Banswara

History

Banswara ("the bamboo city") was a Rajput feudatory state in Rajputana in British India. It borders Gujarat and was bounded on the north by the princely states of Dungarpur and Udaipur or Mewar; on the northeast and east by Partapgarh; on the south by the dominions of Holkar and the state of Jabua and on the west by the state of Rewa Kantha. Banswara state was about in length from north to south and in breadth from east to west and had an area of . The population in 1941 was 258,760. Banswara district forms the eastern part of the region known as Vagad or Vagwar. The district was formerly a state ruled by the Maharavals, named for the bamboo found in abundance in its forests. On 17 November 1913, Banswara district was witness to a little-known massacre of around 1500 tribals by the British, echoing the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in which 329 people were killed in the firing. British forces opened fire on tribals who had gathered in the Mangarh hills situated of the Aravali mountains on the Rajasthan-Gujarat border. The tribals were led by their leader Govind Guru Banjara who inspired them to throw off the yoke of British rule. Govind Guru Banjara, influenced by social reformers like Dayananda Saraswati, launched the "Bhagat" movement among the Bhils, asking them to adhere to vegetarianism and abstain from all types of intoxicants. The movement slowly took on a political hue, and then turned into a movement against the oppressive policies of the British. The Bhils began opposing taxes imposed by the British and forced labour imposed by the princely states of Banswara, Santrampur, Dungarpur and Kushalgarh. Worried by the tribal revolt, the British decided to crush the uprising. From October 1913, Govindguru Banjara asked his followers to gather at Mangarh hill…

Geography

Banswara is located at . It has an average elevation of . The region's rugged terrain undulates in short ridges west of Banswara. The eastern part of the region is occupied by flat-topped hills of the Deccan. It has the southern end of the Aravali mountains. The drainage system belongs to the Mahi river which originates from Amjera hills near Dhar in Madhya Pradesh. Its main tributaries are the Anas, Chanp, Erav, Hiran and Kagdi. The Mahi Bajaj Sagar Dam on the Mahi lies about away from Banswara town. The right and left main canals and their distributaries irrigate of land. Normal annual rainfall is about . The main crops are maize, wheat, rice, cotton soya bean and gram. Graphite, soapstone, dolomite, rock phosphate, limestone and a variety of marbles are mined in the region, with some deposits of gold found around Jagpura. About 20% of the area is designated as forested land, but most of the forest land is devoid of trees in the non-monsoon months. Banswara has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), less extreme than that in the desert regions further north and north-west. The maximum temperature is , while the minimum temperature is . Normal annual rainfall is

Most-observed species

• Little Egret/Western Reef-Heron

  Egretta garzetta (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  3
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  3
• Threelobe False Mallow

  Malvastrum coromandelianum (L.) Garcke · Magnoliopsida
  3
• River Tern

  Sterna aurantia J.E.Gray, 1831 · Aves
  3
• Purple-rumped Sunbird

  Leptocoma zeylonica (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3
• Indian Peafowl

  Pavo cristatus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3
• Giant Honey Bee

  Apis dorsata Fabricius, 1793 · Insecta
  2