fiction, do I consent to dwell, for a few moments, on such a sorry substitute for sober chronicles. According to my vouchers, the earliest among the modern rulers of Mandala were Haihaya Rajputs, of the lineage of the thousand-armed Arjuna. A story is current-all circumstantiality discarded-that, in the days of Nizám Sháh, a copper-plate patent, emanating from one of them, and bearing the date of Samvat 201, or A. D. 143, was exhumed and deciphered. Their seats of government were Manipura, Champávatí, and Mahishmatí; now known as Ratnapura, Lánjí, and Mandala. This group of families having become extinct, the Gonds obtained the ascendant. At the period when the Gonds predominated, the lord of Mahishmatí repaired to Amarakantaka for the purpose of ceremonial ablution. Attached to his train, in some ministerial quality, was one Yadava Raya, a Kachhwáhá Rajput of Khandesh. Once, at midnight, while the rest of the camp slumbered, Yadava was doing duty as sentry. Suddenly there passed by, in the darkness, without speaking, two Gond men and a woman of the same race, as they were in seeming. And then came a monkey, bearing in his hand the feather of a peacock. This he threw down, and followed the wayfarers. Yádava's turn of watch having expired, he slept; when, in a vision, Narmadá, the impersonation of the river so-called, stood before him. The men and the woman whom he had taken for Gonds were not so, she informed him, but Ráma, Lakshmana, and Sítá; and the supposed ordinary monkey was Hanumat. Yádava's fortune was to be most propitious; for those sacrosanct beings rarely show themselves in the Iron Age. On his pressing Narmada for more definite indications, she reminded him of the feather dropped by the monkey. Peacock-feathers are worn on the head by Gonds; and the omen which he had witnessed was significant. Accession to the headship of the Gonds was destined as his lot. He was to visit Gadhá, the chieftain of which place was a Gond. Him he should succeed eventually, by voluntary demission of power. A Brahman of Ramanagara, cherisher of a perpetual fire, would aid him with counsel. Yádava, his end achieved, was to entertain this Bráhman as his premier. In the course of a few days, Yádava resigned his place near his master and bent his steps to Gadhá. On conferring with the Brahman who had been designated, he was advised to engage himself, as an attendant, to the King of Gadhá. This he did, and by and bye insinuated himself into the entire confidence of his new lord. Arrived at the dignity of treasurer, he was joined by his family from Khándesh. The King, who had but one child, and that a daughter, proposed to contract her to Yádava, a widower, on presumption. To this overture Yádava excepted, on the ground of caste. Sarve Páthaka, the Bráhman before spoken of, was applied to for his opinion. It was favorable to the match, on condition that the couple should never eat together. To this condition the King signified his assent; and the nuptials were celebrated. Upon this, the King, who was well stricken in years, abdicated, retaining the revenues of five villages for his maintenance; and Yádava reigned in his stead. His enthronement is adjudged to the Samvat year 415, corresponding to A. D. 357. Sarve Pathaka was installed as prime minister; he and his employer solemnly obtesting Narmadá to their compact, and imprecating perdition, each on his own family, in the event of their descendants' ever being embroiled. By gradual extension, the kingdom expanded so as to skirt the river Hiran in one direction, and, in another, the Gaura. Yádava, after enjoying royalty for five years, died, and was succeeded by his son Mádhava. Several of Sarve Pathaka's progeny served the chiefs of Mandala in course. To them the clan called Bhar Vájpeyí is said to trace its origin. Karṇa, it is stated, founded the city of Karanbel. But of this I have very grave doubts. It is to be referred, much more probably, to a Karna of a different dynasty. Karanbel lies a few miles from Jubulpoor. I have explored its ruins. Madana Sinha is, further, mentioned as builder of the Madana-mahal, likewise near Jubulpoor. There is no reason why he may not have been so. The erections