Rajput: Baghel
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Contents |
I
Baghail or Baghel: An 1891 mention
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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A sept of the Suryabansi Rajputs in Behar; tiger, a totemistic sept of Pans, Gonds, and Rautias in Chota Nagpur.
Russell's 1916 account
This article was written in 1916 when conditions were different. Even in Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly |
From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India
By R. V. Russell
Of The Indian Civil Service
Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces
Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner
Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.
NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from a book. During scanning some errors are bound to occur. Some letters get garbled. Footnotes get inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot errors might like to correct them, and shift footnotes gone astray to their rightful place.
The Baghel Rajputs, who have given
their name to Baghelkhand or Rewah, the eastern part of
Central India, are a branch of the Chalukya or Solankhi
clan, one of the four Agnikulas or those born from the firepit
on Mount Abu.
The chiefs of Rewah are Baghel Rajputs, and the late Maharaja Raghuraj Singh has written a traditional history of the sept in a book called the Bhakt Mala} He derives their origin from a child, having the form of a tiger {bdgh), who was born to the Solankhi Raja of Gujarat at the intercession of the famous saint Kabir.
One of the headquarters of the Kabirpanthi sect are at Kawardha, which is close to Rewah, and the ruling family are members of the sect ; hence probably the association of the Prophet with their origin. The Bombay Gazetteer^ states that the founder of the clan was one Anoka, a nephew of the Solankhi king of Gujarat, Kumarpal (a.d. ii 43-1 174).
He obtained a grant of the village Vaghela, the tiger's lair,
about ten miles from Anhilvada, the capital of the Solankhi
dynasty, and the Baghel clan takes its name from this
village. Subsequently the Baghels extended their power
over the whole of Gujarat, but in A.D. 1304 the last king,
Karnadeva, was driven out by the Muhammadans, and one
of his most beautiful wives was captured and sent to the
emperor's harem. Karnadeva and his daughter fled and hid
themselves near Nasik, but the daughter was subsequently
also taken, while it is not stated what became of Karnadeva.
Mr. Hira Lai suggests that he fled towards Rewah, and that
he is the Karnadeva of the list of Rewah Rajas, who married
a daughter of the Gond-Rajput dynasty of Garha-Mandla.^
At any rate the Baghel branch of the Solankhis apparently
migrated to Rewah from Gujarat and founded that State
about the fourteenth century, as in the fifteenth they became
prominent.
1 Mr. Crooke's Tribes and Castes, called Pi-atdp Vinod, written by Khan art. Baghel. Bahadur Rahmat Ali Khan, and translatcd by Thakur Pratap Singh, Revenue Commissioner of Rewah.
'^ Vol. i. part i. p. 198.
3 See also a history of the Baghels,
According to Captain Forsyth, the l^aghels claim descent from a tiger, and protect it when they can ; and, probably, as suggested by Mr. Crooke,^ the name is really totemistic, or is derived from some ancestor of the clan who obtained the name of the tiger as a title or nickname, like the American Red Indians. The Baghels are found in the Hoshangfibad District, and in Mandla and Chhattisgarh which are close to Rewah. Amarkantak, at the source of the Nerbudda, is the sepulchre of the Maharajas of Rewah, and was ceded to them with the Sohagpur tahsll of Mandla • after the Mutiny, in consideration of their loyalty and services during that period.
II
Population
In 2016 The Joshua Project made the following estimates about the Baghels:
Population 154,000 (all India)
Madhya Pradesh (98,000)
Uttar Pradesh (39,000)
Bihar (12,000)
Rajasthan (1,200)
Odisha (1,000)
Delhi (900)
Jharkhand (700)
Maharashtra (300)
Secondary Languages spoken:
Bagheli (13,000)
Bhojpuri (6,800)
Kanauji (6,200)
Chhattisgarhi (3,100)
Dhundari (600)
Odia (300)
Maithili (300)
Bundeli (200)
Marwari (100)
Clan information
Gotra – Bhardwaj, Kashyap.
Ved – Yajur Ved.
Devi – Kali.
This clan gets its name from its ancestor Vyaghradev.
States ruled by the Baghels– Madarv, Pandu, Pothapur, Nayagarh, Ranpura.
Gotr
These are the Gotrs of the Baghel Samaj
- Ahir
- Bamania
- Baniaa
- Becholia
- Bhindwar
- Chandel
- Dugele
- Fulsungha
- Hans
- Hiranwar
- Kachwaha
- Katrya
- Kokende
- Kumiya
- Kunwar
- Mohaniya
- Nigote
- padariya
- Padriya
- Parihar
- Pindwar/Pandwar
- Raraya
- Reyar
- Rotella
- Sagr
- Segar
- Sisodia
- Spah
- Sriswar
- Suraha
- Thanmbar
- Tomar
