Early Hindus, 600 B.C.-1300 A.D.

 THE oldest Khandesh legends belong to the kill forts of Turanmal and Asirgad. The Mahabharat mentions Yuvanashva, the ruler of Turanmal, as fighting with the Pandavs, [Sir J. Malcolm in Trans. Roy. As. Sec. I, 76.] and Asirgad as a place of worship of Ashvatthama. [Ashvatthama is still worshipped at Asirgad. Central Province Gazetteer, 9.] According to local tradition, Asirgad was, from about 1600 B.C., the head-quarters of a Rajput chief whose ancestors came from Oudh. [Grant Duff, 12. The Chohans, among others, claim to have ruled in Asirgad in pre-historic times. Tod's Annals, II. 408. Khandesh seems at one time to have been included in the country of Vidarbh, whose name remains in Bedar which may have been the ancient capital, Vidarbh was at various periods a territory of considerable extent and power. It is mentioned in the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, and the Burins. H. H. Wilson's Works, VII. 164.]

In early times Khandesh, like the rest of the Deccan, was probably under great vassals, mahamandaleshvars, and hereditary landholders, paligars, [Lassen's Indische Alterthumskunde, IV. 267.] settled at Asirgad in the east, Patna in the south, Nasik in the west, and Laling in the centre, all under the control of the overlords of Tagar and Paithan. [As early as 250 B.C. Tagar is said (Grant Duff, 11) to have been important enough to attract Egyptian merchants. Its position has not yet been fixed. It has lately (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. XIII. 9) been identified with Junnar in Poona. But Junnar does not agree with the account of Tagar, given by the author of the Periplus (247 A.D.), who places it ten days east of Paithan (see McCrindle'a Periplus, 125,126). Grant' Duffs position (History, 11) a little to the north-east of the modern town of Bhir seems most probable. The remark in the Periplus (McCrindle's edition, 126), that many articles brought into Tagar' from the parts along the coast,' were sent on by wagons to Broach, seems to shew that Tagar was in communication with the Bay of Bengal. Paithan, though traditionally founded by Shalivahan in A.D. 78, was a place of importance as early as the third century B.C Bhau Daji in Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. VIII. 289.]

The rock temples of Pitalkhora, Nasik, and Ajanta show that in the second and first centuries before, and during the first three centuries after Christ, Khandesh was under rulers who patronised Buddhism, some of whom lived at Paithan. [Fergusson and Burgess' Cave Temples, 184. The earliest of the Khandesh cave temples is probably one at Pitalkhora, dated about 150 B.C. The earliest Ajanta and Nasik caves are about 100 B.C. Ditto, 168 and 178.] The first dynasty of which distinct record remains are the Andhrabhrityas [Trans. See. Inter. Cong. 349. The name Andhrabhritya or Andhras' servants is supposed to show that before they became independent, they were subject to the sovereigns of Pataliputra, the modem Patna.] or Shatavahans, whose capital was Dhanakat, perhaps Dharnikot on the Krishna in the Madras district of Guntur. The date of their rise to power is uncertain. According to the most recent estimates, their founder

200 A. D.

Shiprak, Sinduk, or Shishuk, lived before the close of the third century B.C. [Bhau Daji (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. VII. 118 and VIII. 240) places Shiprak in the fourth century before Christ; Bhagvanlal Indraji (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. XIII. 316), about 210 B.C.; Prinsep (Essays II. Useful Tables 24) and Bhandarkar (Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 352) in B.C. 21; Wilford (As. Res. IX. 101), between the first and third centuries; and Wilson (Theat. Hind. I. 68), as late as A.D. 192. The cause of the great difference in the estimate of dates is the doubt whether the dynasties mentioned in the Purans as following the Mauryas (315-178 B.C.), succeeded one another, or ruled at the same time in different parts of the country.] This would place Krishna, the second of the Andhrabhrityas, who is mentioned in one of the Nasik caves, early in the second century before Christ, a date to some extent supported by the old forms of the letters used in the cave inscription. [Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 350. Fergusson and Burgess' Cave Temples, 263, 275.] The Andhrabhrityas seem to have continued to rule in Nasik. [Nasik Cave XIII. has an inscription with the name of the great Hakusiri whose probable date is about 30 B.C. Fergusson and Burgess' Cave Temples, 263, 264.] till, in the latter part of the first century of the Christian era, Nahapan, a Skythian or Parthian of the Sah, Satrap, or Kshaharat dynasty from north India, drove them from Nasik and Khandesh, and also, it would seem, from Paithan. [Neither the origin nor the date of the Satrap kings has been certainly fixed. Newton (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy, As. Soc. IX. 6) thought they were Parthians, and Lassen (Ind. Alt. IV. 83) thought that they belonged to the Aghamas tribe of Yueichi, the Skythian conquerors of India in the second century before Christ. That they were foreigners from the north is shown by the Greek motto on their coins (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. IX. 6). Though it is still uncertain, the Sah kings probably dated from the Shak era (78 A.D.), and lasted, at least in Gujarat, till 328 A.D. (Jour. Bom, Br. ROY. AS. Soc. VII. 28, and Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 362-353). Newton (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. IX. 7) notes that the inscriptions relating to Nahapan in the Nasik, Karli, and Junnar caves establish five points: 1, he was either a king or an officer of some distant monarch; 2, his rule was widespread, including much of the Deccan; 3, he was a foreigner, probably a Parthian; 4,.his daughter had a Hindu name and was married to a Hindu, the son of a Hindu; 5, his daughter, son-in-law, and minister were Buddhists.] These Sah rulers, originally subordinate to some overlord, seem, after their conquest of the north Deccan, to have made themselves independent, and ruling from Malwa. [Their capital seems at one time to have been a town some way south of Ujain, mentioned as Minagara by Ptolemy and in the Periplus, but not identified.] to have chosen Nasik as the local seat of government. [Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 350. From Nasik and other cave inscriptions, the Sah rulers seem to have been very free in their grants both to Brahmans and Buddhists. The importance of the Nasik and Ajanta monasteries has inclined Col. Yule (Ind. Ant. IV. 282) to place the Tabassi, Ptolemy's race of ascetics, in Khandesh. See Bertius' Ptolemy, 203.]

The Sah kings seem to have held Nasik and Khandesh for about forty years only, when, between 124 and 185, Shatakarni Gautamiputra restored the Andhrabhrityas, earning the title of the destroyer of Shaks, Yavans, and Palhavs. [Trans. Sec biter. Cong. 311. Gautamiputra's date depends on the date fixed for the beginning of the Andhra dynasty. Bhandarkar (Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 311), fixing the beginning of the Andhra dynasty at a little before the Christian era and Gautamiputra's date at 319, gives the Sah kings of Nasik a period of about 140 years. The evidence from the writing and ornament in the caves seems conflicting. The alphabet used by Ushavadat, the second Sah ruler, differs very slightly from that used by Gautamiputra. At the same time the pillar capitals in Nahapan the first Sah ruler's cave (No. VIII,) are so much better than those in the verandah of Gautamiputra's cave (No. III.), that Gautamiputra's seem to belong to a much later period. (Fergusson and Burgess' Cave Temples, 266). Ptolemy's (150) mention of Sri Polemios as ruling at Paithan, so far as it goes, supports the view that Sah rule did not last over forty years, Sri Polemios' name corresponding with Pulimat, Pulomavit, or Pudumayi, the son and successor of Gautamiputra.] About forty years later.

200-500 A.D.

Rudra Daman, a Sah king of Gujarat, again reduced the Andhras' power. But it does not appear that he conquered any part of the Deccan. [Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. XII. 203. Burgess' Archaeological Survey, Kathiawar and Cutch, 131-133. Sah. power lasted in Gujarat to 250, that is, calculating on the Shak era, to A.D. 328 (Jour. Bom. Br. Boy. As. Soc. VII, 28). In the Girnar inscription Rudra Daman (178) states that though he twice conquered Shatakarni, from their near relationship he did not destroy him. Ind. Aut. VII. 262.] According to the Vishnu Puran, the restored Andhrabhrityas continued to rule for ninety-seven years after the close of Gautamiputra's reign, that is, according to the calculation accepted above, to about 240 A.D. At this time Khandesh was on the highway of commerce between the coast trade centre of Broach and the inland marts of Paithan, and Tagar, ten days to the east of Paithan, the greatest city in the land. The goods were carried in wagons, and though much of the country was wild or desert, it was in places extremely populous. [McCrindle's Periplus, 125.]

Of the successors of the Andhrabhrityas no record remains until, early in the fifth century (419), an inscription-shows that Nasik was governed by Virsen an Ahir king. [Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 354. It was formerly thought (Elliot in Jour. Roy. As. Soc. IV. 4-7) that the Chalukyas held Khandesh during the fourth century (354). Later information seems to make, this unlikely. (See below, p. 241). Corns have (1870) been found at Nasik supposed to belong to the end of the fourth century A.D. The king's name has been read Manas Nripa, but nothing of him is known. Bhau Daji in Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. IX. ex. and civ.] Though, according to the purans, Ahir independence lasted only sixty-seven years, the Ahirs are of considerable importance in Khandesh history. Their chiefs for long held its leading forts, [Ahirs are numerous in Nasik, and in Khandesh many artisan classes are of two divisions, simple and Ahir. In some villages the original settlement seems to have been supplemented by a complete Ahir community. The Ahirs or Abhirs, who are still found in the North-West Provinces, Bengal, Central India and the Central Provinces, and in Bombay, in Catch and Kathiawar, seem to have originally belonged to the north-west of India (Vivien de St. Martin, Geog. Grec. et Latin de l'lnde, 230), In Ptolemy's time (150) their country (Abiria) was upper Sind (Bertius' Map X.); a hundred years later (247) they were in lower Sind inland from Surastrene (McCrindle's Periplus, 113); and according to the Purana (Ward's Hindus, III. 450, and Wilford's As. Res. VIII. 336), their country lay between the Tipti and Devgad. (See Bird's Mirat-i-Ahmadi 8, and Elliot's Races N. W. P., I. 3). Of the origin and southward movement of the Ahirs there are two theories: that they are of Skythian descent and represent the Abars who conquered the Panjab in the second century before Christ (Cunningham's Arch. Rep II. 23-33), or that they are an older Indian race who were driven south and east, before and among the different tribes of Indo-Skythian invaders. Compare Cent. Prov. Gaz. lxiii.] and the people still form one of the main elements in its population.

