Bundelas of Orchha and Panna

01Orchha and Ram Raja

Rudra Pratap Singh moved the Bundela seat from Garhkundar to an island-ridge on the Betwa and founded Orchha in 1531. His grandson Madhukar Shah fought Akbar’s armies several times. Orchha tradition says Madhukar Shah’s queen Ganesh Kunwari brought the image of Shri Rama from Ayodhya, and that because Rama would stay only where he was first set down, he remained in her palace while the great Chaturbhuj temple built for him stood empty. He is worshipped there still as Ram Raja, the king of Orchha, and receives a guard of honour every day.

02Vir Singh Deo

Vir Singh Deo had the scholar-minister Abul Fazl ambushed and killed in 1602 at the request of Prince Salim, and when Salim became Jahangir he raised Vir Singh to high rank. Vir Singh built the Jahangir Mahal at Orchha, the seven-storey palace at Datia, and at Mathura the great temple of Keshav Dev on the Krishna Janmabhoomi, at a cost the chroniclers put at thirty-three lakh rupees. Aurangzeb had that temple demolished in 1670, as the Maasir-i-Alamgiri records. His son Jhujhar Singh rose against Shah Jahan and was hunted down and killed in 1635, and Orchha was sacked. The poet Keshavdas, author of the Ramchandrika and Kavipriya, lived at the Orchha court.

Place · Early Chandela capital, 9th century; tanks of Rahila, Kirtivarman and MadanavarmanMahoba (Mahotsavanagara)The Chandela city of the great tanks, home of the heroes Alha and Udal, which Prithviraj Chauhan sacked in 1182. The Alha songs of its wars are still sung across the Hindi country in the rains.Read →

03Chhatrasal of Panna

Chhatrasal was the son of Champat Rai, a Bundela chief who died fighting the Mughals in 1661. From about 1671 he raised his own band, took one Mughal post after another, and made Panna his capital; the poet Lal Kavi’s Chhatraprakash tells his life. His guru Mahamati Prannath blessed his rule, and the diamond mines of Panna paid for his wars. In 1729, nearly eighty and besieged at Jaitpur by Muhammad Khan Bangash, he sent for Bajirao I, who rode north and broke the siege. In gratitude Chhatrasal gave the Peshwa a third of his kingdom, including Jhansi and Sagar. He died in 1731.

The rulers

1. 1Rudra Pratap SinghFounded Orchha, 15311501–1531
2. 2Bharatichand1531–1554
3. 3Madhukar ShahRam Raja brought to Orchha in his reign1554–1592
4. 4Ram Shah1592–1605
5. 5Vir Singh DeoBuilt Jahangir Mahal and the Keshav Dev temple1605–1627
6. 6Jhujhar SinghRose against Shah Jahan; killed 16351627–1635
7. 7Pahar Singh1641–1653
8. 8Chhatrasal (Panna)Fought the Mughals fifty years; Bajirao saved himc. 1671–1731
9. 9Hirde Shah (Panna)1731–1739

What they left

• The Ram Raja temple and Chaturbhuj temple, Orchha
• Jahangir Mahal, Orchha, and the Bir Singh palace, Datia
• The poetry of Keshavdas
• The Prannath temple at Panna
• The name Bundelkhand