The belt of forest and hill from Gadchiroli across the Indravati and Sabari country to the Godavari gorge at Bhadrachalam: the great forest of the old texts, where no king's writ runs for long.
Gond, Koya and Kolam clans live in it; the Yadava, Kakatiya and Kosala kings reach into its edges for tribute and elephants (general). It overlaps the Gond and Koya provinces.
Who holds it
- Title
- Gond, Koya and Kolam clan chiefs; no names known
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
The name Mahakantara is old (the fourth century inscriptions); it names the belt of forest no king holds.
Overlord
Yadava, Kakatiya and Kosala claims on the edges
How things stand that morning
Self-governing forest clans. The forest runs on east and north-east into Bastar and the Chhattisgarh plain, which are nin's ground.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: No source we read gives the political life of this people in 1200; this is general knowledge, flagged thin. The Project's rule is that powers who ruled without castles are real powers, so the people is carried.
Sources and studies
- General knowledge of the medieval Deccan (Bhandarkar, Altekar, Sastri, B. R. Gopal, Suryanath Kamath): from memory, not re-read
- OMNIA board notes for this place (a lead only, checked against the sources above)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.