ABSTRACT
The State of Madhya Pradesh lies in central India, as its name suggests, a land linking the Gangetic plains and the peninsula. Essentially formed from the former princely states of Madhya Bharat (Central India) and the old British Central Provinces and Berar in 1956 (without Berar, which was included in Maharashtra), the state was the largest in India until November 2000, when the eastern region of Chhattisgarh became a separate state. Chhattisgarh lies to the south-east of the ‘rump’ Madhya Pradesh. The heavily indented northern border is marked by a roughly mushroom-shaped extension of the state to include Gwalior and its environs, with Uttar Pradesh to the east and north-east of this and Rajasthan to the west and north-west. There is a short western border with Gujarat and Maharashtra lies to the south. Since the bifurcation of its old territories Madhya Pradesh has had an area of 308,245 sq km (119,059 sq miles), making it the second-largest state (after Rajasthan) and only slightly larger than Maharashtra.
