Baghelkhand - Region

Baghelkhand is a somewhat recent name for the Region, with Vaghela rulers arriving in the 1300s.
Earlier names are said to be Dahala ? and

Between the ????? and ??? centuries the region was ruled by a branch of the Kalachuri - sometimes called the Kalachuri of Tripuri (Among the several branchs of the Kalachuri-Yadava). The Kalachuri-Yadava kingdoms faced the early Muslim invasions and collapsed as a result. Thereafter a branch of Vaghela from Gujarat came to rule the ? region in the 1300s after which / till present - the region has been called Baghelkhand and the dialect : Bagheli, a brach of Kosali - Central Hindi.

The true defining factors of the region are :
- the language spoken is Madhya Kosali - part of Eastern Hindi (Bundelkhand is Madhya Suraseni part of Central Hindi)
- the region is the home of the Kol people, distinguishable having more than 2 million. ref
- the region is inhabited exclusively by the Gond super-tribe in contrast with the increasing Bhil super-tribe to the west.
- the region is plateau/hilly, while the Kosali speaking areas to the North are Plains.


The first capital of the Kalachuri of Tripuri - was at Tripuri. Thereafter by 700 ce Kalinjar was founded and was the prominent capital of the Kalachuri of Tripuri. Kalinjar bounds and is the frontier with the Chandela to the west (whom later ruled it and thus often mistaken as having Bundel origins). Later under the Vaghela the capital variously shifted east to , and during the early Muslim period to Bandhavgarh and finally to Reva.