Bharatpur, Rajasthan

This article is about the municipality in Rajasthan, India. For its namesake district, see Bharatpur district.
For other uses, see Bharatpur (disambiguation).
Bharatpur
भरतपुर
Lohagarh
Urban
Nickname(s): Lohagarh
Bharatpur

Location in Rajasthan, India

Coordinates: 27°13′N 77°29′E / 27.22°N 77.48°E / 27.22; 77.48Coordinates: 27°13′N 77°29′E / 27.22°N 77.48°E / 27.22; 77.48
Country  India
State Rajasthan
District Bharatpur
Named for Bharat- A Worrior
Government
 • Type Municipal Corporation
Elevation 183 m (600 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 25,48,462
Languages
 • Official Hindi English
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 321001
Area code(s) (+91) 5644
Vehicle registration RJ 05
Website www.bharatpur.rajasthan.gov.in
Flag of Bharatpur State

Bharatpur is a city and newly created municipal corporation in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Located in the Brij region, Bharatpur was once considered to be impregnable and unbeatable. The city is situated 180 km south of India's capital, New Delhi, 178 km from Rajasthan's capital Pink City Jaipur, 55 km west of Agra and 34 km from Lord Krishna's birthplace Mathura. It is also the administrative headquarters of Bharatpur District and the headquarters of Bharatpur Division of Rajasthan. The Royal House of Bharatpur traces its history to the 11th century. Recently Bharatpur has been included in Delhi's National Capital Region (NCR).[1]

The city has an average elevation of 183 metres (600 ft) and is also known as "Lohagarh" and the "Eastern Gateway to Rajasthan".[2] It is famous for Keoladeo National Park ( A UNESCO's World Heritage Site).

Bharatpur lies on the Golden Tourism Triangle of Delhi–Jaipur–Agra and hence a large number of national and international tourists visit Bharatpur every year.

History

Main article: Bharatpur State
Coat of arms of Bharatpur rulers

The rulers of Bharatpur were from the Sinsinwar clan of which is an indo-sythian tribe that migrated in India around AD100. According to Cunningham and William Cook, the city of Gohad was founded in 1505 by the Bamraulia village, who had been forced to leave Bamraulia by a satrap of Firuz Shah Tughluq. A notorious tribe dug up Akbar's tomb at Sikandra and the Rajputs cremated him asin Hindu tradition. Gohad developed into an important Jat state, and was later captured by the Marathas. The Ranas of Gohad signed a treaty with the British and helped them capture Gwalior and Gohad from the Marathas. The British kept Gwalior and handed control of Gohad to the Jats in 1804. However, Gohad was handed over to the Marathas under a revised treaty dated 22 November 1805 between the Marathas and the British. As compensation for Gohad, the Jat ruler, Rana Kirat Singh, was given Dhaulpur, Badi and Rajakheda. Kirat Singh moved to Dhaulpur in December 1805.

A front view of the Bharatpur Palace
A view of the Bharatpur fort from outside

In the 10th century, the Yadav people took control of Dhaulpur, which had been ruled by the Rajputs. Dhaulpur was taken by Sikandar Lodhi in 1501, who handed it to a Muslim governor in 1504. In 1527, Dhaulpur fort fell to Babur and continued to be ruled by the Mughals until 1707. After the death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Raja Kalyan Singh Bhadauria obtained possession of Dhaulpur, and his family retained it until 1761. After that, Dholpur was taken successively by the Jat ruler Maharaja Suraj Mal of Bharatpur; by Mirza Najaf Khan in 1775; by the Scindia ruler of Gwalior in 1782; and finally, by the British East India Company in 1803. It was restored by the British to the Scindias under the Treaty of Sarji Anjangaon, briefly, and was soon reoccupied by the British. In 1805, Dhaulpur came under the Jat ruler, Kirat Singh of Gohad, a princely state, a vassal of the British during the Raj.

List of the rulers of Bharatpur.

The Maharajah Kishan Singh of Bharatpore, 1916

Demographics

As of 2011 Indian census,[3] Bharatpur district had a population of 25,48,462 of which males are 13,55,726 and females are 11,92,736. Bharatpur has an average literacy rate of 82.13%, higher than the national average of 74.04%; with male literacy of 90.41% and female literacy of 72.80%. The languages commonly spoken in Bharatpur are Hindi, Braj-Bhasha, and English.

After the creation of Municipal Corporation and inclusion of new area the current population of City has been estimated to be over 3.2 Lakhs.

Education

Bharatpur has a government university named Maharaja Soorajmal Brij University

Directorate of Rapeseed Mustard Research(DRMR), Sewar(Bharatpur) is a pioneer institute of Govt. Of India under ICAR.

There are both government and privately run Engineering colleges in Bharatpur including-

Some other important colleges in the city are-

Major schools in the city are

Economy

Population growth through the years
Year Population
1891
43,000
1911
44,000
1941
35,500
1951
37,300
1961
49,800
1971
69,400
1981
105,200
1991
156,900
2001
205,235
2011
252,838

laber 17 = 2014 data17 = 320559

♦ Source:[4] ♦ Source:[5]

Population Growth of Bharatpur City 
CensusPop. %±
189143,000
—
191144,000
—
194135,500
—
195137,3005.1%
196149,80033.5%
197169,40039.4%
1981105,20051.6%
1991156,90049.1%
2001205,23530.8%
2011252,88323.2%
source:[4]

The economy of Bharatpur district is dependent to a large extent on agriculture and its products. The main crops grown are wheat, mustard, cotton, red-chillies and potatoes. There are more than 60 oil mills in Bharatpur due to mustard grown in large quantity in the surrounding areas. Bharatpur is famous for its sweets, and has a large number of shops also.

In some areas stone quarrying is also practised. The Red Fort of Delhi, Agra Fort, and Fatehpur Sikari were built with local stone.

Keoladeo National Park

Being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the duck-hunting reserve of the Maharajas is one of the major wintering areas for large numbers of aquatic birds from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, China and Siberia. Some 364 species of birds, including the rare Siberian crane, have been recorded in the park. The name Keoladeo is derived from the name of an ancient Hindu temple devoted to Lord Shiva in the sanctuary's central zone while the Hindi term ghana implies dense, thick areas of forest cover. It is mainly famous for the Siberian crane. It was the only habitat of Siberian crane in the world other than Siberia. Now it no longer comes to the park. The main reasons are the lack of conservation measures in India, diversion of water for farmers instead of saving the wetlands as per then Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's orders,[6] hunting during migration in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as the war against Taliban in Afghanistan.[7]

A view inside Keoladeo National Park
Neel Gai, in Keoladeo National Park
The Keoladeu National park wetland

Connectivity

Railways

Bharatpur Junction railway station [Station Code - BTE] is located on the main Delhi–Mumbai railway line as well as the Jaipur–Bandikui–Agra Fort line. It is a Grade-A station of West-Central Railway. A number of trains pass through Bharatpur Junction on daily basis.

One can easily reach here by train from major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Surat, Patna, Amritsar, Dehradun, Agra, Kota, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Vadodara, Udaipur, Faridabad, Ajmer, Jammu Tawi, Indore, Mathura, Gaya, Dhanbad etc.

Roadways

Located on NH-11 (Agra to Bikaner via Jaipur), Bharatpur is easily accessible by road.

A number of State Highways connect Bharatpur with other important cities and towns. Most important ones are Bharatpur–Alwar State Highway and Bharatpur–Mathura State Highway.

A Central Bus Stand locally known as "Heeradas Bus stand" provides 24*7 Connectivity to Major cities like Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Haridwar, Bikaner, Mathura, Udaipur, Ajmer, Aligarh, Alwar etc.

Airways

The nearest airport is Agra Airport. The nearest international airports are Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi and Jaipur International Airport in Jaipur.

Places to see

Tourist attractions in Bharatpur

Tourist attractions in the surrounding area

Fairs and festivals

Bharatpur sthapana diwas;Held in the Month of February- 17,18 and 19th every year by Lohagarh Vikas Parishad

See also

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bharatpur.

References

  1. ↑ "NCR expanded to include Bhiwani, Bharatpur". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 2 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "Bharatpur – Eastern Gateway to Rajasthan".
  3. ↑ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  4. 1 2 "Historical Census of India".
  5. ↑ "Census of Bhartpur".
  6. ↑ SANDIPAN SHARMA (5 February 2005). "Vasundhara govt refuses water to Keoladeo Park". Indian Express. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  7. ↑ Anuradha Nagraj (22 January 2003). "Siberian Cranes give Bharatpur a miss". Indian Express. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
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