Bhopal is the capital of Madhya Pradesh in centeral India. The two lakes of Bhopal still dominate the city, and are indeed its nucleus. Bordered along their shores stand silent sentinels that testify to the growth of the city. Bhopal today presents a multi-faceted profile; the old city with its marketplaces and fine old mosques and palaces still bears the aristocratic imprint of its former rulers, among them the succession of powerful Begums who ruled Bhopal from 1819 to 1926. Equally impressive is the new city with its verdant, exquisitely laid out parks and gardens, broad avenues and streamlined modern edifices. It is greener and cleaner than most cities in the country. It was not till the end of the 17th century the state of Bhopal came into existence, founded by that bold, intrepid Afgan Chief Dost Mohammad, who in the first half of the 18th century, wrested the area from a beautiful of the Gond tribe: Kamalawati.