penetrate to Bundelkhand. Though
Saugor and Damoh contain a fair number of Gonds they have never
been of importance there, and this is almost their farthest limit
to the north-west. The Gond States in the Central Provinces did not
come into existence for several centuries after the commencement
of the Chandel dynasty, and while there are authentic records of
all these states, the Gonds have no tradition of their dominance
in Bundelkhand. The Gonds have nowhere else built such temples as
are attributed to the Chandels at Khajuraho, whilst the Bhars were
famous builders. "In Mirzapur traces of the Bhars abound on all sides
in the shape of old tanks and village forts. The bricks found in
the Bhar-dihs or forts are of enormous dimensions, and frequently
measure 19 by 11 inches, and are 2 1/4 inches thick. In quality
and size they are similar to bricks often seen in ancient Buddhist
buildings. The old capital of the Bhars, five miles from Mirzapur,
is said to have had 150 temples." [509] Elliot remarks [510] that
"common tradition assigns to the Bhars the possession of the whole
tract from Gorakhpur to Bundelkhand and Saugor, and many old stone
forts, embankments and subterranean caverns in Gorakhpur, Azamgarh,
Jaunpur, Mirzapur and Allahabad, which are ascribed to them, would seem
to indicate no inconsiderable advance in civilisation." Though there
are few or no Bhars now in Bundelkhand, there are a large number of
Pasis in Allahabad which partly belongs to it, and small numbers in
Bundelkhand; and the Pasi caste is mainly derived from the Bhars;
[511] while a Gaharwar dynasty, which is held to be derived from
the Bhars, was dominant in Bundelkhand and Central India before the
rise of the Chandels. According to one legend, the ancestor of the
Chandels was born with the moon as a father from the daughter of the
high priest of the Gaharwar Raja Indrajit of Benares or of Indrajit
himself. [512] As will be seen, the Gaharwars were an aristocratic
section of the Bhars. Another legend states that the first Chandel
was the offspring of the moon by the daughter of a Brahman Pandit
of Kalanjar. [513] In his _Notes on the Bhars of Bundelkhand_ [514]
Mr. Smith argues that the Bhars adopted the Jain religion, and also
states that several of the temples at Khajuraho and Mahoba, erected
in the eleventh century, are Jain. These were presumably erected
by the Chandels, but I have never seen it suggested that the Gonds
were Jains or were c