and conquests of other of the potentates in question are specified with some minuteness. The towns and fortresses enumerated have mostly, if not all, been verified. In subjugation, Sangráma was signally successful. A list is given. of two and fifty strong-holds which he compelled to yield him obedience. Durgavatí, the lady especially commemorated in the following pages, was daughter of the Chandel chief of Mahobá. As queen regnant, her husband having demised, she ventured on a foray against Bhelsá. In reprisal for this incursion, A'saf Khán was sent, by the Emperor Akbar, to chastise her hardihood. At the time when she and her son were slain, the latter had advanced to his eighteenth year.1 Having extracted from my manuscript materials about all that they contain of interest, I turn, for a single matter, to the historian Farishta. "Pending a very sharp engagement," says this writer, "the Queen was wounded in the eye by an arrow, and desisted from the conduct; and, with an extreme sense of honor as to being captured, resolving to die, she took a scimitar from her elephant-driver, and put an end to her existence."2 A'saf Khán, after her death, moved on to attack the fort of Choragarh,3 where her young son was in hiding. In the tumult of the assault, the heir apparent "perished beneath the hands and feet of the throng." A lineal descendant of the magnates with whom this paper is concerned, having been found implicated in the mutinies, was, in the autumn of last year, exploded from before the mouth of a cannon, at Jubulpoor. This man left an only son. His family would, otherwise, have terminated with his own death. The miscreant had concerted a plan of smothering every Christian that should fall into his hands, by enclosing the head of the victim in a bag of powdered chillies. When apprehended, he had about his person a pious formula of commination, which may be reproduced in these words: "Close the mouth of the tale-bearers, chew up the back-biters, trample out the wicked, exterminatrix of our foes. Slay the English; reduce them to dust, Mother Chandi. Let not the enemies escape, or their children, destructive lady. Protect S'ankara; keep thy slave. Hearken to the cry of the humble. Victory to Mother Hálaká! Eat up the impure ; delay not, Mother. This moment, speedily, devour our foes, O Káliká." 114 The inscription now to be given is incised on a stone which lies at Ramanagara, in Mandala. As I have had no opportunity of inspecting the monument itself, I have had to be satisfied with fac-simile impressions, taken by rubbing. INSCRIPTION. श्रीगणेशाय नमः | श्रीसुन्दर त्रिविक्रमो जयति । इत्थम्भावेन केनापि कयविज्ञाताय विघ्तवे । स्वमात्रेणेव कतिधा भवते भवते नमः ॥ १ ॥ यादवरायक्षितिभृद् बभूव गुणनीरधिर्गठदेशे सूनुर्माधवसिंहस्तस्य यतो ऽभून् जगन्नाथः ॥ २ ॥ अनि ततो रघुनाथस्तस्य सुतो रुद्रदेव इत्यासीत् । तस्य च विहारिसिंहः सूनुर्नरसिंहदेव इति तस्य ॥ ३ ॥ तनयोऽस्य सूर्यभानुस्तस्य सुतो वासुदेव इत्यभवत् । गोपालसाहिरस्मात् समानि भूपालसाहितः ॥ ४ ॥ तस्माद् गोपीनाथस्ततस्तु नृपरामचन्द्र इत्यासीत्। सुरतानसिंहनामा सूनुरभूद् रामचन्द्रस्य ॥ ५ ॥ हरिहरदेवस्तनवस्तस्याऽसति कृतव इति तस्य । नि जगत्सिंहोऽस्माद् यस्मादभवन् महासिंहः ॥ ६ ॥ तस्माद् दुर्जनमलो भूद् यशः कर्णस्ततो भवत् । प्रतापादित्य इत्यस्माद् यशश्चन्द्रस्ततो ऽजनि ॥৩॥ तस्य मनोहरसिंहः सुतो ऽस्य गोविन्दसिंह इत्यासीत् । श्रस्मात् तु रामचन्द्रस्तस्मात् कर्णाय रत्नसेनो तः॥८॥ कमलनयन इत्यभूदमुष्मान् नरहरिदेवनृपस्तु तस्य सूनुः । समजनि तनयो ऽस्य वीरसिंहस त्रिभुवनरायमसूत यः सुपुत्रम् ॥ १ ॥ तस्मात् पृथ्वीराजस्ततो भवद भारतीचन्द्रः । तनयोऽस्य मदनसिंहस्ततस्त्वभूदुग्रसेन इति ॥ १० ॥ रामसाहिः सुतो ऽस्यासीत् ताराचन्द्रस्ततो भवत् । भूदयसिंहोऽस्माद् भानुमित्राभिधस्ततः ॥ ११ ॥ तस्य भवानीदासस्तनयस्तस्याथ शिवसिंहः । हरिनारायणनामा सुतो ऽस्य तस्य तु सबलसिंहः ॥ १२ ॥ राजसिंहः सुतो ऽस्यासीद दादीरावस्ततो जनि । गोरक्षदासः पुत्रो ऽस्यार्जुनसिंहमसूत यः ॥ १३ ॥ ग्रासीत् सुनस्तस्य सङ्ग्रामसाहिर विद्दितलस्तोमकल्यान्तवद्भिः । क्षितिपमणेस्तनयः पवित्रकीर्तिः । चिरमुपगातुमियन्ति नागनाथः ॥ १६ ॥ वितरणवारिभिर्नियतमाईकरस्य हरि स्मरणपरायणस्य शरणस्य वशीभवताम् । निरुपधिपालितप्रकृतिकस्य हि वस्य सदा चरणरजो रजोगुणनुषो ऽपि जना जगृङः ॥ १७ ॥ अभ्यर्थिनां भाग्यसमृद्धिरेव स्वत्रपिणी पुण्यपरम्परेव । सौभाग्यसीमेव वसुन्धराया दुर्गावती तस्य बभूव पत्नी ॥ १८ ॥ |