Kampel is a

panchayat The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical men ...

village in the Indore block of the Indore district, Madhya Pradesh, India. It was the headquarters of a pargana in

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

before the administrative center of the region was shifted to

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

city under the

Holkar The Holkar (Pronunciation: �o(ː)ɭkəɾ dynasty was a Maratha clan of Dhangar origin in India. The Holkars were generals under Peshwa Baji Rao I, and later became Maharajas of Indore in Central India as an independent member of the Mara ...

s of the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Sh ...

. In this region mostly (Choudhary-Patel) Khati people live.

History

During the

Mughal era The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

, the area under the modern Indore district was equally divided between the administrations ('' sarkar''s) of

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani pronunciation: �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative centre of Ujjain district and Ujjain ...

and Mandu. Kampel was the headquarters of a ''mahal'' (administrative unit) under the Ujjain ''sarkar'' of Malwa Subah (province). The area of the modern Indore city was included in the Kampel pargana (administrative unit). In 1715, the

Marathas The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

invaded this region (Mughal territory) and demanded

chauth Chauth (from Sanskrit, meaning ''one fourth'') was a regular tax or tribute imposed from the early 18th century by the Maratha Empire in the Indian subcontinent. It was an annual tax nominally levied at 25% on revenue or produce, hence the name, ...

(tax) from the Mughal ''Amil'' (administrator) of Kampel. The Amil fled to

, and the local

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

s agreed to pay Chauth to the Marathas. The chief zamindar, Nandlal Chaudhury (later known as Nandlal Mandloi), paid a chauth of around Rs. 25,000 to the Marathas.

Jai Singh II Jai Singh II (3 November 1681 – 21 September 1743) popularly known as Sawai Jai Singh was the 29th Kachwaha Rajput ruler of the Jaipur State, Kingdom of Amber, who later founded the fortified city of Jaipur and made it his capital. He was born ...

, the Mughal Governor of Malwa, reached Kampel on 8 May 1715, and defeated the Marathas in a battle near the village. The Marathas came back in early 1716, and raided Kampel in 1717. In March 1718, the Marathas, led by Santaji Bhonsale, invaded Malwa again, but were unsuccessful this time. By 1720, the headquarters of the local pargana were transferred from Kampel to Indore, due to the increasing commercial activity in the city. In 1724, the Marathas under the new

Peshwa The Peshwa (Pronunciation: e(ː)ʃʋaː was the appointed (later becoming hereditary) prime minister of the Maratha Empire of the Indian subcontinent. Originally, the Peshwas served as subordinates to the Chhatrapati (the Maratha king); later ...

Baji Rao I, launched a fresh attack on the Mughals in Malwa. Baji Rao I himself led the campaign, accompanied by his lieutenants Udaji Rao Pawar,

Malhar Rao Holkar Malhar Rao Holkar (16 March 1693 – 20 May 1766) was a noble subedar of the Maratha Empire, in present-day India. He was one of the early officers along with Ranoji Scindia to help spread the Maratha rule to northern states and was given the e ...

and

Ranoji Scindia Ranoji Shinde the founder of the Scindia dynasty from maratha caste that produced outstanding Maratha military commanders during the 18th century. Later the Scindia served as vassals of the British from the northern Princely state of Gwalior. ...

. The Mughal

Nizam The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

met the Peshawar at Nalchha on 18 May 1724, and acceded to his demand of collecting chauth from the area. The Peshwa returned to the

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...

, but left

at Indore to oversee the chauth collection. The Marathas maintained friendly relations with Nandlal Chaudhary, who held influence over the local

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been ...

s (chiefs). In 1728, they defeated the Mughals decisively at Amphora, and consolidated their authority in the area over the next few years. On 3 October 1730,

was appointed as the Maratha chief of

Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syn ...

. The local zamindars, who had the title of Chaudhari, came to be known as ''Mandloi''s (after mandal, an administrative unit) during the Maratha reign. The

dynasty of the Marathas, which controlled the region, conferred the title of ''Rao Raja'' upon the local zamindar family.Major General Sir John Malcolm, ''Central India, Part I'', pp. 68–70 After Nandlal died, his son Tejkarana was accepted as the ''Mandloi'' of Kampel by the

Baji Rao I. The pargana was formally granted to

by merging 28 and one-half Pargana by the Peshwa in 1733. The pargana headquarters were transferred back to Kampel during his reign. After his death, his daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar moved the headquarters to Indore in 1766. The

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administ ...

of Kampel was converted into Indore tehsil by a change in the name. Ahilyabai Holkar moved the state's capital to Maheshwar in 1767, but Indore remained an important commercial and military center.

References

{{reflist Villages in Indore district

History

See also

References