1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mahi Kantha

MAHI KANTHA, a political agency or collection of native states in India, within the Gujarat division of Bombay. Over half the territory is covered by the native state of Idar. There are eleven other chiefships, and a large number of estates belonging to Rajput or Koli thakurs, formerly feudatories of Baroda. Several of the states are under British administration. Total area, 3125 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 361,545, showing a decrease of 38% in the decade, due to famine; estimated revenue, £76,000; tribute (mostly to the gaekwar of Baroda), £9000. Many of the inhabitants belong to the wild tribes of Bhils and Kolis. In 1897 a metre-gauge railway was opened from Ahmedabad through Parantij to Ahmednagar. At Sadra is the Scott College for the education of the sons of chiefs on the lines of an English public school. There are also Anglo-vernacular schools at Sadra, Idar and Mansa. The famine of 1899–1900 was severely felt in this tract.