Mandla, Madhya Pradesh

Mandla, until the mid-18th Century, was the centre of the Garha-Mandla kingdom (a Rajput-Gond dynasty) and is located far to east of the general theatre of the war. The city and its great fort lay well-protected at a sharp bend along the Narmada River.

In April 1818, British zeal towards seizing Mandla was motivated by the fact that, the month before, the fort’s killedar had treacherously (although unsuccessfully) tried to kill a British officer who was travelling under a flag of truce. The British arrived at Mandla on April 18, 1818 and with considerable difficulty constructed siege batteries across the river facing the fort. By April 26 they had severely damaged the fort’s walls before mounting what turned out to be a messy storming raid upon the bastion, during which 500 of the defenders were killed. Mandla quickly surrendered thereafter.