I happened to visit the historic Narwar Fort during my stay in Village Satanwadakala in Shivpuri District of MP in October 2007.

At the time of visit of the Fort, I scarcely had any idea of the rich history of the Fort, as I had never heard of it before. The name was found to be mentioned on the indicator of distance on the Highway and the distance was about 28 kms from our place of stay.

We reached in a hired vehicle and had no guide with us. On visit, the place was found to be a highly undeveloped one in recent terms and was indeed out of the tourist circuit. We had a light snack of Samosas and Jalebis at a local stall below the fort and purchased some water for the climb up to the Palaces in the Fort.

The place was seen to be least managed or preserved, as is exemplary from the rusted board for information placed by the Department of Culture, Government of Madhya Pradesh.

 
The visit to the Fort was very pleasant and very enriching. What one could gather at that time in the absence of any local guide was that the Fort must have been a prominent settlement in medieval India, and that it was firstly under the possession of local rulers from whom it passed on into the hands of Muslim rulers, and was later re-captured by the Marathas to whom the recent temples could be credited.


Only recently while scanning the four reports made during the years 1862-63-64-65 by Alexander Cunningham, could I fully gather the other historical details of the Narwar Fort.

Narwar is also mentioned briefly by Tavernier in the 17th Century, when he was passing through it. I will update the details of Narwar, when more is learnt. The history I narrate as below is guided by the report of Cunningham.


To be continued.....