In the fifth, or early in the sixth century, a Yavan dynasty, the Vindhyashaktis or Vakatakas, probably under the Guptas, stretching from eastern and central India, held parts of Khandesh. They have left their record in some of the richest of the Ajanta caves. [Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. VIII. 248. One of these kings claimed to have conquered Belari, Kuntal; Ujjain, Avanti; Coromandel, kaling ; Chhatisgad, Koshal; Junnar, Trikut; Broach, Lat; and Telingan, Andhra. Cent. Prov. Gaz. lvi. The names of the kings of the Vakatak dynasty are Vindhyashakti (400 A. D.), Pravarasen I., Devasen, Rudrasen I., Prithvisen, Rudrasen II., Pravarasen II. son of Prabhavati Gupta, daughter of the great king of kings Shri Dev Gupta, perhaps at the end of the fifth or beginning of the sixth century, Fergusson and Burgees' Cave Temples, 305 306. Another inscription (Ajanta Cave XVI.) mentions some chiefs of Ashmak of whom nothing is known. They are Dhritarashtra, Hari Samba his son, Kshitipal Sauri Samba his son, Upendragupta, and Skacha his son. Fergusson and Burgess' Cave Temples.]

500-1200

Towards the close of the fifth century the Chalukyas, under Pulakeshi I. (489), passing south from Gujarat, conquered the Deccan and established their power as far south as Badami in Kaladgi. [Lassen's Indische Alterthumskunde, IV. 90; Fleet in Ind. Ant. VII. 247 It was formerly thought that this branch of the Chalukyas was established in the Deccan in the fourth century (354, Elliot in Jour. R. A. Soc. IV. 4-7), and had in the fifth century forced its way north to Gujarat, and was (472) in possession of Broach (Ind. Ant. VI. 182). But the latest opinion, Mr. Fleet's, is that the Gujarat Chalukyas of the fifth century were then on their way south, and did not enter the Deccan till they were led by Pulakeshi I. (489). Ind. Ant. VIII. 12.] Under the Chalukyas, probably during the sixth century, were cut the handsome rock temples of Ghatotkach near Jinjala, nine miles from Ajanta.[ Fergusson and Burgess' Cave Temples, 346-347.] The next dynasty that has left traces in Khandesh and Nasik was a race of Yadavs in the latter part of the eighth century. [Lassen's Indische Alterthumskunde, IV. 139.] These Yadavs gave place to the Rathods or Rashtrakutas of Malkhed near Haidarabad, who, conquering the Decean, Konkan, part of Gujarat, and Central India up to the Vindhyas, remained in power till overthrown by the Chalukya Tailapa about 970.[Ind. Ant. VI. 60.] Of the ninth and tenth centuries, the only relics are two small Jain excavations to the east of Patna near Chalisgaon. [Fergusson and Burgess' Cave Tamples, 492-493.] and perhaps some of the Jain caves at Ankai near Manmad.

Of the local chiefs who at this time (800-1200) ruled Khandesh, the record of two families, the Taks of Asirgad and the Nikumbhavanshas of Patna near Chalisgaon, remains. From the beginning of the ninth to the close of the twelfth century, Asirgad is said to have been held by a famous family of Tak Rajputs. [Central Provinoe Gazetteer, 377 ] The standard bearers, Taks of Asirgad, are several times mentioned by the poet Chand as fighting for Chitor against Musalman invaders. [Tod's Bajasthan (Ed. 1873), 1.95-96. These Taks, who have disappeared in modern times, are believed by Tod to have been the heads of a great Skythian invasion which swept over India about 600 B.C. On the ground that both Takshak and Nag mean snake, Tod would identify the Taks with the Nag tribes. Ditto, I. 411.] In the south, the Nikumbhavanshas of Patna, from 1000 to 1216, ruled 1600 Khandesh villages. They would seem to have been worshippers of Shiv, and one of them, Sonhadadev (1206), is mentioned as endowing a college with money and land for the study of the astronomer Bhaskaracharya's works. From the epithets ' devoted to his master,' ' strongly devoted to his suzerain,' the dynasty [The pedigree is: Krishnaraja I. (about 1000), Govan I., Govindraja, Govan II., Krishnaraja II., Indraraja (married Shridevi of the Sagar race, regent after his death 1153), Govan III., Sonhadadev, Hemadidev (1216-1217). Ind. Ant. VIII. 39,] would seem to have been subordinate to some great power, probably at first the Chalukyas, and in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Yadavs of Devgiri. [Jour. Roy. As. Soc. I. 414; Ind. Ant. VIII. 39.] The Jain caves of Bhamer near Nizampur and of Ankai near Manmad, and the Brahman caves of Patna near Chalisgaon, probably date from the time of this dynasty.

1216

After the fall (1216) of the Nikumbhavanshas, Khandesh was probably under an officer of the Yadavs of Devgiri, by whom most of the old temples, ponds, and wells, known as Hemadpanti or of Gauli Raj, were built. [Hemadpant, their builder, was probably the minister of Mahadev (1260-1271) the fourth of the Yadavs of Devgiri (Burgess in Ind. Ant. VI. 366). The local traditional identification of the Yadava with the Gauli Rajas or shepherd kings would seem to show that, as was the case in Kathiawar, the Yadvas and Ahhirs were very closely connected. Some of the remains locally known as Hemadpanti, the rock-hewn reservoir in Songir fort, the walls of Turanmal fort, and the Turamnal lake dams also said to be the work of the saint Gorakhnath, are probaly much older than the Yadavs, See below, ' Hemadpanti.'] At Asir, probably in the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Taks were driven out, and their place taken by Chohans, who, according to tradition, came into Khandesh from Golkonda. [Tod's Annals, II. 411. ]

Musalmans,1295-1760.

 Tributory1295-1312.

Towards the close of the thirteenth century (1295), Ala-ud-din Khilji, the nephew of the Delhi Emperor, suddenly appearing before Devgiri defeated Ram Dev, the Yadav ruler, and forced him to  pay tribute. Khandesh was at that time held by a chief styled the Raja of Khandesh who would seem to have' been the Chohan ruler of Asirgad.[Briggs' Ferishta, I. 307, 309.] According to one account, on his way back to Delhi, Ala-ud-din overran Khandesh, taking Asirgad and destroying all the members of the chief's family except one. [Central Province Gazetteer, 9 and 377.] This invasion was little more than a passing raid. For some years no Musalman troops were stationed in the Deccan, and no tribute was recovered from Ram Dev. In 130(3, when firmly established at Delhi, Ala-ud-din sent his general, Malik Kafur, to re-impose his tribute on Ram Dev, and to conquer the other kings of the south. Malik Kafur stopped for some time in Sultanpur. But making no impression on the local chiefs, he determined to march on, and strengthened by a force from Gujarat, advanced against Devgiri. Unable to resist the Musalman army, Ram Dev submitted. He was taken to Delhi, received into high favour, and on doing homage, was invested with the government of a larger territory than he formerly held. [Ram Dev's new territory seems to have included the coast districts of Thana and Surat as far north as the Tapti, which had formerly been part of Gujarat. See Briggs' Ferishta, I. 369.] For the next four years Ram Dev, paying a yearly tribute to Delhi, continued to govern in peace. In 1312, his son Shankal Dev, with holding his tribute, was defeated and slain, and Devgad made the centre of Musalman rule.[Briggs' Ferishta, I. 379. ]

Under Delhi Governors 1323-1370.

In the disorders that followed Ala-ud-din's death (1316), the Marathas revolted. The revolt was put down in 1318, and Musalman power re-established. [Briggs' Ferishta, I. 389.] Two year later (1320), on the murder of Mubarik Khilji, the Marathas again threw off their allegiances. Gheias-ud-din's first attempt (1322) to bring the country to order failed. A second expedition (1323) was more successful, and under Muhammad Tughlik's (1325-1351) strong rule, the Deccan was thoroughly subdued. [Briggs' Ferishta, I.413.] In 1338, the revolt of his nephew Kurshasip brought the Emperor to Devgad, and its position and strength so pleased him that he determined to make it the capital of his Empire. [Briggs' Ferishta, I.419.] But the disorders caused by his reckless cruelty prevented the scheme from succeeding.

A few years later (1347) Devgiri was seized by the rebel nobles, and finally (1351) passed into the hands of Hasan Gangu, the founder of the Bahmani dynasty. Under Muhammad Tughlik's government, Khandesh was part of the charge of an officer stationed at Elichpur in Berar.[ Briggs' Feriahta, II. 287. ] On the revolt of the Deccan nobles in 1346, Imad-ul-Mulk, governor of Berar and Khandesh, abandoned his province and retired to Nandurbar then in Gujarat. [Briggs' Ferishta, IV. 287.] The Berar officers joined the insurgents, and as the revolt was in the end successful, and the independence of the Bahmani' kings was acknowledged (1351), no part of Khandesh, except the' western districts of Nandurbar and Sultanpur, remained under the Delhi kings. The power of the Bahmanis, though its limits are not clearly laid down, seems to have included, in the west, Ahmednagar and south Nasik, and in the east, part of Berar. Between these two points Bahmani rule, does not seem to have 'passed north of the Bhima. [Briggs' Ferishta, IV. 291-295. Grant Duff (Maratha History, 25) places Maharasht in the north of the Bahmani dominions, somewhere near Dhulia in Khandesh. Ferishta's (Briggs, IV. 325) Maharasht seems to be the tract between Junnar, Daulatabad, Bhir, and Paithan.] Along the Chandor or Satmala hills there would seem to have been a line of independent chiefs at Galna, Antur, and Vairatgad. [Loch's Deccan History, 2.] The east was under the powerful Asirgad chief, and the west was in the hands of the Raja of Baglan.

The Farukis. 1370-1600.

