According to legend, when Shiva carried the body of the mother goddess (Mai in Hindi) Sati, her necklace (har ) fell at this place.[2][bettersourceneeded] Local residents believe that the warriors Alha and Udal, under the Chandel king Paramardideva, fought Prithvi Raj Chauhan and were the first to visit the goddess in the forest. They called her "Sharda Mai", and she became known as "Mata Sharda Mai". Alha worshiped her for 12 years and reached immortality with Saraswati's blessing.
History
Maihar's history dates back to the Paleolithic. It was the former capital of the princely state of Maihar. The state was founded in 1778 by Jogis who were granted land by the ruler of the nearby state of Orchha. It became a princely state of British India during the early 19th century, and was administered as part of Bundelkhand in the Central India Agency. Bundelkhand's eastern states (including Maihar) were separated to form the new agency of Bagelkhand in 1871. In 1933, Maihar and ten other states in western Bagelkhand were returned to Bundelkhand. The state had an area of 407 square miles (1,050km2) and a population of 63,702 in 1901. Watered by the Tamsa River, it consists primarily of alluvial soil covering sandstone and is fertile except for the southern hills. A large area was forested, and the city experienced a severe famine in 1896–1897. Maihar became a station on the East Indian Railway (the present-day West Central Railway) line between Satna and Jabalpur, 97 miles (156km) north of Jabalpur. Extensive ruins of shrines and other buildings surround Maihar.[3] Maihar is part of the Satna Lok Sabha constituency with six other Vidhan Sabha constituencies: Chitrakoot, Raigaon, Satna, Amarpatan, Nagod and Rampur-Baghelan. Shrikant Chaturvedi is the MLA for the Maihar Assembly constituency.
Attractions
The Maa Sharda Mandir, built c.502 CE, is at the top of Trikut hill. The hill has 1,063 steps and a ropeway. Other temples in Maihar are the Golamath, Oila, Badi Mai, Bada Akhada and Icchapurti temples. The home of musician Allauddin Khan has been restored in his memory.
Maihar town is divided into 18 wards for which elections are held every 5 years. The Maihar Municipality has population of 40,192 of which 21,031 are males while 19,161 are females as per report released by Census India 2011.[5]
Population of Children with age of 0-6 is 5238 which is 13.03% of total population of Maihar (M). In Maihar Municipality, Female Sex Ratio is of 911 against state average of 931. Moreover, Child Sex Ratio in Maihar is around 875 compared to Madhya Pradesh state average of 918. Literacy rate of Maihar city is 81.99% higher than state average of 69.32%. In Maihar, Male literacy is around 87.82% while female literacy rate is 75.62%
Religion
Hinduism is the majority religion in Maihar, accounting for about 81%. Jainism accounts for 17%, and there are also a small number of Others (approximately 0.23%).
View from the Maa Sharda temple
View of the pond from the temple
Night view of the Maa Sharda Mandir from a local market in 2019
Maihar is noted in Indian classical music as the birthplace of the Maihar gharana, a gharana (school or style) of Hindustani music. Allauddin Khan (d. 1972) lived in Maihar for many years and was the court musician in Maihar Raja's palace. His students popularised the gharana during the 20th century, and included Ravi Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee. The first Ustad Allauddin Khan music conference was hosted by Shri Deep Chand Jain in 1962.
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