Mandla

Mandla stands on the Narmada in the wooded highlands of central India. Its position in a bend of the river gave the town a natural defensive setting, and its fort became a seat of the Gond rulers of Garha-Mandla. Nearby Ramnagar preserves palaces built by Hirde Shah, whose court moved deeper into the forests after threats to the earlier royal stronghold at Chauragarh. The kingdom’s story is closely tied to the Narmada valley and its surrounding hills.

Hirde Shah came to the throne in 1635 after a Bundela attack on his father Prem Shah. He shifted the seat to Ramnagar around 1657; Mandla itself became a later capital. The Gond kingdom survived Mughal and Bundela pressure, but Maratha demands grew during the eighteenth century. In 1781 the Sagar Marathas overthrew Narhar Shah, ending the dynasty’s rule. The Bhonsles of Nagpur later controlled the region before British forces took Mandla in 1818.