Later Mughals v2.c15.4

v2.c15.4

The name Bundelkhand, which is derived from that of the ruling Rajput clan, is comparatively modern. Up to the end of the 12th century the Chandela clansmen, with their capital at Mahoba,† were the dominant race, at any rate in the western half of the region. The Bundelas can never have been very numerous. Even in these days of enumeration of the people, it is not easy to fix their number, as the record of the Census of 1891 is misleading. In one district (Banda) where they must be strong, they are not separately recorded; and in the Native States of Bundelkhand they are included in the generic name of Rajputs. All things considered it will be safe to estimate the Bundelas as numbering about 100,000 in a Rajput population of 416,000 and a total population of nearly four million of people (1891). There would thus be now about 20,000 grown men of the clan where a hundred and fifty years ago the number must have been very much smaller. There are in addition a few Bundelas in the Central Provinces, especially in the two districts of Sagar and Damoh. The origin of the Bundela clan is extremely obscure, though they are admitted to be Rajputs of some sort. They owe their importance in history to their position as chiefs or rulers, a position which they won for themselves by their undeniable valour.