Нармада өзені бойындағы Мандла қаласының тарихы мен мәдениеті

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.

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 ruled Mandla province and fought against Akbar in her valiant effort to save her kingdom; which is still subject to folklore. Rani Avantibai Lodhi of Ramgarh later fought with the British to save her kingdom from annexation. The Gond 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 in the rear of her position, which had been nearly dry a few hours before the action commenced, began suddenly to rise and soon became unfordable Finding her plan of retreat thus frustrated, and seeing her troops give way, the queen snatched a dagger from her elephant driver and plunged it into her breast. Asaf Khan acquired immense booty, including, it is said, more than a thousand elephants.

as of 2011 India census, Mandla had a population of 71,579. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. In 2011 Mandla has an average literacy rate of 68.3%, higher than the national average of 59.85%: male literacy is 79.5%, and female literacy is 57.2%. Scheduled tribes dominate the population, so there is a Special education programs to promote them. In Mandla, 13.7% of the population is under 6 years of age. 90% of the population are Hindus, 4% Christians, 5% Muslims and 1% are of other faiths.

Mandla is connected by road to nearby cities like Jabalpur, Nagpur and Raipur through NH 30 (National Highway). From Jabalpur to Mandla, it takes more than 4 hours by bus (96 km approx.) as the road condition is very poor. Earlier Mandla has been connected by Indian Railway's Narrow Gauge Track via Nainpur to Jabalpur, Gondia, Chhindwara. Mandla is connected by Indian railway Broad gauge Track & Traveler can travel by train from Chiraidongri to Jabalpur via Nainpur, as soon as the covid restriction is over.

Mandla has various places of tourist attraction which include wildlife, ancient forts, temples and springs. Tourists are attracted toward Kanha National Park. mostly people are from the outside the subcontinent
Various Ghats at the bank of river Narmada are hot spots of attraction for tourists and locals. Local ghats include Rangrez Ghat, Rapta Ghat, Nav Ghat, Nana Ghat and Sangam Ghat. Sahastradhara is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the locality of Mandla. The Garam Pani Kund situated 18 km from Mandla city is known for its abundant sulphur water well. Locals believe that water of the well was blessed by god Vishnu to cure the people suffered by plague spread in past. Apart from magical water, this place is surrounded with evergreen flora. Indian council of medical research (ICMR) concluded that water in well can cure various skin disease. The Ramnagar Fort / Mandla Fort was built in the late 17th century by the Gond Kings. It is constructed in a loop of the Narmada River. The main feature of this fort is its three storey strategic construction. It was built on the banks of the Narmada river so that the river forms its defence from three sides. This fort is also known as Moti Mahal situated 24 km from Mandla city. Another fort, Begum Mahal is situated 3 km away from Moti Mahal is known for its three storeyed rectangular masterpiece of rajput mughal architecture which was built for Chimney Rani. The marvellous black stones used to build Begum Mahal were taken from another spot of attraction, "Kala Pahad" situated 4 km from it. The Main Market of Mandla is known for its hand craft goods. At the heart of Mandla city, lies Mandla Chowpati famous for delicious Chaat and Pawbhaji. Other snacks like dosha, kachodi, phulki and dhabeli are served at thela's. For accommodation there are many hotels and lodges in the city and Hotel Tourist (M. P. T) administered by state tourism in Mandla. Bamhni banjar is situated in mandla district and it is famous for samosa coffee house's rasmalai and other delicious foods
There is a government museum which has large varieties of fossils of trees like Pam,Ashok,Coconut and ocean fishes and fruit of Coconut. As per museum details, the Mandla area was a sea. In out skirt of city, Narmada river create a tourist place named as "Sahstradhara". In this area of Narmada river,its water is converted into large number of thin water channels and after a low height fall all water channel are converged to form river again. This visiting place " Sahstradhara" also has a lord Shiva temple in middle of river.

Once this small town was considered among the greenest towns; now this is just a memory. Deforestation had largely affected this area as shown in summer 2007 when the temperature exceeded .

The city is represented in the Lok Sabha by the Mandla (Lok Sabha constituency). As of 2019, its representative is Faggan Singh Kulaste of the Bharatiya Janata Party.