Malik Raja. 1370-1399.

Thus matters remained till, in 1370, in reward for timely help given to the Emperor Feroz Tughlik in a Gujarat hunting party, the districts of Thalner and Karanda, on the Gujarat-Khandesh frontier, were granted to Malik Raja Faruki, a young Arab of high family.[According to Ferishta (Briggs, IV. 284) the family claimed descent from the Khaliph Umax Faruk. His father Chand Jehan was a minister of Ala-ud-din Khilji's court.] Establishing himself. in his small district, Malik Raja went against Raja Bharji the Baglan chief, and forcing him to pay yearly tribute to Delhi, sent the Emperor some elephants covered with gold-embroidered velvet housings and several camel-loads of Khandesh muslins and other manufactures. In reward Malik, with the title of Khandesh Commander-in-Chief, sipah salar, was raised to the command of 3000 horse. He was soon able to muster 12,000 cavalry, and his power was felt, and his friendship sought, as far east as Garha Mandla in the Central Provinces. Before Malik 'Raja's time, the state of Khandesh was very wretched. For years without any regular government, it had lately been visited by a famine, so severe, that not more than two or three thousand Bhils and Kolis survived. The only prosperous part of the district was near Asirgad, where Asa, a rich Ahir, had during the famine fed the people from his grain stores and built many great works, among them the walls of Asirgad fort. [Briggs' Ferishta, IV. 287; Gladwin's Ain-i-Akbari, II. 54. Ferishta mentions (Persian edition) that when Firoz Barbak or Tughlik (1351-1388) heard of Asa's wealth, be wrote to the governor of Khandesh reprimanding him for allowing such a power to spring up close to him.]

The Farukis 1370-1600

Malik Raja 1370-1399

After the death of Firoz Tughlik, Malik Raja's importance was (1390) increased by the marriage of his son, Malik Nasir, to the daughter of Dilavar Khan the independent ruler of Malwa. Soon after (1393), quarrelling with Muzafar Shah who had lately declared himself independent in Gujarat, Malik Raja invaded Sultanpur and Nandurbar. Advancing by forced marches, Muzafar defeated him, drove him back on Thalner, and laid siege to his fort, though, as he was anxious to be on friendly terms with him, he did not further press his advantage. During the remaining six years of his rule (1394-1399), Malik Raja made no fresh attack on Gujarat territory. The rest of his life was spent in promoting architecture and improving agriculture. [During the three last years of Malik's reign and the first nine years of his successor's the famous Durgadevi famine laid the Deccan waste. (See Grant Duffs History, 26). No special reference to the sufferings in Khandesh has been traced. But it seems probable that this was the famine which Ferishta placed thirty years earlier.] Malik's spiritual guide and teacher, Sheikh Zein-ud-din of Daulatabad, presented him with a robe, 'the garb of desire and assent,' and this, so long as the dynasty lasted (1370-1600), was carefully handed from ruler to ruler. Before his death, Malik Raja invested his elder son Malik Nasir with this sacred robe. Of his two chief forts he bequeathed Laling to his elder son, and Thalner to Malik Iftikhan, the younger brother. He died in 1399 (April 28), and was buried in a handsome tomb at the town of Thalner.

Malik Nasir 1399-1437.

One of Malik Nasir's first acts was to capture Asirgad. Asa, the Ahir chief, in spite of his wealth and the strength of his fort, had, without a struggle, admitted the supremacy of Malik Nasir's father, and had in many ways helped to establish his power. Writing to Asa, Malik Nasir complained that he was in great straits. The chiefs of Baglan, Antur, and Kehrla [Kehrla is in Betul in the Central Provinces.] were, he said, rising against him, and Laling his only fort was unsafe. He prayed Asa to take, charge of his family. Asa agreed, and shortly after 200 covered litters were brought into Asirgad. The women were well received and visited by Asa's wife. Next day, another troop of litters arrived; Asa and his sons went to meet them; but instead of women, armed men rushed out and slew the chief and all his sons. Learning of the success of his scheme, Malik Nasir came to Asirgad, and strengthening its defences, made it his head-quarters. Shortly after, Sheikh Zein-ud-din, the spiritual guide of the family, came to congratulate Malik Nasir on his success. At his advice, two cities were built on the Tapti, one on the east bank called after himself Zeinabad, the other, afterwards the capital, on the west called Burhanpur after Sheikh Burhan-ud-din of Daulatabad. A few years later (1417), Malik Nasir, jealous of his younger brother, with the help of the Sultan of Malwa, took Thalner and kept his brother prisoner in Asirgad. Then, with the Sultan of Malwa, Malik Nasir made a joint attack on Sultanpur.

The Farukis 1370-1600.

Malik Nasir,1399-1437.

 Ahmad I. of Gujarat took active measures to meet them, and Malik Nasir, worsted by the Gujarat general, was reduced to extreme distress. Retiring into Thalner, he made overtures to Ahmad's ministers with such success that his presents were  accepted, and with the title of Khan, he received the white canopy and scarlet pavilion of an independent ruler. [Briggs' Ferishta, IV. 293. According to Abul Fazl (Ain-i-Akbari, II. 57, the grant of this title was the origin of the name Khandesh.] Some years later 'Malik Nasir married his daughter to the son of Ahmad Shah Bahmani, and together they made an attack on Gujarat. This, like the previous attempt, failed. Some time after, urged by his daughter's complaints of her husband's conduct, and incited by the Gujarat king, Nasir Khan invaded the Bahmani territory (1437). At first he was entirely successful and had the public prayers read in his name. Then fortune changed. Nasir Khan was defeated by the Bahmani general, and unable to rally his troops Burhanpur was taken and sacked, and after another defeat he was shut up in Laling and died there of vexation in 1437.

Miran Adil Khan.1437-1441.

Miran Mubarik.1441-1457.

Adil Khan.1457-1503.

Miran Adil Khan (1437-1441), his son and successor, with the help of a Gujarat army, forced the Deccan general to raise the siege of Laling and retire. After a reign of about four years he was assassinated at Burhanpur. His son and successor, Miran Mubarik, a quiet king, after a peaceful and uneventful reign of seventeen years, died in 1457. Miran's successor was his son Adil Khan, who, during a long reign of forty-six years (1457-1503), greatly increased the strength and prosperity of his kingdom. He spread his power over the neighbouring chiefs, forced Gondvan and Garha Mandla to acknowledge his supremacy, and cleared the highroads of Bhil and Koli robbers. He strengthened Asirgad, fortifying the strong outwork of Malaigad, built the citadel of Burhanpur, and raised many handsome palaces. Assuming the title of Forest King, Shah-i-Jharkund, he withheld tribute from Gujarat, and declared that he owed its monarch no allegiance. His pride brought on him the strength of Mahmud Shah Begada (1459-1511), the greatest of the Gujarat kings, who (1499), driving the Khandesh army before him, laid waste the country, besieged Thalner and Asirgad, and did not withdraw till all tribute arrears had been paid. Three years later Adil Khan died and was buried in Burhanpur near the palace of the Daulat Maidan.

Daud Khan.1503-1510.

Adil Khan's successor was his brother Daud. During his reign of eight years (1503-1510), Daud planned an attack on some frontier Ahmednagar towns. Before his plan was carried out, the Ahmednagar king marched (1507) into Khandesh, and Daud, forced to retire into Asirgad, was relieved by the king of Malwa only on agreeing to acknowledge him as his overlord.

Ghazni Khan1510.

Ghazni Khan, Daud's son and successor, was murdered by one of the nobles a few days after he had been chosen ruler. The succession was now disputed between Alam Khan who was supported by the Ahmednagar king, and Adil Khan who was supported by Mahmud Begada of Gujarat. By the efforts of Mahmud Begada, who advanced into Khandesh, and gave him his grand-daughter in marriage and a sum of £20,000 (Rs. 2,00,000), Adil Khan II. was established at Burhanpur.

Musallmans, 1295-1600.

The Farukis, 1570-1600.

Though threatened by several conspiracies, by his own vigour and by the help of Muzafar II, of Gujarat, Adil Khan maintained his power, and was able to levy tribute from the Galna chief, a tributary of Ahmednagar. After serving with distinction in the Malwa campaign under his father-in-law Muzafar Shah, he died in 1520.

Miran Muhammad Khan.1520-1535.

Adil Khan II.'s successor was his son Miran Muhammad Khan (1520-1535). Joining with the Berar king, they fought against, but were defeated by Burhan Nizam of Ahmednagar (1526). Bahadur Shah of Gujarat then came to their aid, and advancing together into Ahmednagar, they met with no resistance and Bahadur's supremacy was admitted. Eight years later (1534), Miran was with Bahadur during his defeat by the Emperor Humayun, when, but for his sudden recall to meet Shir Shah, Humayun would have overrun Khandesh as well as Gujarat. After Humayun's withdrawal, Miran aided Bahadur Shah in driving his officers out of Malwa. He was with the Gujarat' army, when (1535) the news came of Bahadur's death at Diu, and was chosen his successor and crowned at Mandu, but sickening immediately after, he died, within six weeks, before reaching Gujarat (4th May 1535).

Mubarik Khan, 1535-1566.

Miran's successor was his brother Mubarik. At the request of the Gujarat nobles, he gave up Muhammad, son of Latif Khan, the brother of Bahadur Shah, who was taken to Gujarat and crowned (1536). A party of Gujarat nobles favouring Mubarik's claim, he advanced into Gujarat to support it, and though defeated, gained the valuable cession of the districts of Sultanpur and Nandurbar. In 1561, a Moghal chief, Pir Muhammad Khan, passing through Malwa, entered Khandesh, and with the greatest cruelty, laid waste the country and sacked, Burhanpur. [He made a raid into Khandesh, sacked Burhanpur, slaughtered the people most unmercifully, and carried off immense' booty. Blochmann's Ain-i-Akbari, I. 325.] As the Moghals withdrew, heavy with spoil and debauchery, they were surprised by Mubarik on the Narbada banks, and defeated with great loss. [Compare Tabakit-i-Akbari in Elliot, V. 275. Pir Muhammad's horse was bitten by a camel, and he was thrown into the water and drowned. ' By way of water, he went to fire, and the sighs of orphans, poor wretches, and captives, settled his business.' Badauni, II. 51 is Elliot, V. 275.] After a reign of thirty-two years Mubarik died in 1566.

