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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA the fort is not clear until its occupation by the Kalachuris. It seems to have remained in their possession up to the end of the eighth century A. D. Afterwards it was occupied successively by the Pratihāras,[1] Rāshṭrakūṭas,[2] Chandēllas[3] and Muhammadans,[4] but the connection of the Kalachuris with the fort was remembered for a long time. The Kaḷachuryas of South India mention in their records with pride the title Kālañjara-pura-var-ādhīśvara ‘ the lord of Kālañjara, the best of cities.’[5] This, like other similar titles, must be interpreted to mean that these princes were descended from a Kalachuri king who formerly ruled at Kālañjara. The Kahlā plates of Sōḍhadēva state that an illustrious Kalachuri prince established himself at Kālañjara from where he raided and conquered Ayōmukha (modern Partabgarh and Rai Bareli Districts of the U. P.).[6] We are further told that having defeated his enemies, he gave the kingdom to his younger brother Lakshmaṇarāja. As I have shown elsewhere,[7] this Lakhmaṇarāja was identical with the first prince of that name mentioned in the Kasiā stone inscription.[8] As the great-grandson of the latter, viz., Lakshmaṇarāja II alias Rājaputra, flourished about A. D. 775, Lakshmaṇarāja I can be placed in circa A. D. 700. The elder brother who placed him in charge of the territory round Kālañjara is unfortunately not named in the Kahlā plates, but in view of what has been said above, he may be identified with Vāmarāja. Vāmarāja may therefore be referred to the close of the seventh century A. D.
Vāmarāja thus ruled over a large kingdom extending from the Gumti in the north to the Narmadā in the south and comprising the modern Bundelkhaṇḍ and Bāghelkhaṇd, the Saugor and Jubbulpur Districts of the Central Provinces and the central portion of the United Provinces. He assumed the imperial titlesParamabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja and Paramēśvara. As the founder of the northern Kalachuri empire, he seems to have been held in great veneration by all his successors who ruled at Tripurī and so we find it stated in almost all subsequent official records that they meditated on his feet. As no records of his time have yet been discovered, we have no further knowledge of the political events of his reign. Since the time of Vāmarāja, the Kalachuris came to be known as Chaidyas or lords of the Chēdi country. As Pargiter has shown, Chēdi was originally the name of the country along the southern bank of the Jumna from the Chambal on the northwest to the Karvi (which flows north-east of Chitrakūṭa) on the south-east. Its limits southwards were the plateau of Malwa and the hills of Bundelkhaṇḍ.[9] In later times Chēdi came to signify the modern province of Bāghelkhaṇḍ which remained in the possession of the Kalachuris till their downfall. Vāmarāja seems to have transferred his capital from Māhishmatī to Tripurī, modern Tewar, 6 miles from Jubbulpur. This city dates back to very ancient times. It is mentioned in the Mahābhārata and is also known from very rare copper coins with the legend Tipuri (Sanskrit, Tripurī) in Brāhmī characters of the late third or early second century B. C.[10] Varāhamihira places the city in the south-eastern division[11] _____________________________________
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