Vidarbha · Deccan Inland Plateau

History

Vidarbha's periods do not line up with the rest of Marathi country, and the reason is administrative rather than cultural. Its ancient period is the most substantial in Maharashtra outside the Konkan ports, because the Vakatakas actually ruled from here, from Nandivardhana near Ramtek and from Vatsagulma, which is Washim. Its medieval period runs on two tracks that rarely meet: Berar in the west, which passed from Bahmani to Imad Shahi to Ahmadnagar to Mughal to Nizam, and the Gond kingdoms of Chanda and Deogarh in the east, which were indigenous, long-lived and very thinly documented. Its modern period begins in 1853, not 1818: in that single year Berar was assigned to British administration and the Bhonsle state at Nagpur lapsed to the Company. From 1861 the region was governed from Nagpur as the capital of the Central Provinces rather than from Bombay, which is why its Marathi took on Hindi habits and its towns were laid out to move cotton.

Periodisation is regional, not national — the medieval period does not begin in the same century here as it does elsewhere in India.

Ancientc. 500 BCE – c. 1000 CE

Vidarbha is named in Sanskrit literature as a janapada, with Kundinapura as its city, and the identification with Kaundinyapur on the Wardha is traditional rather than proven. What is archaeologically solid begins with the Buddhist stupa site at Pauni on the Wainganga and continues into the Vakataka period, which is the region's high point in the record. From about 250 to about 510 the Vakatakas ruled from two capitals inside this region, and the marriage of Rudrasena II to Prabhavatigupta, daughter of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II, produced the single best-documented regency in early Deccan history: after her husband's early death she governed for her sons for roughly twenty years, issuing grants in her own name. The Vatsagulma branch at Washim produced Harisena, under whose patronage the later caves at Ajanta, over the range in the Godavari country, were excavated.

When	What happened
c. 2nd century BCE	A brick stupa with a stone railing is built at Pauni on the Wainganga, the earliest substantial Buddhist site in the region.
c. 250 CE	Vindhyashakti founds the Vakataka line; almost nothing is recorded of him beyond the name.
c. 270–330	Pravarasena I extends Vakataka territory and is the only ruler of the line to call himself samrat.
c. 380	Rudrasena II marries Prabhavatigupta, daughter of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II; the alliance ties the Deccan court to the north.
c. 385–405	Prabhavatigupta governs as regent for her sons from Nandivardhana, near the present Nagardhan below Ramtek, issuing land grants in her own name.
c. 475–500	Harisena rules the Vatsagulma branch from Washim; the later Ajanta caves are excavated under Vakataka patronage associated with him. His regnal dates are disputed and are given variously from about 460 onwards.
c. 500	Vakataka power ends, and the region passes under a succession of larger Deccan empires ruling from outside it.

Medievalc. 1000 – 1739

For seven centuries the west and the east of this region were separate countries. Berar, the Payanghat cotton plain, went with whichever power held the northern Deccan: Yadava, then Delhi, then Bahmani, then in 1490 an independent Imad Shahi sultanate at Ellichpur, then Ahmadnagar from 1574, then the Mughals from 1596, then the Asaf Jahi state after 1724. The eastern forests went a different way entirely. Gond dynasties held Chanda, on the Wardha near its junction with the Wainganga, and Deogarh in the northern hills, for several centuries; they built the walled city at Chandrapur, extended the tank irrigation that still defines the Wainganga country, and left far less written record than any of the sultanates, which is why the region's longest-ruling dynasty is also its least documented. The two tracks meet only in 1739, when a succession dispute at Deogarh brought in Raghuji Bhonsle.

When	What happened
13th century	The Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri hold the western plain; their authority ends with the Khalji expeditions at the turn of the fourteenth century.
c. 1437–1495	Khandkya Ballal Shah of the Gond line founds Chandrapur at the meeting of the Irai and the Zarpat and begins its fortification; the sources give his reign variously as 1437 to 1462 and 1470 to 1495.
1490	Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk establishes an independent sultanate in Berar with its capital at Ellichpur, one of the five states into which the Bahmani Sultanate broke up.
16th century	Rani Hirai, widow of the Gond ruler of Chandrapur, completes the city's fortification wall, which still stands with four main gates.
1574	Berar is annexed by Ahmadnagar under Murtaza Nizam Shah, and the Imad Shahi line ends.
1596	Berar is ceded to the Mughals under the settlement that followed the Mughal siege of Ahmadnagar.
1702	Bakht Buland Shah of the Gond kingdom of Deogarh founds Nagpur by joining together twelve villages on the Nag.
1724	Asaf Jah establishes his independent authority in the Deccan after the battle at Shakar Kheda, in the Buldhana country at the western end of this region; Berar is administered from Hyderabad thereafter.
1739	The death of Chand Sultan at Deogarh brings in Raghuji Bhonsle, and Maratha authority replaces Gond in the eastern half of the region.

