Chhatarpur is a city and district in Madhya Pradesh state of India.

History

Chhatarpur is named after Chhatar Sal, the founder of Bundelkhand independence, and contains his cenotaph. The state was ruled by his descendants until the end of the eighteenth century. At that time the Ponwar clan of Rajputs took control of Chhatarpur. The state was guaranteed to Kunwar Suni Singh Ponwar in 1806 by the British Raj. In 1854 Chhatarpur would have lapsed to the British government for want of direct heirs under the doctrine of lapse, but was conferred on Jagat Raj as a special act of grace. The Ponwar rajas ruled a princely state with an area of 1118 square miles, and population of 156,139 in 1901, which was part of the Bundelkhand agency of Central India. In 1901 the town of Chhatarpur had a population of 10,029, manufactures of paper and coarse cutlery, and a high school. The state also contained the British cantonment of Nowgong.

After the independence of India in 1947, the rajas of Chhatarpur acceded to India, and Chhatarpur, together with the rest of Bundelkhand Agency, became part of the Indian state of Vindhya Pradesh. Vindhya Pradesh was merged into Madhya Pradesh state in 1956. In 1994 two young people Shailendra Singh and Sameer Goswami esatablished a computer centre in Chhatarpur named "Computer Care & Ware"[1].

Chhatarpur District

Chhatarpur district has an area of 8,687 sq km, and a population of 1,474,633 (2001 census), a 27% increase from its 1991 population of 1,158,853. Chhatarpur is bounded by Uttar Pradesh state to the north, and the Madhya Pradesh districts of Panna to the east, Damoh to the south, Sagar to the southwest, and Tikamgarh to the west. Chhatarpur district is part of Sagar division.

Chhatarpur district is home to Khajuraho, the famous temple city created by the Chandela clan of Rajputs in the tenth century. Other notable locations are Arjunkund, Chachai Waterfall, and Hanuman Tauria.