Rewa Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Rewa is a city in northern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It is the administrative center of the Rewa District and Rewa Division, and was formerly the capital of a princely state of central India. The town of Rewa is 131 mi. south of Allahabad.The Rajas of Rewa were Rajputs of the Bagheli branch of the Solanki clan, and were descended from the founder of the Anhilwara Patan dynasty in Gujarat. The state first came under British influence in 1812. From 1812 until India's independence in 1947, the Rewa was a princely state, in the Bagelkhand agency of Central India. It was the only large state in Bagelkhand, and the second largest in Central India, having an area of about 13,000 sq. mi. It was bounded on the north by the United Provinces on the east by Bengal and on the south by the Central Provinces. On the west it met other princely states of Bagelkhand. The political agent for Bagelkhand resided at Satna, on the East Indian railway: pop. (1901) 7471. During the minority of Raja Venkat Raman Singh (born in 1876, succeeded in 1880 and created G.C.S.I. in 1897), the administration of the state was reformed.
Rewa was divided into two well-defined portions. The northern and smaller division was the plateau lying between the Kaimur range of hills and that portion of the Vindhya Range known as Binjh, which overlook the valley of the Ganges. This plateau was for the most part cultivated and well peopled; rich harvests both of kharif and rabi crops were generally obtained. Water was plentiful, and the country is full of large tanks and reservoirs, which, however, were not used for irrigation purposes; the only system of wet cultivation which that had any favor with the villagers is that of bunds, or mounds of earth raised at the lower ends of sloping fields to retain the rain water for some time after the monsoon rains cease. The country to the south of the Kaimur hills comprised the largest portion of the state; but here cultivation was restricted to the valley between the hills and the Son River, and to a few isolated patches in scattered parts of the forest wastes. The principal river was the Son, which flows through the state in a northeasterly direction into Mirzapur district. Another important river was the Tons, but neither is navigable. The annual rainfall averages about 41 in. The population in 1901 was 1,327,385, showing a decrease of 12% in the decade. Many of the inhabitants of the hilly tracts were Gonds and Kols. Estimated revenue, 200,000. The staple crops were rice, millets and wheat; but more than one-third of the area was covered with forests, yielding timber and lac.
The south of the state was crossed by the branch of the Bengal-Nagpur railway from Bilaspur to Katni, which taps the Umaria coal-field. The state suffered from famine in 1896-97, and again to a less extent in 1899-1900; but on both occasions adequate measures of relief were provided. The population of the town in 1901 was 24,608, and it had a high school, also the Victoria and Zenana hospitals and a model jail.
After India's independence in 1947, the Raja of Rewa acceded to India, and Rewa became part of the new Indian state of Vindhya Pradesh, which was formed out of the former princely states of Bagelkhand and Bundelkhand agencies. Rewa served as the capital of the new state. In 1956, Vindhya Pradesh was merged into Madhya Pradesh state.
Rewa District
Area 6,314 sq. km, population 1,972,333 (2001 census), a 27% increase from 1991. Rewa District is bounded on the north by Uttar Pradesh state, on the east and southeast by Sidhi district, on the south by Shahdol District, and on the west by Satna District.