Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/44



As the old road from Agra to the Deccan leaves Gwalior, it skirts on its left hand side an extensive jungly tract known as Bundelkhand. The Jumna river and the Kaimur range, meeting in a sharp angle near Mirzapur, enclose this district on the north, east, and south. Its western boundary is the edge of the Malwa plateau. The river Betwa flowing north-eastwards to the Jumna cuts it into two.

The country took its name from its dominant race, the Bundelas, a clan of Gaharwar Rajputs, whose mythical genealogy stretches up to Rajah Pancham, a sworn devotee of the goddess Vindhya-basini, and even beyond him to Rama, the hero of the Ramayana. The only element of truth that we can extract from