BOGALCUND, a district of the province of Gundwana in Hindostan, in the 25th degree of north latitude, and 82d of east longitude; bounded on the west by the British possessions in Bundelcund, on the east by the small territory of Man was, and watered by the rivers Soane, Bichanuddy, and Behennuddy.

The exact dimensions of this country, as far as we know, are not ascertained; but they appear to be considerable.

Part of it is fertile and well cultivated; the chief crops are wheat, barley, and different kinds of pease, all in tolerable quantity; nevertheless, very little grain exceeding their own necessities is raised by the natives. They have also numerous herds of black cattle, and large flocks of sheep. The whole surface is traversed by good roads. The access from Allahabad, to which it was annexed by Aurungzebe, is by a pass called Sohagee Ghaut, long, steep, and difficult, having at its extremity a redoubt in a strong position. From this point Bogalcund appears like a great table land without any descent, and the traveller is conducted by a good road to the capital.

Gundwana is inhabited by various tribes, who have received the generic name of Goands. Their manners and civilization are different, and in various stages of advancement; some, particularly the mountaineers, being rude and savage. They go almost naked, if not entirely so; practise gross superstitions; and dwell in villages consisting of a few huts in places almost inaccessible. But those in the lower and fertile parts of the country are more cultivated, and sufficiently courteous to strangers. The inhabitants of Bogalcund are called Bogals, Bogheleis, or Boghels, synonymes used indifferently; but it is not evident whether they should be considered as a distinct race from the Goands of Gundwana. They are reported to have migrated hither from Guzzerat many centuries ago, and, gradually enlarging their confines by an encroachment on those of their neighbours, to have expelled a tribe of mountaineers from Shewah, which their chief was induced, by the excellence of its situation, to select for his own residence. It is not unlikely that they are of Tartar origin. As this is one of the northern countries of India, the history and statistics of which are extremely obscure, very little can be said of the manners, customs, and condition of its inhabitants. They consist of five different tribes, acknowledging the same government, but without admitting an equal control, or paying the like obedience to it. Part, or the whole, profess the Mahommedan religion, and many temples are to be seen in the territory. Three of the tribes follow a practice, too general in the East, of destroying their infant daughters, which must inevitably restrict the population. The Bogals are skilful in agriculture; and they have many fine tanks, or artificial ponds, conveniencies of greater importance in India, and of infinitely larger size, than Europeans are wont to conceive. These are generally situated on a declivity, three sides being built up with much art and labour, ancì the fourth serving asana-tural embankment. The agricultural skill of the inhabitants results, in a great measure, from the nature of the government. Here the feudal system prevails, and many of the lands are held by military tenure. The forces have no pay, but, instead of it, certain lands are assigned for their subsistence. Their influence is thence very great, and there is not an officer among them without one or two villages for his support. The country is thus partitioned among innumerable feudatories, who find it their interest to promote agriculture in order to provide more amply for their own subsistence. It is common with the peasantry to change their abode at intervals of three or four years, for the purpose of tilling the ground whereon their cottages stood. The traces of villages recently abandoned are, therefore, frequently to be seen, and would indicate declining prosperity, did not their renewal in other places, as often presented to view, prove the reverse.

The chief town of Bogalcund is Rewah, which is large and populous. It is situated on the small river Bichanuddy, rising twenty miles to the east, and joined by the Behennuddy just above the town. The united stream runs immediately under a large fort in the capital, which includes the houses of the most wealthy and respectable inhabι-tants, [7:4:731]and where the rajah resides. In the neighbourhood are some memorials of the slain, who fell in a great battle, wherein the Bogals were victorious against an invading enemy. Rewah stands in latitude 24. 37. N. and 81. 25. E. longitude; and is distant 126 miles north-east of Benares.

This district is under the government of an independent rajah, who is said to be the maha-rajah or sovereign of several neighbouring territories; and although the rajah of Bundelcund is himself quite independent, and infinitely the more powerful of the two, it is necessary for him to be invested by the rajah of Bogalcund; which exhibits another analogy to feudal principles. His revenues are very small, principally owing to the subdivisions of the district; for it has sometimes excited astonishment that the sovereign of so fertile a territory should be so poor. He receives an inconsiderable tribute from the rajahs acknowledging his superiority, land-rents, and customs on merchandise passing through the capital.

Ali Bahauder, a Mahratta chief who held a powerful command in the army of the Peishwa, or head of the nation, threatened Bogalcund with invasion about the year 1794 or 1795, in order to levy contributions from the rajah, which he was little able to afford. But he was beloved by his subjects; and Ali Bahauder having put his menaces in execution, he raised an army of about 3000 men to oppose him. The enemy advanced with 6000 men, overthrowing every thing in his course, until he arrived within two miles of the capital. There he was encountered and totally defeated by the rajah, with the loss of his general and his cannon. The invader vowed to revenge the destruction of this army and the death of his general. He again collected a powerful force, and invaded Bogalcund a second time, in the year 1795; but the rajah, then aged and incapable of the exertion necessary to resist so active an enemy, purchased peace by concessions. Either at this time, or previously, he engaged to pay Ali Bahauder L. 14,500 sterling; a stipulation which he found himself totally unable to perform; and a neighbouring rajah, who had become security for the payment, and required hostages for his indemnification, afterwards obtained the cession of a valuable district in Bogalcund, probably from having been obliged to fulfil his part of the engagement. But this was not the only calamity; for a supervening scarcity in the succeeding season followed the depredations of Ali Bahauder’s troops. The natural fertility of the soil, however, and importation of various commodities from Misapour, contributed to relieve the inhabitants, and the country began to recover speedily from the disasters to which it had been exposed. Nevertheless its dismemberment, at no distant period, was anticipated, from the increasing poverty and declining power of the rajah, though the nature of the soil and the state of agriculture were both sufficient to support a numerous population. Formerly, the influence of the rajahs of Bogalcund was very considerable in Indian affairs; and they have been known to afford an asylum to powerful princes, whom temporary adversity exiled from their own dominions. Here the illustrious emperor of the Moguls, Ackbar, was born, in the year 1542. On occasion of a usurpation of the empire, his father, Huma-yoon, retired from Delhi; and his mother, when pregnant, was, for greater security, sent to a strong fortress, where, tradition reports, she was almost immediately taken in labour. But the astrologers of the day having previously determined that future felicity would attend the child who should be born at a certain moment, she was suspended during two hours by the legs, in order to retard the period of delivery, and then being taken down, the great Ackbar saw the light. More recently, when his descendant, Shah Aulum, was dispossessed of the throne of Delhi, in the course oslast century, by the invasion of another potentate, he sought refuge with Ajut Sing, the rajah of whom we have already spoken; and here, also, between the years 1750 and 1760, one of his wives was delivered of a prince, whom she called Ackbar, in commemoration of his ancestor. (f .)