Miran Muhammad II.1566 - 1576.

Mubarik's successor, his son Miran Muhammad II. (1566-1576), was in the first year attacked from Gujarat. But with the help of the Berar chief the Gujarat commander was defeated and forced to fly. Learning that a party of the Gujarat nobles favoured his claims to the Gujarat crown, Miran advanced towards Ahmedabad. But meeting with a serious defeat, he was forced to retire to Asirgad with the loss of his elephants, artillery, and royal equipage. Shortly after, Khandesh was overrun by the Mirzas, the cousins of the Emperor Akbar, who laid it waste and left before a force could be brought against them. The district suffered again (1574) at the hands of Mortiza Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar, who, enraged at Miran for helping his rival the Berar chief, sacked Burhanpur, and blockading Asirgad, had to be bought off by the payment of £40,000 (8,00,000 muzafaris). Two years later (1576), Miran died of fever.

Raja Ali Khan.1576-1596.

On Miran's death, as his son Husain Khan was a minor, his brother Raja Ali was chosen successor. A man of great talent, just, wise, prudent, and brave, Raja Ali, seeing that Akbar's power must become supreme, strove to win his favour by sending him rich presents and admitting his supremacy. In a dispute between Ahmednagar and Berar, Salabat Khan the Berar governor was worsted. Retiring to Burhanpur, he prayed Raja Ali to help him, but as he got no certain promise of help, he burned Burhanpur, and retreated north towards Agra. On the way he was overtaken on the Narbada by Raja Ali, and defeated with the loss of many elephants. On reaching Agra, Salabat Khan was received into favour and supplied with means to wage war on Ahmednagar. Raja Ali, pressed both by the Delhi and the Ahmednagar generals to join their parties, finally sided with Ahmednagar, and the Moghal general was forced to retreat. Though on this occasion he allied himself with the Deccan is Raja Ali, chiefly through the persuasion of the Khan Khanan, shortly after declared his allegiance to Akbar. Coin was struck and prayers read in Akbar's name; Khandesh was given as a grant to Raja Ali Khan; and he was enrolled among the nobles of 5000. [Elliot's History, VI. 241.] In the next expedition (1594), for the conquest of the Deccan, he sided with the Moghals under prince Morad, and in the great battle of Sonpat on the Godavari (1597), leading the attack with great bravery, he was killed by the chance explosion of a powder tumbril. [Briggs' Ferishta, II. 274; III. 308; IV. 324. ]

Bahadur Khan,1596-1599.

Bahadur Khan (1596-1599), Raja Ali's son and successor, built the town of Bahadurpur about seven miles east of Burhanpur. [Ferishta (Persian Ed.), II. 566.] By neglecting to pay respect to Akbar's representative, prince Danyal, and by shutting himself in Asirgad and laying in stores for a siege, he brought on himself the full weight of the imperial arms. Akbar marched in person to carry on the war, and arrived at Burhanpur. He overran Khandesh and blockaded Asirgad. The siege was pressed with vigour, and in spite of its strength and the abundance of its stores, the outposts were taken, and the garrison, weakened by disease and by Bahadur's mismanagement, surrendered in 1599 (1008 H.).[The surrender is (Blochmann's Ain-i-Akbari, I. 327) said to hare been arranged through the mediation of Khan-i-Azam Mirza Aziz Kokah.]  Bahadur was sent as a prisoner to Gwalior, [Eliot's India, VI. 146.]  and Khandesh became part of the Delhi empire.

According to European travellers, Khandesh was about this time (1585-1601) wonderfully rich and well peopled, yielding in places great abundance of grain, cotton, wool, and sugar, with great markets for dry fruits, yarn, prints, calicoes, lawns, brass-ware, arms, and drugs. [The travellers were Fitch and Newberry (1585). Jangigny's Inde, 384, and Salbank (1601) in Harris, I. 98.] It formed a province 150 miles (70 kos) from east to west and 100 miles from north to south. It was bounded on the north by Malwa, on the east by Berar, on the south by Galna, and on the west by Malwa to which the districts of Nandurbar, including Shahada and Taloda, were handed over. It contained thirty-two sub-divisions yielding a yearly revenue of ' £75,885 (1,26,47,062 tungahs)[Ain-i-Akbari, II. 230. The sub-divisions were, Asir, Atral, Erandol, Punetgong, Banjre, Purmal (to the west of Burhanpur), Purmal (to the south-east of Burhanpur), Bhamer, Jamod, Jasir, Chandsir, Jalod, Javere, Dangri, Damri, Raver, Rattanpur, Savda, Mahil, Sakadgang, Nebad, Nasir-Shamshad, Laling, Sanderti, Edlabad, Lohara, Manjrud, and Nasirabad,] Besides these, the Nandurbar district, with seven sub-divisions and an area of 667,203 acres (859,604 bighas), yielded a large additional revenue of £125,405 (5,01,62,250 dome), and furnished 500 cavalry and 6000 infantry. The winter was temperate, the air delightful, and the rivers and streams abundant. The thirty-two sub-divisions were all in high cultivation. The husbandmen, Kunbis, Bhils, and Gonds were dutiful subjects and very hard workers. The chief product was Indian millet, jvari, which in several places yielded three crops a year. Rice was excellent, the vegetables remarkably fine, betel leaf abundant, and flowers and fruit plentiful. [Khandesh is specially mentioned as one of the best mango districts. Bloch. mann's ain-i-Akbari, 68.] Of manufactures, there were different kinds of fine and ordinary cotton cloth. [Fine stuff called abastch, and ordinary cotton cloth known as sirisaf and bhiraun. See Blochmann's Ain-i-Akbari, I. 94. ] Of cities there were: Burhanpur, a large city inhabited by people of all nations abounding in handicrafts; Asir, a large city at the foot of the fort; Chopda, a large town well peopled; Damburni, a populous town; and Edlabad, a good town. [Gladwin's Ain-i-Akbari, II. 51-54.]

The Moghals,1600-1760.

On its conquest by Akbar, in honour of prince Danyal who was chosen its governor, the name of the province was changed to Dandesh. [Akbar called it Dandesh, a compound of Danyal and Khandesh. Blochmann's Ain-i-Akbari, I. 336. Copper coins called Danpaisa, coined in Burhanpur, were in 1818 still found in Khandesh. Mr, Crawley-Boevey, C.S.] For the first thirty years, though without much regular fighting or open opposition, the district was unsettled and declining. In 1609 (February), the English merchant Hawkins, travelling from Surat to Burhanpur, even with an escort of about sixty Pathan horse, was attacked by a troop of outlaws. [Kerr's Voyages, VIII 229.] Next year (January -February 1610), the Viceroy had been defeated by the people of the Deccan, and the country was disturbed. The roads were not safe for bodies of less than 1000 horse. The Deccanis made inroads to the Tapti, plundering the people and sacking Raver and other towns. [Finch in Kerr's Voyages, VIII. 280.] The places mentioned are: Nizampur, a large town under Pratapshah of Baglan; Dayta, a great town in a fertile soil; Badur, a filthy town with a manufacture of moha wine; Saler and Muler, two fair cities where mahmudis worth about 1s. were coined; Nandurbar, a city with many tombs and houses of pleasure, a castle, and a fair pond; Lingal, a beastly town with thievish people and a dirty castle; Sindkheda, a great dirty town; Thalner, a fair town with a castle; Chopda, a great town; Raver, a country village; Bival, a large town with good castle; and Burhanpur, a very large but beastly city, with a fine garden, banquet house, and castle. [Finch in Kerr's Voyages, VIII. 279.]

Ten years later (1618), Sir T. Roe found the country quite as unsettled. Travellers when they stopped for the night made a ring fence of their carts and pitched their tents inside. On any suspicion of danger the local governor provided a special guard of horse. [Terry's Voyage, 162. Roe, whose chaplain Terry was, notices that when they stopped at Chopda, their tents were guarded by thirty horse and twenty shot for fear of their being attacked by robbers from the mountains. Kerr's Voyages, IX. 258.] The west districts were full of cattle, the east miserable and barren. The towns and villages were built of mud, and even Burhanpur, though with trade enough to attract an English factory, and described [Terry's Voyage, 80.] ' as very great, rich, and full of people, ' was, except the houses of the Viceroy, the commander-in-chief, and a few others, entirely of mud cottages. [Roe in Kerr's Voyages, IX. 256-257. Of the rural parts Terry (Voyage, 179-180). writes: The villages stand very thick, but the houses are generally very poor and base. All these country dwellings are set close together; none stands singly and alone. Some of the houses have" earth walls mixed with straw set up just after the rains, and having a long season to dry, staud firm; they are built low and many of them flat. Most of the cottages are miserably poor, little, and base, built with very little charge, set up with sticks rather than timber, so that if they chance to fire, they may for very little be re-edified.]

Soon after the beginning of Shah Jahan's reign (1629-1630), Khandesh suffered from the two fold calamity of war and famine. Khan Jahan Lodi, formerly governor of the Deccan, suspecting that he had lost the trust of the Emperor, fled from Agra with a large body of troops and made his way to the Deccan. The imperial power was much reduced, including only east Khandesh and part of Berar. So serious was the revolt that Shah Julian took the field in person, and halting at Burhanpur, sent three armies into the hostile territory. A detachment of 8000 horse under Khaja Abul Hasan was sent to take Nasik, Trimbak, and Sangamner. They passed the rainy season in the village of Dhulia near Laling fort. After the rains, they were joined by Slier Khan, governor of Gujarat with 26,000 men who attacked Batora near Chandor, ravaged the country, and returned with great spoil. While Sher Khan was engaged at Chandor, Khaja Abul Hasan entered Baglan, and finding that all the people had left their villages and fled to the hills, sent troops after them. Corn and other necessaries were collected and many of the enemy killed or taken prisoners. In the east Darya Khan, one of the rebel nobles, passing into Khandesh by Chalisgaon ravaged Erandol, Dharangaon, and other places. [Badshah Nama in Eliot, VII. 10, 11 and 17] These losses were followed by a total failure of rain over the whole country from Ahmedabad to Daulatabad. Lands famed for their richness were utterly 'barren. Life was offered for a loaf but none would buy; rank for a cake, but none cared for it; the ever-bounteous hand was stretched out to beg, and the rich wandered in search of food. Dog's flesh was sold, and the pounded bones of the dead were mixed with flour. The flesh of a son was preferred to his love. The dying blocked the roads and those who survived fled. Food houses were opened at Burhanpur. Every day soup and bread were distributed, and each Monday £500 (Rs. 5000) were given to the deserving poor. The Emperor and the nobles made great remissions of revenue. [ Badshah Nama in Elliot, VII. 24-25.]

