Dewas is a city in western Madhya Pradesh state of central India. The city lies northeast of Indore, southeast of Ujjain, and southwest of Shajapur . Dewas is also the administrative center of Dewas District. Dewas is located on the level plains of the Malwa plateau; to the south, the land rises gently to the Vindhya Range, which is the source of the Chambal and Kali Sindh rivers that flow north through the district on their way to the Ganges. The town lies at the foot of the conical Chamunda Hill, on the summit of which is a Devi vasini shrine to the goddess Chamunda.

Dewas was formerly the capital of two princely states of British India. The state was founded in the first half of the 18th century by two brothers, Ponwar Marathas, who came into Malwa with the peshwa, Baji Rao, in 1728. Their descendants are known as the senior and junior branches of the family, and after 1841 each ruled his own portion as a separate state, though the lands belonging to each were so intimately entangled, that even in Dewas, the capital town, the two sides of the main street were under different administrations and had different arrangements for water supply and lighting. The senior branch had an area of 446 sq. mi. and a population of in 62,312 in 1901, while the area of the junior branch was 440 sq. mi. and had a population of 54,904 in 1901. Dewas, senior and junior, was in the Malwa Agency of the Central India Agency. After India's independence in 1947, the rajas of Dewas acceded to India, and their states were integrated into Madhya Bharat, which became a state of India in 1950. In 1956, Madhya Bharat was merged into Madhya Pradesh state.

Dewas District

Area 7,020 sq. km., population 1,306,617 (2001 census), an increase of 26% since 1991. Dewas District roughly corresponds to the territories of the twin princely states of Dewas. The district straddles the Vindhya Range; the northern portion of the district lies on the Malwa plateau, while the southern portion lies in the valley of the Narmada River. The portion on the Malwa Plateau grows wheat, sorghum, rice, and cotton. The Narmada forms the southern boundary of the district. It is bordered to the east by Sehore district, to the south by Harda and Khandwa districts, to the west by Khargone and Indore districts, and to the north by Ujjain and Shajapur districts. The district is part of Ujjain division.

Nagara, which is home to Jain and Hindu temple ruins, lies just south of the city of Dewas.