Relief of Jaitpur

01Chhatrasal’s appeal

Chhatrasal had carved out a Bundela kingdom against Aurangzeb, and as a young man he had gone to Shivaji for advice. In 1727 Muhammad Khan Bangash invaded Bundelkhand and by 1728 had the old raja shut up in Jaitpur. Chhatrasal wrote to Bajirao, comparing himself to the elephant caught by the crocodile in the katha of Gajendra. Bajirao marched from Garha in early 1729, joined the Bundelas and closed round Bangash’s camp until its food ran out.

02A third of the kingdom

In gratitude Chhatrasal treated Bajirao as a son and left him about a third of his lands, including Jhansi and Sagar, which drew the Marathas into Bundelkhand for good. Chhatrasal died in 1731. Bajirao’s companion Mastani is said in Bundela tradition to have been Chhatrasal’s daughter.

Dynasty · 1531–1731 CE (princely states until 1948–50)Bundelas of Orchha and PannaThe Bundela Rajputs founded Orchha on the Betwa in 1531 and gave their name to Bundelkhand. Vir Singh Deo built the Keshav Dev temple at Mathura, and a century later Chhatrasal fought the Mughals for fifty years and made Panna an independent kingdom.Read →