Asirgarh

Asirgarh is a fortress in the Burhanpur tahsil of the Nimar district of Madhya Pradesh, about 2,200 feet above sea level and 850 feet high from its base. It dominates the only route through the range between the Narbada and the Tapti from north-west India to the Deccan. ¹

It was probably of great antiquity, and was certainly a stronghold of the Tak branch of the Chauhan Rajputs from the third/ninth century. It was stormed by Khalji's forces, then mukta of Karra, in the winter of 695 AH (1295-1296), on his way back from his Deccan raid, but was not permanently occupied by Muslim forces until about 802 AH (1400), when Malik Nasir Khan Faruqi seized it to make it the supposedly impregnable stronghold of the Faruqi sultans of Khandesh. Akbar captured it, and it became the headquarters of the marzuban of the frontier suba of Dandish. Shah Jahan took refuge there in 1032 AH (1623) when rebelling against Jahangir, and built a mosque there in 1061 AH (1650-1651). In 1132 AH (1720) it passed to Nizam al-Mulk, subadar of Malwa, and was later lost to the Mughals when the Mahrattas under Baji Rao Peshwa took it. The British first captured it in 1218 AH (1803) and finally occupied it. ¹