What is Chandel?
'''Chandel''' or '''Chandela''' is a Rajput clan<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a9j9ZJGJOV0C&q=Rajput|title=The Candellas of Jejākabhukti|last=Dikshit|first=R. K.|date=1976|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-046-4|language=en}}</ref> ruled Bundelkhand in north-central India and fought against the early Muslim invaders. They were feudatories of the Pratiharas.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chandela {{!}} Indian clan {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chandela|access-date=2023-04-26|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4pdaEAAAQBAJ&dq=Chandelas+Gonds&pg=PT53|title=Dynasties of India: The Families That Ruled|last=Sinha|first=Manoj|date=2022-01-06|publisher=Notion Press|isbn=979-8-88503-605-4|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2gpF5bsAjUC&dq=Chandelas+Gonds&pg=PA264|title=Gonds of the Central Indian Highlands|last=Mehta|first=Behram H.|date=1984|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|language=en}}</ref> ==Origin and History== According to Indian Historian Romila Thapar, The Chandela kings narrated a complex origin myth linked to the lunar line in their [[Epigraphy|inscriptions]] but their origin was associated with the Gond tribes of [[Central India]]. It is said that they originally worshipped a rock, Maniya Deo, installed in their earliest capital of Mahoba. Through the processes of acquiring [[Rajput|Rajput status]] and subscribing to Sanskritic culture, which involved devotion to Puranic deities, they expressed this change by building the temples of Khajuraho which were distinctly different from the shrine of Maniya Deo. This illustrates a shift from a local cult to a patronage of a puranic sect.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thapar |first=Romila |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gyiqZKDlSBMC |title=The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 |date=2003 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0-14-302989-2 |pages=480 |language=en}}</ref> According