The fortress of Gwalior was celebrated for its strength under the Hindoo sovereigns of India; but was taken by the Muhammadans after a long siege, A.D. 1197.[16] the Hindoos regained possession, but were again expelled by the Emperor Iltutmish, A. D. 1235.[17] the Hindoos again got possession, and after holding it one hundred years, again surrendered it to the forces of the Emperor Ibrahim, A.D. 1519.[18] In 1543 it was surrendered up by the troops of the Emperor Humayun[19] to Sher Khan, his successful competitor for the empire.[20] It afterwards fell into the hands of a Jat chief, the Rana of Gohad,[21] from whom it was taken by the Marathas.  While in their possession, it was invested by our troops under the command of Major Popham; and, on the 3rd of August, 1780, taken by escalade.[22] The party that scaled the wall was gallantly led by a very distinguished and most promising officer, Captain Bruce, brother of the celebrated traveller.[23]

It was made over to us by the Rana of Gohad, who had been our ally in the war.  Failing in his engagement to us, he was afterwards abandoned to the resentment of Madhoji Sindhia, chief of the Marathas.[24] In 1783, Gwalior was invested by Madhoji Sindhia’s troops, under the command of one of the most extraordinary men that have ever figured in Indian history, the justly celebrated General De Boigne.[25] After many unsuccessful attempts to take it by escalade, he bought over part of the garrison, and made himself master of the place.  Gohad itself was taken soon after in 1784; but the Rana, Chhatarpat, made his escape.  He was closely pursued, made prisoner at Karauli, and confined in the fortress of Gwalior, where he died in the year 1785.[26] He left no son, and his claims upon Gohad devolved upon his nephew, Kirat Singh, who, at the close of our war with the Marathas, got from Lord Lake, in lieu of these claims, the estate of Dholpur, situated on the left banks of the river Chambal, which is estimated at the annual value of three hundred thousand, or three lakhs, of rupees.  He died this year, 1835, and has been succeeded by his son, Bhagwant Singh, a lad of seventeen years of age.[27]

Notes: 

1.  December, 1835.

2.  Throughout the northern edge of the trap country in Rajputana, Gwalior, and Bundelkhand, dykes are rare or wanting.’ (W.  T. Blandford, in Manual of the Geology of India, 1st ed., Part 1, p. 328.) The dykes mentioned in the text may not have been visited by the officers of the Geological Surrey.

3.  ’Basalt generally disintegrates into a reddish soil, quite different from regar in character.  This reddish soil may be seen passing into regar, but, as a rule, the black soil is confined to the flatter ground at the bottom of the valleys, or on flat hill-tops, the brown or red soils occupying the slopes’ (ibid. p. 433).

4.  Johnson, in his Journey to the Western Islands, observes:  ’Now and then we espied a little corn-field, which served to impress more strongly the general barrenness.’ [W.  H. S.] The remark referred to the shores of Loch Ness (p. 237 of volume viii of Johnson’s Works, London, 1820).