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General Information

Chhindwara district was formed on 1^st November 1956. It is located on the South-West region of ‘Satpura Range of Mountains’. It is spread from 21.28 to 22.49 Deg. North (longitude) and 78.40 to 79.24 Deg. East (latitude) and spread over an area of 11,815 Sq. Km. This district is bound by the plains of Nagpur District (in Maharashtra State) on the South, Hoshangabad and Narsinghpur Districts on the North,  Betul District on the West and Seoni Districts on the East.

Basic Information

Chhindwara District ranks 1st in area in Madhya Pradesh State and occupies 3.85% of the area of the state. The District is divided into 9 Tahsils (Chhindwara, Parasia, Junnardeo, Tamia, Amarwara, Chourai, Bicchua, Sausar and Pandhurna), 11 Development Blocks (Chhindwara, Parasia, Junnardeo, Tamia, Amarwara, Chourai, Bicchua, Harrai, Mohkhed, Sausar and Pandhurna). There are 8 Nagar Palikas (Chhindwara, Parasia, Junnardeo and Pandhurna), 8 Nagar Panchayats (Sausar, Amarwara, Chandameta Butaria, Newton Chikli, Harrai, Mohgaon, Chourai, and Lodhikheda). Apart from this there are 10 small towns (Dighawani, Jatachapar, Iklehara, Pagara, Kalichapar, Damua, Pala Chourai, Bhamori, Ambada and Badkuhi).

There are 1984 villages in the district, out of which 1903 villages are habitated. The district is divided into 19 Revenue Circles, 319 Patwari Halkas. There are 808 Panchayats in the district. As per Census 1991, the total population of the district is 15,68,702 out of which 76.90% belong to rural areas. The Scheduled Caste population is 1,91,419 and Scheduled Tribes population is 5,40,708. There are 933 females for every 1000 males, and the population per square kilometer is 133. ‘Chhindwara’ is the Parliamentary Constituency in the district and there are 8 Assembly Segments (Jamai, Chhindwara, Parasia, Damua, Amarwara, Chourai, Sausar and Pandhurna). As per Census 2001 the total population of Chhindwara town is 1,22,309 and of the district is 18,48,882. There are 953 females for every 1000 males as per  Census 2001.

It is believed that once upon a time the Chhindwara District
was full of “”Chhind”” (Date-Palm) trees, and the place was named “Chhind”-“Wada” (wada means place). There is also another story that because of the population of Lions (in Hindi it is called “”Sinh””), it was considered that making entry into this district is akin to passing through the entrance of Lions’ den. Hence it was called “”Sinh Dwara”” (means entrance of the lion). In due course of time it became “”Chhindwara””.

History records the place from the time of the rule of Bhakth Bulund King, whose kingdom was spread over the Satpura range of hills and it is belived that his rule was upto the 3rdCentury. One ancient plaque, belonging to “Rashtrakut” dynasty, found in “Neelkanth” village. This dynasty ruled upto the 7th Century. Then came the “”Gondvana”” dynasty which ruled the area with “Devgarh” as the capital. King ‘Jatav’ of ‘Gond’ community has built the Devgarh fort. Bhakth Bulund King was most powerful in the dynasty and he has adopted Muslim religion during the rule of Emperor “Aurangzeb”. Later the power has changed many hands and finally ‘Maratha rule’ ended in 1803. On 17 September 1803, East India Company had taken over this kingdom by defeating ‘Raghuji II’, starting the British rule. After Independence ‘Nagpur’ was made the capital of Chhindwara District, and on 1st November 1956 this district was re-constituted with Chhindwara as the capital.

Freedom Movement

Some of the events during the freedom struggle are mentioned below.

The first Freedom Movement in this district has started in 1857-58 with the arrival of ‘Tantia Tope’. As a part of National Awareness Moment Dr.B.S.Gunj and Dada Saheb Khapre visited this place on 11th May 1906. The people of Chhindwara participated in fight against Rolect Act., Non-Cooperation movement, fight against Symon Commission, Jhanda Satyagrah, Jungle Satyagrah, Quit India Movement, Dhanoura Kand etc.

Mahatma Gandhi visited this place on 6th Jan 1921, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru visted on 31st December 1936 and Sarojini Naidu on 18th April 1922.

The people who laid down their life during the freedom struggle include – Sri Chain Shah (Jagirdar of Sonpur), Sri Thakur Rajba Shah (Jagirdar, Partapagadh) and Sri Mahaveer Sinh (Jagirdar, Harrakot), Sarvasree Badal Bhai (Pagara), Swami Shyamanand (Amarwara), Rajaram Shukla (Chhindwara), Atul Rahman (Chhindwara), Nathu Lakshman Gosai (Sausar), Waman Rao Patel (Wanora).

Out of the 138 Freedom Fighters of Chhindwara region, the names of Late Sarvasree Vishwanath Salpekar, Arjun Singh Sisodiya, Gulab Singh Choudhary, K.G.Rekhde, Premchand Jain, Ramchand Bhai Shah, R.K.Haldulkar, Pilaji Srikhande, Suran Prasad Singare, Sooraj Prasad Madhuria, Jagmohanlal Srivastav, Chunnilal Rai, Mahadev Rao Khatourkar, Chotelal Chavre, Tukaram Thosre, Govind Ram Trivedi, Mahadev Ghote, , Durga Prasad Mishra, Harprasad Sharma, Shivkumar Shukla, Choukhelal Mandhata, Manik Rao Choure, Vinshwambharnath Pandey, Ramnivas Vyas, Guru Prasad Shrivastav, Dayal Malviy, Prahlad Bavse, Satyavati Bai, Jayaram Verma and so on are included.

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi was born on March 21, 1923 to a Christian family in Chhindwara, India. Her parents were Prasad and Cornelia Salve, direct descendants of the royal Shalivahana dynasty. Seeing the beauty of this child who was born with a spotless brilliance, they called her Nirmala, which means ‘Immaculate’.

Chhindwara lies between latitude 21″23′ and 22″49′ North and longitude 78″10′ and 79″24′ East. Mostly, the dense forest covers most of the area of the district.

“You must be knowing that I was born in Chhindwara, and Mecca and Chhindwara are on the same Cancer Line(Tropic of Cancer) – How is it?……”

H.H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (Cabella Ligure, Italy, 25.05.1997)

Chhindwara (also spelt Chindawara or Chindwara) is a city in Madhya Pradesh state of central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Chhindwara District. The city of Chhindwara is reachable by rail or road from adjacent cities Nagpur and Jabalpur. The nearest airport is in Nagpur (125 Kms).

Chhindwara is famous for its forest and mineral wealth and also for a few eminent tourist spots such as Tamia, Patalkot, Devgarh Fort, Tribal Museum and renowned ‘Gotmaar fair’. One of the adjacent tourist spots is Bhartadev where a stone thought to weigh 10,000 kg apparently stands on a pin point.

The main languages spoken in Chhindwara are Hindi and English but many other languages are also spoken there. Being in the centre of the country, and having good connectivity with nearby places, Chhindwara is thought likely to become industrial hub soon.

The city has become famous as the birthplace of H.H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.