Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer (New York: Columbia University Press, 1952) p. 510
Yeshwant Rao Pawar, 3rd Raja of DharHH Maharaja Udaji Rao II Pawar of DharGate of City Palace, built in 1875
Dhar State was a princely state. It was a salute state in the colonial sway of the Central India Agency. Dhar began as one of the states during Maratha dominance in India about 1730. In 1941 it had an area of 1,798 square miles (4,660 km2) and a population of 253,210. Dhar was the capital of the state since 1732 (from the 1728 foundation, the Raja's first seat had been at Multhan in Dhar district. In 1948, it became part of Madhya Bharat.
The present Dhar dynasty was founded in 1729 by Udaji Rao Pawar, a distinguished Maratha general who received the territory as a grant from the Chhatrapati.
Yashwant Rao Pawar also had prominent role in the northern expansion of the Maratha Empire. In the Third battle of Panipat (1761), Atai Khan, the adopted son of the Wazir Shah Wali Khan, was said to have been killed by Yeshwant Rao Pawar when he climbed atop his elephant and struck him down.[7]
During the Pindhari raids, the state's territory was whittled away, until it was restored in size on 10 January 1819, when it signed a Subsidiary alliance agreement with the British East India Company and became a major Princely state, enjoying indirect rule under British protectorate.[citation needed]
The state was confiscated by the British after the Revolt of 1857. In 1860, it was restored to Raja Anand Rao III Pawar, then a minor, with the exception of the detached district of Bairusia which was granted to the Begum of Bhopal. Anand Rao, who received the personal title Maharaja and the KCSI in 1877, died in 1898; he was succeeded by Udaji Rao II Pawar.
In 1897 primitive stamps with entirely native text. The second definitive issue bore the name DHAR STATE in Latin script; a total of 8 stamps. Since 1901 Indian stamps have been in use.[citation needed]
