Seoni District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The town of Seoni is the district headquarters.
The district was created as a separate District in the newly created Chief Commissioner's Province in 1861, but was merged with the adjoining Chhindwada District in 1931. The District was, however, revived on the day the new state of Madhya Pradesh was created viz 1st November 1956. The name of the district originated from the word 'Seona' (Gudina arborea), a species of tree commonly found in the area.
An early copper inscription found in Seoni is a land grant from Vakataka king Pravarasena II in the 3rd century CE. Although the region where the land grant was given is not indicated, more copper plates found in Nagpur, Chhindwara and the Ajanta Caves also indicate the region would have been under Vakataka rule. Later it was speculated the Satpura range was briefly part of the Gaur kingdom. Afterwards the region most likely passed to the Kalachuris with capital at Tewar in Jabalpur district, who ruled from the 9th to 12th centuries. The Chandels of Mahoba then most likely ousted the Kalachuris, evidence being oral histories that cite Chandel generals as having captured Seoni region to take a Kalachuri princess.
The first recorded historical records begin with the Gond Garha-Mandla kingdom. The forts of Ghansor, Chauri and Dongartal and the territory around them, which make up the majority of modern-day Seoni district, were included in the territory of Sangaram Shah in 1530. The Gonds fought against the Mughals and retained their independence, but paid tribute to the Mughals regardless.
In the late 17th century, the Raja of Mandla Narendra Shah asked fellow Gond king Bakht Buland Shah of Deogarh to help suppress a rebellion of two Afghan captains, Azim Khan and Lunde Khan. At Pratappur near Seoni, the two kings defeated the adventurers and Narendra Shah ceded the territory now part of Seoni district to Bakht Buland Shah. Bakht Buland Shah gave the Dongartal region to Raj Khan, an Afghan adventurer, as governor.