By 1720, the headquarters of the local pargana were transferred from Kampel to Indore, due to the increasing commercial activity in the city. On 18 May 1724, the Nizam accepted the rights of the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I to collect chauth (taxes) from the area. In 1733, the Peshwa assumed the full control of Malwa, and appointed his commander Malhar Rao Holkar as the Subhedar (Governor) of the province. Nandlal Chaudhary accepted the suzerainty of the Marathas. During the Maratha rule, the Chaudharis came to be known as “Mandloi”s (derived from Mandals meaning districts). The Holkars conferred the title of Rao Raja upon Nandlal’s family. The family retained its possessions of royalty, in addition to the right of performing the first puja of Dushera (Shami Pujan) before the Holkar rulers. The respectability and influence of Nandlal’s family in the region was instrumental in the ascent of the Peshwas and Holkars to rulership of this region.
Indore is the most populous city in the central India, with an estimated 2,160,631 residents as of 2011. As of the 2001 Indian Census, the city’s population stood at a record high of 1,516,918, significantly greater than any other city from central province. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. In 2010, the city had a population density of 25,170 people per square mile (9,718/km²), rendering it the most densely populated of all municipalities with over 100,000 population in the Madhya Pradesh. As per 2011 census, the city of Indore has an average literacy rate of 87.38%, higher than the national average of 74%. Male literacy was 91.84%, and Female literacy was 82.55% In Indore, 12.72% of the population is under 6 years of age (as per census 2011). The average annual growth rate of population is around 2.85% as per the statistics of census 2001.
Annapurna is a very beautiful and one of the oldest temples in Indore. Dedicated to the goddess Annapoorna, this temple is one among the famous pilgrimage centres in Indore. Not only devotees, but also tourists come to see this majestic shrine. This temple bears a resemblance to the famous Madurai Meenakshi Temple of Madurai. Inside the temple premises there exist shrines of Sivan, Hanuman, and Kalabhairava. The Pravachan Hall of the temple is also very famous. Four full sized elephants embrace this temple’s highly ornamented gate. An architectural splendor, the outer wall of the temple is brightly decorated with beautiful images of legendary characters. An architectural marvel, Annapoorna Temple in Indore is a worthy for a short visit. This temple is situated Near DashaHara Maidan, Annapurna Road, Indore.
The Indore City metropolitan area is ethnically diverse. It is home to the large Jain community outside Gujarat and Rajasthan. Indore contains the highest total Marathi population of any M.P. city proper, many of them living in the western part alone viz. Lokmanya Nagar and Rajendra Nagar. The Gujarati community also have a notable presence in the city which can be easily identified in the city culture. Indore has a high degree of income disparity. Ethnically, Hindi linguistics form major sub groups in the city followed by Marathi, Punjabis, Sindhis, Gujaratis and others. The disparity is driven by wage growth in high income brackets, while wages have stagnated for middle and lower income brackets. Indore is always ranked as the home to the highest number of billionaires in state.
Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, also known as “DAVV” in popular culture and formerly known as University of Indore is a renowned university in Indore with several colleges operating under its aegis. It has two campuses within the city, one at Takshila Parisar (near Bhavarkuan Square)and another at Rabindra Nath Tagore Road, Indore. The university runs several departments including School of Law (SoL),Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMRC), International Institute of Professional Studies (IIPS), School of Pharmacy and School of Journalism. The huge campus is replete with several other research and educational departments, many hostels, playgrounds and cafes aiming to provide a fulfilling experience to its students.
The modern settlement was developed by Rao Nandlal Chaudhary (also known as Nandlal Mandloi,a ShriGaud Brahmin), the chief local zamindar. Nandlal, who had an army of 2000 soldiers. Under the Mughal rule, his family enjoyed great influence and was accorded confirmatory sanads by the Emperors Aurangzeb and Farrukhsiyar, confirming their jagir (land ownership) rights. When Nandlal visited the Mughal court at Delhi, he received a special place in the emperor’s court along with two jewel studded swords (now on display in the Royal British Museum under the family’s name) and confirmatory sanads. Raja Savai Jai singh of Jaipur, a personal friend of his, gifted him with a special “Gold Langar” which guaranteed a special place to him in all the courts of India.
