BHARATPUR

also called Bhurtpore, town, eastern Rajasthan state, northwestern India. It lies 34 miles (55 km) west of Agra. The town, which was the capital of the former princely state of Bharatpur, was founded about 1733. A communications centre connected by road and rail with Jaipur, Agra, and Mathura, Bharatpur is an important industrial and agricultural market centre. Its major industries include oil mills, metal-fabricating factories, railway workshops, and small-car factories. Bharatpur's handcrafted chowries (fly whisks), which have handles made of ivory, silver, or sandalwood, are famous. The town has several hospitals and two colleges affiliated with the University of Rajasthan. Bharatpur is situated on an immense alluvial plain with isolated hilly areas in the north and south. Bajra (pearl millet), gram (chick-peas), barley, wheat, and oilseeds are the chief crops. The locality comprises most of the former princely state of Bharatpur, which was established in the 18th century. In 1949 it became part of the state of Rajasthan. Pop. (1991) 156,880. former state of India ruled by Hindu princes of the Jat clan, or caste, situated in east Rajputana, India, lying to the south of Delhi and bordering on the Mathura and Agra districts of British India. In the 19th and 20th centuries its area was nearly 2,000 square miles (5,200 square km), and its population was something less than 1,000,000. The dominant castes were the Jats, who were sturdy cultivators, and Brahmans, and the country was agricultural. In pre-Muslim times the area was divided between the two Rajput clans, the Tomaras of Delhi and the Jadons of Bayana. Thereafter it was directly under Delhi. Jat independence began toward the end of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's reign (16591707), with plundering raids and the establishment of robber forts. In 1722 Bharatpur was recognized by the Mughals as autonomous. Its greatest ruler, Suraj Mal, plundered Delhi (1753) and took Agra (176174). Soon after his death (1763) the state declined, undergoing two sieges by the British. In 1804 the Jats sided with the Maratha chief Holkar and successfully resisted a siege from January to February 1805. In 1825 a claimant to the throne, Durjan Sal, seized Bharatpur and defied the British again. This time it was captured by Lord Combermere (1826). After Indian independence (1947) Bharatpur was absorbed into the state of Rajasthan.