DHAR, a small native state of Malwá, in Central India, under the political superintendence of the British Government. Area, 2500 square miles; population, 150,000 souls. The state contains much fertile ground, the principal agricultural products being wheat, opium, gram, sugarcane, Indian corn, and cotton. The Rájá is a Puar or Pramar Rájput, who claims descent from the famous King Vikramáditya; but the family only received possession of Dhar in 1749, by gift from the Marhattá Peshwá, Báji Ráo. Towards the close of the last, and in the early part of the present century, the state was subject to a series of spoliations by Sindhia and Holkar, and was only preserved from destruction by the talents and courage of the adoptive mother of the fifth Rájá. By a treaty in 1819, Dhar passed under British protection, and bound itself to act in subordinate co-operation. The state was confiscated for rebellion in 1857, but subsequently restored to Rájá Anand Ráo Puar, then a minor, with the exception of the detached district of Bairusia, which was granted to the Begam of Bhopál. The revenue of the state is estimated at £80,000 per annum, inclusive of jagirs. The military force consists of 276 cavalry, with 800 infantry (including police), 2 guns, and 21 artillery. Road-making is being pushed on. Fifteen schools were attended in 1874 by 550 scholars. Two charitable dispensaries afford gratuitous medical relief. The town of Dhar, situated on the road from Mau (Mhow) to Baroda, extends 3¾ miles in length by half a mile in breadth, and is surrounded by a mud wall. The fort, built of red stone, forms a conspicuous object outside the city, and contains the Rájá’s palace.

DHÁRWÁR, a district of British India in the presidency of Bombay, situated between 14° 6' and 15’ 53' N. lat., and 74° 50' and 75° 58' E. long. It contains a total area of 4536 square miles, and a population of 988,037 inhabitants. The district is about 116 miles long, with an average width of 77 miles. It is bounded on the N. by the Belgaum and Kaládgi districts, on the E. by the Nizám’s territory and Bellári district, on the S. by Mysore, and on the W. by Belgaum and North Kanara districts. The western portions of the district, in the neighbourhood of the Sabyádri range, are rugged and hilly; but towards the east, the land falls away into plains of black soil in many parts very fertile and well suited to the growth of cotton, with occasionally a detached peak or group of hills. The chief rivers are the Malprabhá on the north and the Tungbhadrá on the south. The hills are principally composed of hornblende and chloritic schists, gneiss, and mica slate, large interstratified beds of silicious and ferruginous schists (as at and near Dhárwár) often forming their ridges. Seams and beds of a crystalline white marble occur, which, near their junction with the hornblende slate, are often coloured green. Gold is found sparingly in the Dumbal hills, and chick mulgund, and also iron pyrites. Iron ore is worked to a small extent at Tegur. where there was once a considerable trade in native iron. The most influential classes of the community are Brahmans and Lingáyats. The Lingáyats number 380,919, or 44 per cent, of the Hindu population; they worship the symbol of Siva, and males and females both carry this emblem about their person in a silver case. The manufactures of the district are not numerous; they consist of cotton and silk cloth, glass bracelets, and ...