Mhow is a cantonment in the Indore District in Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located 23 kilometres (14 mi) south of Indore city towards Mumbai on the Mumbai-Agra Road. The town was renamed as Dr Ambedkar Nagar in 2003, by the Government of Madhya Pradesh
History
This cantonment town was founded in 1818 by John Malcolm as a result of the Treaty of Mandsaur between the English and the 'Holkars who were the Maratha Maharajas of Indore. John Malcolm's forces had defeated theHolkars of the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Mahidpur in 1818. It was after this battle that the capital of the Holkars shifted from the town of Maheshwar on the banks of the Narmada to Indore.
Mhow used to be the headquarters of the 5th (Mhow) Division of the Southern Command during the British Raj. Today this small town is associated with theIndian Army and with B. R. Ambedkar, a political leader who was born here.
Mhow was a meter gauge railway district headquarter during the British Raj and even after 1947. The irony is that Mhow still has no broad gauge railway line.
According to Hindu religious texts, Janapav Kuti near Mhow is said to be the birthplace of Parashurama, an avatar of Vishnu.
Etymology
There is total lack of unanimity on how Mhow got its name. One possible source of the name might be the Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) tree, which grows in profusion in the forests around Mhow.
Some articles in popular literature state that MHOW stands for Military Headquarters Of War. However, this is a backronym, and there is no proof to support the theory that the name of the village comes from the acronym. The village near Mhow was called Mhow Gaon in the pre-British era, when English was not used in India. The Cantonment which came up in 1818 came to be known as Mhow Cantt after the name of this village. Sir John Malcolm spelt the name of this town as MOW in his writings. The 1918 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica also mentions 'MAU'. However, the Cantonment was referred to by British officers as Mhow at least as early as the end of 1823 (letter from Lt Edward Squibb to his father in London).
Demography
As of 2001 India census, Mhow had a population of 85,023. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Mhow has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 65%. In, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age. Hinduism,Islam, Buddhism and Jainism are four major religions in Mhow with 47.0%, 45.0%, 5.0% and 2% of the population following them. And others are 1.0% As its 52.5% of Mhow's population is in the 15–59 years age category. Around 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
The Indian Army and Mhow
The Army has been here since 1818. Up until World War II, Mhow was the headquarters of the 5th (Mhow) Division of the Southern Army. According to local legend Winston Churchill also spent a few months in Mhow when he was a subaltern serving with his regiment in India (a local shop still boasts of him as its customer). The house on the Mall where he is supposed to have lived has gradually crumbled due to neglect and age. It has been pulled down and a jogger's park has been built on its grounds by the Infantry School, Mhow.
Mhow houses three premier training institutions of the Indian Army -The Infantry School,The Military College of Telecommunication Engineering and The Army War College.
In addition to these institutes, MHOW is where Army Training Command or ARTRAC was born. ARTRAC was based in Mhow from 1991 to 1994, before it shifted to Shimla (Himachal Pradesh). At that time its General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC-in-C) was Lt. General Shankar Roy Chowdhary who went on to become the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). Its first GOC-in-C was Lt. General A.S. Kalkat who had earlier commanded the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka. ARTRAC was housed in the campus of the present Army School Mhow. This was used as All Arms Wing of MCTE for many decades. It was originally built and used as the BMH (British Military Hospital).
The Infantry School
The Infantry School is the alma mater of the Indian Infantry which is the spearhead of the Indian Army. It conducts courses related to the infantry for men and officers of the various regiments of the Indian Army. The Commando Wing of this school is in Belgaum, Karnataka. The Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) which has produced many medal winning shooters for the Army and for India is a part of The Infantry School Mhow. Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw had served as the first Indian Commandant of this school in the fifties while he was a Brigadier. Present Commandant: Lt Gen AS Nandal, AVSM, SM
Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE)
The first training institution in Mhow. MCTE was known as the School of Signals till 1967. It is the alma mater of the Corps of Signals. MCTE conducts telecommunications and Information Technology courses for officers, JCOS, NCOs and soldiers of the Indian Army. Officers and men from other countries also attend courses here. It also trains gentlemen cadets for a Bachelors degree in engineering at the Cadets Training Wing (CTW) On completion of their trainging most of these cadets get commissioned into the Indian Army's Corps of Signals however some are also commissioned into other arms. Present Commandant: Lt Gen Rajesh Pant, VSM
The Army War College
The Army War College was known as the College of Combat till a few years ago. The Army War College conducts three courses—the Junior Command (JC) course, the Senior Command (SC) course and the Higher Command (HC) course. The former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General K. Sundarji was the Commandant of the College of Combat during the early eighties. Present Commandant: Lt Gen P G Kamath AVSM, YSM, SM
Government and politics
Mhow has one seat in the State Legislative Assembly (the Vidhan Sabha). The first elected MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) was the late Mr.R.C.Jall (Indian National Congress)who belonged to the Parsi community.
