Chapter 42

_Rajput, Baghel._--The Baghel Rajputs, who have given their name to Baghelkhand or Rewah, the eastern part of Central India, are a branch of the Chalukya or Solankhi clan, one of the four Agnikulas or those born from the firepit on Mount Abu. The chiefs of Rewah are Baghel Rajputs, and the late Maharaja Raghuraj Singh has written a traditional history of the sept in a book called the _Bhakt Mala_. [494] He derives their origin from a child, having the form of a tiger (_bagh_) who was born to the Solankhi Raja of Gujarat at the intercession of the famous saint Kabir. One of the headquarters of the Kabirpanthi sect are at Kawardha, which is close to Rewah, and the ruling family are members of the sect; hence probably the association of the Prophet with their origin. The _Bombay Gazetteer_ [495] states that the founder of the clan was one Anoka, a nephew of the Solankhi king of Gujarat, Kumarpal (A.D. 1143-1174). He obtained a grant of the village Vaghela, the tiger's lair, about ten miles from Anhilvada, the capital of the Solankhi dynasty, and the Baghel clan takes its name from this village. Subsequently the Baghels extended their power over the whole of Gujarat, but in A.D. 1304 the last king, Karnadeva, was driven out by the Muhammadans, and one of his most beautiful wives was captured and sent to the emperor's harem. Karnadeva and his daughter fled and hid themselves near Nasik, but the daughter was subsequently also taken, while it is not stated what became of Karnadeva. Mr. Hira Lal suggests that he fled towards Rewah, and that he is the Karnadeva of the list of Rewah Rajas, who married a daughter of the Gond-Rajput dynasty of Garha-Mandla. [496] At any rate the Baghel branch of the Solankhis apparently migrated to Rewah from Gujarat and founded that State about the fourteenth century, as in the fifteenth they became prominent. According to Captain Forsyth, the Baghels claim descent from a tiger, and protect it when they can; and, probably, as suggested by Mr. Crooke, [497] the name is really totemistic, or is derived from some ancestor of the clan who obtained the name of the tiger as a title or nickname, like the American Red Indians. The Baghels are found in the Hoshangabad District, and in Mandla and Chhattisgarh which are close to Rewah. Amarkantak, at the source of the Nerbudda, is the sepulchre of the Maharajas of Rewah, and was ceded to them with the Sohagpur tahsil of Mandla after the Mutiny, in consideration of their loyalty and services during that period.

Rajput, Bagri

_Rajput, Bagri._--This clan is found in small numbers in the Hoshangabad and Seoni Districts. The name Bagri, Malcolm says, [498] is derived from that large tract of plain called Bagar or 'hedge of thorns,' the Bagar being surrounded by ridges of wooded hills on all sides as if by a hedge. The Bagar is the plain country of the Bikaner State, and any Jat or Rajput coming from this tract is called Bagri. [499] The Rajputs of Bikaner are Rathors, but they are not numerous, and the great bulk of the people are Jats. Hence it is probable that the Bagris of the Central Provinces were originally Jats. In Seoni they say that they are Baghel Rajputs, but this claim is unsupported by any tradition or evidence. In Central India the Bagris are professed robbers and thieves, but these seem to be a separate group, a section of the Badhak or Bawaria dacoits, and derived from the aboriginal population of Central India. The Bagris of Seoni are respectable cultivators and own a number of villages. They rank higher than the local Panwars and wear the sacred thread, but will remove dead cattle with their own hands. They marry among themselves.

Rajput, Bais

_Rajput, Bais._ [500]--The Bais are one of the thirty-six royal races. Colonel Tod considered them a branch of the Surajvansi, but according to their own account their eponymous ancestor was Salivahana, the mythic son of a snake, who conquered the great Raja Vikramaditya of Ujjain and fixed his own era in A.D. 55. This is the Saka era, and Salivahana was the leader of the Saka nomads who invaded Gujarat on two occasions, before and shortly after the beginning of the Christian era. It is suggested in the article on Rajput that the Yadava lunar clan are the representatives of these Sakas, and if this were correct the Bais would be a branch of the lunar race. The fact that they are snake-worshippers is in favour of their connection with the Yadavas and other clans, who are supposed to represent the Scythian invaders of the first and subsequent centuries, and had the legend of being descended from a snake. The Bais, Mr. Crooke says, believe that no snake has destroyed, or ever can destroy, one of the clan. They seem to take no precautions against the bite except hanging a vessel of water at the head of the sufferer, with a small tube at the bottom, from which the water is poured on his head as long as he can bear it. The cobra is, in fact, the tribal god. The name is derived by Mr. Crooke from the Sanskrit Vaishya, one who occupies the soil. The principal hero of the Bais was Tilokchand, who is supposed to have come from the Central Provinces. He lived about A.D. 1400, and was the premier Raja of Oudh. He extended his dominions over all the tract known as Baiswara, which comprises the bulk of the Rai Bareli and Unao Districts, and is the home of the Bais Rajputs. The descendants of Tilokchand form a separate subdivision known as Tilokchandi Bais, who rank higher than the ordinary Bais, and will not eat with them. The Bais Rajputs are found all over the United Provinces. In the Central Provinces they have settled in small numbers in the northern and eastern Districts.

