Betul district () is a district in the southern part of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The city of Betul serves as its administrative headquarters. The district is a part of Narmadapuram Division.
The district lies along the Satpura Range bordering the Narmada Valley and Berar Plains. The district has much religious significance, namely the source of the Tapti River at Multai and the Jain temples of Muktagiri.
History History of Betul traces its origin to Satyug. According to the Skanda Purana, the Tapti River descended to Earth in Satyug to protect the world from excessive heat; therefore, Tapti is also known as Adi Ganga. Moreover, Lord Ram also passed through Betul on his journey to the south. The Pandavas passed through Betul during their Agyaat Vaas in Vidharbha and built a temple of Shiva at Barahling. Between 161 BC and 130 BC, Betul was the kingdom of the Kundala. From the 9th to the 12th century, evidence of Jain history is found in Betul, and its historical evidence can be seen in the Muktagiri group of temples. A copper plate from the Rashtrakutas recording a land grant was found in Multai, dating from the 8th century, showing that they had some control over the area.
At the end of the 13th century, Betul is mentioned again in the biography of Mukund Swami Raj, a revered saint who lived during the time of Raja Jaitpal of Kherla and was sponsored by him.
The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, also visited the holy city and meditated for 15 days in Multai at the origin of the holy Tapti River. According to the historian Firishta, Kherla was part of the Gondwana region and was ruled by Narsingh Rai, who appears to have been a Gond Raja in the 14th century. In 1398, encouraged by the Sultans of Malwa and Khandesh, Narsingh Rai invaded Bahmani territory and devastated the region up to Mahur. In retaliation, the Bahmani Sultan led an expedition against Narsingh Rai seeking tribute. When Narsingh Rai responded defiantly, a battle was fought in which Kherla was defeated. Kherla then became a Bahmani vassal. In 1425, Hoshang Shah of Malwa invaded Kherla but was defeated twice. The third time he invaded, the Kherla ruler did not have time to organise a defence and asked for help from his overlords. Ahmed Shah fought a battle with Hoshang Shah and defeated him. In 1433, Hoshang Shah invaded Kherla again and killed Narsingh Rai, ending his dynasty, and annexed his territory to the Malwa Sultanate.
In 1467, the Nizam-ul-Mulk, Governor of Berar, invaded Kherla again, having been provoked by Malwa's invasion of the Deccan. The Malwa and Bahmani armies fought a large battle, but the Bahmanis won and took Kherla Fort. According to Firishta, the Bahmanis insulted the Kherla defenders, and two Rajput brothers decided to avenge their honour. They pretended to kiss the feet of the governor, snatched swords from the guards, killed the governor, and died defending themselves. In the following negotiations, Kherla was returned to Malwa.
The most popular of the Gond kings was Eel. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Khedla Fort of Betul was continuously invaded by the Mughals. Betul seems to have been part of the Kherla Sarkar of Ellichpur Subah, which also included parts of Chhindwara and Wardha districts. The north of the district was likely forested and did not have much Mughal control.
Bhanwargarh Fort (also locally known as Bhoyargarh or Bhorgarh) is a fort in Betul district, near Shahpur. It is located approximately west of Shahpur town, west of the village of 'Pawar Jhanda'. It was locally known by these names because a Baba (Hindu sant) with a name similar to that of the fort once lived there.
According to local tradition associated with this fort, between the 16th and 18th centuries, a group of Panwar Rajputs from Dhar migrated to the Betul, Chhindwara, and Pandhurna regions. On arriving in the area, they are said to have settled at Bhanwargarh under the protection of the local Gond rulers, who provided them with shelter. They subsequently came to be known as Bhoyar-Panwars, meaning "Panwars who lived at Bhoyargarh". Over time, the terms Bhoyar, Bhoyar-Panwar, Panwar, Bhoyar-Pawar, and Pawar came to be used synonymously for the same community of Panwar Rajputs.
The remains of the fort are still visible, and its position on a hill gives it a naturally elevated and defensible location.
During the age of Mughal decline, Bakht Buland Shah, ruler of Deogarh, annexed present-day Betul. In the 18th century, the area of Betul was ceded to the Maratha ruler of Berar, Raghavji Bhosale. In 1818 AD, the British-Maratha War was fought at Sitavardi. Under the treaty, the entire area of Betul was given to the British. During the British period, the headquarters of Betul was at Betul Bazar. In 1822, the British shifted the district headquarters to Baddnoor Dhana and made Betul the district headquarters. In earlier times, Betul was called Badnoor. Badd means bad and noor means eye, and so Badnoor means "evil eye". It is said that in old times, criminals were kept at this place after being mutilated. Hence, the name of this place came to be known as Badnoor during the reign of the Gond kings. Initially, Betul was divided into four administrative regions: Bhaggudhana, Chunnidhana, Baddnoordhana, and Tikari.
