The region of Vidarbha holds a rich body of myths and legends that have been handed down through generations. These stories reflect the cultural identity, territorial memories, and tribal heritage of a part of Maharashtra that is often overlooked.

In this article, we trace four key mythical characters whose lives and stories are woven into the land and people of Vidarbha. Each figure comes with traditions, local place-identifications and tribal narratives that show how myth and geography blend here.

The goal is not to judge or explain these stories but to document what is held in popular memory and in regional sources. What follows is a numbered list of these figures, each described in factual detail as has been recorded in sources of myth, local tradition, gazetteers and folklore studies.

1. Princess Rukmini

Princess Rukmini is revered as the first queen of Krishna and is traditionally linked to Vidarbha. She was born to King Bhishmaka of the ancient Vidarbha kingdom, and is described in Puranic and epic texts as “Vaidarbhi”, that is, “she who is from Vidarbha”. Local tradition identifies her home as the ancient town of Kaundinyapur (also spelt “Kundinapuri”) in the Amravati district of Maharashtra. The narrative holds that Rukmini eloped with Krishna from this capital of Vidarbha, an event often called “Rukmini Haran”.

Kaundinyapur has been excavated and found to contain foundations and wall-traces of an ancient settlement, confirming its antiquity, though not proving the myth itself. The myth of Rukmini anchors Vidarbha in the wider epic tradition of the Mahābhārata and Puranic lore, giving this region a distinct place in the devotional geography of Krishna and his consorts. Because the tradition links a major figure to that land-mass, Rukmini serves as one of the best-known legendary characters associated with Vidarbha’s mythic past.

2. Kichaka (Keechaka) and the Chikhaldara Link

The figure of Kichaka (also spelt Keechaka) appears in the epic of the Mahabharata as a court official and antagonist in the Virata episode. In Vidarbha’s local geography, his name is linked to the hill-station region of Chikhaldara in the Amravati district. According to local tourism and hill-station lore, the region was formerly called “Keechakadara” and the epic hero Bhima is said to have killed Kichaka and thrown his body into the valley now identified with Chikhaldara. Official Maharashtra Tourism sources state that Bhima struck the ground at nearby Bhimkund after the killing of Kichaka.

The notion is that Kichaka’s name and his death resonate in the place-name of Chikhaldara, thus tying the myth to geography in Vidarbha. While this is a local legend and not confirmed by ancient inscriptions, it is persistent in the regional narrative and appears in travel literature. Thus, Kichaka takes on a mythical role in the folk memory of Vidarbha: both as an epic figure and as a marker of place-identity for the local hill region.

3. Pari Kupar Lingo (Pahandi Kupar Lingo)

Among the tribal legends of the Gond people who inhabit parts of eastern Vidarbha, the figure of Pari Kupar Lingo (also spelt Pahandi Kupar Lingo) stands central. According to Gond oral tradition and anthropological accounts, he is regarded as a culture-hero who established the system of the Gondi Punem (or Koyapunem), a code of conduct and philosophy for the Gondi community. He is said to have freed the younger gods from a cave (in Kachchargardh) and organised the phratrial society of the Gonds, thereby forging social and religious order.

The legend attaches to Vidarbha and adjacent tribal lands in central India, where Gondi peoples hold annual fairs (jatras) in his honour. While the stories of Pari Kupar Lingo are mostly in oral form, they are well recorded in secondary sources on Gond religion. He thus functions as a mythical figure rooted in tribal folk-belief in the Vidarbha region and beyond, rather than in classical epic narrative. His significance lies in his attribution as a founder figure of the community’s religious world-view, and hence, he features in this list of mythic characters of Vidarbha.

4. Kol Bhilla (Kol Bhil)

The name of Kol Bhilla (sometimes spelt Kol Bhil) emerges in regional histories as a legendary leader among the Gonds of Vidarbha and Chandrapur region. According to the Maharashtra Gazetteer and other local sources, Kol Bhilla welded together scattered Gond tribes into a unified force and overthrew the earlier Mana dynasty in the area around Wairagarh and Manikgarh, thereby creating the basis of the Gond polity. A genealogical list in the Chandrapur Gazetteer names Kol Bhilla at the head of Gond rulers, before the reign of Bhim Ballal Singh. As such, Kol Bhilla appears less in the devotional epic tradition and more in local tribal and regional state-formation narratives of Vidarbha.

His story articulates the transition from tribal fragmentation to political consolidation in the region. Although his historicity cannot be pinpointed by contemporary inscriptions, his presence in genealogical and tribal memory gives him mythical-founder status in Vidarbha’s indigenous tradition.

These four characters present a cross-section of mythic memory in Vidarbha, from the royal princess of ancient epic tradition, to the epic antagonist whose name lingers in hill-station toponymy, to the tribal culture-hero and the founding tribal chief.

Each figure is anchored in specific places, traditions or tribal communities in the region. Their stories show how myth, place and identity are intertwined in Vidarbha’s folk landscape. The persistence of these legends in local tourism literature, tribal oral tradition and regional gazetteers underscores their cultural importance.

While none of these figures can be confirmed historically in every detail, their role in local memory and identity is evident. The region of Vidarbha thus remains a fertile field for exploring how ancient narratives and tribal legends meet geography and memory.