A 1931 photograph of Chamunda Mata's temple on Dewas Tekri (Hill).
The name Dewas is derived from the Devi Vashini hill in the city, commonly known as Tekri. The hill has a temple of the deities DeviTulja Bhawani, ChamundaMata and KalikaMata. The word Dewas is believed to be a sandhi of the words Dev (deity) and Vas (abode in Marathi), so Dewas means abode of the gods. Swami Shivom Tirtha wrote the history of the hill (Tekri) of Dewas in his book, Sadhan Shikhar. Inspired by the area, E.M. Forster wrote The Hill of Devi in 1953.
Dewas was originally established as a sovereign Maratha territory in the first half of the 18th century. While it later became the capital of two princely states during the British era, its foundations were laid by the brothers Tukoji Rao (Senior) and Jivaji Rao (Junior) of the Pawar clan. The Pawar dynasty of Dewas emerged as a prominent military power during the expansion of the Maratha Empire. Members of the clan served with distinction as early as the reign of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, participating in the foundational battles for Swarajya. Their role grew significantly under Chhatrapati Shahu, during which they fought in numerous campaigns against the Nizams, Mughals and the Portuguese on the western coast. In recognition of their unwavering loyalty and valor in these conflicts, the family was honored with the hereditary titles 'Sena Sapt Sahasri' (Commander of Seven Thousand) and 'Vishwas Rao' (The Trustworthy).
In 1901, the senior branch had an area of 446sqmi (1,160km2) and a population of 62,312, while the area of the junior branch was 440sqmi (1,100km2) and had a population of 54,904. Both Dewas states were in the Malwa Agency of the Central India Agency.
After India's independence in 1947, the Maharajas of Dewas (Jr. & Sr.) acceded to India, and their states were integrated into Madhya Bharat, which became a state of India in 1950. Later, in 1956, Madhya Bharat was merged into the state of Madhya Pradesh.
Geography
Dewas lies northeast of Indore, southeast of Ujjain, and southwest of Shajapur. The city is located on the level plains of the Malwa plateau; to the south, the land rises gently to the Vindhya Range, which is the source of the Chambal and Kali Sindh rivers that flow north through the district on their way to the Ganges. The main river in Dewas is Kshipra.
As of the census, Dewas had a total population of 289,550, of which 150,081 were males and 139,469 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 35,437. The total number of literates in Dewas was 215,088, which constituted 74.3% of the population with male literacy of 79.9% and female literacy of 68.3%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Dewas was 84.6%, of which male literacy rate was 91.1% and female literacy rate was 77.7%. The Scheduled Castes population was 56,366, while the Scheduled Tribes population was 9,861. Dewas had 57,397 households in 2011.
Dewas placed first nationwide out of 820 cities in the Swachh Survekshan 2024-2025 cleanliness rankings, in the category of Medium Cities (population of 50,000–300,000) and won the Presidential Award for it.
↑Meyer, William Stevenson, Sir; Burn, Richard, Sir; Cotton, James Sutherland; Risley, Sir Herbert Hope. Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 11. p.278.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_of_Dewas_Junior.jpg)
_Puar_of_Dewas_(Junior).jpg)
3 successive Maharajas of Dewas Junior State. (L-R: Sadashiv Rao Puar, Yeshwant Rao Puar, Malhar Rao Puar)
Maharaja Tukoji Rao III Puar of Dewas Senior
India
Madhya Pradesh