The life in Indore starts early with chuskis of ‘Chai’ (tea) with ‘garam garam poha & Jalebi’ followed by delicious lunch which invariably includes popular ‘besan preparations’. Later in the day one can easily find snacks like ‘Khaman’, ‘Kachori – aaloo kachori, dal kachori etc.’, ‘samosa’, ‘petis’, ‘Baked Samosa’, ‘Bhel puri’,’ Pani Puri’, ‘mathri’ etc. Numerous Shops of Sweets have enjoyed nice business in Indore. Late nights another market comes alive at 11:00 pm in Sarafa (the heart of city) where one finds lot of delicacies to enjoy after a nice dinner like – ‘Gajak’,’Bhutta kis’, ‘Gulab Jamoon’, ‘garadu’, ‘Rabri’, ‘HOT BOILED MILK’, ‘aalo tikiya’, ‘Halua : – Gajar, Moong’, icecreams, ‘shakes’ etc. and finally tasty ‘paan’ to end your day.
By virtue of its population and role as the administrative center for business, Indore dominates the Central Indian economy. With a bulk of its trade coming from Small, Mid and Large scale manufacturing & service industries, Indore’s function as the State’s commercial capital, its economic base and population size have also created development opportunities for many other businesses oriented to local or more diversified markets. Industries in Indore range from Automobile to Pharmaceutical and from Software to Retail and from Textile trading to Real estate. The city also host prestigious Global Investors’ Summit which attract investors from 21 countries, including the US, Australia, Japan, Singapore, the UK, Germany and Finland.
Madhya Pradesh Stock Exchange (MPSE) originally set up in 1919 is the only exchange in Central India and the third oldest stock exchange in India is located in Indore an now the National Stock Exchange (NSE) established an Investor Service Center in the city. Industrial employment influenced the economic geography of Indore. After 1956 merger, Indore experienced suburban expansion aided by high levels of car ownership. Workforce decentralization and transport improvements made it possible for the establishment of small-scale manufacturing in the suburbs. Many firms took advantage of relatively cheap land to build spacious, single-storey plants in suburban locations where parking, access and traffic congestion were minimal.
There are about 20 Hindi dailies, 7 English dailies, 26 weeklies and monthlies, 4 quarterlies, 2 Bi-monthly Magazine, one annual paper, and one monthly Hindi language educational tabloid named “Campus Diary” published from the city.India’s only magazine on pump industry Pumps India & valve magazine Valves India is published from here. The major Hindi dailies include the:- Raj Express, Nai Dunia, Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran, Patrika, BPN Times, Agnibaan, & PrabhatKiran and SatyaRaj. The major English dailies are The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, Free Press, Business Standard, The Economic Times, and DNA . Several state newspapers and national media houses have their regional offices in Indore.
Indore is all fascinating with the charm of its architectural grandeur and historical enigma. Indore has architecturally significant buildings in a wide range of styles spanning distinct historical and cultural periods of Mughals, Maratha, Holkars and British era. These include the Rajwada Palace (1766), a blend of Maratha and Mughal styles with a giant wooden door covered with iron studs and seven storied entrance; Lal Bagh Palace, the grandest monument of Holkar dynasty reflecting the taste, grandeur and lifestyle of the Holkars with British flavor; Krishnapura Chhatris (cenotaphs), the royal tombs of typical Maratha style architecture with domes and pyramidal spires allures with its historical enigma.
Indore is the centre of health care in central India. India’s first medical institution, King Edward Medical School was established in the city in early 1848. The hospital is the first public hospital to be computerised and named after Yashwantrao Holkar, Maharaja of Indore, the last Holkar ruler. When it was re-inaugurated in 1955, it was Asia’s largest government hospital with 1200 beds & till now it remained the largest public hospital in state. The 8 storied hospital building is surrounded by a group of its branch hospitals namely 300 bedded Chacha Nehru Children hospitals,100 bedded M.R TB hospital,100 bedded cancer hospital, a mental hospital and a medical college within the hospital campus.