Rajput, Baksaria

_Rajput, Baksaria._--A small clan found principally in the Bilaspur District, who derive their name from Baxar in Bengal. They were accustomed to send a litter, that is to say, a girl of their clan, to the harem of each Mughal Emperor, and this has degraded them. They allow widow-marriage, and do not wear the sacred thread. It is probable that they marry among themselves, as other Rajputs do not intermarry with them, and they are no doubt an impure group with little pretension to be Rajputs. The name Baksaria is found in the United Provinces as a territorial subcaste of several castes.

Rajput, Banaphar

_Rajput, Banaphar._--Mr. Crooke states that this sept is a branch of the Yadavas, and hence it is of the lunar race. The sept is famous on account of the exploits of the heroes Alha and Udal who belonged to it, and who fought for the Chandel kings of Mahoba and Khajuraha in their wars against Prithwi Raj Chauhan, the king of Delhi. The exploits of Alha and Udal form the theme of poems still well known and popular in Bundelkhand, to which the sept belongs. The Banaphars have only a moderately respectable rank among Rajputs. [501]

Rajput, Bhadauria

_Rajput, Bhadauria._--An important clan who take their name from the village of Bhadawar near Ater, south of the Jumna. They are probably a branch of the Chauhans, being given as such by Colonel Tod and Sir H.M. Elliot. [502] Mr. Crooke remarks [503] that the Chauhans are disposed to deny this relationship, now that from motives of convenience the two tribes have begun to intermarry. If they are, as supposed, an offshoot of the Chauhans, this is an instance of the subdivision of a large clan leading to intermarriage between two sections, which has probably occurred in other instances also. This clan is returned from the Hoshangabad District.

Rajput, Bisen

_Rajput, Bisen._--This clan belongs to the United Provinces and Oudh. They do not appear in history before the time of Akbar, and claim descent from a well-known Brahman saint and a woman of the Surajvansi Rajputs whom he married. The Bisens occupy a respectable position among Rajputs, and intermarry with other good clans.

Rajput, Bundela

_Rajput, Bundela._--A well-known clan of Rajputs of somewhat inferior position, who have given their name to Bundelkhand, or the tract comprised principally in the Districts of Saugor, Damoh, Jhansi, Hamirpur and Banda, and the Panna, Orchha, Datia and other States. The Bundelas are held to be derived from the Gaharwar or Gherwal Rajputs, and there is some reason for supposing that these latter were originally an aristocratic section of the Bhar tribe with some infusion of Rajput blood. But the Gaharwars now rank almost with the highest clans. According to tradition one of the Gaharwar Rajas offered a sacrifice of his own head to the Vindhya-basini Devi or the goddess of the Vindhya hills, and out of the drops (_bund_) of blood which fell on the altar a boy was born. He returned to Panna and founded the clan which bears the name Bundela, from _bund_, a drop. [504] It is probable that, as suggested by Captain Luard, the name is really a corruption of Vindhya or Vindhyela, a dweller in the Vindhya hills, where, according to their own tradition, the clan had its birth. The Bundelas became prominent in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, after the fall of the Chandels. "Orchha became the chief of the numerous Bundela principalities; but its founder drew upon himself everlasting infamy, by putting to death the wise Abul Fazl, the historian and friend of the magnanimous Akbar, and the encomiast and advocate of the Hindu race. From the period of Akbar the Bundelas bore a distinguished part in all the grand conflicts, to the very close of the monarchy." [505]

