BANSWARA

city, southern part of Rajasthan state, northwestern India. Banswara is an agricultural market centre. Its principal industries include cotton ginning, flour milling, handweaving, and woodworking. A walled city, it was founded in the early 16th century. A government college there is affiliated with the University of Rajasthan. The area around Banswara is comparatively flat and fertile, the principal river being the Mahi. Corn (maize), wheat, and gram (chick-pea) are the chief crops; iron-ore, lead, zinc, silver, and manganese deposits are worked. The area formerly constituted the princely state of Banswara, founded about 1530, of which the city of Banswara was capital. Earlier it formed part of the original Dungarpur state. It merged with the union of Rajasthan in 1948. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 66,676.