In 1634, Khandesh was made into a subha, and included part of Berar and the present district of Khandesh as far south as Galna. The districts of Sultanpur and Nandurbar had formerly been joined to Malwa. The country south of Khandesh, as far as the Bhima, was made into a separate subha, of which Daulatabad was the head. Both governments were in 1686 united under Aurangzeb. Next year the Moghal power was much more firmly established in Nasik and west Khandesh; Nasik, Trimbak, and several of the Chandor hill forts were taken or surrendered, and the Baglan chief was forced to pay tribute. [Elliot, VII. 52, 57, and 66.] During the years of peace which followed, Shah Jahan introduced into Khandesh Todar Mal's famous revenue settlement. The land was measured, the produce of each bigha ascertained, and the proportion to be paid to government settled for each field. This assessment, long known in Khandesh as tankha, continued the nominal standard till the introduction of British rule. At this time and till the close of the seventeenth century, the presence of large bodies of troops, and of the courts of the Emperor and many of his chief nobles, together with the centering of trade along routes that led through Khandesh to Surat, greatly enriched the province. In 1660 it yielded a revenue of more than £2,700,000 (Rs. 2,70,00,000). Few parts of the Moghal Empire were so rich. The ways were safely guarded and it was full of villages and well peopled towns. Probably no part of India was richer in cotton, rice. [The rice grown at Navapur had a special value. It was small and white as snow, and had a musk-like scent.] and indigo, and in many places were sugarcane plantations with mills and furnaces to make sugar. At Burhanpur the cloth trade was as great as in any part of India. The costly white cloths used by the rich as veils, scarfs, and kerchiefs, were in special favour from the beautiful blending of silver and gold; [Thevenot's Voyages (1666), V. 212, 216. Tavernier (1640-1660) in Harris, II. 380. These reports of the great richness of Khandesh probably really refer only to the well watered west and to the rich Tapti valley. Ogilby's (1670) account (Atlas; V. 236-238), that, though pleasant and fruitful near the Tapti, Khandesh was in most parts barren, unwholesome, sandy, and dry, seems more likely to be correct. Even in the rich parts, according to Bernier (Letters, Bombay edition, III. 71), the ground was tilled almost by force and consequently very ill tilled, and the weavers were wretchedly poor. It was no small thing when they had wherewith to live and clothe themselves narrowly.] prodigious quantities were sent to Persia, Turkey, Poland, Muscovy, Arabia, and Grand Cairo.

The middle of the seventeenth century was the time of Khandesh's highest prosperity. A few years later saw the beginning of the Maratha exactions, from which the district continued to suffer till its conquest by the British in 1818. In 1670, after his second sack of Surat, Shivaji passed south through Khandesh, and a few months later sent an officer, Prataprav Gujar, and for the first time demanded the payment of one-fourth of the revenue, chauth, and plundered several large towns. Moropant Trimal took the important fortress of Salher in Baglan, commanding one of the chief roads into Gujarat. From this time the west was often disturbed by Maratha and Moghal conflicts, and by the exactions of a freebooter named Khanderav Dabhade, who, hostile alike to the Moghals and Marathas, managed to support himself among the western hills.

In 1672, the Moghals under Muhabad Khan besieged Salher. Shivaji sent a force to raise the siege which was attacked by the Moghals, but after a severe action, the Moghals were defeated, and the siege raised. In 1675, Shivaji plundered Khandesh, sacking and burning the great marts of Chopda and Dharangaon, two of the most flourishing places in the district. His death in 1680 did little to restore peace. [Orme'a Historical Fragments, 84, 143.] Four years later (1684), the Emperor Aurangzeb, entering Khandesh with a great army, after a fierce resistance gained the forts of Chandor, Galna, and Salhor, and passed to the south. No sooner were the Moghals gone, than (1685) Sambhaji overran and plundered the whole district, took Burhanpur, [Sambhaii fell upon Bahadurpur about seven miles east of Burhanpur, a rich place with many bankers and merchants. Jewels, money, and goods from all parts of the world were found there in abundance. He surrounded and attacked this place, and also another town called Hafdapura, which was outside of the fortifications, and his attack was so sudden and unexpected, especially upon Bahadurpur, that no one was able to save a dam or a diram of his property, or a single one of his wives and children. The imperial general, Kakar Khan and his men, saw the smoke of the town rising to the sky, but was not strong enough to attack the plunderers; so he shut himself up within Burhanpur and looked after the security of its gates and defences. Seventeen other places of note in the neighbourhood of the city, all wealthy and flourishing, were plundered and burnt. Muntakhab-ul'-lubab in Elliot's History, VII. 307.] and retired ravaging the country along the base of the Satmala hills towards Nasik. For twenty years the struggle went on. Forts were taken and retaken, and from time to time the Marathas spread over the country, burning and pillaging. [In 1697, Niba Sindia and other officers of Ram Raja, entering Khandesh from the west with an army of 8000 horse, defeated the Musalman commander Husain Ali Khan and extorted £18,000 (Rs. 1,80,000) from Thalner and the country round, and £14,000 (Rs. 1,40,000) from Nandurbar. Huntakhab-ul-lubab in Elliot, VII. 362,363. If the headmen came out and agreed to pay a certain sum, they were left unmolested by the Maratha.. Elliot's History. VII. 465.]

After Aurangzeb's death (1707), disorder still further increased. In 1708, Shahu, Shivaji's grandson, gaining his liberty, raised a body of troops in the west of Khandesh and plundered the, country from Surat to Burhanpur. [Elliot's History, VII. 395.] In 1,713, a dispute between Husain Ali Khan and Daud Khan, two of the leading Delhi nobles, ended near Burhanpur in a fierce battle in which Daud Khan was slain. [The cause of this dispute would seem to have been, that the Emperor Faruksher had privately incited Daud Khan to resist Husain Ali Khan, the nominal governor. Elliot's History, VII. 451.] Relieved of his rival, Husain turned his attention to suppress Khanderav Dabhade, the Maratha leader who held the west of Khandesh. Husain's attempt failed. The force sent to the west was surprised among the hills, surrounded, and out to pieces, Shortly after, Husain finding he was wanted at Delhi, made a treaty with the Marathas, ceding them the one-fourth, chauth, and one-tenth, sardeshmukhi, of the Khandesh revenues. This treaty the Emperor refused to ratify, and the war went on till, in 1720, under the influence of Balaji Vishvanath, the terms were agreed to.

Not long after (1720), Chinkilich Khan, better known as the Nizam-ul-mulk, who, after the murder of Ferokshir, had been appointed governor of Malwa, revolted, and crossing the Narbada at the head of 12,000 men, seized Burhanpur and Asirgad, and defeating the imperial forces, first at Burhanpur and then at Balapur in Berar, reduced and annexed the whole of Khandesh, and made himself almost supreme in the Deccan. Aims so opposite as the Nizam's and the Marathas soon led to a collision. A short campaign, ending rather to the advantage of the Marathas, was followed by an agreement under which Khandesh was to be respected by the Marathas in their passage to and from Malwa, and nothing but the usual tribute was to be levied from the Deccan. This treaty remained in force till Chinkilich Khan's death in 1748. Four years later Salabat Jang, his son and successor, was attacked by the Marathas and obliged to surrender most of Khandesh, and after twelve years (1760), the Maratha victory was completed by the fall of Asirgad.

Marathas, 1760-1818.

Next year (1761) the Nizam, taking advantage of the ruin at fell on the Marathas at Panpat, marched on Poona and compelled the Peshwa to restore the lately ceded parts of Khandesh. His success was shortlived. On his way back, overtaken and defeated by the Marathas, he was forced to restore the territory to the Peshwa and confirm his former cessions.

After a short term of peace, dissensions broke out amongst the Marathas, and in the disputes between the Peshwa and his uncle Raghunathrav (1768-1784), Khandesh was often the scene of disorder and war. In 1774, after defeating the army of the Brahman ministers at Pandharpur, Ragunathrav marched to Burhanpur and thence to Malwa, and then, to gain followers In Gujarat, moved to Thalner and garrisoned it. But the fort was soon after reduced by the Peshwa's troops.

Goddard's March 1779.

In 1779 (February 6-25), the English first appear as a military power in Khandesh. Colonel Goddard, on his march from Central India to Surat, found Khandesh most prosperous. Many of the grain carts collected at Burhanpur were left behind by the speed at which the army moved (300 miles in nineteen days), and the troops had to depend for provisions on the villages along their line of march. The supply was abundant, and the people, industrious, happy, and humane, did not fly from their villages, but voluntarily offered provisions and grain. For eighty miles west of Burhanpur the country was full of villages, fertile, prosperous, and well tilled. [Account of Bombay (1781), 289, 200.]