Modern1739 – 1947

The Bhonsle state at Nagpur was built quickly and lost in stages. Raghuji I took Deogarh, Chanda and Chhattisgarh by 1751 and sent armies east into Bengal and Orissa; the cession of Cuttack dates from that period. Defeat at Argaon and the storming of Gawilgarh in 1803 cost the state Cuttack, southern Berar and Sambalpur under the Treaty of Deogaon; Sitabuldi in 1817 cost it the rest of its independence; and in 1853 Raghuji III died without a recognised heir and the state lapsed to the Company. Berar was assigned to British administration in the same year. From 1861 Nagpur was the capital of the Central Provinces, and the region's modern shape follows from that: railways built to trunk routes rather than to a port, cotton markets in every district town, coal at Chandrapur, and a political life that ran through Nagpur and the Central Provinces rather than through Bombay. From 1936 the region also held the national leadership itself, because Gandhi lived at Sevagram outside Wardha, and the Quit India resolution was drafted there in July 1942.

When	What happened
1739–1755	Raghuji Bhonsle I rules at Nagpur, taking Deogarh, Chanda and Chhattisgarh by 1751 and campaigning east into Bengal and Orissa, from which the cession of Cuttack follows.
1803	Raghuji II is defeated at Argaon and Gawilgarh is stormed; by the Treaty of Deogaon the state cedes Cuttack, southern Berar and Sambalpur.
26–27 November 1817	Bhonsle troops under Appa Sahib are defeated at Sitabuldi outside Nagpur; he is reinstated, then deposed the following year.
11 December 1853	Raghuji III dies without a recognised heir and Nagpur is annexed under the doctrine of lapse; in the same year Berar is assigned to British administration.
1861	Nagpur becomes the capital of the newly constituted Central Provinces, and the region is governed from within itself for the first time since the Vakatakas.
December 1920	The Congress session at Nagpur adopts the non-cooperation programme and reorganises the party on linguistic provincial lines.
1923	A satyagraha at Nagpur against a prohibition on carrying the national flag draws volunteers from several provinces and is settled by negotiation.
April 1936	Gandhi settles at Segaon, which he renames Sevagram, on land near Wardha made available by Jamnalal Bajaj, and the village becomes the working centre of the national movement.
14 July 1942	The Congress Working Committee, meeting at Wardha, adopts the resolution that becomes the Quit India demand.

Rulers and commanders

Prabhavatigupta Maharani, ruling as regent Regent c. 385–405

Daughter of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II and widow of Rudrasena II, she governed the Vakataka kingdom for roughly twenty years on behalf of her young sons and issued land grants in her own name. Her charters are among the most-cited documents in early Deccan history because they show a woman exercising sovereign functions and because they date the Gupta-Vakataka connection precisely.

Dynasty: Vakataka, by marriage; Gupta by birth. Seat: Nandivardhana, near Ramtek

Harisena Maharaja Ruler c. 475–500, dates disputed

The last major ruler of the western branch, and the patron under whom the later caves at Ajanta, across the range in the Godavari country, were excavated. The regnal dates are contested; some scholars place his reign from about 460.

Dynasty: Vakataka, Vatsagulma branch. Seat: Vatsagulma (Washim)

Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk Sultan Founder 1490–1504

Established Berar as an independent sultanate in 1490 as the Bahmani state broke up, with its capital at Ellichpur below the Gawilgarh hills.

Dynasty: Imad Shahi. Seat: Ellichpur (Achalpur)

Khandkya Ballal Shah Raja Founder 15th century, dates given variously

Founded Chandrapur at the meeting of the Irai and the Zarpat and began the fortification of the city. The Gond dynasty of Chanda is the longest-ruling line in the region and the least documented; even its regnal years are given differently by different sources.

Dynasty: Gond kings of Chanda. Seat: Chandrapur

Rani Hirai Rani Regent 16th century

Completed the fortification wall around Chandrapur after her husband's death; the circuit, with four main gates and five smaller openings, still stands.

Dynasty: Gond kings of Chanda. Seat: Chandrapur

Bakht Buland Shah Raja Ruler c. 1700

Founded Nagpur in 1702 by joining twelve villages on the Nag into a single town, and encouraged cultivators and craftsmen to settle in it. The largest city in central India begins as a Gond administrative decision.

Dynasty: Gond kingdom of Deogarh. Seat: Deogarh, and Nagpur

Raghuji Bhonsle I Senasahibsubha Founder 1739–1755

Came into the Deogarh succession dispute of 1739 and stayed, taking Deogarh, Chanda and Chhattisgarh by 1751 and establishing the state that governed the region until 1853. His armies campaigned east into Bengal and Orissa, and the cession of Cuttack to Nagpur dates from those years.

Dynasty: Bhonsle of Nagpur. Seat: Nagpur

The malguzars of the Wainganga country Malguzar, a village revenue proprietorship Administrator confirmed under the Central Provinces settlements from the 1860s

In the eastern districts the unit of authority was the village revenue proprietor rather than a ruling house. The Central Provinces settlements confirmed malguzars as proprietors, and with the proprietorship went responsibility for several thousand irrigation tanks, many of them older than the office itself. That is why they are still called malguzari tanks, and why an engineered landscape of that size has no single builder's name attached to it.

Dynasty: An office confirmed by settlement, not a dynasty. Seat: Bhandara, Gondia and Chandrapur

The history of Vidarbha from ancient through medieval to modern times, and the rulers, commanders and administrators who shaped it. (8)