1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nimar

NIMAR, a district of British India, in the Nerbudda division of the Central Provinces. The administrative headquarters are at Khandwa; but the capital in Mahommedan times was Burhanpur. Area, 4273 sq. m. Pop. (1901) 329,615, showing an increase of 14·2% in the decade. The district consists of two portions of the Nerbudda and Tapti valleys, separated by a section of the Satpura range, about 15 m. in breadth. On the highest peak, about 850 ft. above the plain and 1800 above sea-level, stands the fortress of Asirgarh, commanding a pass which has for centuries been the chief highway between Upper India and the Deccan. The district contains extensive forests, but the only tract reserved by government is the Punasa forest, which extends for about 120 m. along the south bank of the Nerbudda, and contains young teak, besides sáj (Terminalia tomentosa) and anjan (Hardwickia binata). The staple crops are cotton and millet; ganja or Indian hemp is also allowed to be grown under government supervision. The Great Indian Peninsula railway runs through the district, and a branch of the Rajputana line from Indore joins it at Khandwa. There are factories for ginning and pressing cotton at Khandwa, and manufacture of gold-embroidered cloth at Burhanpur.

The name Nimar, derived from that of the ancient province, is also applied to a district in the state of Indore, lying W. of the British district on both banks of the Nerbudda. Area, 3871 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 257,110. From 1823 onwards this tract, then belonging to Sindhia, was under British management; in 1861 it was ceded in full sovereignty to the British, but in 1867 it passed to Holkar as the result of an exchange of territory.

See Nimar District Gazetteer (Allahabad, 1908).