Ratlam

This article is about the municipality in Madhya Pradesh, India. For its namesake district, see Ratlam District.
Ratlam
रतलाम
city
Ratlam
Coordinates: 23°20′02″N 75°02′13″E / 23.334°N 75.037°E / 23.334; 75.037Coordinates: 23°20′02″N 75°02′13″E / 23.334°N 75.037°E / 23.334; 75.037
Country India
State Madhya Pradesh
Region Malwa
District Ratlam
Population (2011)[1]
 • city 264,914
 • Metro 2,64,810
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 457001
Telephone code 07412
Vehicle registration MP-43
Climate Humid subtropical climate (Köppen)
Precipitation 937 millimetres (36.9 in)
Avg. annual temperature 24 °C (75 °F)
Avg. summer temperature 28 °C (82 °F)
Avg. winter temperature 16 °C (61 °F)
Website www.ratlam.nic.in

Ratlam  pronunciation  (Hindi: रतलाम), known historically as Ratnapuri (Sanskrit: रत्नपुरी, lit. gem city) is a city in the northwestern part of the Malwa region in Madhya Pradesh state of central India. The city of Ratlam lies 480 metres (1,575 feet) above sea level. It is the administrative headquarters of Ratlam district, which was created in 1947 after the independence of India.[2] Ratlam is also very well known for Gold, Ratlami Sev, Ratlami Saree and its people.The famous Kalika Mata Temple,Kedareshwar Temple(Sailana),Jain Tirth(Bibrod) and Hussain Tekri(Jaora) is situated here.

Early history

Ratlam was given to Ratan Singh Rathore as a gift by Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan loved watching elephant fights and therefore held an event, choosing his favourite war elephants and inviting all the clans of Rajputana (present-day Rajasthan) to watch. From the Rathore clan, Ratan Singh was chosen. At the beginning of the festival, one of the elephants (Keharkope) went berserk and headed towards Shah Jahan. No one in the crowd was brave enough to move to protect him. Everyone feared for their own lives and fled except Ratan Singh, who swiftly mounted the elephant. With his katar, Singh stabbed the elephant in its head and killed it. Shah Jahan saw this and was so impressed by his bravery that he gave him the entire state of Ratlam, proclaiming him as the king.[3]

Commercial history

Founded by Captain Borthwick in 1829, Ratlam was one of the first commercial cities established in Central India. The city quickly became known for trading in opium, tobacco, and salt, as well as for its bargains called "Sattas". Before the opening of the Rajputana State Railway to Khandwa in 1872, there was no better place to trade than in Ratlam.

The city is known for its love of food, its taste particularly the world popular salty snack 'Ratlami Sev'. Purity of Gold Jewellery and Saree Market of Ratlam outshines in India.

Princely history

Main article: Ratlam State

Ratlam was a princely state in British India, part of Malwa agency of Central India. For a long period of time, the Ratlam region was under rule of the Rathore clan. The rulers were Suryavansha Rathores to which Maharaja of Jodhpur, Bikaner and Kishangarh belonged. The first Ruler was the Maharaja Ratan Singh, he married 12 wives (amongst others), including Maharani Sukhroopde Kanwar Shekhawat Ji Sahiba, daughter of Kunwar Purshottam Das of Jhajhar (Shekhawati) in Rajasthan. She committed sati in 1658. Still Shree Ji Maharajah Natwar Singh Of ratlam Is Belonging To His Family & Living In Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Later Maharaja's family adopted son from the Royal family of Jodhpur state, few jagirdars (land lords) were accompanied with him and setteled in Ratlam. One of them was Shree Hemraj Ji Mathur, who was given the Jagiri of Rajpura situated near Morwani railway station and a Huge Haveli with more than 30 rooms and a large pieace of land to live in the heart of city. Still the same can be seen at Ram Dev ji ki Ghati situated behind palace and popularly known as "Mathur Bhawan". Two brothers from Eighteenth generation of the family are living in Ratlam one in Mumbai and one in Gujarat.

The state had an area of 902 sq mi, which was closely interlaced with the territories of the princely states of Sailana, Semaliya, Kachhi-baroda, Amleta, Baloda and Kanwas. In 1901, Ratlam State had a population of 83,773,[4] with the city population of 36,321. The state had an estimated revenue of INR34,000 and paid a INR2,850 tribute.

Geography

Ratlam is located at coordinates: 23°19′0″N 75°04′0″E / 23.31667°N 75.06667°E / 23.31667; 75.06667 (23.316667, 75.066667). The city has an area of 15.13 square miles (39.19 km²). It is very close to the borders of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Climate

Ratlam, like most of Madhya Pradesh, has humid subtropical climate (Cfa) zone. Three distinct seasons are observed: summer, monsoon and winter. Summers start in mid-March and can be extremely hot from April through June. Highs can reach 112 °F (44 °C), although the humidity is extremely low. The monsoon season starts in late June, with temperatures averaging around 100 °F (38 °C), with sustained, torrential rainfall and high humidity. The average rain fall is 37 inches (937 mm). Winters start in mid-November and are dry, cool and sunny. Temperatures average about 39–46 °F (4–8 °C), but can fall close to freezing on some nights.[5] Ratlam gets moderate rainfall of 35 to 38 inches (890 to 970 mm) from July through September, due to the southwest monsoon.

