Satna / Maihar

Satna, in eastern Madhya Pradesh, lies in the historic Baghelkhand region and has long been linked to the fortunes of nearby Rewa State. The area around Satna was once dotted with small forts and villages ruled by local chieftains and Baghel Rajputs, who controlled trade routes between the Ganga plains and central India. The town itself grew near the Satna River and an old market centre, but its major expansion came in the 19th century under the British, when Satna became an important railway junction and administrative hub. As the Satna–Katni–Jabalpur and Satna–Rewa lines developed, the town turned into a collection and distribution point for limestone, cement, agricultural goods and forest produce, eventually emerging as the main urban centre of the district after Independence.

Maihar, now a separate town in Satna district, has an older religious identity thanks to the Maa Sharda Devi temple on the hill above it, revered as a powerful Shaktipeeth. Over centuries this hill shrine attracted pilgrims from Bundelkhand and beyond, around which a settlement and bazaar grew. In the late princely period, Maihar became capital of a small state ruled by a branch of the Bundela Rajputs and gained cultural fame through the Maihar gharana of Hindustani classical music under Ustad Allauddin Khan.