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Bundela Rajput
Bundela Rajput
Rājpūt, Bundela.—A well-known clan of Rājpūts of somewhat inferior position, who have given their name to Bundelkhand, or the tract comprised principally in the Districts of Saugor, Damoh, Jhānsi, Hamīrpur and Bānda, and the Panna, Orchha, Datia and other States. The Bundelas are held to be derived from the Gaharwār or Gherwāl Rājpūts, and there is some reason for supposing that these latter were originally an aristocratic section of the Bhar tribe with some infusion of Rājpūt blood. But the Gaharwārs now rank almost with the highest clans. According to tradition one of the Gaharwār Rājas 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.1 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.”2
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 Satpūras, and reduced the Nerbudda valley to subjection. The most successful chieftain of the tribe was Chhatarsāl, the Rāja of Panna, in the eighteenth century, who was virtually ruler of all Bundelkhand; his dominions extending from Bānda in the north to Jubbulpore in the [439]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 Marāthas. Chhatarsāl 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 Rājpūts.3 The Bundelas of Saugor do not intermarry with the good Rājpūt clans, but with an inferior group of Panwārs and another clan called Dhundhele, perhaps an offshoot of the Panwārs, 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 shikāris 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 Sardārs 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, Diwān ji ko Rām Rām. 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 tahsīl 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 Tahsīldār, who had a [440]shoe 2½ feet long with which he used to collect the land revenue. One day a Bundela mālguzār appeared before him on some business. The Tahsīldār kept his seat. The Bundela walked quietly up to the table and said, “Will the Sirkār step aside with me for a moment, as I have something private to say.” The Tahsīldār 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.
