Alirajpur district

The district is named after its headquarters, Alirajpur, which was the capital of the former princely state of Ali Rajpur. The name of this town is derived by conjoining Ali (the fortress town and the former capital of the princely state founded by Anand Deo in 1437) and Rajpur (the latter capital).[1] According to the 2011 census Alirajpur district has a population of 728,677,[2] roughly equal to the nation of Bhutan or the US state of Alaska.[3][4] This gives it a ranking of 498th in India (out of a total of 640).[5] The district has a population density of 229 inhabitants per square kilometre (590/sq mi).[5] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 19.4 per cent.[5] Alirajpur has a sex ratio of 1,009 females for every 1,000 males, and a literacy rate of 37.22 per cent, the lowest in India.[3][5]

The district was carved from erstwhile Jhabua district on May 17, 2008. The District is named after its headquarter Alirajpur which was capital of the former princely state of Alirajpur. The territory is hilly and many of the inhabitants are Bhil”s. Being tribal dominated community Alirajpur area was being ruled by tribal kings in 15th century. Amanod Dev the descendant of Rana Rathore Naresh of Jodhpur killed Jamora Dodiya Bhil and his army and took the area in his possession. The area is bounded by the pond in Dahod in north, Shivrajpur in Gujarat in west, Narmada river in south and Dholgarh in east. Anand Dev was very fond of hunting .One day Anand Dev entered in the forest of Ali which was ruled by Alia Bhil at that time. The king saw a rabbit there which came running towards and disappeared. The king felt that it should be a magical place as well as pleasant also. The king built a fort there in 1438 and the fort was named Anandawali. Alia Bhil was killed in the battle and Anand Dev became the sole king of the state. After this Anand Dev shifted his capital motipol to Ali and was named Anandawali. King Anand Dev gave Fulmal village to his younger brother, Inderdev in 1440 and declared him the Prime Minister . After this he distributed the territory among his brother. After king Anand Dev his son Chalchal Dev became the king of the territory. Guogole Dev and Keshav Dev were his two sons. On the murder of his father Guogole Dev became the king in 1470. On the other hand, his younger brother Keshav Dev captured Jobat area while his father was survive in 1465. Krishan Dev the son of Guogole Dev died childless and his nephew Bachharaj became the king. He had four sons. Deepsen was his eldest son. Surat Dev was son of Deepsen and extended the Ali state on the large scale .He had four sons. After the death of Surat Dev his eldest son, Pahar Singh became the king. Due to circumstances created, his brother Pratap Dev did not like to live with Surat Dev and hide himself near Maheshwar. When Ahilyuabai holkar found it that Prata Dev was brother of the king of Ali, she send him back. After returning to Ali, Pratap Dev planned and captured the territory and declared himself the king of Ali in 1765. King Pratap Dev was married to Shishodiya princess of Dharampuri of Gujarat. During 1797 Mushafir Makrani real name Dur Mohammed khan came to Ali territory with his friends. He became a servant of state. Mushafir makrani proved a loyal servant of the state lifelong. He protected the state so many times from outsiders. In 1800 the capital of Ali was transferred to Rajpur. After the death of Maharaj Pratap Dev, Maharani Pratap Kuwarbai gave birth to a boy, named Jasvant Singh. Jasvant Singh ruled the territory up to 1861. After his death his son Gang Dev became the king and ruled from 1861 to 1871 in Alirajpur State. After his death his brother Roopdev ruled the state from 1871 to 1881.

Roopdev had no issue. Therefore, Vijay Singh son of Chandra Singh from Sondwa Thakur faimly was brought to Alirajpur and nominated as the King. He ruled Alirajpur state in 1890 and he also had no issue. Again Pratap Singh second son of Bhagwan Singh was brought from Sondwa and he became king of Alirajpur. Pratap Singh II was born on 12 Sept 1881 and he was made king on 10 June 1891. After he turned adult a first class magistrate power was given to him and the complete power was delegated to him to rule on 27 January 1904. Maharaj Pratap Singh married queen Rajkuwarbai daughter of Bahadur Singh Jadav. Prince Fateh Singh was born in 1961 from the eldest queen Maharaja Pratap Fateh Singh and was educated in Daly College Indore and Raj Kumar college Rajkot. Prince Fateh Singh was married to the princess Rajetukuwarbai on 7 May 1922. Prince Fateh Singh had six children. 10 Out of these three were princes and three prince. Maharaja Pratap Singh had built big and beautiful grounds presently used as collectorate office, guest houses, Pratap Bhawan Hospital and schools. King Pratap Singh had very good terms with the British Govt. He was honored by K.C.I. rank for his bravery on 3 June 1915. After this on 1st January, 1921 the British Govt. honored him with the title of his Highness forever.