Indore is home to 51 public health institutions, including 1 district hospital, 2 civil hospitals, 8 primary health center, 21 sub-health centers, 13 civil dispensaries, 2 poly clinics, 2 maternity home, 1 TB hospital and 1 TB sanatorium which is higher than any other city in state. The city hosts a good number of private hospitals too. The prominent hospitals of Indore include Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital, Bombay Hospital, T. Choithram Hospital, CHL Apollo, and Dr Jafrey’s Indore Chest Centre etc. and with the new additions like leading hospital brands including Fortis, Medanta and Max Hospitals it is all set to become a centre for quality health care treatment in years to come.
The radio industry has expanded with a number of private and government-owned FM channels being introduced. The FM radio channels that broadcast in the city include AIR Vividh Bharathi FM (101.6 MHz), Radio Mirchi FM (98.3 MHz), Big FM (92.7 MHz), Red FM (93.5 MHz), My FM (94.3 MHz) and AIR Gyan Vani FM (105.6 MHz). State-owned Doordarshan transmits two terrestrial television channels. Apart from these few, local broadcasting stations also exist. Digicable is a cable distribution company with 70% coverage of the city. Its central region head office is in Indore and digi cable having 8 channels. Indore have its own TV news channel called ‘digi news’ headed by journalist Prakash Hindustani.
Indore City has been a metropolitan municipality with a mayor-council form of government. Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) was established in 1956 under the Madhya Pradesh Nagar Palika Nigam Adhiniyam. The IMC is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, local planning and welfare services. The mayor and councillors are elected to five-year terms. The Indore Municipal Corporation is a unicameral body consisting of 69 Council members whose districts are divided into 12 zones and these zones have been further divided into 69 wards defined by geographic population boundaries.
Atal Bihari Vajpeyee Regional Park also known as Pipliyapala park or Indore regional park, it is developed by the Indore Development Authority (IDA). Development of the park is on the 80 acres of land of the pond and 42 acres land near this tank. There is a canal, which covers the whole park starting from one point of the pond and ending at the other part. The bridges over canal with the Mist fountain let us feel a special type of peace,mentally as well as physically. Various attractions to the park include Musical Fountain, Jumping jet fountain, Artists’ village, Maze, French gardens, Bio-diversity garden, Mist fountain, Fast food zone, Boating.
In the mid-1710s, Nandlal was caught in the struggle between the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad (who had been appointed as the governor of the Deccan region by the Mughal emperor). Once, while visiting the Indreshwar Temple near the banks of river Saraswati, Nandlal found the location to be safe and strategically located, being surrounded by rivers on all sides. He started moving his people in, and constructed the fort of Shree Sansthan Bada Rawala to protect them from harassment by the warring forces. This marked the establishment of the present-day Indore city, which became an important trade center on the Delhi-Deccan route.
The Kanch Mandir also known as Glass Temple is an exquisite example of a marvel in glass. This Jain Temple also known as Jain Mandir was built by Sir Seth Hukum Chand Jain (Kasliwal) in the early 20th century.It is located in the Itwaria Market. The speciality of this temple is that its doors, pillars, ceilings and walls are entirely inlaid with glass with minute detailing. It is one of the most famous tourist attraction of the city. The temple also has paintings which are depicting stories from the Jain scriptures. The top of the temple multiplies the three statues of Lord Mahavir which makes this temple more beautiful place.
Chokhi and Nakhrali Dhani are Rajasthani heritage resorts on the outskirts of Indore. These resorts are given the appearance of a Rajasthani village in India. The villages provide people the precise atmosphere of the village, along with the modern day facilities and entertainment. These villages are catching fast with the city people as well as the tourists who visit Indore. At Choki Dhani, people find respite from the busy schedules of daily life. The rustic Rajasthani spirit fills the environment with colours of joy. You can pamper yourself with good food and enjoy traditional Rajasthani delicacies here.
In 1818, the Holkars and Scindias were defeated by the British during the Third Anglo-Maratha War, in the Battle of Mahidpur by virtue of which the capital was again moved from Maheshwar to Indore. A residency with British resident was established at Indore, but Holkars continued to rule mainly due to efforts of their Dewan Tatya Jog. During that time, Indore was established the headquarters of British Central Agency. In 1906 electric supply was started in the city, fire brigade was established in 1909 and in 1918, first master-plan of city was made by noted architect and town planner, Patrick Geddes.