In 1795 (13th March), after his defeat at Kharda, the Nizam, among other territory, ceded to the Peshwa his Khandesh possessions. From this, after making grants to the great Maratha chiefs, especially to Holkar and Sindia, the part left to the Peshwa was formed into a separate charge, subha. [The subha included Galna, Khandesh proper, Mewar, Bijagad, Pal Nemad, and Hindia. Hamilton's Description of Hindustan, II. 95.] The disturbances which followed the death (1796) of Peshwa Madhavrav II. were, two years later, increased by the disputes among the. sons of Holkar's general Tukoji. Kashirav, the eldest legitimate son, was supported by Sindia, and Malharrav, the second son, by his illegitimate brothers Jasvantrav and Vithoba. Malharrav was killed by Sindia in a treacherous attack made, it was said, at the instigation of Kashirav who had incited Sindia to the deed by a bribe of £35,000 (Rs. 3,50,000). Enraged at Kashirav's success, Jasvantrav broke into rebellion, and gathering a. band of freebooters, laid waste the Khandesh Narbada districts, ravaged the hill country between the Narbada and the Tapti, took Indor, and succeeded in driving Kashirav into exile. Next, joining in the struggle between Daulatrav Sindia and the two widows of Mahadaji Sindia, Jasvantrav attacked Daulatrav's forces, plundered their camp, and drove them from Khandesh.

Disturbances, 1800-1818.

The new century (1800-1803) had worse evils in store for Khandesh. War broke out between Holkar and Sindia, and Sindia, advancing hurriedly from Poona, was (1802) met and defeated by Holkar. Before the year was over (October) this defeat was revenged, and Holkar's army was routed with the loss of ninety-eight guns. While Sindia inarched on Indor, Jasvantrav Holkar, gathering his scattered forces, advanced against Poona. Passing through west Khandesh, without pity or favour, he utterly ruined and laid it waste. His success at Poona (1802) forced the beaten Peshwa to seek British aid. The treaty of Bassein followed (31st December 1802), and the English, marching on Poona, made Holkar retire and re-seated Bajirav as Peshwa (13th May 1803). Passing through east Khandesh on his way north, Holkar ruined it as utterly as he had before ruined the west. A few months later (23rd September 1803) the battle of Assaye broke the power of Sindia and of the Raja of Nagpur, and the English entering Khandesh took Burhanpur and Asirgad (21st October 1803). [ The graves of some English officers who died in this campaign are still shown at Karnaphata in Jamner.] After the further defeat at Adgaon (28th November 1803) Sindia was forced to sue for peace. Under the. terms of the treaty then made, part of his lands in Khandesh were restored to Sindia and part given to the Peshwa. War was continued against Holkar, and his share of Khandesh was occupied by British troops. After a protracted straggle, tarnished by Colonel Manson's retreat and by the failure of the Bharatpur siege, Holkar, suing for peace, received back all his lands south of the Chambal (1806).

Khandesh was now in a miserable plight. On the top of the ruin wrought by Holkar came a failure of rain. No harvest was reaped, the whole stock of cattle perished, and the people, dying or flying to Gujarat, left many parts of the district desolate.

Bhils 1804.

The Bhils, who had before lived with the other inhabitants, and had, as village watchmen, been the great instruments of police, retired to the hills, and when the famine was over, pillaged the rich plain villages. Against such an enemy no weapons were thought too cruel or too base. At Kopargaon (1804), Balaji Lakshuman, tempting from the hills a large body of the Chandor Bhils, surrounded and massacred them. This treachery only made the Bhils fiercer, and the Maratha officers retaliated by most cruel massacres at Chalisgaon, Dharangaon, and Antur. These savage punishments did little to restore order. Unable to protect themselves, the chiefs and large landholders called in the aid of Arab mercenaries, and these foreigners, not less frugal than warlike, soon rose to power. Saving their pay and giving it out at interest, they became the chief moneylenders of the district, levying large sums both from their employers and from the general body of the people. Besides from Bhil plunderers and Arab usurers, the district suffered from the exactions of its fiscal officers, who, farming the revenues for a year or for a short term of years, left no means untried in their efforts to wring money from the people.

Pendharis, 1816-1817.

In 1816 a new enemy fell on Khandesh. The Pendharis, under the guidance of the Musalman Bhils of the eastern hills, entered by the Asirgad pass, and with no troops to harass them, plundered at leisure, causing more misery than either Bhils or Arabs. Their power was soon broken. In 1817, as part of Lord Hastings' complete and successful measures against the Pendharis, Lieutenant Davies, with a body of the Nizam's Horse, dispersed and drove them from Khandesh. Still the district was in great disorder. The factions in Malharrav Holkar's court, and the murder of the Malwa minister, added to the greed and misrule of their Khandesh officers. And in the west, the escaped felon Trimbakji Denglia, with his brother and one Daji Gopal, joined by Arabs and Pendharis, established themselves in the hills, and successfully resisted the Peshwa's troops.

The British, 1818-1880.

Meanwhile the last great Maratha alliance against the English was completed. On the fifth of Novembor 1817, the Peshwa declared against the British; twenty days later the Nagpur chief followed his example; and after another twenty days, in spite of the opposition of Tulshibai, the mother of the young prince, Holkar's chief ministers and generals resolved to support the Peshwa with an army of 26,000 men. Tulshibai, the queen mother, suspected of treachery, was seized and beheaded on the banks of the Sipra, and the insurgent generals began their southward march. They were met at Mahidpur by Sir John Malcolm and Sir Thomas Hislop, then in pursuit of the Pendhari Chhuttu, and after a well fought battle were defeated (21st December 1817). Under the terms of the treaty of Mandesar, made after this defeat, Holkar ceded to the British all his territory south of the Satpudas., including the entire province of Khandesh.

Meanwhile, the Peshwa, defeated at Kirkee (5th November 1817) and again at Ashta (19th February 1818), and despairing of aid either from Nagpur. or Sindia, retired through Khandesh towards northern India. On the 16th May, at Dholkot near Asirgad, finding the Narbada fords guarded, he gave himself up to Sir John Malcolm. Sir Thomas Hislop, to whom fell the duty of bringing to order its bands of Arab and other mercenaries, entering Khandesh from Sindva, passed unopposed to Thalner. Here, on being summoned to surrender, the commandant, Tulshiram Mama, refused, and though warned that he would be treated as a rebel, continued to fire on the British troops. A storming party forced the first and second of the five gateways. At the third gate Tulshiram gave himself up, and passing in, led the party through the third and fourth gates. At the fifth gate, a body of Arabs, after refusing for a time, opened the gate, and when a party of troops had entered, fell on them, and among others cut down Major Gordon and Captain Macgregor of the Royal Scots. Hearing of this treachery, the rest of the besieging force rushed in, and except one who escaped over the fort wall, put the whole garrison of 300 men to the sword. The commandant, as the author of the treachery, was forthwith hanged (27th February 1818).

Chapter of Thalner, 1818.

From Thalner, Sir Thomas Hislop marched on Betavad, and found it abandoned by its Brahman commandant Daji Gopal, one of Trimbakji Denglia's retainers. At Betavad the force divided, the Commander-in-Chief marching along the Bori, and General Doveton keeping to the banks of the Girna. The fall of Chandor, Utran, and other forts followed soon after, and by the end of March 1818, except Sultanpur, Nandurbar, Adavad, and Raver, all Holkar's possessions south of the Satpudas were held by the British. In the following month (April), Chalisgaon and three other Peshwa districts were, in British interests, taken by Mir Fast Ali, Jaghirdar of Anturgad and Songir, and the country round surrendered to Lieutenant Rule. To the north-east, where large bodies of Arabs harassed the plain country, Mir Fast Ali, supported by a battalion of infantry, two field guns, and 500 horse, pressed forward, and clearing the country, placed it under the charge of Lieutenant Hodges the Assistant Political Agent. Driven from the east, the Arabs retired to the west and massed their troops in the neighbourhood of Sultanpur. To bring them to order, Colonel Macgregor advanced on Sultanpur and Nandurbar, Major Innes moving from Galna to support him.

Malegaon Siege 1818.

A serious revolt among the Arabs at Malegaon for a time kept back the advance. At an early stage in the war Mr. Elphinstone had allowed Gopalrav Raja Bahadur of Malegaon to collect troops and wrest the Malegaon fort from the Peshwa's officers. No sooner had he taken the fort than the Raja found himself a prisoner in the hands of his Arab mercenaries. These men, identifying themselves with a band of freebooters and with the Muvalads or Indian born Arabs of the town, plundered the country round, and made Malegaon one of the chief centres of disorder. On the 16th of May, Lieutenant-Colonel MacDowell, with not more than 1000 men and 270 pioneers, encamped before the town and called on the Arabs, numbering about 350 men, to surrender. They refused and the place was invested. For three days the Arabs made desperate sallies, but were repulsed at the point of the bayonet. In one of these Bailies Lieutenant Davies the chief engineer was killed, and Major Andrews, commanding the European regiment, was severely wounded. On the 22nd, the besieging force was strengthened by 500 Hindustani Horse, and on the next day by a body of infantry of the Russell Brigade, 450 strong, under Lieutenant Hodges. As the guns were much damaged and the ammunition was nearly at an end, no time was lost in attempting a storm. On the night of the 28th, an apparently practicable breach was made, the few remaining shells were thrown into the fort, and the place assaulted. The senior engineer, who led the storming party, was shot dead the moment he mounted the breach, uttering as he fell the word impracticable; Major Green Hill, though wounded in the foot, mounted the breach and let down a ladder, but it dropped from his hands to the bottom of the wall. On this a retreat was sounded, and only the town remained in British hands. This failure was followed by a close blockade, and reinforcements arriving from General Smith with some mortars and howitzers, fire was again opened. The fort magazine exploded and made a clear breach thirty feet wide in the inner wall, the debris filling the ditch. On the 13th of June the garrison capitulated, and the British flag was hoisted on one of the bastions of the inner fort. Next day the garrison marched out and laid down their arms. The Arabs were well treated and taken to Surat, and from Surat were sent to Arabia.

During the Malegaon siege, Major Jardine reduced Nandurbar and Kukarmunda, and marching on Taloda, by the promise of favourable terms, gained Taloda and Navapur, and opened communications with Gujarat. After the fall of Malegaon, a body of troops was stationed at Songir, another at Parola, and a third at Dharangaon. By the first of July (1818), except some isolated spots, the whole district was in British bands. Such of the Arabs as failed to find service in native states, were marched to Bombay, and shipped to their native country Hadramat in east Arabia.

