Mandla is a city with municipality in Mandla district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Mandla District. The city is situated in a loop of the Narmada River, which surrounds it on three sides, and for 15 miles between Mandla and Ramnagar, Madhya Pradesh the river flows in a deep bed unbroken by rocks. The Narmada is worshiped here, and many ghats have been constructed on the banks of the river. It was a capital of the Gondwana Kingdom who built a palace and a fort, which in the absence of proper care have gone to ruins. History Writers such as Alexander Cunningham, John Faithfull Fleet, Moti Raven Kangali, Girija Shankar Agrawal and Brajesh Mishra identify Mandla as the location of ancient Mahishmati. Gondwana queen, Rani Durgavati shah ruled Mandla province and fought against Akbar in her valiant effort to save her kingdom; which is still subject to folklore. Rani Avantibai of Ramgarh later fought with the British to save her kingdom from annexation. The Gondwana dynasty of Garha Kingdom commenced, according to an inscription in the palace of Ramnagar, in the fifth century, with the accession of Jadho Rai, an adventurer who entered the service of an old Gond king, married his daughter and succeeded him to the throne. Alexander Cunningham placed the date two centuries later in 664. The Garha-Mandla kingdom was a petty local chiefship until the accession of Raje Sangram Shah , the forty-seventh king, in 1480. This prince extended his dominions over the Narmada Valley, and possibly Bhopal, Sagar, and Damoh and most of the Satpura hill country, and left fifty-two forts or districts to his son. In addition to Mandla, Jabalpur and Garha in Jabalpur District and Ramnagar in Mandla District served at times as capitals of the kingdom. The control of the Garha-Mandla kings over their extended principality was, however, short-lived, for in 1564 Asaf Khan, the Mughal viceroy, invaded their territories. The queen Durgavati, then acting as regent for her infant son, met him near Singorgarh fort in Damoh District; but being defeated, she retired past Garha towards Mandla, and took up a strong position in a narrow defile. Here, mounted on an elephant, she bravely headed her troops in defence of the pass, and notwithstanding that she had received an arrow-wound in her eye refused to retire. But by an extraordinary coincidence the river