The territory of the present Ashoknagar district was part of the Chedi kingdom of Shishupal in the Mahabharata period and Chedi Janapada in the Janapada period. The medieval period was part of Chanderi State. In the 6th century B.C., the Chanderi area (territory of Ashoknagar district) was under Avanti, Dasharna, and Chedi Janapadas. It had been also part of the Nanda, Maurya, Sunga, and Magadh kingdoms. It is believed that the Great Emperor Ashoka, while on his trip to conquer Ujjain, had spent one night in Ashoknagar, so the area was named Ashoknagar. After the Magadh, Sungas, and Sakas of the Naga dynasty ruled over it, subsequently, after the Guptas and the Maukharias, it formed part of the empire of Harshvardhan. In the 8th-9th century A.D., it fell to the Pratihara Rajput dynasty. The 7th descendant of the Pratihara dynasty, Raja Kirtipal founded Chanderi city in the 10th -11th century A.D. and made it his capital. After the fall of the Pratihara dynasty, the Chandelas of Jejak Bhukti also ruled here briefly. The Chanderi kingdom was also affected by repeated invasions of Mahmood Ghaznavi in the 11th century A.D. after the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. Turks, Afghans, and Mughals ruled it. In the reign of Chanderi‘s Bundela ruler Morprahalad, Gwalior ruler Daulatrao Scindia sent his general John Baptiste to attack Chanderi. He captured Chanderi and also Isagarh and nearby areas. The last Bundela ruler of Chanderi, Mardan Singh, supreme sacrifice as a freedom fighter in 1857-58 A.D.
