1881.] 
Y. A. Smith —History of Bundelkhand. 
3 
Many of the Chandel tanks and lakes are associated with temples, but, 
so far as I remember, the Gaharwar tanks never are. 
All legend connects the Gaharwar clan with Kasi (Benares), but how 
or when the Gaharwars obtained possession of Mahoba we know not. 
Possibly their movement may have been connected with the commo¬ 
tions which ensued on the death of Harsha Varddhana, the great king of 
Kanauj, in the middle of the seventh century. 
A Gorakhpur tradition affirms that the Gaharwars are descended 
from the famous Raja Nala and came to Kasi from Narwar near Gwaliar; # 
and, if there be any truth in this story, the Gaharwars may have taken 
Mahoba on their way from Narwar to Benares. 
There seems to be some reason to believe that the Gaharwar rulers of 
Bundelkhand were connected with the Gaharwar dynasty of Kanauj, but 
I am not at present in a position to discuss the point. 
The JParihars. 
The traditions preserved by the Kanungo’s family of Mahoba declare 
that the Gaharwar dynasty was succeeded by the rule of Parihars, who were 
overthrown in 677 Sam vat by Chandra Varmma the first of the Chandel 
chiefs. 
The fact that Mahoba and a large part of Bundelkhand was once sub¬ 
ject to Parihar rulers does not rest on the authority of Mahoba traditions 
alone. I shall now state all the evidence on the point which appears to be 
at present accessible. 
The little principality of Nagod or Uchahara, situated on the high 
road between Allahabad and Jabalpur about 100 miles from Mahoba in a 
south-easterly direction, is still governed by a Parihar chief. General 
Cunningham in his last volume gives the following account of the tradi¬ 
tions of this family: 
“ The original name of the district is said to have been Barme, and the 
Barme Nadi is noted as being the present boundary between the Mahiyar 
and Uchahara chiefships. But this stream was at first only the boundary 
line which divided the two districts of north and south Barme. At Kari 
Talai, which once formed part of Mahiyar, I found an inscription with the 
name of Uchahada. The old name of Barme is widely known ; but few 
people seemed to know anything about the extent of the country. Prom 
the late minister of the Uchahara state, I learned that the Parihar chief- 
ship was older than that of the Chandels of Mahoba, as well as that of the 
Baghels of Rewa. According to his belief, it formerly included Mahoba 
and all the country to the north as far as the Ghats and Bilhari on the 
south, and extended to Mau Mahewa on the west, and on the east comprised 
* Martin’s Eastern India, II, 4o8 quoted in Beames’ Elliot, I, 121 note. 
