I
City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 1,433,875), capital of Madhya Pradesh state, India.
Situated north of Nagpur , it is primarily an industrial city and a major rail junction. It is the site of India's largest mosque and home to several colleges. In 1984 Bhopal became the site of one of the worst industrial accidents in history when tons of toxic gas escaped from a Union Carbide insecticide plant and spread over a densely populated area; the final death toll was estimated at 3,800.
II
Former princely state, central India.
It is crossed by the Vindhya Mountains; the Narmada River is its southern boundary. It was founded in 1723 by an Afghan chieftain who had served under the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb . In its struggles with the Marathas, Bhopal was itself friendly to the British and concluded a treaty with them in 1817. It was the chief state of the Bhopal Agency and the second largest Muslim principality of the British Empire. At India's independence, Bhopal remained a separate Indian province. When it was incorporated into Madhya Pradesh in 1956, Bhopal city became the state's capital.