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Shivpuri History

Pre-20th-Century History

The district derives its name from God "Shiva". It was known earlier by the name ‘Sipri’. The Shivpuri place first found a mention during Mughal times in 1564 when Emperor Akbar is stated to have halted at this place. During that period it formed a part of Narwar Sarkar. Narwar or Narbar is a tahsil with a population of 6745 persons as per 1991 census, located at a distance of 43 kms from Shivpuri, the district head quarters. It has a very big ancient fort and a wealth of history behind. The district was known as Narwar district during the times of Gwalior State, although its Headquarter was at Shivpuri. Shivpuri remained with the Kachhawaha Rajputs upto 1804 when it was taken over by Scindia’s. It was captured by the English in 1817 but returned to Scindia’s next year and it continued to be a part of Gwalior state since then. In 1859 it is said that the great Indian leader Tatya Tope was hanged near the present Collectorate. Maharaja Madhav Rao Scindia paid much attention towards the development of Shivpuri. He constructed a big palace and also developed the city. It was the summer capital of Gwalior State and government offices were shifted here in summer months. Shivpuri was constituted as a district in erstwhile Madhya Bharat and continues as such with practically no change since 1951.

Modern History

Recent History

For a small town, Shivpuri seems to have played, if not the lead, then at least a good character role in the history of MP.
Shivpuri, it seems, got its name thanks to the many temples dedicated to Lord Shiva (the destroyer of the Hindu Trinity of Gods) here. While that might be true, it is known that at one time it used to be called Sipri.
Abul Fazal has made a passing reference to it in his Ain-i Akbari. Apparently, in 1564, while returning from Mandu, Akbar stayed here to hunt the elephants in its jungles.

In the 17th century, by a curious twist of events, it came to be the jagir (estate) of the Narwar Kachhawahas. The Mughals, like most royalty, were plagued by the problem of too many claimants to the throne – and sometimes many promising candidates were in the fray together. When Shah Jahan, whose reign is hailed as the golden period of the Mughals, came to power his problem was his elder brother Prince Khusro.

Khusro had been the grand old Mughal, Akbar’s favourite grandson – in fact for a long time bets were on that Khusro would succeed Akbar instead of his son, Jahangir. An eventuality which Akbar’s sudden death prevented. Throughout his lifetime, Jahangir saw to it that Khusro never had any leisure for his thoughts to stray towards the throne.

When the time came for the next ruler to take charge, intrigue again won over hierarchy. After having put all his other brothers to bed, Shah Jahan started looking for Khusro.
Unfortunately for the king, his brother, being a very capable general and a popular hero, had a strong and loyal following and managed to elude him for a long time.
One of the people who went over to Khusro’s side was Amar Singh Kachhawaha of Narwar. When Khusro was finally captured and put to death, Amar Singh lost his estate. However as a special show of mercy later Sipri and Kolras were granted to him. (See History under India head for more details.)