BUNDELKHAND, a tract of country in Central India, lying between the United and the Central Provinces. Historically it includes the British districts of Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi and Banda, which now compose the Jhansi division of the United Provinces, but politically it is restricted to a collection of Indian States, under the Bundelkhand agency. There are nine States, the most important of which are Orchha, Panna, Samthar, Chark hari, Chhatarpur, Datia, Bijawar and Ajaigarh : there are also 13 small estates in the agency, and a pargana (Alampur) belonging to Indore. A garrison of all arms is stationed at Nowgong.
The surface of the country is uneven and hilly, except in the north-east part, which forms an irregular plain cut up by ravines. There are three ranges of hills, the Bindhachal, Panna and Bander chains, the highest elevation not exceeding 2,000 feet. The coun try is further diversified by isolated hills rising abruptly from a common level, and presenting from their steep and nearly inac cessible scarps eligible sites for castles and strongholds, whence the mountaineers of Bundelkhand have frequently set at defiance the most powerful of the Indian States. The general slope of the country is towards the north-east, as indicated by the course of the rivers which traverse or bound the territory, and finally dis charge themselves into the Jumna. The chief streams, enumer ating them from the western boundary, are the Sind, Betwa, Ken, Baighin, Paisuni, Tons, Pahuj and Dhasan. They flow in deep ravine-fringed channels and are of little use for irrigation ; though the waters of the Betwa have been impounded for an important canal. The main sources of irrigation are numerous artificial lakes, formed centuries ago by throwing massive embankments across drainage lines. Many of them, . like Barwa Sagar near Jhansi, which is 21m. in diameter, are set in surroundings of singular natural beauty, and enhance the picturesque variety of the Bundelkhand landscape.
The people are almost as picturesque as their country. The true Bundela—the race which gives its name to the land—is gen erally impoverished and in debt; but he has an inextinguishable pride in his descent and a great aversion to hard work. In his raiment he displays an attractive sense of colour; and a touch of the swashbuckler is added to his mien by the velvet-sheathed talwar or other mediaeval weapon which he generally carries about with him. He is a keen sportsman, and the low jungle with which the country is covered abounds in game, tiger, leopard, hyena, wild boar, nilgai and antelope.
Diamonds are found over a considerable area of country, but particularly near Panna. The output in Akbar's time is said to have been worth f 1 oo,000 a year : and some fine specimens were obtained: a magnificent jewel from the Gadasia mine was among the treasures in Kalinjar fort. Though the quality is good, the size of the finds is now small. The diamonds lodge in a conglom erate, not unlike the diamondiferous rock of South Africa, but close to the surface, and they are worked in shallow irregular pits.
The earliest dynasty recorded to have ruled in Bundelkhand were the Gaharwars, who were succeeded by the Parihars. About A.D. 800 the Parihars are said to have been ousted by the Chandels, whose chief, Dangha Varma, appears to have established the ear liest paramount power in Bundelkhand towards the close of the loth century A.D. Under his dynasty the country attained its greatest splendour in the early part of the I 1 th century, when its rajah, whose dominions extended from the Jumna to the Ner budda, marched at the head of 36,00o horse and 54,00o foot, with 64o elephants, to oppose the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni. In 1182 the Chandel dynasty was overthrown by Prithwi Raj, the ruler of Ajmer and Delhi, after which the country remained in ruinous anarchy until the close of the 14th century, when the Bundelas, who are supposed to be a left-handed branch of either the Gaharwars or the Chandels, established themselves on the right bank of the Jumna. One of these took possession of Orchha by treacherously poisoning its chief ; and his successor it was who assassinated the celebrated Abul Fazl, the prime minister and his torian of Akbar. The struggles of the Bundelas for independence resulted in the withdrawal of the royal troops, and the admission of several petty States as feudatories of the empire on condition of military service. On the occasion of a Mohammedan invasion in 1732, Chhatar Sal asked and obtained the assistance of the Mahratta peshwa, whom he adopted as his son, giving him a third of his dominions. The Mahrattas gradually extended their influence over Bundelkhand, and in 1792 the peshwa was ac knowledged as the lord paramount of the country. The Mahratta power was, however, on the decline ; and by the treaty concluded between the peshwa and the British Government, the districts of Banda and Hamirpur were transferred to the latter. In 1809 Ajaigarh was besieged by a British force, and again three years later Kalinjar was besieged and taken after a heavy loss. In 1817, by the Treaty of Poona, the British Government acquired from the peshwa all his rights, interests and pretensions, feudal, terri torial or pecuniary, in Bundelkhand. In carrying out the provi sions of the treaty, an assurance was given by the British Gov ernment that the rights of those interested in the transfer should be scrupulously respected, and the host of petty principalities in the province is the best proof of the sincerity and good faith with which this clause has been carried out.