The population of Alirajpur at that time was about five thousand. The roads were very broad and the houses were very airy and beautiful. His Highness Shri Pratap Singh was very fearless and kind hearted king. He punished the dacoits with hard punishment. The population of Alirajpur territory was about 12 thousand out of these 569 were Christian religion follower. Most of the Christians were converted from Bhil caste. According to British rules a state forces was formed on 1 February 1924 that was called Pratap infantry. There were Gorkhe and Army Band. Many play ground were developed during ruling period of his Highness Maharaj Shri Pratap Singh. A big cricket field (At present Fateh Club Maidan) and Polo ground was famous in the country. Thus Maharaja Pratap Singh II ruled Alirajpur successfully up to 1948 (up to freedom) for 57 years. After his death his grandson Surendra Singh son of Maharaj Fateh Singh was made the king. After this Alirajpur State was merged into Indian Union but his Highness Sri Surendra Singhji was always known as the name of Bapji.

Maharaj Surendra Singh ji was a highly educated personality and he passed I.C.S. Examination. He rendered his services as an Indian embassy under Indian Foreign Services. He had family relation with the former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and Smt. Indra Gandhi. After retirement Maharaj Surendra Singh engaged himself in the social services actively. After the freedom in 1947, Alirajpur territory was absorbed into Indian Union. After that this area became a part of Madhya Bharat Administrate.

After constitution of Madhya Pradesh on 1 November 1956 Alirajpur came into Jhabua district. Although demand of a separate district for Alirajpur was raised but Jhabua was in between petlawad and Thandla Tahsils on one side and between Jobat and Alirajpur on the other side. Therefore, Jhabua was declared as a district headquarter. Since then Alirajpr was division headquarter having three big black development offices Alirajpur, Sondwa and Kattiwara respectively. Out of these Sondwa and Kattiwara Tappa were tahil headquarter. Simultaneously a demand of separate district for Alirajpur was being raised regularly

The villages Vakhatgarh, Mathwar Kakrana etc. were connected with Narmada river in the interior. Public representative, public and political parties were also demanding of separate district for Alirajpur time to time. During Assembly elections 2003, Uma Bharti promised to make Alirajpur as a separate district. Since then the demand of district for Alirajpur was raised strongly. Due to the pressure of regional public, organizations and Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan declared Alirajpur a separate district on 17 May 2008 and thus a new administrative unit, Alirajpur was formed.

Before the Indian independence in 1947, the Alirajpur State was under Bhopawar Agency sub-division of the Central India Agency. This principality was founded in 1437 and merged with the Indian Union after the Indian independence. The territory occupied by the present district became part of Madhya Bharat state in 1948 and subsequently became part of the re-organized Madhya Pradesh state on 1 November 1956.

This district comprises three tehsils: Alirajpur, Jobat and Bhabra.

Presently, there are two Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha constituencies in this district: Alirajpur and Jobat.[5] Both of these are part of Ratlam Lok Sabha constituency.

According to the 2011 census Alirajpur district has a population of 728,999,[2] roughly equal to the nation of Bhutan or the US state of Alaska.[4][6] This gives it a ranking of 498th in India (out of a total of 640).[2] The district has a population density of 229 inhabitants per square kilometre (590/sq mi).[2] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 19.45 per cent.[2] Alirajpur has a sex ratio of 1,009 females for every 1,000 males, and a literacy rate of 37.22 per cent, the lowest in India.[2][3]

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 89.96% of the population in the district spoke Bhili, 7.90% Hindi and 1.87% Gujarati as their first language.[7]

On 30 October 2019 New Railway line was inaugurated between Alirajpur to Pratapnagar of Vadodara.

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