Gwalior

City and district in Madhya Pradesh, central India, 100 km/62 mi south of Agra, between the Sind and Chambal rivers; population (2001) 826,900. Industries include textiles, flour, oilseed milling, and the manufacture of pottery and footwear. It was formerly a small princely state; there is a hill fort dating from the 6th century built on a 100-m/320-ft cliff, which contains Jain and Hindu carvings and temples. The new town of Lashkar, founded as a military camp in 1800, lies to the south.

Gwalior is said to be named after the hermit Gwalipa, who cured the chieftain Suraj Sen of leprosy in the 9th century AD. It was strategically important for the control of the Central Provinces of India, and a succession of invaders took the city: Rajput clans, Muslims, Moguls, Afghans and Marathas. In the 1857 Indian Mutiny, the Maharajah remained loyal to the British, despite the rebellion of 6,500 of his troops, but subsequently the British held the fort for another 30 years.