Since 2008 the MLA from Mhow is Mr. Kailash Vijayvargiya of the BJP who is also the State Industries Minister in the cabinet of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Previous MLA: Antar Singh Darbar of the Indian National Congress.
Until 2009 Mhow Tehsil was part of the Indore Lok Sabha constituency. Under the delimitation exercise carried out all over the nation Mhow is now in the DharParliamentary constituency though it continues to be in Indore district for administrative purposes. Present Member of Parliament for Mhow is the Dhar MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi of the Indian National Congress.
The Temple of Janapav and the rivers Chambal and Gambhir
The river Chambal which flows through the dacoit infested areas of Northern India is said to begin at the hill of Janapav which is in a village named Kuti,around 15 km from Mhow town. On top of the hill of Janapav is a temple and ashram. According to local legend this used to be the ashram of Jamadagni, the father ofParashurama (an Avatar or reincarnation of Vishnu, the Hindu God of sustenance). A mela, or religious fair, is held at Kuti every year on the auspicious day of Kartik Purnima - the first full moon after Diwali, which is also celebrated as Guru Nanak's birthday by the Sikh community - and people from villages far and near come to pray and pay their obeisance. The next day the same mela shifts to the Balaji temple in Badgonda village. The river Gambhir which eventually joins the Kshipra - the river on whose banks the ancient, holy city of Ujjain is built - also begins at the hill of Janapav. From there it flows north towards Mhow.
The demand for a broad gauge railway line
Mhow has been connected to Indore and Khandwa by metre gauge railway lines. On Jan 18 2008, when the Union Cabinet approved the gauge conversion for the Ratlam-Mhow-Khandwa-Akola railway line.(472.64 km). The cost of the gauge conversion would be about Rs.1421.25 crore.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Mhow
Bharat Ratna Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's father Ramji Maloji Sakpal was a Subedar Major—a VCO or Viceroy Commissioned Officer (the equivalent of a JCO)—in a battalion of the British Indian Army's Mahar Regiment. The Mahars are an oppressed caste from Maharashtra state of India and are part of the Dalits or downtrodden and untouchable people of India. Dr. Ambedkar had fought on behalf of the Dalits and is a very honoured figure in India today. He and hundreds of thousands of his followers had converted to Buddhism as they claimed disillusioned with Hinduism. A memorial to Dr. Ambedkar in the shape of a Buddhist stupais being built at a spot where his father's quarters used to be. It is located by the Agra-Mumbai Road and is very near the temple, gurudwara and mosque of the Infantry School Mhow.
Renaming Mhow after Ambedkar and the controversy
Mhow has now been renamed Dr. Ambedkar Nagar in honour of the father of the Indian constitution, who was born here. The renaming has not been without controversy. Many claim that it has been done due to the compulsions of vote bank politics. The new name is used for official purposes and has not been widely accepted. Ambedkar was born in Mhow as his father Subedar Major Ramji Maloji Sakpal - a VCO (Viceroy Commissioned Officer) of the Mahar Regiment - was stationed here. He had nothing to do with Mhow claim opponents of the renaming. They also claim that the name Mhow has a history of its own and is a name which the Indian Army and civilians are deeply attached to. These are also the views of many who say that they have nothing against Ambedkar or the Dalits but are attached to the name Mhow. Opponents of the renaming claim that Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, has not been renamed Gandhinagar andJawaharlal Nehru's birthplace Allahabad is still Allahabad and not Nehrunagar hence it is not necessary to rename Mhow after Ambedkar. The Dalits claim that this opposition is mainly due to the ingrained bias that upper castes have against them. The controversy refuses to die.