The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c10.34

c10.34

Iltutmish's recovery plan, as it appears, had only a temporary success, for after him, his dominions were subjected to even greater encroachments. Two grants found at Rewah, issued by the Maharanaka of Kakkaredi, and dated in 1240 and 1241 respectively, acknowledge Trailokyavarma of Kalinjar as the overlord, thus proving an extension of Chandella power to the east¹. An extension towards the west also is indicated by the discovery, at Jhansi, of a Chandella inscription dated in 1263 A.D.² The Dahi copper plate of Viravarma dated in V. S. 1337/1280, records the donation of some villages to a man who had conquered "the Turushkas, the rajas of Nalpur, (Narwar) Gopal Madhuban (Mathurah) and Gopagiri (Gwalior)"³. Viravarma, in another of his grants dated in 1254, and his successor Hammiravarma, in that of 1289, call themselves "Lords of Kalinjar"⁴. From the traditions current around Mahoba and Hamirpur, in the northwest of Bundelkhand, this part appears to have been recovered by the Bhar Rajputs who ruled from about 1252 to at least 1280⁵. Just south of the Jumna, within less than hundred miles from the 'iqta' of Karra, a new dynasty rose in what is now Bundelkhand. According to the chronicles of the Baghelas of Rewah, Vyaghra, the founder of the dynasty, made himself master of most of the countries between Kalpi and Chunar, while his son, Karna Deva, subsequently added the valley of the Tons river¹. Most of the countries south of the Jumna thus passed to the Rajputs.