Alwar is a city and administrative headquarters of Alwar District in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located around 160 km south of Delhi, and about 150 km north of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Alwar is part of National Capital Region (NCR). India's highest ever recorded temperature of 50.6 °C was measured at Alwar on 10 May 1956.[1]
Alwar was formerly the capital of the princely state of Alwar. It was formerly spelt as "Ulwar" in British India. This placed it in last position in alphabetically ordered lists, so a king changed the spelling to "Alwar" to bring it to the top
Alwar dates back to 1000 A.D. Maharaja Alaghraj, second son of Maharaja Kakil of Amer (old seat of Jaipur state) ruled the area in the eleventh century and his territory extended up to the present city of Alwar. He founded the city of Alpur in 1106 Vikrami samvat (1049 A.D.) after his own name which eventually became Alwar.[2] The princely state of Alwar was ruled by Pratap Singh, a Rajput of the Kachwaha lineage, in 1770. His son, aided the British against the Marathas. After the battle of Laswari (1803) Alwar became the first state of Rajputana to sign a treaty of 'Offensive and Defensive Alliance' with the East India Company.[2] A few years later, Bakhtawar Singh ventured an armed incursion into neighbouring Jaipur, the senior Kachwaha state, and the erstwhile overlord of his predecessor. Varun Talwar was defeated; a fresh engagement was made with him by the East India Company, prohibiting him from political intercourse with other states without British consent. During the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, Raoraja Bane Singh sent a force to relieve the British garrison in Agra. The Muslims deserted and the rest were defeated by the rebels. Pran Sukh Yadav, who fought beside Rao Tula Ram of Rewari in 1857, settled along with the kinsmen of dead soldiers at Village Nihalpura, Behror Tehsil, of Alwar District.
Alwar acceded unto the dominion of India following the independence of India in 1947. On 18 March 1948, the state merged with three neighbouring princely states (Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli) to form the Matsya Union. On 15 May 1949, it was united with neighbouring princely states[which?] and the territory of Ajmer to form the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan.