INTRODUCTION

Alwar, amongst the Rajput principalities was closest to imperial Delhi, influencing the people and history of the region, formerly known as Mewat. The people of Alwar developed a hardy, but carefree attitude to life. They did not submit to alien rule, and often rebelled.

They were daring adventurers and marauders in the 12th and 13th centuries they banded together and raided Delhi at night. The western gates of the capital had to be barred every evening against their coming. Sultan Balban (1267-1287) finally crushed their disorganized resistance and as a result they came under Muslim rule. In 1771 AD, Maharaja Pratap Singh, a Kuchhwaha Rajput belonging to the same clan as the one that ruled Jaipur, won back Alwar and founded a principality of his own.

Alwar lies equidistant from Delhi and Jaipur. The Aravallis break up in a beautiful little valley with small hills and rocky crags before trailing of in the final spine that runs right up to and through Delhi. Known there as the ridge. The city nestles between several small hills, on the most prominent of which stands a dramatically forbidding fort, lakes and valleys thickly wooded in parts, have made this area the haunt of animals and birds.

Rich wildlife, Alwar has one of the finest sanctuaries in Rajasthan.