The Bundelas held the country up to the Nerbudda in the Central Provinces, and, raiding continually into the Gond territories south of the Nerbudda on the pretence of protecting the sacred cow which the Gonds used for ploughing, they destroyed the castle on Chauragarh in Narsinghpur on a crest of the Satpuras, and reduced the Nerbudda valley to subjection. The most successful chieftain of the tribe was Chhatarsal, the Raja of Panna, in the eighteenth century, who was virtually ruler of all Bundelkhand; his dominions extending from Banda in the north to Jubbulpore in the south, and from Rewah in the east to the Betwa River in the west. But he had to call in the help of the Peshwa to repel an invasion of the Mughal armies, and left a third of his territory by will to the Marathas. Chhatarsal left twenty-two legitimate and thirty illegitimate sons, and their descendants now hold several small Bundela States, while the territories left to the Peshwa subsequently became British. The chiefs of Panna, Orchha, Datia, Chhatarpur and numerous other small states in the Bundelkhand agency are Bundela Rajputs. [506] The Bundelas of Saugor do not intermarry with the good Rajput clans, but with an inferior group of Panwars and another clan called Dhundhele, perhaps an offshoot of the Panwars, who are also residents of Saugor. Their character, as disclosed in a number of proverbial sayings and stories current regarding them, somewhat resembles that of the Scotch highlanders as depicted by Stevenson. They are proud and penurious to the last degree, and quick to resent the smallest slight. They make good _shikaris_ or sportsmen, but are so impatient of discipline that they have never found a vocation by enlisting in the Indian Army. Their characteristics are thus described in a doggerel verse: "The Bundelas salute each other from miles apart, their _pagris_ are cocked on the side of the head till they touch the shoulders. A Bundela would dive into a well for the sake of a cowrie, but would fight with the Sardars of Government." No Bania could go past a Bundela's house riding on a pony or holding up an umbrella; and all low-caste persons who passed his house must salute it with the words, _Diwan ji ko Ram Ram_. Women must take their shoes off to pass by. It is related that a few years ago a Bundela was brought up before the Assistant Commissioner, charged with assaulting a tahsil process-server, and threatening him with his sword. The Bundela, who was very poor and wearing rags, was asked by the magistrate whether he had threatened the man with his sword. He replied "Certainly not; the sword is for gentlemen like you and me of equal position. To him, if I had wished to beat him I would have taken my shoe." Another story is that there was once a very overbearing Tahsildar, who had a shoe 2 1/2 feet long with which he used to collect the land revenue. One day a Bundela malguzar appeared before him on some business. The Tahsildar kept his seat. The Bundela walked quietly up to the table and said, "Will the Sirkar step aside with me for a moment, as I have something private to say." The Tahsildar got up and walked aside with him, on which the Bundela said, 'That is sufficient, I only wished to tell you that you should rise to receive me.' When the Bundelas are collected at a feast they sit with their hands folded across their stomachs and their eyes turned up, and remain impassive while food is being put on their plates, and never say, 'Enough,' because they think that they would show themselves to be feeble men if they refused to eat as much as was put before them. Much of the food is thus ultimately wasted, and given to the sweepers, and this leads to great extravagance at marriages and other ceremonial occasions. The Bundelas were much feared and were not popular landlords, but they are now losing their old characteristics and settling down into respectable cultivators.

Rajput, Chandel

_Rajput, Chandel._--An important clan of Rajputs, of which a small number reside in the northern Districts of Saugor, Damoh and Jubbulpore, and also in Chhattisgarh. The name is derived by Mr. Crooke from the Sanskrit _chandra_, the moon. The Chandel are not included in the thirty-six royal races, and are supposed to have been a section of one of the indigenous tribes which rose to power. Mr. V.A. Smith states that the Chandels, like several other dynasties, first came into history early in the ninth century, when Nannuka Chandel about A.D. 831 overthrew a Parihar chieftain and became lord of the southern parts of Jejakabhukti or Bundelkhand. Their chief towns were Mahoba and Kalanjar in Bundelkhand, and they gradually advanced northwards till the Jumna became the frontier between their dominions and those of Kanauj. They fought with the Gujar-Parihar kings of Kanauj and the Kalachuris of Chedi, who had their capital at Tewar in Jubbulpore, and joined in resisting the incursions of the Muhammadans. In A.D. 1182 Parmal, the Chandel king, was defeated by Prithwi Raja, the Chauhan king of Delhi, after the latter had abducted the Chandel's daughter. This was the war in which Alha and Udal, the famous Banaphar heroes, fought for the Chandels, and it is commemorated in the Chand-Raisa, a poem still well known to the people of Bundelkhand. In A.D. 1203 Kalanjar was taken by the Muhammadan Kutb-ud-Din Ibak, and the importance of the Chandel rulers came to an end, though they lingered on as purely local chiefs until the sixteenth century. The Chandel princes were great builders, and beautified their chief towns, Mahoba, Kalanjar and Khajuraho with many magnificent temples and lovely lakes, formed by throwing massive dams across the openings between the hills. [507] Among these were great irrigation works in the Hamirpur District, the forts of Kalanjar and Ajaighar, and the noble temples at Khajuraho and Mahoba. [508] Even now the ruins of old forts and temples in the Saugor and Damoh Districts are attributed by the people to the Chandels, though many were in fact probably constructed by the Kalachuris of Chedi.

