DEWAS  , two native states of

India, in the Malwa Political Charge of Central India, founded in the first half of the 18th century by two brothers, Punwar Mahrattas, who came into Malwa with the peshwa, Baji Rao, in 1728 . Their descendants are known as the senior and junior branches of the family, and since 1841 each has ruled his own portion as a separate state, though the lands belonging to each are so intimately entangled, that even in Dewas, the capital town, the two sides of the main street are under different administrations and have different arrangements for water supply and lighting . The senior branch has an area of 446 sq. m. and a population of 62,312, while the area of the junior branch is 440 sq. m. and its population 54,904 .