Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 7.djvu/259

 GONDS. (399)

F all the forest races in India the Gonds are the most numerous and, in many respects, most interesting. Their numbers in the Central Provinces may be assumed as nearly two millions, and they extend from the northern frontier of Berar to the borders of Bengal, and from the northern line of the Vindhya mountains to the southern frontier of Nagpoor. Within this area the Gonds established several independent states or monarchies, extending to a great antiquity. One of their chronicles, that of Chandah, shows them to have been the local rulers in 870; and there is evidence in the noble architectural remains of that city and its districts, and in the many fine tanks or artificial lakes, with which the district abounds, of a high standard of civilization. They seem to have been almost independent of the Mussulman dynasties of Delhi and of the Deccan and Berar. The last independent prince was Nilkunt Shah, a cruel tyrant, who estranged the affections of his people, and delivered up the city to a Mahratta army under Raghoji Bhoslay, who annexed the kingdom to the Mabratta dominions in 1751, and it continued in the possession of the Nagpoor family until the annexation of that state by the British Government. Besides Chandah, principalities founded by Gonds existed at Baflalpeer, Chhindwara, Dainob, Nagpoor, Nursingpoor, and in Gondwana, some of which were very powerful, in particular the dynasty of Garha Mandla, which can be traced back as early as 634, but attained its greatest power under Sangram Sa in 1530, having successfully withstood attacks by the Mussulman Kings of the Deccan and Berar in succession. In 1564, however, Asaf Khan, Viceroy of the Emperor of Delhi, invaded the kingdom of Gondwana, which was defended by Doorgawutti, its queen, in person, who, being defeated in the final battle, and dreading the Mussulman invader and conqueror, stabbed herself on the field. An enormous booty was the result. The kingdom was not annexed to the imperial dominion, but continued tributary to it until the dissolution of the imperial dynasty. Meanwhile the country was prosperous under a succession of local kings, until