Mr. Smith derives the Chandels either from the Gonds or Bhars, but inclines to the view that they were Gonds. The following considerations tend, I venture to think, to favour the hypothesis of their origin from the Bhars. According to the best traditions, the Gonds came from the south, and practically did not penetrate to Bundelkhand. Though Saugor and Damoh contain a fair number of Gonds they have never been of importance there, and this is almost their farthest limit to the north-west. The Gond States in the Central Provinces did not come into existence for several centuries after the commencement of the Chandel dynasty, and while there are authentic records of all these states, the Gonds have no tradition of their dominance in Bundelkhand. The Gonds have nowhere else built such temples as are attributed to the Chandels at Khajuraho, whilst the Bhars were famous builders. "In Mirzapur traces of the Bhars abound on all sides in the shape of old tanks and village forts. The bricks found in the Bhar-dihs or forts are of enormous dimensions, and frequently measure 19 by 11 inches, and are 2 1/4 inches thick. In quality and size they are similar to bricks often seen in ancient Buddhist buildings. The old capital of the Bhars, five miles from Mirzapur, is said to have had 150 temples." [509] Elliot remarks [510] that "common tradition assigns to the Bhars the possession of the whole tract from Gorakhpur to Bundelkhand and Saugor, and many old stone forts, embankments and subterranean caverns in Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Mirzapur and Allahabad, which are ascribed to them, would seem to indicate no inconsiderable advance in civilisation." Though there are few or no Bhars now in Bundelkhand, there are a large number of Pasis in Allahabad which partly belongs to it, and small numbers in Bundelkhand; and the Pasi caste is mainly derived from the Bhars; [511] while a Gaharwar dynasty, which is held to be derived from the Bhars, was dominant in Bundelkhand and Central India before the rise of the Chandels. According to one legend, the ancestor of the Chandels was born with the moon as a father from the daughter of the high priest of the Gaharwar Raja Indrajit of Benares or of Indrajit himself. [512] As will be seen, the Gaharwars were an aristocratic section of the Bhars. Another legend states that the first Chandel was the offspring of the moon by the daughter of a Brahman Pandit of Kalanjar. [513] In his _Notes on the Bhars of Bundelkhand_ [514] Mr. Smith argues that the Bhars adopted the Jain religion, and also states that several of the temples at Khajuraho and Mahoba, erected in the eleventh century, are Jain. These were presumably erected by the Chandels, but I have never seen it suggested that the Gonds were Jains or were capable of building Jain temples in the eleventh century. Mr. Smith also states that Maniya Deo, to whom a temple exists at Mahoba, was the tutelary deity of the Chandels; and that the only other shrine of Maniya Deo discovered by him in the Hamirpur District was in a village reputed formerly to have been held by the Bhars. [515] Two instances of intercourse between the Chandels and Gonds are given, but the second of them, that the Rani Durgavati of Mandla was a Chandel princess, belongs to the sixteenth century, and has no bearing on the origin of the Chandels. The first instance, that of the Chandel Raja Kirat Singh hunting at Maniagarh with the Gond Raja of Garha-Mandla, cannot either be said to furnish any real evidence in favour of a Gond origin for the Chandels; it maybe doubted whether there was any Gond Raja of Garha-Mandla till after the fall of the Kalachuri dynasty of Tewar, which is quite close to Garha-Mandla, in the twelfth century; and a reference so late as this would not affect the question. [516] Finally, the Chandels are numerous in Mirzapur, which was formerly the chief seat of the Bhars, while the Gonds have never been either numerous or important in Mirzapur. These considerations seem to point to the possibility of the derivation of the Chandels from the Bhars rather than from the Gonds; and the point is perhaps of some interest in view of the suggestion in the article on Kol that the Gonds did not arrive in the Central Provinces for some centuries after the rise of the Chandel dynasty of Khajuraho and Mahoba. The Chandels may have simply been a local branch of the Gaharwars, who obtained a territorial designation from Chanderi, or in some other manner, as has continually happened in the case of other clans. The Gaharwars were probably derived from the Bhars. The Chandels now rank as a good Rajput clan, and intermarry with the other leading clans.

Rajput, Chauhan