Lieutenant Hodges, the Assistant Political Agent, was despatched to Nasirabad, and the whole country east of the Aner and the Bori as far as Kujar, and a line drawn from Kujar to Saigaon on the Girna and along the Panjhra to the hills, was made over to him as a separate charge.

In the following year (9th April 1819), the fall of Asirgad put an end to the war. Except Sindva, Songir Laling, and others on important lines of communication, which were garrisoned by armed police, most of the hill forts were dismantled. The head-quarters of the regular troops were fixed at Malegaon, and Captain Briggs as Political Aerent took up his residence at the central station of Dhulia.

At this time, on account of the maintenance of a body of horse, Sindia owed the British a considerable sum. To clear off the debt and meet future charges; it was arranged that Pachora, Yaval, Chopda, and twelve villages in Lohara should be made over to the British, On the transfer of this territory (1820), the depredations of Suryajirav Nimbalkar who held Yaval with a force of 3000 Karnatak soldiers, and of the Thokes, who held the strong town of Lasur in Chopda and were closely connected with the Bhils, were at once put down.

 Bhil Disorders 1818.

Captain Briggs was now free to turn his attention to the troublesome Satpuda and Satmala Bhils. Driven from the plains by war and famine, the Bhils had taken to the hills, studding them with settlements, from a few huts of petty freebooters to grand encampments of powerful chiefs, who, assuming the state of petty princes, supported thousands of followers. In the north, from Kukarmunda to Burhanpur, the Satpudas teemed with the disaffected; in the south, the Satmala and Ajanta Bhils, under thirty-two leaders, carried fire and sword over great part of the province; and in the west, the chief of Peint and Abhona, and Govind a powerful Naik, led the freebooters of the Sahyadri hills. The roads were impassable, and in the very heart of the province villages were daily plundered, and cattle and people carried off or murdered. So utterly unsafe did they feel, that the husbandmen refused seed or tillage advances.

In 1818 very active, measures were taken. The troops, divided into small detachments, cut off the Bhils' supplies, and allowing them no rest, hunted several of their leaders to death. Most of the rest despairing of success accepted the offer of pensions, and agreed to keep the peace over certain tracts of country.

Next year (1819) matters were as bad as ever. On all sides the Bhils were in arms and plundering. Khandu and Rupsing and two brothers Ramji and Uchit, once the watchmen of Turkheda, held the western hills; in the south, Chil Naik, the head of the Satmala Bhils, sent his men plundering to the heart of the plain country; and in the east, Mir Khan and the Musalman Bhils in Adavad, and in River, Kaniya helped by Dasrat and Dhanji, chiefs of Lasur, ravaged the rich lands between the Tapti and the Satpudas. Detachments sent all over the country met with much success. In the west, Ramji and Uchit came in and were restored as watchmen of Turkheda; Chil Naik, the head chieftain of the south, was taken and hanged; and in the east, Mir Khan, Kaniya, and Dasrat gave themselves up and were pardoned. This success did not last long. The Bhils, though promised a living on coming to the plains, would not return. Fresh leaders came to the front. In the south, Jandhula and Jakira, holding the Satmala hills, to avenge their lost leader Chil Naik, fiercely ravaged the southern plains; in the east, joined by Sheikh Dallu the famous Pendhari, Dasra went out in revolt; and in the west, Uchit, killing the head of his village, fled to the hills. The Bhil watch turned against their own villagers, and in one month, from Nandurbar came the record of a hundred robberies, house-breakings, and murders. To supply the place of a regular police, the Bhils were offered grain and a monthly money payment of 4s. (Rs. 2). None would accept these terms, and as gentle measures had failed, the military were again called out, and for a hundred miles, holding the skirts of the Satmala hills, forced Jandhula, Jakira, and 1200 followers to give themselves up. In the west, though at first unsuccessful, the troops pressed the rebels hard, and before a year was over (1821), Uchit and Sheikh Dallu were caught and imprisoned.

Bhil Disorders. 1821-1825.

A few months of quiet were (1822) followed by another outbreak, headed in the Satpudas by the Nahals, and in the Satmalas by the famous Hiria, who, dividing his men. into three formidable bands, laid waste the rich plains of Bhadgaon and Erandol. When Captain Briggs left (April 1823), in spite of all his efforts, Khandesh was still harassed and unsafe. Colonel Robinson, his successor, found Hiria at large in the south, and in the north the rich lands near the Satpudas wasted by the Nahals. The troops were strengthened, the hills overrun, the Bhils scattered, and their settlements destroyed. For two years these fierce retributions went on. But though many were caught and killed, fresh leaders were never wanting, their scattered followers again drew together, and quiet and order were as far off as ever.

Kindly Measures 1825.

As force had failed, Mr. Elphinstone, the Governor of Bombay, determined to try gentler measures. In 1825 orders were given that fresh efforts should be made to encourage the wild tribes to settle as husbandmen, and to enlist and form a Bhil Corps. With these objects Khandesh was divided into three Bhil Agencies, one in the north-west including Nandurbar, Sultanpur, Pimpalner, and the Dangs; a second, in the north-east, with Chopda, Yaval, Savda, Erandol, Amalner, and Nasirabad; and a third, in the south, including Jamner, Bhadgaon, Chalisgaon, and the districts near the Satmala range. Each agency was placed under the charge of a resident European officer, and to the officer in charge of the north-east division was given the task of raising a Bhil Corps under native commissioned officers. The duties of the agents were heavy and varied. Gangs still in revolt had to be reduced and order kept, offenders punished or committed for trial, disputes settled and complaints redressed, and pensions paid and the people led to settle to steady work. As far as possible, registers of the different tribes were kept; the chiefs^: were won by rewards and pensions, their hereditary claims to guard, the passes were carefully respected, and tillage was fostered by grants of land, seed, and cattle. The Bhil Corps was very hard to start. Their shyness, restlessness, and suspicions hindered the Bhils from enlisting. But Lieutenant Outram's skill and daring as a tiger-hunter, his freehanded kindness, and his fearless trust in his followers won the Bhils' hearts. Nine men joined him as a body guard, and gathering recruits, as his object became known, in a few months the number rose to sixty. During the rest of the season fresh recruits joined, and at its close, when they entered Malegaon cantonment, the troops welcomed the Bhils as fellow-soldiers and the success of the corps was assured. [The troops who did this good service were the XXIII. Regiment Bombay Native Infantry. Men of the highest caste visited the wild recruits and gave them betelnut Graham's Khandesh Bhils, 8] Then recruits came is numbers, and in 1827, when inspected by the Brigadier, the corps was found highly efficient. Pledging himself for the faithfulness of his men, many posts formerly held by regular troops were entrusted to Outram's Bhils, and not long after, led against a band of their own tribesmen, they proved faithful to their trust and routed the gang. Their strength was raised from 400 to 600 and afterwards to 690. The head-quarters were established at Dharangaon, and the monthly pay of the common soldiers was fixed at 10s. (Rs. 6) with 2s. (Re. 1) more when on outpost duty.

The Bhil Corps 1825-1827.

While in the north-east Lieutenant Outram was raising the Bhil Corps, in the south Major Ovans and Lieutenant Graham were bringing the Satmala Bhils to form settlements and engage in tillage, and Captain Rigby was quieting the wilder western chiefs. Still disturbances were not over. In 1826, Bhadgaon and Sultanpur were plundered, and the Sindva pass was closed by Dhavsing and Subhania who had returned from transportation. Detachments were sent to dislodge the Bhils from Sultanpur, and in the course of the struggle, Devchahd Naik and thirty of his followers were killed. On the other hand,. Subhania Naik repulsed a party of regulars sent against him, wounding twenty-two of the foot and some of the horse. He was soon after betrayed and sent to Dhulia jail where he died. In 1827, after attacking and plundering the village of Barvai, the gang made good its retreat to the hills. With a small detachment of his corps, Lieutenant Outram dashed after them, and reaching a rising ground, he and his band were met by showers of arrows and stones. A jamadar and many recruits were wounded, but the men fought steadily and the enemy were driven from their position. Feigning a retreat, the enemy followed, and in the open plain were charged and routed, the spoil recovered, arms and other property secured, and the chief and many of his followers slain.

Meanwhile the Bhils continued to settle in the plains; the south colonies prospered and many of the wild Bhils in the east of Jamner took to agriculture. The Kukarmunda Bhil Agency was (1827) abolished, and the control of the predatory chiefs was made over to the second assistant collector, then placed in charge of the western districts.

The Bhil tribes were now reclaimed. For some years there were occasional outbreaks, but all were speedily suppressed. In 1828 the Collector reported that, for the first time in twenty years, the district had enjoyed six months rest. In 1880, all the available force of the Bhil Corps and the auxiliary horse, marched on the Dangs, and subdued the chiefs. In 1831 the Tadvi Bhils of Adavad were plundering in the north-east of the district. The Bhil Corps was sent against them and 469 of the rioters were apprehended. The southern colonies continued to prosper, 641 Bhils were at the plough, and 6018 acres (8024 bighas) were under tillage. In 1882, the Bhil Corps was entrusted with the charge of the district treasuries, and Major Ovans was able to report that 113 Bhil villages were established in Chalisgaon, Bhadgaon, and Jamner.

