Indore Travel and Tourism Guide

The present-day city of Indore has been in existence for almost 500 years. During the reign of the Mughals, local zamindars or feudal lords had control over the region. They accepted the suzerainty of the Mughal emperor and were awarded the title of ‘Chaudhary’. The foundations of the modern city of Indore was laid by Rao Nandlal Chaudhary who constructed the Shree Sansthan Bada Rawala Fort, on the banks of the river Saraswati in the mid-18th century. He moved his people to this fort, to protect them from the warring forces of the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad.

The area soon came under the control of the Holkar dynasty of the Marathas and the Chaudharys came to be known as Mandlois. The district came under the rule of the British by the 19th century, although the Holkars continued to rule Indore as a princely state. After India’s independence, the state acceded to the Indian Union and became a part of Madhya Pradesh. The capital was shifted to Bhopal, although Indore remains the commercial capital of the state.