singh, was appointed chief.

The chief town is Patan, or JHALRAPatan (pop.7955), founded close to an old site by Zalim Singh in 1796, by the side of an artificial lake. It is the centre of trade, the chief exports of the state being opium, oil-seeds and cotton. The palace is at the cantonment or chhaoni, 4 m. north. The ancient site near the town was occupied by the city of Chandrawati, said to have been destroyed in the time of Aurangzeb. The finest feature of its remains is the temple of Sitaleswar Mahadeva (c. 600).