In 1837, at the request of the Gwalior Resident, the districts of Yaval, Chopda, Pachora, and twelve villages of Lohara, were restored to Sindia. This greatly added to the difficulties of keeping order in Khandesh, and in the following year crime suddenly increased and the Bhils gave much trouble. These disturbances were soon repressed, and in 1839 the Bhil Corps had become so efficient that a regiment of the line was withdrawn from Khandesh. In 1840, Pratapsing, Raja of Amli in the south Dangs, throwing off his allegiance, allowed his followers to plunder British villages. Advancing against him by a forced march of sixty miles, the Bhil Agent surprised his chief settlement, and seized his family, flocks, and arms. Next year (1841) a large party of Ahmednagar Bhils, who had plundered the Government treasury at Pimpalner, were pursued by a detachment of the Bhil Corps and secured. During the same year Bhamnia Naik broke into rebellion and attacked a village in Sultanpur. He was met by the Bhil Agent on the banks of the Narbada, and was shot and his followers seized. Next year (1842) the Tadvi Bhils, plundering Savda and Yaval under their leaders Bekaria and Bagchand, were defeated, and Bekaria was seized and Bagchand killed

In April 1844, in accordance with the treaty of Gwalior, Yaval, Chopda, Pachora, and Lohara were again made over to the British. Lalji Sakharam or Lala Bhau, the mamlatdar of Yaval, refusing to surrender, shut himself, with his clerks and three hundred troops, in Yaval fort. Mr. Bell the Collector, who had advanced to take charge of the district, was obliged to retire. He at once summoned troops from Asirgad and Malegaon, and the Bhil Corps under Captain Morris. The troops arrived and encamped at Sakli and Bhalod on both sides of Yaval, and Lalji Sakharam, in consequence of a message from Sindia's officer at Burhanpur, delivered up the fort (April 1844). Similar opposition was made to the taking of Lohara and Pachora. The Rajput patil of the little village of Varkheda shut himself in his fort and refused to yield. Force had to be used, and a detachment of the line and a couple of nine-pounder guns, with the Bhil Corps under Captain Morris, were sent against him. After a long and obstinate resistance, in which the attacking force lost sixteen killed and wounded, and the patil Mansaram was shot dead and his only son mortally wounded, the fort was captured and dismantled.

In 1845, the western Bhil Agency was restored, and a house for the use of the Western Bhil Agent was built at Nandurbar. The new Agent found the chiefs surrounded with bands of worthless unruly mercenaries, Arabs, Sindhis, and Makranis, and at once set to work to pay them off. In 1846, the chief of Chikhli, Kuvar Jiva Vasava, disliking the Bhil Agent's interference, took to the woods, and as he refused to listen to offers of pardon, detachments of the Malegaon Brigade, the Poona Irregular Horse, and the Bhil Corps were sent against him. Though surprised, he made a fierce resistance, and was not captured without bloodshed. He was sentenced to ten years rigorous imprisonment. His son Bamsing was, with his cousin Sonji, sent to Poona to study. For some time both boys did well. But as they grew up, they gave Major Candy the Principal of the college, much trouble, and finally running away; were not found for several months. When he came of age and was entrusted with the management of his estate, Ramsing's conduct was far from steady. Known to share in gang robberies and suspected of murdering his wife, he was (1872) seized and deported, and the management of his estate assumed by Government.

Survey Riot, 1852.

Since 1846, except for a survey riot in 1852 and disturbances connected with the 1857 mutinies, the peace of Khandesh has been unbroken. In 1849, an order of the Revenue Commissioner, that landholders should provide stone boundary marks, met with strong local opposition, and this opposition was thought to be the reason why the order was afterwards cancelled. Accordingly, when, in 1852, the revenue survey was about to be introduced in Savda, Barer, and Chopda, the cultivators determined to make another demonstration. Mr. Davidson, the officer in charge of the. survey, had arrived with his party and pitched his tents at Yaval. The news spread, and shortly some two or three thousand men gathered and surrounded his tents. They said they could find no stones for boundary marks and could not supply the labourers needed by the survey party. Next day they came in still greater numbers, and threatened to pull down the tents if the survey officers did not at once leave. Mr. Davidson sent an express to the Collector at Dhulia, and to Major Morris the commanding officer of the Bhil Corps at Dharangaon. The Collector Mr. Elphinston deputed his first and second assistants, Mr. Havelock and Mr. Boswell, to Yaval, and Major Morris accompanied them with a detachment of the Bhil Corps and the Poona Horse. Mr. Havelock told the people that the survey operations would be stopped till a statement of the circumstances could be made to Government. On this the people dispersed, and shortly afterwards Mr. Havelock, Major Morris, Mr. Boswell, and the survey party retired across the Tapti. The survey officers encamped near Boraval on the Tapti and the other officers returned to head-quarters. After a few days Mr. Davidson resolved to move his camp to Bangaon, a little village on the Tapti about five miles from Savda, but finding that Mr. Bell the Civil Engineer was at Savda, he joined him with the survey officers, Mr. Wadding, ton and Mr. Baker. This movement was a signal for the Savda cultivators again to assemble. They gathered in large numbers at Faizpur and Savda, and sent a deputation to the survey officers' tents, demanding a written assurance that the survey should be abandoned. This the survey officers refused to give. In less than an hour a mob surrounded the tents, and seized the tent ropes, shouting Din! Din! and 'No Survey; So violent did they become that the survey officers mounted their horses and fled. The mob then attacked the mamlatdar and the mahalkari, who tried to disperse them. The mamlatdar was severely hurt and the mahalkari saved himself only by flight. The Collector Mr. Mansfield, who had succeeded Mr. Elphinston, was at Dharangaon when the news of this outrage arrived. He issued a proclamation declaring that the orders of Government must be obeyed, and at the same time called in the aid of the military from Malegaon and of Major Morris with the Bhil Corps from Dharangaon. About the same time the people of Erandol refused to lend their carts for the public service, and  assaulted the mamlatdar's messengers. Thereupon the mamlatdar seized the ringleaders and sent to the Collector at Dharangaon for assistance. The Subhedar Major was despatched to Erandol with fifty men of the Bhil Corps and thirty horse, but the people assembled to the number of several thousands, shut the gates, surrounded the party, and refused to let them leave the town. The news of this riot reached Dharangaon at 10 A.M., and within an hour Major Morris, with 300 men of the 11th and 16th Regiments of Native Infantry, two companies of the Bhil Corps, and fifty men of the-Poona Horse, set out for Erandol. The Collector accompanied the force. The gates of the town were occupied, and the deshmukhs, deshpdndes, and patils were seized and kept in custody. This put an end to the disturbance in Erandol. In Savda and Faizpur the people still continued to assemble. The orders of the mamlatdar and other Government servants were set at defiance. They refused to pay their revenue, and the leaders, forming themselves into a committee, panchayat, took the reins of government into their hands, and punished offenders.

On the 15th of December, Captain Wingate and the Collector joined the force under Major Morris, and the troops reached Faizpur on the 16th an hour before daybreak. The Bhil Corps surrounded the town, and the gates were guarded by the men of the line. The people were taken by surprise and the ringleaders seized. The force then marched to Savda, where the person who had made themselves most conspicuous were apprehended, and a proclamation was issued in the name of Government, commanding the cultivators to return to their homes. This order was sullenly obeyed, and two days after Mr. Mansfield held a darbar at Savda in which he fully explained the object of the survey and declared that the work must go on. The cultivators, seeing that resistance was useless, offered no further opposition.

The Mutinies, 1857.

In 1857, the year of the mutinies, in the Satmalas under Bhagoji Naik, and in the Satpudas under Kajarsing Naik, the Bhils once more became troublesome. The rising under Bhagoji Naik broke out in the Ahmednagar district, and continued, till, in 1859, making a bold raid into Chalisgaon, he was surprised by a body of the Ahmednagar police under Mr., now Sir Frank, Souter. In the Satpudas, Kajarsing, who on several occasions had been treated with the utmost kindness by Mr. Mansfield the Collector, labouring under some imaginary grievance, went into rebellion, plundered villages below the hills, and shut the Sindva pass. A large amount of treasure, on its way from Indor to Bombay, fell into his hands. Hiring Arab mercenaries, he managed to hold out for several months, and in an engagement at Ambapani, caused some loss to the troops sent against him. Though driven from hill to hill and deserted by most of his followers, he eluded his pursuers for two years, when he was killed by the treachery of one of his men, who, for the sake of the reward, cut off his head while he was asleep.

During these troubles considerable alarm was felt by the approach, to the very borders of Khandesh, of the rebel troops under Tatya Topi. On the 3rd of November 1858, news came that Tatya had crossed the Narbada and was marching on Khandesh. Troops were at once moved into the district, and a regiment of Native Infantry, with detachments of the 18th Royal Irish and of Artillery supported by the Poona Irregular Horse, protected Asirgad and Burhanpur, while a wing of the 23rd Native Infantry and a detachment of European Artillery and Infantry, with a squadron of Dragoons, held Ajanta. The Bhil Corps and a strong body of Poona Horse were stationed at Bodvad. The intelligence proved true, and Tatya Topi with his forces passed within thirty miles of Bhuranpur, marching west. Great alarm was felt for the safety of Khandesh and troops were rapidly marching on Chopda, as it was expected that Tatya would: attempt to enter by the Dhaulibari pass. On the 23rd, Tatya plundered Kargund, a village thirty miles from Sindva, and on the following day the rebels robbed the post and destroyed the telegraph wire on the Agra road. Sir Hugh Rose, now Lord Strathnairn, arrived at Shirpur on the same day to take the command of the forces in Khandesh. News next came that the rebels planned a retreat northward, and Sir Hugh resolved at once to press on their rear with all his available force. Mr. Mansfield objected to his district being left exposed, but as there could no longer be any doubt that the. rebels intended to re-cross the Narbada and make for Malwa, Ujain, or Gujarat, Sir Hugh started through the Sindva pass. Finding that Brigadier Parke had already gained on the rebels from the north and turned them west, troops were hurried to Shahada, and the force at Dhulia was strengthened by the Ahmednagar Flying Column. But the rebels contrived to force their way through Bhavani and reached Chhota Udepur, where on the 18th December they were overtaken by Brigadier Parke and routed. It was then feared that they would re-cross the Narbada and attempt to enter Khandesh through Akrani. Troops were sent to Sultanpur and Taloda, but the alarm subsided as it became known that the rebels, baffled in their attempt to re-cross the Narbada, were rapidly moving east towards Khandva. Before the end of the year the need for further military dispositions in Khandesh had ceased. In 1859, the town and fort of Parola, which belonged to a member of the Jhansi family, were confiscated by Government and the fort dismantled.

Since 1859 the peace of the district has been unbroken. During this period, the only important changes have been, in return for the cession of territory near Jhansi in Central India, the acquisition, in 1860, of the Varangaon and the Erandol petty divisions, and in 1869, the transfer to Nasik of Malegaon and Baglan.