Panna

Panna lies among the Vindhyan hills of Bundelkhand, a town renowned for its diamond-bearing country and temples. It became the capital of the Bundela chief Chhatrasal and a centre of the Pranami faith associated with his spiritual teacher Prannath. The riches of the surrounding diamond fields and the support of a vigorous ruling house gave Panna a place of particular importance among the towns of the region.

Chhatrasal established his authority in Bundelkhand in the later seventeenth century and made Panna his capital. Prannath spent his last years here under Chhatrasal’s patronage, and the town became a place of pilgrimage for his followers. Local tradition credits him with revealing the diamond deposits to the chief, though accounts differ on the timing of their systematic exploitation. After Chhatrasal’s death in 1731 his territories were divided, and Panna passed to his son Harde Shah.