_Rajput, Baghel._--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_. [494] He derives
their origin from a child, having the form of a tiger (_bagh_) 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_ [495] states that the
founder of the clan was one Anoka, a nephew of the Solankhi king
of Gujarat, Kumarpal (A.D. 1143-1174). 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 Lal 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. [496] 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. According to Captain Forsyth,
the Baghels claim descent from a tiger, and protect it when they can;
and, probably, as suggested by Mr. Crooke, [497] 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 Hoshangabad 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 tahsil of Mandla after the Mutiny,
in consideration of their loyalty and services during that period.