Garh Kundar (also spelled Gadhkudhar) is a small village in the city of

Tikamgarh Tikamgarh is a Census town#India, town and a tehsil in Tikamgarh district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The city serves as a district headquarters. The earlier name of Tikamgarh was Tehri (i.e., a triangle) consisting of three hamlet ...

Niwari district Niwari district is one of the 52 districts of the Madhya Pradesh state in India. Niwari town is administrative headquarter of Niwari district. This district was formed on 1 October 2018. It was formerly part of Tikamgarh district. Niwari is th ...

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

. It has been named so after the splendid fort, or "Garh", of Kundar located here. From 925 to 1507 AD, Garh Kundar fort witnessed many battles and bloodshed. Yashovarma Chandel (925–940 AD) built the fort after conquering south western

Bundelkhand Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central & North India. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the larger portion lyin ...

. In the battle between

Prithviraj Chauhan Prithviraja III (IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; reign. – 1192 CE), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, with his capital at Ajmer in present- ...

and the Chandels in 1182 AD fort commander. Shayaji Parmar lost and the fort came under Prithviraj Chauhan. Then Prithviraj

Chauhan Chauhan, historically ''Chahamana'', is a clan name historically associated with the various ruling Rajput families during the Medieval India in Rajasthan. Subclans Khichi, Hada, Songara, Bhadauria, Devda etc. are the branches or subclan ...

appointed Khetsingh Khangar as the ruler of this fort who founded the Khangar Dynasty afterwards. The fort is built at the top of a hill and has five stories, in which two are underground and three are above it. The fort is built in such a way that it is visible from 5 km but as one keeps on coming near to it, the fort seems to be away from sight and the main road gets diverted to any other direction. The history of the fort has been beautifully written by Vrindawanlal Verma in his book

Khangar Dynasty

When Prithviraj Chauhan lost to Mohammad Ghori in 1192 AD, then Khetsingh Khangar declared himself as the hindu independent ruler.

Bundela Dynasty

in 1288 AD, the first Dynasty of

Bundela The Bundela is a Rajput clan. Over several generations, the cadet lineages of Bundela Rajputs founded several states in area what came to be known as Bundelkhand anciently known as Chedi Kingdom from the 16th century. Etymology As per Jaswant ...

s was established. Hemvati was wedded to Punyapal Panwar/Parmar. King Sohanpal was the first King of Bundelas who died in 1299 AD. After him, his son King Sahjendra Bundela ruled from 1299 to 1326 AD. In 1507 AD, Bundela king

Rudra Pratap Singh Rudra Pratap Singh Bundela (r. 1501–1531) was the founder and first raja of the kingdom that became the princely state of Orchha, India, during the Lodhi Dynasty . His name is sometimes spelled Rudrapratap Singh and his last name, Bundela, is ...

established Orchha as his new capital at the banks of

Betwa River The Betwa (Hindi: बेतवा, Sanskrit: वेत्रवती) is a river in Central and Northern India, and a tributary of the Yamuna. It rises in the Vindhya Range (Raisen) just north of Narmadapuram in Madhya Pradesh and flows north ...

which is now famous for Shri Ram Mandir.

Origin of name

The name ‘Kundar’ is derived from ‘Kundarka’ (Kund + Arka, कुंड+अर्क). ‘Kund’ (कुंड) means ‘pond’ and Arka’ (अर्क) means ‘sun’. There was a pond in the village, It is said that the people used to get rid of their skin diseases after bathing in the pond or the ‘Arka-kund’. The remnants of the pond can still be seen near the temple of ‘Giddh vahini maa’ near the fort.

References

{{Forts in Madhya Pradesh Geography of Madhya Pradesh Niwari district