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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA No. 36─TWO INSCRIPTIONS FROM BHILSA (1 Plate) D. C. Sircar, Ootacamund Bhīlsā or Bhēlsā (24 N, 76 E), standing on the bank of the Betwā (ancient Vētravatī), is the headquarters of a District of the same name in the old Gwalior State now forming a part of the State of Madhya Bhārat. Near it, on the opposite bank of the river, lies the village of Besnagar representing the ancient city of Vidiśā or Vaidiśa, capital of the Ākara or Daśārṇa janapada, roughly corresponding or East Malwa. As the principal city in this area, Vidiśā gave place to Bhīlsā in the early medieval period. Such facts as the issue of the Vadner plates[1] of the Kalachuri king Buddharāja in the Kalachuri year 360 (608 A.D.) from Vaidiśa and the mention of Vidiśā in Varāhamihira’s Bṛihatsaṁhitā[2] (sixth century) and Rājaśēkhara’s Kāvyamīmāṁsā[3] (earlier part of the tenth century) show that the old city retained some of its importance even in the post-Gupta period. But soon we notice the total eclipse of Vidiśā and the rise of Bhāillasvāmin or Bhailasvāmin, of which Bhīlsā or Bhēlsā is a later corruption. Bhāillaº or Bhailasvāmin was originally the name of an image of the Sun-god worshipped in a great temple at the place which became gradually famous under the deity’s name.
An inscription[4], noticed by F. E. Hall at Bhīlsā nearly a century ago, has the passage Bhāillasvāmi-ṇāmā ravir=avatu bhuvaḥ svāminaṁ Kṛishṇarājam. This shows that Bhāillasvāmin was regarded as a representation of Ravi or the Sun-god and that the record was incised during the rule of king Kṛishṇa. This ruler has been supposed to be the Rāshṭrakūṭa monarch Kṛishṇa III (circa 939-68 A.D.).[5] Another inscription, discovered at Bhīlsā and supposed to be written in characters of the tenth century, is stated to contain a eulogy of the said god ;[6] but, as will be shown below, the earliest Bhīlsā inscription referring to the temple of Bhāillasvāmin bears a date in the second half of the ninth century. About 1030 A.D., Albērunī mentions the city of Bhailsān (Bhāillaº or Bhailasvāmin) and places it on the road from Mathurā to Ujjayinī and Dhārā.[7] He further says that it was ‘ a place most famous among the Hindus ’ and that ‘ the name of the town is identical with [that of] the idol worshipped there’. A charter[8] of the Chandēlla king Madanavarman, dated V.S. 1190 (1133 A.D.), was issued from his camp near Bhailasvāmin, apparently meaning the deity who seems to be also mentioned as ‘ Bhāsvat on the bank of the Mālavanadī (Vētravatī?)’ in an earlier Chandēlla record[9] of V.S. 1011 (954 A.D.). An inscription[10] from Udaypur (founded by and named after Paramāra Udayāditya) in the Bhīlsā District, dated V.S. 1229 (1173 A.D.), speaks of the surrounding area as Bhāillasvāmi-mahādvādaśaka-maṇḍala (i.e. the district called Bhaillasvāmin, consisting of twelve sub-divisions) which included Bhṛiṅgārikā-chatuḥshashṭi- ____________________________________________
[1] Bhandarkar’s List, No. 1207.
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