Culture and history info

Early history

Alwar was a part of the Matsya Kingdom, one of the sixteen ancient Mahajanapadas.

Medieval

The history of Alwar dates back to 1000 CE. The king of Amer Maharaja Alaghraj(the former seat of Jaipur state) ruled the area in the eleventh century and his territory extended up to the present-day city of Alwar. He founded the city of Alpur in 1106 Vikrami samvat (1049 CE) under his own name, which eventually became Alwar. From time to time, a different Rajput sub-clan came to rule Alwar. Examples include the Khanzada Rajputs, the Nikumbh, the Badgujjar, and finally the Naruka (Kachwaha) Rajputs who took the control over this area. Bhadanakas (Bhadana) clan of Gurjar, The Maratha Empire also ruled this region for a short period. A Rajput, Partap Singh, took the Alwar Fort from the Jat Raja of Bharatpur and laid down the foundation for modern day Alwar.

The Hindu King Hemchandra Vikramaditya (Hemu), born into a Brahmin family in Machari, Rajgarh, a village in Alwar, was a Hindu emperor of North India during the 16th century. This was a period when the Mughals and Afghans were vying for power in the region. Hemu acceded to the throne of Delhi on 7 October 1556 after defeating Akbar's Mughal forces in the Battle of Delhi in the Tughlakabad area in Delhi, and became the de facto king. He won twenty-two battles in succession and became the last Hindu emperor of North India before the seventeenth century Maratha Empire.

Colonial era

Alwar State, a princely state established in 1770, was established by a Kachwaha Rajput named Partap Singh who was earlier a jagirdar of "Dhai Gaon" (two-and-a-half villages) near Machari. His successor "Bakhtawar Singh Kachwaha" was defeated after launching an armed incursion into neighbouring Jaipur State (ruled by their Kachwaha seniors, erstwhile overlords of his predecessor) and being forced to accept the consequent treaty mediated by East India Company prohibiting him from political relations with other states without the consent of the colonial British. According to the "Gazetteer of Ulwar" published by the British Raj, Alwar State was subdivided into four regions:

Rath region: current Behror and Neemrana, was ruled by Yadav and Lah Chauhan rajput zamindar who had descended from Prithviraj Chauhan. Sahesh Mal was a son of Raja Sangat Singh Chauhan. Sangat was the great grandson of Chahir Deo Chauhan, brother of famous king Prithviraj Chauhan. In accordance with the pledge by the raja Sangat Singh Chauhan to his younger queen for marrying her in his old age, her two sons from him were bestowed the Rath area and its headquarter of Mandhan near Neemrana. King Sangat Singh Chauhan's 19 sons from the older queen set out to seek their fortunes. Of the 19 brothers, Harsh Dev Chauhan and Sahesh Mal Chauhan arrived in the Gurgaon district. Lah Chauhan, the ruler of Rath, was a son of raja Sangat Singh Chauhan by the younger Rani whose two sons became inheritors of Raja Sangat Singh's territory of Rath with its headquarter at Mandhan when other 19 sons from the other wives were required to quit the kingdom as per the promise of Raja Sangat.

Wai region: current Bansur and Thana Ghazi, was ruled by Shekhawat rajput zamindars.

Narukhand region: current Rajgarh and Laxmangarh, was ruled by Naruka sub-branch of Kachwaha rajputs who were from the same branch as the ruling kings of the Alwar State. Mewat region: current Palwal and Nuh districts, had the highest population of the Meo Muslims.

Post-independence

Alwar acceded to the dominion of India following the independence of India in 1947. On 18 March 1948, the state merged with three neighbouring princely states (Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli) to form the Matsya Union. On 15 May 1949, it was united with neighbouring princely state and the territory of Ajmer to form the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. Alwar was designated as part of the National Capital Region, resulting in additional development projects including rapid-rail to Delhi and drinking water improvements. The military cantonment of Itarana lies on the outskirts of Alwar.

Origin of Name

There are many theories about the derivation of the name Alwar. Cunningham holds that the city derived its name from the Salva tribe and was originally Salwapur, then, Salwar, Halawar and eventually Alwar. According to another school it was known as Aravalpur or the city of Aravali (A Hill system dividing Rajasthan roughly into third and two-thirds). A research conducted during the reign of Maharaja Jai Singh of Alwar revealed that Maharaja Alaghraj, second son of Maharaja Kakil Dev of Amer (old seat of Jaipur State) ruled the area in the eleventh century and his territory extended up-to the present city of Alwar. He founded the city of Alpur in 1106 Vikrami Samvat (1049 A.D.) after his own name (Maharaja Alaghraj) which eventually became Alwar from Alpur. It was formerly spelt as 'Ulwar' but in the reign of Jai Singh the spelling was changed to 'Alwar'.