Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

and a

proposed state Proposed countries may refer to: * List of proposed state mergers * Lists of active separatist movements Presented below is a list of lists of active separatist movements: *List of active separatist movements in Africa *List of active separat ...

and also a mountain range in central & North India. The hilly region is now divided between the states of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

and

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...

, with the larger portion lying in the latter state.

Jhansi Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative ...

is the largest city in Bundelkhand. Another major city of Bundelkhand is Sagar being second largest city of Bundelkhand and headquarter of Sagar Division.

Etymology

Bundelkhand means " Bundela domain". The region was earlier known as Jejabhukti or Jejakabhukti ("Jeja's province"). According to the inscriptions of the Chandela dynasty, this name derived from Jeja, the nickname of their ruler Jayashakti. However, it is possible that the name derives from an even earlier name of the region: "Jajhauti" or "Jijhoti". After the Bundelas replaced the Chandelas around 14th century, the region came to be known as Bundelkhand after them.

History

Under the British Raj, Bundelkhand included the princely states of Orchha,

Datia Datia is the district headquarter of the Datia District in north central Madhya Pradesh,a state of Central India. It is an ancient town, mentioned in the Mahabharata ruled by King Dantavakra. The city is 78 km from Gwalior, 325&nb ...

and Samthar.

Proposed Bundelkhand state

Bundelkhand comprises parts of

and

. While

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national level political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), a ...

government under Mayawati had proposed in 2011 creation of Bundelkhand from seven districts of

, organizations such as Bundelkhand Akikrit Party and

Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha ( hi, बुन्देलखंड मुक्ति मोर्चा, Bundelkhand Liberation Front), is a political party in India. The film star Raja Bundela is the president of the party. The party struggles for t ...

(BMM) want it to include six districts from

as well. Uma Bharati of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

has promised separate state of Bundelkhand within three years if her party voted to power, during campaign for Loksabha Election, 2014 at

. Similar promise was made by Congress leader

Pradeep Jain Aditya Pradeep Kumar Jain Aditya (born 8 September 1962), is an Indian politician from Indian National Congress (INC), who was Minister of State in Ministry of Rural Development in the 2009 Union Cabinet. He was elected as a Member of Parliament in ...

during Loksabha Election, 2014. Since the early 1960s there has been a movement for establishing a Bundelkhand state or promoting development of the region. Bundelkhand is geographically the central part of India covering some part of Madhya Pradesh and some part of Uttar Pradesh. (At Sagar is the exact centre of the original undivided India: the granite bench mark by British surveyors indicating this is placed in the compound of a church in Sagar Cantonment.) In spite of being rich in minerals, the people of Bundelkhand are very poor and the region is underdeveloped and underrepresented in state and central politics. There are several local parties and organisations, some promoting further development of the region and some seeking statehood. The agrarian crisis and farmers' suicides are also cited as reasons for separate statehood. In November 2011

Council of Ministers proposed to split the state into four parts, with one part being Bundelkhand.

Religion

Prominent Bundelis

* Goswami Tulsidas, the author of ''

Ramcharitmanas ''Ramcharitmanas'' ( deva, श्रीरामचरितमानस, Rāmacaritamānasa), is an epic poem in the Awadhi language, based on the '' Ramayana'', and composed by the 16th-century Indian bhakti poet Tulsidas (c. 1532–1623). T ...

'', born in Rajapur * Keshavdas (1555 – 1617), usually known by the mononym Keshavdas or Keshavadasa, was a Sanskrit scholar & Hindi poet * Tatya Tope, freedom fighter, fought in

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

* Major Dhyanchand *

Jhalkari Bai Jhalkaribai (22 November 1830 – 4 April 1858) was a woman soldier who played an important role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. She served in the women's army of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. She eventually rose to a position of a prominent advis ...

(22 November 1830 – 1858) was an Indian Koli woman soldier who played an important role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 during the battle of Jhansi. *

Maharaja Chhatrasal Chhatrasal Bundela (4 May 1649 – 20 December 1731) was an Indian warrior and ruler from the Bundela Rajput clan, who fought against the Mughal Empire, and established his own kingdom in Bundelkhand during the 17th-18th centuries. Early ...

Chhatrasal Bundela was an early modern Indian Rajput king,who fought against the Mughal Empire, and established his own kingdom in Bundelkhand *

Rani Avantibai Rani Avantibai Lodhi (died 20 March 1858) was an Indian Rajput queen-ruler and freedom fighter. She was the queen of the Ramgarh (present-day Dindori) in Madhya Pradesh. An opponent of the British East India Company during the Indian Rebellio ...

, (died 20 March 1858)

Lodhi Lodhi may refer to: * Lodi (Pashtun tribe), a Batani Pashtun (Ghilzai) tribe mainly found in Afghanistan and Pakistan * Lodhi dynasty of Delhi Sultanate * Lodhi Colony, a residential colony in South Central part of New Delhi * Lodhi (caste), a Hind ...

Queen of estate of

Ramgarh Ramgarh may refer to: Bangladesh * Ramgarh Upazila, a sub-district of Khagrachari District India * Ramgarh, Bihar, a village near Munger, Bihar * Ramgarh, Kaimur, a town in Kaimur district, Bihar * Ramgarh, Uttarakhand, a hill station in Nainit ...

