Indore

Indore, a Mahrattha principality of India, comprising the territories of the Holkar dynasty, and consisting of several detached tracts, covers an area of 8400 sq. m. The bulk of it lies between Sindhia's dominions on the north and Bombay Presidency on the south, its length from north to south being 120 miles, and its breadth 82. It is traversed from east to west by the Nerbudda, which almost bisects it; by the Vindhya Mountains, their loftiest point within its limits being 2500 feet above the sea; and by the Satpura Mountains. Principal products, poppy, cotton, tobacco, wheat, rice, millets, &c.; principal industries, cotton and opium manufacture. Pop. (1891) 1,099,990. The Vindhya and Satpuras have from time immemorial been the home of the Bhils (q.v.), the wildest of the aboriginal tribes in India. The Holkar State Railway connects the Rajputana railway-system with that of Bombay. The climate is sultry, the thermometer ranging from 60° to 90° F. in the shade. The state was founded about the middle of the 18th century by Malhar Rao, a soldier of fortune, who served the Peshwa. In 1818 the ruler of the Holkar dominions was reduced to the position of a feudatory prince of the British Indian empire. He keeps up an army of 8900 men.