Garha Mandala - the lost Gond Kingdom

Many names from world history are now forgotten, yet they once held immense power, challenging enemies and playing a central role in global politics. In Indian history, geographical entities like the Jungle Mahals (in Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha), Baramahal (in Tamil Nadu), Berar (in Maharashtra), and Sirhind (in Punjab) were once significant political and geographical entities. Today, they are reduced to mere names in history books.

One such entity was Garha Mandala, also known as Garha Katanga, a vast Gond kingdom that stretched across present-day Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. It thrived between the 14th and 18th centuries before being conquered by the Mughals, Marathas and the British, leading to its complete collapse and disappearance.

Garha Mandala encompassed the Jabalpur, Sagar, and Narmadapuram divisions of Madhya Pradesh and the Durg region of Chhattisgarh. According to Mughal chronicles, it had once encompassed over 70,000 villages. The kingdom was a melting pot of rich tribal Gond culture, Rajput and Mughal influences, making it one of the most prosperous regions in central India. 

During this period, globally, tribal societies were transitioning from decentralised structures to confederations. This shift was evident in various regions, including the Iroquois in North America, the diverse clans of the Mali Empire, the Ming-Qing Frontier tribes in southwest China, and the formation of Polish-Lithuanian clans into a Commonwealth. As the world’s political landscape evolved, so did the Gonds, leading to the emergence of kingdoms in the Gondwana region. Among these kingdoms, Rani Durgavati stood out as the most formidable ruler. She boldly challenged the might of the Mughals under Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar and his general Khwaja Abdul Majid Asaf Khan.

Rani Durgavati's statue, Jabalpur

Rani Durgavati’s story is a subject of controversy, with differing opinions among historians on the right and left wings of India. However, there are some common ground. Both sides agree that she was a Chandela Rajput princess, the daughter of Raja Kirat Rai of Mahoba (in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh). They also agree that she married Dalpat Shah, a Gond king of Garha Mandala. Additionally, they acknowledge that she successfully repelled the Mughal invasion led by Asaf Khan in 1564. To avoid persecution by the Mughals, she tragically ended her life by stabbing herself. Despite the nature her story being controversial, Rani Durgavati is remembered as a brave and honourable warrior-queen, by both the wings of India. 

But Queen Durgavati wasn’t the only one who shaped the history and geography of Garha Mandala. Brave hearts like Sangram Shah, Dalpat Shah, and Chandra Shah, among others, played a crucial role. However, how did a nation of Gonds become some of the economically backward regions of the nation? How did the legacy of the Gonds end up as a mere label in the Indian Constitution as ‘Scheduled Tribe’? These are some of the hard-hitting questions we must explore in Indian history, and that’s exactly what this post aims to do. One important link to this exploration is trade and commerce.

Trade and commerce are the engines of any economy, regardless of the era. Garha Mandala was fortunate to have the valleys of the Narmada and Tapti rivers, which attracted traditional merchant communities such as Gahoi Banias, Agarwal, and Parwar Jains, primarily in the Jabalpur (or Garha) region. The nomadic trading community of Banjaras played a vital role in selling goods like til, mahua, harra, and hemp between Jabalpur and Bhopal, Sagar, Mandla, Bilaspur, and other nearby regions. Additionally, there are records of the presence of Muslim merchants, including Multanis, Bohras, and Pathans, who arrived after the rise of the Khiljis, Tughlaqs, Sayyids, Lodhis, and Mughals around Garha Mandala. This diverse mix of Hindu, Jain, Muslim, and Gond communities contributed to the region’s rich cultural tapestry. 

Trade routes, through the Narmada (Anglicised as Nerbudda) river, connected Patna, Broach (Bharuch), and Allahabad (Prayagraj) via Jabalpur (Anglicised as Jubbulpore). Archaeological excavations have revealed connections as far as Delhi, Kashmir, Gujarat, Jaunpur, and beyond. 

Among the living commodities, war elephants were the most traded to the armies of the Mughals, Rajputs, and Dakkhan (Deccan). This region included the Sultanates of Berar, Bahmani, and the Vijayanagara Empire. Forest products became the focal point of political change, particularly with the arrival of the British. The Banjaras, Baigas, Kols, Bhils, and Lakhera caste heavily traded timber, particularly sal wood and teak, along with minor forest products. They also traded buffalo horns, leopard and tiger skins, and beeswax, making them crucial forest commodities.

After the decline of the Mughals and Marathas, the British introduced land laws in the 19th century, leading to conflicts between the Gonds and the British. The British forcefully annexed forest regions in their newly created province of Saugor and Nerbudda Territories in 1820. Between 1855 and 1931, they systematically and forcefully annexed forest lands, passed various Indian Forest Acts, and segregated forest-dependent groups as ‘aboriginal’ and ‘backward’ tribes in the early 1900s. This led to the official classification of Gonds as ‘Scheduled Tribe’ in 1950.

The ruling and authoritarian identity of the Gonds was suppressed, and they were labelled as ‘aboriginal’ and primitive. This led to the replacement of Maratha and Brahmin administrators, which is the root cause of the majority of the community’s troubles even today. 

Chauragarh Fort, Narsinghpur district

All three regimes – the Mughals, Marathas, and British – brutally exploited Garha Mandala and the entire Gondwana region. They did this by either imposing heavy cash-based taxes or implementing forest laws that alienated Gond culture. Garha Mandala had several capitals, including Garha (near Jabalpur, between the 1300s and mid-1500s), Chauragarh (near Narsinghpur, between the 1540s and 1564), Singorgarh (in Damoh, between the early 1400s and early 1500s), Mandla (between the 1630s and late 1700s), and Ramnagar (near Mandla, between 1651 and late 1700s). These once-thriving capitals, which boasted Gond forts and royal residential quarters, are now reduced to mere ruins. Neither the British nor the Indian government showed any interest in restoring these medieval gems. The tribal kingdoms were not given any narrative space in either colonial or early nationalist historiography. When the state of Madhya Pradesh was restructured, the focus was mainly on Khajuraho, Sanchi, Orchha, and Gwalior – monuments of religious and tourist importance.

Below is a recreated map of 1857 India, where Garha Mandala is marked as part of the larger ‘Saugar and Nerbudda Territories’ (Sagar and Narmada Territories) created by the British East India Company in 1820.