itory. The young Raja of Garha Mandla, Bir Narayan, was then a
minor, and the defence of the kingdom devolved on Durgavati, the
dowager queen. She first took up her position at the great fortress
of Singaurgarh, north-west of Jabalpur, and, being there defeated,
retired through Garha, to the south-east, towards Mandla. After an
obstinately contested fight the invaders were again successful, and
broke the queen's stout resistance. 'Mounted on an elephant, she
refused to retire, though she was severely wounded, until her troops
had time to recover the shock of the first discharge of artillery,
and, notwithstanding that she had received an arrow-wound in her eye,
bravely defended the pass in person. But, by an extraordinary
coincidence, the river in the rear of her position, which had been
nearly dry a few hours before the action commenced, began suddenly to
rise, and soon became unfordable. Finding her plan of retreat thus
frustrated, and seeing her troops give way, she snatched a dagger
from her elephant-driver, and plunged it into her bosom. . . . Of all
the sovereigns of this dynasty she lives most in the recollection of
the people; she carried out many highly useful works in different
parts of her kingdom, and one of the large reservoirs near Jabalpur
is still called the Rani Talao in memory of her. During the fifteen
years of her regency she did much for the country, and won the hearts
of the people, while her end was as noble and devoted as her life had
been useful' (_C.P. Gazetteer_ (1870), p. 283; with references to
Sleeman's article on the Rajas of Garha Mandla, and 'Briggs'
Farishta', ed. 1829, vol. ii, pp. 217, 218). A memoir of Asaf Khan
Abdul Majid, the general who overcame Durgavati, will be found in
Blochmann's translation of the _Ain-i-Akbari_, vol. i, p. 366.

38. Samthar is a small state, lying between the Betwa and Pahuj
rivers, to the south-west of the Jalaun district. It was separated
from the Datiya State only one generation previous to the British
occupation of Bundelkhand. A treaty was concluded with the Raja in
1812 (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_ (1st ed.), vol. i, p. 578).

39. Gujars occupy more than a hundred villages in the Jalaun
district, chiefly among the ravines of the Pahuj river. The Gujar
caste is most numerous in the Panjab and the upper districts of the
United Provinces. It is not very highly esteemed, being of about
equal rank with the Ahir caste and rather below the Jat. Gujar
colonies are s