Betul was described by the British as an area with a wonderful natural environment, and Betul's natural beauty and the high mountain peaks of the Satpura Range mesmerised the British. Hence, Betul was described as a vacation destination for British officials. Betul was going to complete 200 golden years of its establishment in 2022. It was the same year in Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh, that British officer Ross constructed the first British residence, a simple wooden cottage. His successor, Lt. Charles Patt Kennedy, erected the first pucca house in 1822, named after Lt. Kennedy as "Kennedy House" of Shimla. An officer from the Northern Command visited Betul and mentioned Betul and Shimla as the two faces of one coin in his diary. Since then, the unbroken relationship between Shimla and Betul, which was established by the British in the pages of history, continues to this day.
Once, a freedom fighter was hanged in Faasi Mines, and the area around it was subsequently named Fassikhadan. The historic Kamani Gate was part of the Victoria Hostel, built in 1902, where the children of British officers, employees, and merchants were sent to stay for education. The Hindi meaning of Betul is "cottonless". Cotton was not grown in this region of Berar. For this reason, it was named Betul.
Betul is remembered for the Forest Satyagraha that took place in 1930. Ganjan Singh Korku and Banjari Singh Korku were prominent leaders of the movement. During this Satyagraha, mostly Gond and Korku tribals, sometimes under the leadership of Congress leaders and often against their direction, went to forests and cut trees and grass under the control of malguzars.
Betul Bazar as old District headquarter
Actually, the modern-day Betul town is named after a smaller town named Betul-Bazar, which is 7 km away from Betul. Before 1822, Betul was known as Badnoor, and at that time, the present-day Betul Bazar was holding the original name of Betul, as well as the town held the position of district headquarters. During the British period, the whole district was governed from present-day Betul Bazar. Later, in 1822, the British collector decided to shift the district headquarters from Betul (present-day Betul Bazar) to Badnoor (present-day Betul). At that time, Badnoor was just a small village with very few houses and families, but on the other hand, Betul (present-day Betul Bazar) was a very prosperous and developed town. The intention and reason for shifting the district headquarters are still unclear. The shifting of the district headquarters caused a great loss to Betul (present-day Betul Bazar) and benefited Badnoor. This caused Badnoor to grow rapidly and develop quickly. The name Badnoor was not widely known at that time; hence, people often called it Betul, resulting in confusion. To resolve this confusion, the British officially named it Betul and named the original Betul as Betul Bazar. To this day, the original soul and culture are preserved in Betul Bazar. Despite its small size and congested roads, it holds great significance. It has an enormous number of temples and historical buildings. Each and every brick tells a story of history.Gazetteer of Betul District, 1907
Geography The Betul District belongs to the Narmadapuram Division of Madhya Pradesh and is situated “between 21° 22’ and 22° 23' N. and 77°10' and 78° 33’ E., on the Satpura plateau. Betul is the most westerly of the four plateau Districts and is bounded on the north by Narmadapuram, on the west by the Districts of Khandwa, Harda and Amravati of Maharashtra, on the south by the Amravati District, and on the east by the Chhindwara District. The District occupies nearly the whole width of the range between the valley of the Narmada on the north and the Berar plains on the south, and with the exception of 15 or 20 villages which lie below the Ghats on the southern border, practically the whole of its area is situated on the plateau. Its shape is very compact, and with the exception of slight projections on the east and west would form almost a complete circle, with the headquarters town of Betul as its centre. Its greatest length from north to south is 106.2 km and its breadth from east to west is 138.4 km. Its area is 10,043 km2.
The mean elevation of the plateau is about 2000 feet, and the surface slopes generally from east to west. With the exception of the small valleys of the Bel and Wardha rivers, the District is drained into the Indian Ocean by the Tapti and the tributaries of the Narmada. Roughly speaking, the northern half is watered by rivers flowing south and west to the Narmada, and the southern half by the Tapti and its affluents. The Bel and Wardha rise on the northern and eastern edges, respectively, of the central plateau and, flowing east and south, join their waters to the Wainganga and ultimately the Godavari, which carries them to the Bay of Bengal. The main chain of the Satpuras, running near the northern borders of the range, reaches its highest point just beyond the north-east corner of the Betul District. Shortly after crossing the border, it is interrupted by the wide valley of the Tawa and its tributaries, the Daryakho and Phophas. Rising again near Shahpur, it runs a few miles due west and breaks off in the hills of Bhorgarh and Jamgarh, which stand above the Morand valley. Thereafter, the backbone of the range, so noticeable further east and north, is lost in a tumbled mass of lower peaks and ridges intersected in all directions by narrow valleys. To the south of the country occupied by the main range and the spurs which it throws off, there lies a wide undulating plateau, covering about half the area of the District, and stretching on the east to the forest-clad gorge of the Wardha River near the Chhindwara border, on the south to the belt of steep hills and deep ravines which mark the final upheaval of the land before it falls to the level of the Berar plains, and on the west to the wild country of Kalibhit and the Melghat, of which a large slice falls within Betul. The District may be described briefly as a central plateau surrounded by a belt of hilly and forest-covered country, wide on the north and west and narrow on the east and south. The rock formation is sandstone in the northern third of the District and elsewhere trap. In the sandstone country, the predominant soil is thin and sandy, and in the trap country, shallow and very stony. The District may thus be broadly divided into three tracts: the sandstone area to the north, the trap plateau in the centre, and the belt of hills, also of basaltic formation, to the south.