_Rajput, Chandel._--An important clan of Rajputs, of which a
small number reside in the northern Districts of Saugor, Damoh and
Jubbulpore, and also in Chhattisgarh. The name is derived by Mr. Crooke
from the Sanskrit _chandra_, the moon. The Chandel are not included in
the thirty-six royal races, and are supposed to have been a section
of one of the indigenous tribes which rose to power. Mr. V.A. Smith
states that the Chandels, like several other dynasties, first came into
history early in the ninth century, when Nannuka Chandel about A.D. 831
overthrew a Parihar chieftain and became lord of the southern parts of
Jejakabhukti or Bundelkhand. Their chief towns were Mahoba and Kalanjar
in Bundelkhand, and they gradually advanced northwards till the Jumna
became the frontier between their dominions and those of Kanauj. They
fought with the Gujar-Parihar kings of Kanauj and the Kalachuris of
Chedi, who had their capital at Tewar in Jubbulpore, and joined in
resisting the incursions of the Muhammadans. In A.D. 1182 Parmal, the
Chandel king, was defeated by Prithwi Raja, the Chauhan king of Delhi,
after the latter had abducted the Chandel's daughter. This was the
war in which Alha and Udal, the famous Banaphar heroes, fought for the
Chandels, and it is commemorated in the Chand-Raisa, a poem still well
known to the people of Bundelkhand. In A.D. 1203 Kalanjar was taken
by the Muhammadan Kutb-ud-Din Ibak, and the importance of the Chandel
rulers came to an end, though they lingered on as purely local chiefs
until the sixteenth century. The Chandel princes were great builders,
and beautified their chief towns, Mahoba, Kalanjar and Khajuraho with
many magnificent temples and lovely lakes, formed by throwing massive
dams across the openings between the hills. [507] Among these were
great irrigation works in the Hamirpur District, the forts of Kalanjar
and Ajaighar, and the noble temples at Khajuraho and Mahoba. [508]
Even now the ruins of old forts and temples in the Saugor and Damoh
Districts are attributed by the people to the Chandels, though many
were in fact probably constructed by the Kalachuris of Chedi.
Mr. Smith derives the Chandels either from the Gonds or Bhars, but
inclines to the view that they were Gonds. The following considerations
tend, I venture to think, to favour the hypothesis of their origin
from the Bhars. According to the best traditions, the Gonds came from
the south, and practically did not penetrate to Bundelkhand. Though
Saugor and Damoh contain a fair number of Gonds they have never
been of importance there, and this is almost their farthest limit
to the north-west. The Gond States in the Central Provinces did not
come into existence for several centuries after the commencement
of the Chandel dynasty, and while there are authentic records of
all these states, the Gonds have no tradition of their dominance
in Bundelkhand. The Gonds have nowhere else built such temples as
are attributed to the Chandels at Khajuraho, whilst the Bhars were
famous builders. "In Mirzapur traces of the Bhars abound on all sides
in the shape of old tanks and village forts. The bricks found in
the Bhar-dihs or forts are of enormous dimensions, and frequently
measure 19 by 11 inches, and are 2 1/4 inches thick. In quality
and size they are similar to bricks often seen in ancient Buddhist
buildings. The old capital of the Bhars, five miles from Mirzapur,
is said to have had 150 temples." [509] Elliot remarks [510] that
"common tradition assigns to the Bhars the possession of the whole
tract from Gorakhpur to Bundelkhand and Saugor, and many old stone
forts, embankments and subterranean caverns in Gorakhpur, Azamgarh,
Jaunpur, Mirzapur and Allahabad, which are ascribed to them, would seem
to indicate no inconsiderable advance in civilisation." Though there
are few or no Bhars now in Bundelkhand, there are a large number of
Pasis in Allahabad which partly belongs to it, and small numbers in
Bundelkhand; and the Pasi caste is mainly derived from the Bhars;
[511] while a Gaharwar dynasty, which is held to be derived from
the Bhars, was dominant in Bundelkhand and Central India before the
rise of the Chandels. According to one legend, the ancestor of the
Chandels was born with the moon as a father from the daughter of the
high priest of the Gaharwar Raja Indrajit of Benares or of Indrajit
himself. [512] As will be seen, the Gaharwars were an aristocratic
section of the Bhars. Another legend states that the first Chandel
was the offspring of the moon by the daughter of a Brahman Pandit
of Kalanjar. [513] In his _Notes on the Bhars of Bundelkhand_ [514]
Mr. Smith argues that the Bhars adopted the Jain religion, and also
states that several of the temples at Khajuraho and Mahoba, erected
in the eleventh century, are Jain. These were presumably erected
by the Chandels, but I have never seen it suggested that the Gonds
were Jains or were capable of building Jain temples in the eleventh
century. Mr. Smith also states that Maniya Deo, to whom a temple exists
at Mahoba, was the tutelary deity of the Chandels; and that the only
other shrine of Maniya Deo discovered by him in the Hamirpur District
was in a village reputed formerly to have been held by the Bhars. [515]
Two instances of intercourse between the Chandels and Gonds are given,
but the second of them, that the Rani Durgavati of Mandla was a Chandel
princess, belongs to the sixteenth century, and has no bearing on the
origin of the Chandels. The first instance, that of the Chandel Raja
Kirat Singh hunting at Maniagarh with the Gond Raja of Garha-Mandla,
cannot either be said to furnish any real evidence in favour of a Gond
origin for the Chandels; it maybe doubted whether there was any Gond
Raja of Garha-Mandla till after the fall of the Kalachuri dynasty of
Tewar, which is quite close to Garha-Mandla, in the twelfth century;
and a reference so late as this would not affect the question. [516]
Finally, the Chandels are numerous in Mirzapur, which was formerly
the chief seat of the Bhars, while the Gonds have never been either
numerous or important in Mirzapur. These considerations seem to point
to the possibility of the derivation of the Chandels from the Bhars
rather than from the Gonds; and the point is perhaps of some interest
in view of the suggestion in the article on Kol that the Gonds did
not arrive in the Central Provinces for some centuries after the
rise of the Chandel dynasty of Khajuraho and Mahoba. The Chandels
may have simply been a local branch of the Gaharwars, who obtained
a territorial designation from Chanderi, or in some other manner,
as has continually happened in the case of other clans. The Gaharwars
were probably derived from the Bhars. The Chandels now rank as a good
Rajput clan, and intermarry with the other leading clans.