What is "karwas"

Karwas is a village in Bhind district in Madhya Pradesh. It was the site of an important fort of Gohad Rana rulers. The ancestor of Bamraulis Jagdeo Singh had come from Agra and stayed at Bhind which was ruled by Aniruddh Singh Bhadauria. There was war between Bamraulias and Bhadauria rulers at place called Pach'hara in which Bhadauria was defeated. The Ranas kept their capital at Pach'hara for some time and later shifted the capital to Gohad. The brother of Gohad ruler Jagdeo Singh constructed a fort here in samvat 1680 (1623 AD).

This place had played an important role in the defeat of Rana rulers of Gohad at Gwalior fort. The chieftain of Karwas fort along with Motumal aligned with Sindia and planned a conspiracy to kill Maharaja Bhim Singh Rana. The Karwas chieftain had demanded a separate free state for him which was refused by Maharaja Bhim Singh Rana. The Gohad ruler got angry over his demand and reduced his status. The Karwas chieftain conspired and signed a secret treaty with Sindia. As an award of which he was made the commander of Maratha army during Panipat war for one day. The Marathas were victorious that day. It was here a strategy was made that Marathas armies would attack Maharaja Bhim Singh Rana from three sides at regular intervals . They first occupied Bilhati fort and the secondly attacked Gwalior fort. The gates were opened from inside and Maharaja was killed by conspiracy of Karwas chieftain.

At present there are only the ruins of the fort at Karwas. The descendants at present living in Karwas include 8 families of Bamraulia Rana rulers and 5 families of Descendants of Jagdeo Singh. The genealogy of Bamraulia descendants in this village is as under: Aman Singh, his son Acharaj Singh, his son Thakur Das, his son, Tamir Singh, his son Jaswant Singh, His son Ganesh Singh, His son Govind Singh.