Garh Kundar (also spelled Gadhkudhar) is a small village in the city of Niwari district of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

. It has been named so after the splendid fort, or "Garh", of Kundar located here. From 925 to 1507 AD, Garh Kundar fort witnessed many battles and bloodshed. Yashovarma Chandel (925–940 AD) built the fort after conquering south western

Bundelkhand Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central and North India. It corresponds to the Post-Vedic Chedi kingdom. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Prad ...

. In the battle between

Prithviraj Chauhan Prithviraja III (IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; 22 May 1166 – February 1192), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chahamanas of Shakambhari, Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, w ...

and the Chandel(Rajput clan) in 1182 AD fort commander. Shayaji Parmar lost and the fort came under Prithviraj Chauhan. Then Rajput King Prithviraj Chauhan appointed Khet Singh Khangar as the ruler of this fort who founded the Khangar Dynasty afterwards. The fort is built at the top of a hill and has five stories, in which two are underground and three are above it. The fort is built in such a way that it is visible from 5 km but as one keeps on coming near to it, the fort seems to be away from sight and the main road gets diverted to any other direction. The history of the fort has been beautifully written by Vrindawanlal Verma in his book

Khangar Dynasty

When Prithviraj Chauhan lost to Mohammad Ghori in 1192 AD, then khub singh Khangar declared himself as the independent ruler.

Bundela Dynasty

in 1288 AD, the first Dynasty of

Bundela The Bundela is a Rajput clan. Over several generations, the cadet lineages of Bundela Rajputs founded several states in area what came to be known as Bundelkhand anciently known as Chedi Kingdom from the 16th century. Etymology As per Jaswa ...

s was established. Hemvati was wedded to Punyapal Panwar/Parmar. King Sohanpal was the first King of Bundelas who died in 1299 AD. After him, his son King Sahjendra Bundela ruled from 1299 to 1326 AD. In 1507 AD, Bundela king

Rudra Pratap Singh Rudra Pratap Singh Bundela (r. 1501–1531) was the founder and first Raja of the Kingdom of Orchha. His name is sometimes spelled Rudrapratap Singh and his last name, Bundela, is often omitted. He reigned between 1501 and 1531, during whic ...

established Orchha as his new capital at the banks of

Betwa River , discharge1_min = , discharge1_avg = , date=November 2019 , discharge1_max = , source1 = Vindhya Range , source1_location = Near Obedullaganj, Vindhya Range north of Hoshangabad , source1_coordinates = , source1_elevation = , mouth ...

which is now famous for Shri Ram Mandir.

Origin of name

The name ‘Kundar’ is derived from ‘Kundarka’ (Kund + Arka, कुंड+अर्क). ‘Kund’ (कुंड) means ‘pond’ and Arka’ (अर्क) means ‘sun’. There was a pond in the village, It is said that the people used to get rid of their skin diseases after bathing in the pond or the ‘Arka-kund’. The remnants of the pond can still be seen near the temple of ‘Giddh vahini maa’ near the fort.

References

{{Forts in Madhya Pradesh Geography of Madhya Pradesh Niwari district