Climate data for Ratlam, India (December 2010 - December 2011)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 91
(33)		 97
(36)		 103
(39)		 112
(44)		 112
(44)		 111
(44)		 100
(38)		 97
(36)		 102
(39)		 104
(40)		 99
(37)		 91
(33)		 112
(44)
Average high °F (°C) 75
(24)		 82
(28)		 91
(33)		 99
(37)		 101
(38)		 93
(34)		 84
(29)		 81
(27)		 86
(30)		 88
(31)		 83
(28)		 78
(26)		 87
(31)
Average low °F (°C) 42
(6)		 48
(9)		 60
(16)		 68
(20)		 74
(23)		 77
(25)		 74
(23)		 72
(22)		 71
(22)		 67
(19)		 52
(11)		 45
(7)		 62.5
(16.9)
Record low °F (°C) 32
(0)		 33
(1)		 45
(7)		 48
(9)		 59
(15)		 59
(15)		 52
(11)		 52
(11)		 55
(13)		 50
(10)		 39
(4)		 33
(1)		 32
(0)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 0.3
(8)		 0.1
(3)		 0.1
(3)		 0.1
(3)		 0.6
(15)		 5.4
(137)		 11.7
(297)		 12.2
(310)		 7.3
(185)		 1.4
(36)		 0.7
(18)		 0.3
(8)		 36.2
(919)
Source: Weatherbase.com[5]

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census, the city of Ratlam has a population of 2,64,810, of which 1,35,007 are male and 1,29,803 are female. The population density was 107 people per square mile (277/km²).[6]

Transportation

Railways

Ratlam Junction is a major junction on Delhi-Mumbai and Ajmer-Khandwa Rail routes and rail division of Indian Railways on broad gauge lines on Western Railways Zone. Ratlam junction is Divisional headquarters of Western Railway Zone.[7] There are four major railway tracks passing through Ratlam City, leading to Mumbai, Delhi, Ajmer and Khandwa.

Ratlam is also the first ever clean train station of Indian Railways network. Under this scheme, Indian Railways has introduced cleaning of coaches of a train en route while it halts at a particular station for 15 to 20 minutes. The entire train is cleaned with vacuum cleaners and toilets are washed with handheld portable HP cleaners.[8]

Ratlam station is believed to be one of the busiest railway stations in India.[9]

Ratlam Junction is referred in 2007 Hindi romantic comedy film Jab We Met.[10] though the shooting had not happened actually in Ratlam and the places and locations mentioned in the film doesn't exist in the city.

Roads

Ratlam is connected to Indore and Neemuch via National Highway no. 79. This four-lane highway runs from Indore to Chittorgarh to join the Golden Quadrilateral.

The city has regular bus services to Udaipur, Banswara, Mandsaur, Nimach, Indore, Bhopal and Bagh. Ratlam is almost half way point on Mumbai Delhi Highway

Business

Ratlam has several industries which manufacture copper wire, plastic ropes, chemicals and artificial oxygen, among other products. Ratlam is also very well known for Gold, Ratlami Sev, Ratlami Saari and its people.

The People can be seen pouring from distant places for gold purchase owing to the purity of gold here. Ratlam gold markets bloom during festive and marital seasons.

Ratlami Sev is a very popular food product throughout the country. Made of gram flour and pepper, the taste has become famous over the years and Ratlami sev is now exported to foreign countries including Americas and Gulf.

Ratlam is a shopping centre for people of nearby areas and has markets well planned in terms of traffic handling capacity and road layout. Traditional Rajasthani and Gujarati handwork and kitchen wares can be seen throughout the market.

On a broader base, markets are rooted in the good old traditional Indian culture. There are some international fast food restaurant and ice cream parlour like Domino's, Baskin Robbins, Sam's pizza,laziz pizza. [11][12]

Education

Ratlam has fair school level education with numerous English and Hindi medium schools. The city has three government schools and a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya located near Kalukheda village, which is 35 kilometres from Ratlam, for decent English and Hindi medium education, and many private schools with quality English medium education.

The city has three government colleges in Commerce, Science and Arts. The city also boasts of a homeopathic college, two engineering colleges and is coming up with a medical college.[2]

Jain Temple

Shri Nageshwar Parshwanath Tirth

This Temple is a Shwetambar Jain Temple dedicated to Parshvanatha, the 23rd tirthankar of Jainism. This temple is situated at the junction line of border of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan State. This temple is considered very miraculous. Moolnayak of this temple is a green colored Parshwanath with hood of 7 cobra. This 13½ feet idol is carved from a single emerald stone. The idol is around 2850 years old. It is believed that this statue was crafted by Dharnendra. Near the Lord's idol there are also other idols of Lord Shri Shantinath Swami & Lord Shri Mahavir Swami. On the wall, behind the 7 faces of the snake that is spread over the idol's head as a shelter, is a hole which houses a snake, The snake is rarely seen coming out from its hole. A lucky person can only have a glimpse of it. It is either seen in black or white color.[13]

Bibrod Tirth

Main article: Bibrod Tirth
Idol of Adinath at Bibrod Tirth

Bibrod Tirth is a 13th-century Temple. This temple is dedicated to Adinath, the 1st tirthankar of Jainism. Moolnayak is a 2.5 ft black-colored idol of Bhagawan Adinath in the Padmansana posture. The inscription on his idol belongs to a period earlier than even the thirteenth century.

References

  1. ↑ "Census of India Search details". censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 Ratlam District Information, ratlam.nic.in. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/old_report/Census_1931n.html
  5. 1 2 Indore, India Weather (closest to Ratlam), weatherbase.com, March 15, 2012.
  6. ↑ Ratlam City 2011 Census Data, Census-2011.co.in. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
  7. ↑ Ratlam Junction http://ratlam.nic.in/profile.html#TRANSPORT
  8. ↑ Clean Train Station http://relyoncts.com/service-location-ratlam.php
  9. ↑ Western Railway - Ratlam, indianrailways.gov. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
  10. ↑ Jab We Met
  11. ↑ "District Ratlam - Madhya Pradesh India". Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "Ratlamwala website".
  13. ↑ http://nageshwartirth.org/about_the_temple_idol.php
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