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{{Short description|Princely state in present-day India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
|native_name = धार मराठा रियासत
|conventional_long_name = Dhar State
|common_name = Dhar
|nation = [[India]]
|subdivision = [[Princely State]]
|era =
|year_start = 1730
|date_start =
|event_start=
|year_end = 1947
|date_end =
|event_end= [[Independence of India]]
|event1 =
|date_event1 =
|p1 =
|s1 = India
|flag_p1 =
|flag_s1 = Flag of India.svg
|image_flag =Drapeau Dhar.png
|image_coat =
|image_map = Barwani-Dhar map.jpg
|image_map_caption = Dhar State in the [[Imperial Gazetteer of India]]
|stat_area1 =4660
|stat_year1 =1941
|stat_pop1 = 253,210
|today = [[India]]
|footnotes = Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer (New York: Columbia University Press, 1952) p. 510
}}
[[File:Yeshwant Rao Pawar of Dhar.jpg|thumb|Yeshwant Rao Pawar, 3rd Raja of Dhar]]
[[File:HH Maharaja Udaji Rao II Puar of Dhar.jpg|thumb|HH Maharaja Udaji Rao II Pawar of Dhar]]
[[File:City Palace PP.jpg|thumb|Gate of City Palace, built in 1875]]
'''Dhar Maratha State''' was a [[List of Maratha dynasties and states|Maratha]] [[princely state]]. It was a [[salute state]] in the colonial sway of the [[Central India Agency]]. Dhar began as one of the states during [[Maratha Empire|Maratha dominance]] in India about 1730. In 1941 it had an area of {{convert|1798|sqmi|km2}} and a population of 253,210. [[Dhar]] was the capital of the state from 1732 (from the 1728 foundation, the Raja's first seat had been at [[Multhan]] in [[Dhar district, India|Dhar district]]. In 1948, it became part of [[Madhya Bharat]].

Lying between 21°57' and 23°15' north, and 74°37' and 75°37' east, Dhar State was bordered on the north by [[Ratlam State]] and [[Sailana State]]; east by parts of [[Gwalior State|Gwalior]] and [[Indore State]]s; on the south by [[Barwani State]], and on the west by [[Jhabua State]] and portions of [[Gwalior State]] and [[Indore State]].

[[Prathmeshwar Sinh Raje Pawar]] is the current titular crown prince of Dhar, as [[Hemendra Sinh Raje Pawar]] (the titular Maharaja of Dhar) died in November 2023.<ref>MP: Dhar's Titular Maharaja Hemendra Rao Pawar Passes Away Due To Cancer, November 07 2023 [https://www.freepressjournal.in/indore/mp-dhars-titular-maharaja-hemendra-rao-pawar-passes-away-due-to-cancer]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/madhyapradesh/hemendra-sinh-pawar-is-head-of-erstwhile-princely-state-of-dhar/article1-1307225.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150126183920/http://www.hindustantimes.com/madhyapradesh/hemendra-singh-puar-is-head-of-erstwhile-princely-state-of-dhar/article1-1307225.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 January 2015|title=Hemendra Singh Puar is head of erstwhile princely state of Dhar|date=15 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/hemendra-puar-to-be-new-dhar-maharaja/articleshow/45893428.cms|title=Hemendra Pawar to be new Dhar maharaja | Indore News - Times of India|website=The Times of India}}</ref><ref name="freepressjournal">{{Cite web |title=Hemendra Singh becomes new King of Dhar |url=http://www.freepressjournal.in/hemendra-singh-becomes-new-king-of-dhar/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725012024/http://www.freepressjournal.in/hemendra-singh-becomes-new-king-of-dhar/ |archive-date=25 July 2015 |access-date=7 September 2017 |website=freepressjournal.in |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/administration-to-remove-seal-on-dhar-royal-estates-on-hc-orders/articleshow/48211141.cms|title=Administration to remove seal on Dhar royal estates on HC orders | Indore News - Times of India|website=The Times of India}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=riBJH0J1FR0C&q=dhar++pawar&pg=PA302|title=Indian States: A Biographical, Historical, and Administrative Survey|first1=R. V.|last1=Solomon|first2=J. W.|last2=Bond|date=7 September 2017|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120619654|via=Google Books}}</ref>

== History ==
{{See also|Dewas Junior|Dewas Senior|Indore State|Gwalior State}}
The present Dhar dynasty was founded in 1729 by Udaji Rao Pawar, a distinguished [[Maratha]] general who received the territory as a grant from the [[Chhatrapati]].

