Mughal emperors Akbar and later Shah Jehan (1592–1666) had bestowed on Sayyed families the Pargana of Sarwat. In 1633 one of them founded a city and named it as well as the region around it as Muzaffarnagar, in honour of his father, Sayyed Muzaffar Ali Khan. The Sayyeds ruled there until the 1739 invasion by Nadir Shah. After his departure, anarchy prevailed in the entire Doab and this region was ruled or ravaged in succession by Rajputs, Tyagis, Brahmins, and Jats. Taking advantage of the anarchy, the Rohillas took control of the entire trans-Gangetic region.
Najeeb-ud-Daula, Nawab of Saharanpur (1748–1770 AD)
Ahmad Shah Durrani, the Afghan ruler who arrived after Nadir Shah, conferred the territory of Saharanpur as Jagir on Rohilla chief Najaf Khan, who assumed the title of Nawab Najeeb-ud-Daula and, in 1754, started living in Saharanpur. He made Gaunsgarh his capital and tried to strengthen his position against Maratha Empire attacks by entering into a friendship with the Gurjar chieftain Manohar Singh. In 1759 AD, Najeeb-ud-Daula issued a Deed of Agreement handing over 550 villages to Manohar Singh, who became the Raja of Landaura. Thus the Rohillas and the Gurjars now controlled Saharanpur.
Maratha rule (1757–1803 AD)
In 1757, the Maratha army invaded Saharanpur region, which resulted in Najeeb-ud-Daula losing control of Saharanpur to Maratha rulers Raghunath Rao and Malharao Holkar. Najeeb-ud-Daula regained control when Raghunath Rao left Saharanpur for a campaign in Punjab. The conflict between Rohillas and Marathas came to an end on 18 December 1788 with the arrest of Ghulam Qadir, the grandson of Najeeb-ud-Daula, who was defeated by the Maratha general Mahadaji Scindia. The most significant contribution of Nawab Ghulam Qadir to Saharanpur city
