Chanderi (Ashoknagar district)

Chanderi, in today’s Ashoknagar district of Madhya Pradesh, has been an important town for over a thousand years because of its position on old trade routes linking Malwa, Bundelkhand and the Ganga plains. Early references appear from around the 10th–11th century, when the region was under Rajput and later Gurjara–Pratihara influence, followed by local chiefs who controlled the surrounding hills and passes.

From the late medieval period, Chanderi rose as a fortified town coveted by larger powers. In the 15th century it became a key outpost of the Malwa Sultanate, which built mosques, palaces, gates and strengthened the hill fort above the town. In 1528, the Mughal emperor Babur captured Chanderi after a fierce battle against the ruler Medini Rai, incorporating it into the expanding Mughal empire.

After Mughal decline, Chanderi passed through the hands of Bundela Rajputs and later came under the Scindias of Gwalior, remaining a small but strategic princely centre until British paramountcy. Alongside its military role, the town developed a famous handloom tradition: fine, lightweight Chanderi sarees woven in silk and cotton for royal and elite patrons. In independent India, Chanderi is known both as a preserved medieval town with gates, mosques, temples and stepwells, and as a major craft cluster sustaining its centuries-old weaving heritage.