n the Nerbudda
valley about the sixth century, their earliest inscription being dated
A.D. 580. Their capital was moved to Tripura or Tewar near Jubbulpore
about A.D. 900, and from here they appear to have governed an extensive
territory for about 300 years, and were frequently engaged in war with
the adjoining kingdoms, the Chandels of Mahoba, the Panwars of Malwa,
and the Chalukyas of the south. One king, Gangeyadeva, appears even
to have aspired to become the paramount power in northern India, and
his sovereignty was recognised in distant Tirhut. Gangeyadeva was fond
of residing at the foot of the holy fig-tree of Prayaga (Allahabad),
and eventually found salvation there with his hundred wives. From
about A.D. 1100 the power of the Kalachuri or Haihaya princes began to
decline, and their last inscription is dated A.D. 1196. It is probable
that they were subverted by the Gond kings of Garha-Mandla, the first
of whom, Jadurai, appears to have been in the service of the Kalachuri
king, and subsequently with the aid of a dismissed minister to have
supplanted his former-master. [535] The kingdom of the Kalachuri or
Haihaya kings was known as Chedi, and, according to Mr. V.A. Smith,
corresponded more or less roughly to the present area of the Central
Provinces. [536]

In about the tenth century a member of the reigning family of Tripura
was appointed viceroy of some territories in Chhattisgarh, and two or
three generations afterwards his family became practically independent
of the parent house, and established their own capital at Ratanpur
in Bilaspur District (A.D. 1050). This state was known as Dakshin or
southern Kosala. During the twelfth century its importance rapidly
increased, partly no doubt on the ruins of the Jubbulpore kingdom,
until the influence of the Ratanpur princes, Ratnadeva II. and
Prithwideva II., may be said to have extended from Amarkantak to
beyond the Godavari, and from the confines of Berar in the west to
the boundaries of Orissa in the east. [537] The Ratanpur kingdom of
Chedi or Dakshin Kosala was the only one of the Rajput states in the
Central Provinces which escaped subversion by the Gonds, and it enjoyed
a comparatively tranquil existence till A.D. 1740, when Ratanpur fell
to the Marathas almost without striking a blow. "The only surviving
representative of the Haihayas of Ratanpur," Mr. Wills states, [538]
"is a quite simple-minded Rajput who lives at Bargaon in Raipur
District. He represe