Madhya Pradesh (MP)

Hin: मध्य प्रदेश madhya pradēś(h)

‘Central Province’. 

From Skt: madhya, ‘middle’, ‘central’; and pradēśḥ, ‘province’, ‘region’, ‘territory’.

Prior to independence, the majority of this area was administered by the British as the Central Provinces and the Central Indian States.

At independence, several of these districts were joined together as the Central Provinces and Berar. In 1950, these two regions were merged with Makrai and Chhattisgarh and the term ‘Central Provinces’ was translated to Hindi as Madhya Pradesh.

Until 2000, when Chhattisgarh broke away, Madhya Pradesh was India’s largest state, but the state which was the inspiration for the ‘Jungle Book’ can still claim the largest number of tigers (500) in a country that has 80% of the world’s entire but vanishing  population (1,700+).

Listed below are a selection of Madhya Pradesh place names representing Madhya Pradesh’s most important cities, towns and disticts. 

For more on Indian place names and history, see Toponymy on the Ashoka Express

For a journey through tribal India and Sri Lanka, see Headhunting with Marguerite

Divisions and Districts of Madhya Pradesh

MADHYA PRADESH PLACE NAMES