Yashwant Rao Pawar also had prominent role in the northern expansion of the [[Maratha Empire]]. In the [[Third battle of Panipat]] (1761), Atai Khan, the adopted son of the Wazir Shah Wali Khan, was said to have been killed by Yeshwant Rao Pawar when he climbed atop his elephant and struck him down.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesFarEast/India_Modern_Peshwas04.htm|title=The Peshwas: Peak & Debacle|website=www.historyfiles.co.uk}}</ref>

During the Pindhari raids, the state's territory was whittled away, until it was restored in size on 10 January 1819, when it signed a [[Subsidiary alliance]] agreement with the British East India Company and became a major [[Princely state]], enjoying [[indirect rule]] under British [[protectorate]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

The Dhar State [[Durbar (court)|Darbar]] (Court) was composed of [[Sardar]]s, [[Jagirdar]]s, Istamuradars, [[Mankari]]s, [[Thakur (title)|Thakur]]s and Bhumias.

The state was confiscated by the British after the [[Revolt of 1857]]. In 1860, it was restored to Raja Anand Rao III Pawar, then a minor, with the exception of the detached district of Bairusia which was granted to the Begum of [[Bhopal]]. Anand Rao, who received the personal title Maharaja and the [[Order of the Star of India|KCSI]] in 1877, died in 1898; he was succeeded by Udaji Rao II [[Pawar]].

== Rulers ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Reign start
!Reign end
!Name
!Birth-death
|-
|1728
|1732
|Udaji Raje I Pawar
|
|-
|1732
|1736
|Anand Raje I Pawar
| (b. ... – died 1749)
|-
|1736
|1761, 6 January
|Yeshwant Raje I Pawar
|(1724–1761)
|-
|1761, 6 January
|1782
|Khande Raje Pawar
| (b. c.1758 – died 1782)
|-
|1782
|1807, 10 June

|Anand Raje II Pawar
| (1782–1807)
|-
|1807, Dec
|1810
|Ramchandra Raje I Pawar
|(1807–1810)
|-
|1807, Dec
|1810
|Maina Bai (f) (regent)
|
|-
|1810
|1833, October
|Ramchandra Raje II Pawar
| (1805–1833)
|-
|1834, 21 April
|1857, 23 May
|Yeshwant Raje II Pawar
| (1823–1857)
|-
|1857, 23 May
|1858, 19 Jan
| Anand Raje III Pawar (1st time)
|(1844–1898)
|-
|1858, 19 Jan
|1860, 1 May
| ''state abolished''
|
|-
|1860, 1 May
|1898, 29 July
|Anand Raje III Pawar (2nd time)
|(1844–1898)
|-
|1898, 29 July
|1926
|Udaji Raje II Pawar "Baba Sahib"
|(1886–1926)
|-
|1926
|1931
|Laxmibai Sahiba (f) (regent)
|
|-
|1926
|1989
|Anand Raje IV Pawar
|(1920–1989)
|-
|}

===Titular Maharajas===
*2015–2023 : [[Hemendra Singh Rao Pawar]]
*2023-Present : [[Prathmeshwar Singh Rao Pawar]]

== Postal/Philatelic information ==
In 1897 primitive stamps with entirely native text. The second definitive issue bore the name '''DHAR STATE''' in Latin script; a total of 8 stamps. Since 1901 Indian stamps have been in use.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

== See also ==
* [[Maratha Empire]]
* [[List of Maratha dynasties and states]]
* [[List of princely states of British India (alphabetical)]]
* [[Dewas Junior]]
* [[Dewas Senior]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Coord|22.6|N|75.3|E|region:IN_type:landmark_source:kolossus-svwiki|display=title}}

{{MP Princely States}}
{{Salute states}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Princely states of Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:1730 establishments in India]]
[[Category:1947 disestablishments in India]]
[[Category:Dhar district]]
[[Category:Former protectorates]]

Dhar State - Revision history

Garrisonroofing at 13:17, 9 March 2026