Datia is a city and district in northern Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town of Datia has a railway station, 16 m. from Jhansi. It is surrounded by a stone wall, enclosing handsome palaces, with gardens; the palace of Bir Singh Deo, of the 17th century, is one of the finest examples of Hindu domestic architecture in India.

Datia was a former a princely state of British India, which came under the British government after the Treaty of Bassein in 1802. The Maharajas were Rajputs of the Bundela clan, descended from a younger son of a former raja of Orchha. The state was administered as part of the Bundelkhand agency of Central India. It lay in the extreme north-west of Bundelkhand, near Gwalior, and was surrounded on all sides by other princely states of Central India, except on the east where it meets the United Provinces. Area, 911 sq. mi. Pop. (1901) 173,759. Estimated revenue, £70,000; tribute to Sindhia of Gwalior paid through the British Government. The state suffered from famine in 1896-1897, and again to a less extent in 1899-1900.

After India's independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Datia acceded to the Indian Government, and Datia, together with the rest of the Bundelkhand agency, became part of the new state of Vindhya Pradesh in 1950. In 1956, Vindhya Pradesh state was merged into Madhya Pradesh.

Datia District

Area 2,038 sq. km., population 627,818 (2001 census). The population of Datia District increased by 26% from 1981 to 1991, and by 22% from 1991 to 2001. The district has 445 villages and 3 towns, Datia, Seondha , and Bhander . Each town is the headquarters of its tehsil.

Datia is bounded by the Madhya Pradesh districts of Bhind to the north, Gwalior to the west, and Shivpuri to the south, and by Jhansi District of Uttar Pradesh state to the east. The district is traversed by the West Central Railway line between Jhansi and Gwalior.

External link

Datia District web site