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Banswara

Town in Rajasthan, India

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Banswara is also known as "City of a Hundred Islands", "The Green City", which is often referred to as "Cherrapunji of Rajasthan", because it receives the most rain in Rajasthan, as well as for the numerous islands in the Mahi River, often referred to as "Mahati", an alternate name for Mahi River, in Vayu Purana text, which flows through the city. Banswara district located Southernmost district in Rajasthan. The city has a population of 101,017, of whom 51,585 are male and 49,432 are female.

History

Banswara ("the bamboo city") was a Rajput feudatory state in Rajputana in British India. It borders Gujarat and was bounded on the north by the princely states of Dungarpur and Udaipur or Mewar; on the northeast and east by Partapgarh; on the south by the dominions of Holkar and the state of Jabua and on the west by the state of Rewa Kantha.

Banswara state was about 45 mi (72 km) in length from north to south and 33 mi (53 km) in breadth from east to west and had an area of 1,606 mi2 (4,160 km2). The population in 1941 was 258,760.

Banswara district forms the eastern part of the region known as Vagad or Vagwar. The district was formerly a state ruled by the Maharavals, named for the bamboo found in abundance in its forests.

On 17 November 1913, Banswara district was witness to a little-known massacre of around 1500 tribals by the British, echoing the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in which 329 people were killed in the firing. British forces opened fire on tribals who had gathered in the Mangarh hills situated of the Aravali mountains on the Rajasthan-Gujarat border. The tribals were led by their leader Govind Guru Banjara who inspired them to throw off the yoke of British rule.

Govind Guru Banjara, influenced by social reformers like Dayananda Saraswati, launched the "Bhagat" movement among the Bhils, asking them to adhere to vegetarianism and abstain from all types of intoxicants. The movement slowly took on a political hue, and then turned into a movement against the oppressive policies of the British.

The Bhils began opposing taxes imposed by the British and forced labour imposed by the princely states of Banswara, Santrampur, Dungarpur and Kushalgarh. Worried by the tribal revolt, the British decided to crush the uprising. From October 1913, Govindguru Banjara asked his followers to gather at Mangarh hill from which they would conduct their operations.

The British asked them to vacate Mangarh hill by 15 November but they refused. On 17 November, the tribals were gathering for a meeting when the British forces under Major S Bailey and Captain E Stiley opened fire on the crowd with cannons and guns. Though there are no official estimates, locals say about 2500 people were killed in cold blood.

Govind guru Banjara was captured and exiled from the area. He was imprisoned in Hyderabad jail and released in 1919, on grounds of good behaviour. As he was exiled from his homeland, he settled in Limdi in Gujarat, where he died in 1931. The site of the massacre is today known as Mangarh Dham and the locals are demanding that a national memorial be built there in memory of the martyrs.

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