Mudhol

Mudhol is a Bhonsle estate whose ruling family assumed the title Ghorpade when one of the chieftains used a ghorpad or monitor lizard to scale a wall during an escalade in Konkan. The line claims descent from Sujan Singh from a cadet line of Mewar which traces origin from Rawal Karan Singh(1158-1168). After Ajai Singh of Kelwara and regent of Mewar died in a skirmish with bandits in 1326, his son Sujan Singh left for Deccan where he found service with the Bahmanis in their wars against the Tughluqs and received an estate in Mirat in the Berar. Sujansi took the side of Bahmanids and on the establishment of Bahmanid kingdom in 1347, Sujansi was granted an estate near Devagiri in 1352. Sujan Singh along with his son Dilip Singh were a part of Bahmanid wars in the Deccan from the South both into Telangana and Vijayanagara. The 1362 raid of Kaulus which led to the capture of Vinayakadeva, the son of Musunuri Kapaya Nayaka was led by Dilip Singh. Next famous action of Dilip Singh was the conquest of Adoni. In 1377, Siddhaji was made the Killedar of Sagar. In the 1378 Vijayanagara campaign, Mudhol troops guarded Gulbarga. He acted as the Supreme Commander of Bahmanid troops in some of the commanders. He was killed in 1398 during the succession troubles which plagued the accession of Firuz Shah. For the service, his son and successor Bhairav Singh or Bhosaji was granted the estate of Mudhol. His successors got to be known as Bhonsles and Bhosaji is the progenitor of all the Bhonsle lines including the major ones like Satrara and Nagpur. There are multiple origins for the name - Hoysala, from the village of Bhosa near Paithan, Vrusha-Bala clan and others. This raises the possibility of multiple unrelated Bhonsle clans including some copycat clans and even the origin of some of the clans.

Bhairav Singh's childless son Karan Singh was killed in the Battle of Raibag in 1407 and was succeeded by his younger brother Devraj. One would see Mudhol rulers becoming frontline commanders in the Bahmanid wars - Indrasen was in the 1422 Vijayanagara war and was felicitated amply, in 1437, he along with is brother were in the Konkan campaign, in the Rohankhed Campaign and others. In the 1446 Konkan campaign, the commander Khalif Hussain Basari was killed and Indrasen captured. He was released later. He was killed in a war in Konkan in 1453. The Mudhol Bhonsles, we would see, were active in all fronts for their masters - Malwa(1464), Kalinga(1463)