Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh (MUH-dhyuh pruh-DAYSH) is the central part of India. Madhya Pradesh originally became a state on 1 November 1965. In 2000, the southeast portion of Madhya Pradesh was split off and became the state of Chhattisgarh. For the entirety of its history, the capital has been Bhopal. Madhya Pradesh has four other major cities in addition to Bhopal which are Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Ujjain. It is divided into many divisions, fifty districts and two hundred blocks. Before Madhya Pradesh was divided, the population was 60,385,118 (India census 2001). The geographical area is 4,434,459 km. In ancient times Vairisimha II was the king and the capital was Ujjain. When King Bhoj became king he moved the capital to Dhar. During the independence war, Fort Dhar played an important part in the fight for freedom and produced many freedom fighters. Many tribes played an important role like the Bhils, Rajpurohit and Rajput. Madhya Pradesh has many large tribes and castes.