s the lord paramount of the country. The Mahratta power was,
however, on the decline; the flight of the peshwa from his capital to
Bassein before the British arms changed the aspect of affairs, and by the
treaty concluded between the peshwa and the British government, the
districts of Banda and Hamirpur were transferred to the latter. Two chiefs
then held the ceded districts, Himmat Bahadur, the leader of the Sanyasis,
who promoted the views of the British, and Shamsher, who made common cause
with the Mahrattas. In September 1803, the united forces of the English and
Himmat Bahadur compelled Shamsher to retreat with his army. In 1809
Ajaigarh was besieged by a British force, and again three years later
Kalinjar was besieged and taken after a heavy loss. In 1817, by the treaty
of Poona, the British government acquired from the peshwa all his rights,
interests and pretensions, feudal, territorial or pecuniary, in
Bundelkhand. In carrying out the provisions of the treaty, an assurance was
given by the British government that the rights of those interested in the
transfer should be scrupulously respected, and the host of petty native
principalities in the province is the best proof of the sincerity and good
faith with which this clause has been carried out. During the mutiny of
1857, however, many of the chiefs rose against the British, the rani of
Jhansi being a notable example.

BUNDI, or BOONDEE, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency, lying
on the north-east of the river Chambal, in a hilly tract historically known
as Haraoti, from the Hara sept of the great clan of Chauhan Rajputs, to
which the maharao raja of Bundi belongs. It has an area of 2220 sq. m. Many
parts of the state are wild and hilly, inhabited by a large Mina
population, formerly notorious as a race of robbers. Two rivers, the
Chambia and the Mej, water the state; the former is navigable by boats. In
1901 the population was 171,227, showing a decrease of 42% due to the
effects of famine. The estimated revenue is L46,000, the tribute L8000.
There is no railway, but the metalled road from Kotah to the British
cantonment of Deoli passes through the state. The town of Bundi had a
population in 1901 of 19,313. A school for the education of boys of high
rank was opened in 1897.

The state of Bundi was founded about A.D. 1342 by the Hara chief Rao Dewa,
or Deoraj, who captured the town from the Minas. Its importance, however,
dates from the time of Rao