Muzaffarnagar district

Muzaffarnagar's early medieval history is obscure till the Indo-Mughal period. Timur's army had marched to Delhi through this region in 1399; its people fought it unsuccessfully. In Mughal Emperor Akbar's time, most of the Muzaffarnagar district region, called Sarwat then under the Mahal control of Tagas / Tyagis of Sarvat village, belonged to the sarkar (circle) of Saharanpur. Akbar bestowed pargana of Sarwat on Sayyed Mahmud Khan Barha which remained with his descendants up to the 17th century. Munawwar Lashkar Khan Barha established the city and named it Muzaffarnagar in honour of his father, Sayyid Muzaffar Khan, otherwise known as Khan-i-Jahan during the reign of Shah Jahan, after which Sarwat also became Muzaffarnagar.[2][3] At the time Muzaffarnagar was part of the Barah country as it was intimately connected with the Indian Muslim kinship group called the Barah Sayyids,[4][5] who controlled the upper Doab.[6] The Indian Muslim inhabitants of Barah, especially from near the town of Jansath, were heavily recruited in the Army of the Mughal Empire, where they had a hereditary right to lead the vanguard of the imperial troops in every battle.[7][8] The unique privilege of the Barah Sayyids of leading the imperial vanguard also gave them an advantage over other parts of the Mughal military and exalted their sense of social pride.[9] They also made up the personal cavalry of the Sayyid Brothers, both from Muzaffarnagar, who were de-facto rulers of the Mughal Empire in the 1710s.[10][11][12]

Muzaffarnagar district gained notoriety in the 20th century with frequent incidents of loot, murders, kidnappings and dacoity.[13]