, one of the key figures in the

* Rani Lakshmibai, (1828–1858)

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

Queen of princely state of

, one of the key figures in the

. * Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar MCA & Member of Parliament 1952, MLC & Speaker Vidhan Parishad 1958, notable pleader, Social leader * Mastani Second wife of Peshwa

Bajirao I Baji Rao I (18 August 1700 – 28 April 1740), born as Visaji, also known as Bajirao Ballal (Pronunciation: ad͡ʒiɾaːʋ bəlːaːɭ, was the 7th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. During his 20-year tenure as a Peshwa, he defeated Nizam-ul ...

, the prime minister. Daughter of

Saumitra Rawat Saumitra Rawat is an Indian surgical gastroenterologist and the head of Surgical Gastroenterology and Liver Transplant at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi. The Government of India honoured him in 2015 with the award of Padma Shri. Biography S ...

, surgeon, chairman and head, Surgical Gastroenterology and Liver Transplant, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi; Bundelkhand Gaurav Samman, 2015 Padma Shri * Maithili Sharan Gupt, National Hindi poet * Pandit Nathuram Premi (1881–1960), Prominent publisher of Hindi, Sanskrit and Urdu literature as well as Jain literature. Independent scholar, Jain historian and editor of several Jain works. Founder of

Hindi Granth Ratnakar Karyalay Hindi Granth Karyalay is an Indian publishing house and specialized book store dealing in books pertaining to Jainology and Indology in English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Apabhramsha. It was established in Mumbai, India in 1912 by its founder ...

(24 September 1912), Manikacandra Digambara Jain Granthamala and Jain Hitaishi. *

Phoolan Devi Phoolan Devi (1963–2001), popularly known as the Bandit Queen, was an Mallah woman who grew up in poverty in a village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Her family was in a land dispute which caused many problems in her youth and after b ...

, (1963–2001) popularly known as "Bandit Queen", was an Indian dacoit and later a politician. *

Uma Bharti Uma Bharti (born 3 May 1959) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. She became involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party at a young age, unsuccessfully contesting her first parliamentary elections in 1984. In 1989, ...

, Prominent BJP politician and the former MLA from Charkhari in UP's Bundelkhand region. * Dr. Hari Singh Gaur, Member of Constitution draft committee and founder of University of Sagar. The University of Sagar was later named the

Dr. Hari Singh Gour University Dr. Hari Singh Gour University (Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya), formerly and more popularly known as Sagar University or University of Saugor, is a central university in the city of Sagar, the state of Madhya Pradesh or (MP), India. It wa ...

by the state government in 1983. * Vrindavan Lal Verma, Hindi novelist (Mrig Nayani, Jhansi Ki Rani) * Indeevar, one of the leading Hindi film lyricists in 1960s and 70s * Rani Durgavati, Queen of Gondwana (born to Chandelas of Mahoba / Kalinjar) immortalised owing to her bravery in defending her kingdom against invasion by Mughal emperor

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, H ...

* Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, of Transcendental Meditation * Harishankar Parsai - He was a noted satirist and humorist of modern Hindi literature and is known for his simple and direct style. *

Rajneesh Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 193119 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho (), was an Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. He was viewed as a controv ...

- Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement * Raja Bundela - Raja Bundela (Raja Rajeshwar Pratap Singh Judev) is an Indian actor, producer, politician and civil activist. *

Pankaj Mishra Pankaj Mishra FRSL (born 1969) is an Indian essayist and novelist. He was awarded the Windham–Campbell Prize for non-fiction in 2014. Early life and education Mishra was born in Jhansi, India. His father was a railway worker and trade unioni ...

, Indian essayist and novelist * Joy Mukherjee, Indian actor and director * Ram Mukherjee, Indian director * Sashadhar Mukherjee, producer of Hindi films * Subodh Mukherjee, director, producer, writer of Hindi cinema. *

Subodh Khandekar Subodh Khandekar is a former international hockey player. He was born on 5 October 1964 in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India and has represented India in various international tournaments. His father V B Khandekar also represented Services in National ...

, Olympian hockey player *

Tushar Khandekar Tushar Khandker (born 5 April 1985) is an Indian professional field hockey player. He represented India in Men's Hockey during the 2012 London Olympics. Khandker comes from a family of hockey players as his father, uncle and elder brother play ...

, player on Indian national hockey team * Gopal Bhargava, prominent BJP leader, Senior Most Legislator & Cabinet Minister of

In Art and Literature

An engraving of a picture by H. Melville entitled ''Scene near Chillah Tarah Ghaut, Bundelkhund'' was published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1835 alongside a poetical illustration by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

, ''Scene in Bundelkhund'', which alludes to the desperate conditions in the district due to the famine then prevailing.

Gallery

File:Dhyanchand statue.jpg, Statue of Dhyan Chand on Sipri Hill File:Rani Durgavati.jpg, Rani Durgavati maravi File:Bundeli Jhalak.webp, ‘Bundeli Jhalak’ the cultural archive of Bundelkhand.

References

External links

Check dam project in Bundelkhand (Development Alternatives)

* James Foote Holcomb, Helen Harriet Howe Holcomb, ''In the Heart of India, or, beginnings of missionary work in Bundela Land, with a short chapter on the characteristics of Bundelkhand and its people, and four chapters of Jhansi history''. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 190
Text at archive.org

Radio Bundelkhand
{{Authority control Regions of Madhya Pradesh Regions of Uttar Pradesh Regions of India Proposed states and union territories of India