31 
1881.] Y. A. Smith —History of BundeUcJiand. 
Then the emperor of Delhi became sovereign of the country, and made 
over Mahoba to the rule of the Khangars of Garh Kurar. # Arjun Pal 
Gahanvar, who had been encouraged by the goddess Devi with a promise 
that he should found the Bundela Raj, entered the service of the Khangar 
chief, who appointed him Bakshi of his army. On an occasion when the 
Khangars had gone towards Banda to attend a wedding, Arjun Pal lay in 
wait for them, and, attacking, slew them all. From his time, that is to say, 
from the year 1400 Sam vat, is dated the rise of the Bundela Raj. 
No argument is needed to show that much of this legend is pure 
myth, but it can be forced to yield some grains of fact. 
The tradition states wrongly the date of Shahab-ud-din’s expedition. 
The attack on Mahoba and Kalinjar Kutb-ud-dm Aibak, the viceroy of 
Shahab-ud-din, really took place, as has been shown above, in A. H. 599 = 
1202 A. D. = 1259 Samvat. Assuming then for a moment that the tra¬ 
dition, though wrong in dates, rightly gives the order of events, the time 
for these events is cut short at the beginning by 39 years. 
I cannot find any mention elsewhere of Taur Suba, but there is no 
special reason to suppose that the name is an invention. The period of 50 
years, assigned to his rule, is, however, undoubtedly excessive. His suc¬ 
cessors are said to have been Mewatis, and I should be inclined to date their 
arrival at some time in the first half of the 13th century, for during that 
period they are frequently mentioned as engaged in conflicts with the kings 
of Dehli, and they may well have succeeded in obtaining for a short time 
the governorship of Mahoba. 
Nasir-ud-din temporarily reduced the Mewatis in the years 1247-50 
A. D. 
The mosque known as the Mughal mosque, which stands on the east 
end of the fort hill at Mahoba, and is built of the materials of a richly 
adorned Jain temple, was erected, it is said, by the Mewatis. 
That the Gonds did really attack Mahoba at some time after the defeat 
of the Chan dels is rendered probable by the existence of a few village tradi¬ 
tions which refer to a post-Chandel occupation by Gonds. 
The story that the Gonds were succeeded by Manmath of the Gahanvar 
dynasty is not corroborated from any other source, and the period of a 
hundred years assigned by the legend to this Gahanvar dynasty is of course 
impossible. I therefore reject altogether this part of the legend. 
* Garh Kurar is in the Orchha State some 17 miles from Jhansi. The origin of 
the Khangars is not known. They were probably a branch of one of the wild tribes 
such as Gonds, Kols, or Bhils. A friend suggests to me that the word Khangar may 
simply mean ‘swordsman,’ and he derived from Sanskrit a sword. 
