Sindhia / Scindia / Shinde

For centuries, the central Indian region around the Chambal valley has been the stronghold of the Marathas. But rewinding history even before takes us to kingdoms and realms that are less-heard to common people. During the Mahabharata times, the region was denoted as the Kuntala or Kuntibhoja (कुंतिभोज)  kingdom, with Nisadha (निषध)  and Kunti as the Janpadas (जनपद). Nakamura was the earliest settlement that resonates with today's Narwar (Shivpuri district, Madhya Pradesh). The Pulindakas (पुलिंदक) and Tittiras (तित्तिर) neighboured Kuntala in the south. During the Magadhan era, the Pradyotas (प्रद्योत) ruled the Chambal valley straight till the neck of today's Madhya Pradesh. During the Mauryan era, the greater realm Avanti was spread out through this region that lasted for multiple centuries. During the early medieval era, when the subcontinent was spread out with the Satavahanas-Saka-Kushana (सतवाहन- साक - कुषाण) realms, a settlement of Padmavati (modern-day Pawaya, near Gwalior) is mentioned that was ruled by the Naga (नाग) Kings. 

In the forward centuries, during the reign of the Pushyabhuti and Chalukyas, between the 6th to 8th centuries, a smaller kingdom Mahesvapura emerged that points to today's Maheshpura-Gird area of Gwalior. And in the 8th century, a settlement is recorded by the name Gopadri, the precursor to today's Gwalior, under the Gurjara-Pratiharas (गुर्जर-प्रतिहार) realm. The Kacchapagatas (कच्छपघात) emerged between the 10th and 13th centuries with newer settlements such as Candobha and Nalapura. The Arab knowledge of India and the subcontinent knew the settlement as Gwaliyar while the Gurjara-Pratiharas as Al-Juzr. Medieval era witnessed significant cultural sites in this zone such as Gopagiri, Amrol, Sripatha and Ramgarh. One would find sites important to Shaivism, Jainism and Vaishnavism back between the 8th and 12th centuries, when Hinduism was yet to be clubbed under one unanimous umbrella. With the arrival of Islamic powers in the northern belt, the first Islamic regime to touch Gwalior were the Ghurids and the Mamluks between 1170 to 1290. During the Sayyid Dynasty that ruled between 1414 - 1451, the Malikzadas were based in the Gwalior region with Gwaliyar and Kalpi as the neighbouring states. The town of Narwar was also renamed as Shahr-i-Nau. It was this time while the Delhi Sultanates were warring each other for power and successions, the Tomaras and Bundelas arose their supremacies that continued even till today as a critical Kshatriya caste of the Hindu community. 

The Bundelas emerged a central supremacy that remained independent all throughout the colonial era. They were in constant rebellion against the rising Mughals in the 17th century. During this period, the famous Datia Palace or Datia Mahal was built by Bir Singh Deo, ruler of Datia, who ruled from the death year of Akbar (1605) to 1626. With the establishment of the Great Maratha Empire in the 17th century, a shift in the paradigm of colonisation happened where the majoritarian empire was now a Hindu rather than the age-old Islamic that had existed for nearly seven centuries. For the next century, while the Maratha Empire was centred at Konkan and Gujarat, its early 18th century saw its expansion towards Malwa and Mewar, the crux of central India. And this is where the factions started appearing with the Marathas weakening because of internal feuds. The following were the Maratha feuds created in the 18th century:

1. Bhonsales (भोसले)
2. Ghorpade (घोरपड़े) 
3. Gaekwads (गायकवाड़) 
4. Holkars (होळकर) 
5. Shinde or Scinida or Sindhia (शिंदे)
6. Pawar (पवार)
7. Newalkar (नेवाळकर)
8. Bhave (भावे)
9. Gandekar (गाण्डेकर)
10. Karkare (करकरे) 
11. Patwardhan (पटवर्धन) 
12. Nimbalkar (निंबाळकर)
13. Chawan (चव्हाण)
14. Gharge-Desai (घर्गे -देसाई)
15. Pant Pratinidhi (पंत प्रतिनिधि)

The Shindes were expanded from Ujjain, Malwa to the border of the Lower Doab near Agra and Dholpur. The realm of Shindes became a battleground for Anglo-Maratha Wars and it's fate was decided at a place called Salbai (in Gwalior) where a treaty was signed between Warren Hastings and Mahadaji Shinde in 1782. It could be around this time that the corruption of the word Shinde to Scindia or Sindhia happened; an error that's still carried in surnames. The Shindes controlled the Princely States of Sheopur, Tonwarghar, Narwar, Gird Gwalior, Bhind and Isagarh, while the adjacent Datia State was part of the greater Bundelkhand Agency.  These combined to form the Gwalior Residency that extended to Rampur and Benares States as well between 1782 to 1947. 

Today, certain districts have taken another shape such as Tonwarghar is now Morena, while Narwar comes under Shivpuri district and Isagarh is divided into Ashoknagar and Guna. 

Below here is a recreated map of the Gwalior region 1859 by Edward Stanford.