Twilight of the Sultanate c14.s3.1

c14.s3.1

Next year, A.D. 1494-5 (900 H), Sikandar Lodi started to teach a lesson to the Baghela Raja Bhēdachandra of Bhatghora.⁴² Not much is known about the early history of this house. It appears that after the extinction of Baghela rule in Gujarat by 'Alāuddīn Khaljī in 1299, the Baghelas quitted Gujarat *en masse* and settled down in the region round Banda and Kalinjar. About two centuries later their ruler Virama Deva was so hard pressed by the chieftains of Kalpi and Jaunpur, that his successor Raja Bhēdachandra moved to the country now called Baghelkhand bounded by the Kaimūr ranges on the north and north-west and by the Maikal ranges on the south and the south-west. According to the Sanskrit Mahākāvya *Vīrabhānudayā* of Madhava,⁴³ Bhēdachandra extended his authority along the line of the Ganga up to Kantit on the west and up to Gaya in south Bihar in the east.⁴⁴ His capital was Bandūgarh. The Lodī-Sharqī strife had ensured the safety of the Baghelas, but then the loss of Sharqī power threatened to disturb the political balance. Consequently Raja Mān of Gwalior and Raja Bhēd of Bhata helped Husain Sharqī after his crushing defeat at Sonhār. Again in 1493 when the Bachgotīs were instigated by Husain Sharqī to revolt, Bhēdachandra colluded with them and imprisoned Mubārak Khan Nūhānī. Having failed in his opposition to the Sultan, he thought of making amends by meeting Sikandar at Kantit, but the cloud between the two could not be lifted and Sikandar Lodī launched a campaign against Baghelkhand in 1495.