Kurwai State was founded in 1713 by Mohammed Diler Khan, an Afghan soldier in the Mughal army. The state came under the Maratha suzerainty in the 1730s. Kurwai later became a British protectorate in 1818, following the British victory in the Third Anglo-Maratha War. Its last ruler acceded to the Dominion of India on 15 June 1948.