i86
BA G HELKHAND
The Bijawar rocks, moreover, exhibit an extraordinarily varied series, in
which slates, sandstones, jaspers, bands of iron ore, limestones, basic
lavas, and ash-beds are all represented. In the south the Bijawars and
the underlying gneiss abut suddenly on the Gondwdnas, which have been
most carefully surveyed, on account of their coal-bearing strata (see
UMARIA). Farther south Cretaceous rocks of the Lameta series and
Deccan trap appear, the hill on which Amarkantak stands being formed
of the latter rock. The known mineral riches of the region are con-
siderable, and more detailed examination is certain to reveal others;
coal, corundum, mica, galena, iron ores, ornamental marbles, red-banded
jaspers, and the magnificent building materials furnished by Vindhyan
sandstones and limestones are among its known treasures 1
The hills in the eastern section are covered with heavy jungle, on
which the khair (Acacia Catechu), sdl(Shorea robusta), sajd (Terminalia
tomentosa), mahud (Bassia latifolia), tendu (Diospyros tomentosa), achar
(Buchanania latifolia), salai (Boswellia serrata), and a stunted form of
teak are the common trees, while Grewia, Zizyphus, Phyllanthus, Cainssa,
dhaweai (Woodfordia), and similar species predominate in the under-
growth.
The name Baghelkhand, or 'country of the Baghelas,' is of com-
paratively late origin, and cannot have become common before the
seventeenth or eighteenth century, as it is never used by the Muham-
madan historians, who invariably style the region Ghora or Bhatghora.
Before the Muhammadan period the tract was known as Dahala and
Chedi, the latter term applying more strictly to the southern districts,
now included partly in the Sohagpur pargana of Rewah State and
partly in the Central Provinces.
The early Buddhist books, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the
Puranas, all connect this region with the Haihaya, Kalachuri, or Chedi
clan. Nothing definite is known of the rise of this clan, but the fact
that they employ in their dated records an era of which the initial year
corresponds to A.D. 249 points to their having become a tribe of local
importance somewhere about the third century. Their original habitat
is always placed on the Narbada, with Mahishmati or MAHESHWAR as
their capital town. From this position they appear to have been driven
eastwards and to have finally acquired Kalinjar, where Krishna Chedi is
said to have slain an evil-minded king who practised cannibalism. With
this stronghold as a base, they gradually extended their dominions over
what is now known as Baghelkhand. During the fourth and fifth
I The Economic Geology of India (1905); articles on ' Corundum.' ' Mica Deposits
of India' in Memoirs ofthe Geological Survey of India, vol. xxxiv; ' The Vindhyan
Series,' ibid., vol. vii, p. I; 'The Southern Coal-fields of the Rewah Gondwana Basin,'
ibid., vol. xxi, p. 137; ' The Geology of the Son Valley,' ibid., vol. xxxi, p. I ; ' Fossil
Flora of the Gondwana System,' Feistmantel and Zeiller in the Palaeontologoia Indica.
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