Indore

History

See also: Holkar and Indore State

Tookajee Rao Holkar II, Indore, from a drawing by Mr. W. Carpenter, Jun.," from the Illustrated London News, 1857

Origins

Indore owes its early growth to trade and commerce, which is still a dominant feature of the city. It is the commercial capital of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The present city is about 500 years old. Till the end of 15th century, its original nucleus was a river side village which occupied the bank of river Saraswati. This area is now known as Juni Indore.
The area of the modern Indore city was a part of the Kampel pargana (administrative unit) during the Mughal Empire.^[11] Kampel was administered by the Ujjain sarkar (government) of Malwa Subah (province). The area was controlled by the local zamindars (feudal landlords), who accepted the suzerainty of the Mughal empire. The zamindars received the title of Chaudhari, which established their claim to the land.
The modern settlement was developed by Rao Nandlal Chaudhary, the chief local Zamindar, who had an army of 2000 soldiers. Under the Mughal rule, his family enjoyed great influence and was accorded confirmatory sanads by the Emperors Aurangzeb and Farrukhsiyar, confirming their jagir (land ownership) rights. When Nandlal visited the Mughal court at Delhi, he received a special place in the emperor's court along with two jewel studded swords (now on display in the Royal British Museum under the family's name) and confirmatory sanads. Jai Singh II, a personal friend of his, gave him a special "Gold Langar" which guaranteed a special place to him in all the courts of India.

HH The Maharaja Shivaji Rao Holkar of Indore

In the mid-1710s, Nandlal was caught in the struggle between the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad (who had been appointed as the governor of the Deccan region by the Mughal emperor). Once, while visiting the Indreshwar Temple near the banks of river Saraswati, Nandlal found the location to be safe and strategically located, being surrounded by rivers on all sides. He started moving his people in, and constructed the fort of Shree Sansthan Bada Rawala to protect them from harassment by the warring forces. This marked the establishment of the present-day Indore city, which became an important trade center on the Delhi-Deccan route.