|
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
Sugaunā, Kāmēśvara’s residence near modern Madhubani in the Darbhanga District. After a
short time, Fīrūz Shāh gave Kāmēśvara’s throne to the latter’s son Bhōgīśvara.[1] According
to some doubtful traditions, Bhōgīśvara ruled for 33 years and died in 1360 A.D.[2] Bhōgīśvara’s
son and successor was Gaṇēśvara who, according to Vidyāpati’s Kīrtilatā, was defeated and killed
by an enemy named Aslān, apparently a Musalmān, aided probably by certain members of the
Ōinvār family. The date of this event is given in the work in a corrupt passage which may mean
the 5th of the first (i.e. dark) half of Agrahāyana in La. Saṁ. 252 (1371 A.D.).[3] His eldest son
Vīrasiṁha seems to have been ruling over a part of the country in La. Saṁ. 228 (1347 A.D.) when
a manuscript of the Liṅgavārttika was copied in his territory.[4] That he was a ruler is also
suggested by the title Mahārājādhirāja applied to him in the Kīrtilatā.[5] Sometime after
Gaṇēśvara’s death, his son Kīrtisiṁha became king with the help of Ibrāhim Shāh Sharqī
(1401-40 A.D.) of Jaunpur. The next king was Bhavasiṁha, a younger son of Kāmēśvara, and
he was succeeded by his eldest son Dēvasiṁha Garuḍanārāyaṇa. Since a manuscript of
Śrīdatta’s Ēkāgnidānapaddhati, composed at Dēvasiṁha’s request, was copied on Monday,
Pausha-śudi 9, La. Saṁ. 299 (1418 A.D.), he seems to have ascended the throne before that date.[6]
According to a poem ascribed to Vidyāpati, Dēvasiṁha died on Thursday, Chaitra-vadi 6, La.
Saṁ, 293 corresponding to Śaka 1324 (1403 A.D.) which is supposed to be a mistake for Śaka
1334 (1413 A.D.).[7] As Śrīdhara’s Kāvyaprakāśavivēka was composed on Kārttika-vadi 10, La.
Saṁ. 291 (1411 A.D.) when Dēvasiṁha’s son Śivasiṁha Rūpanārāyaṇa in stated to have
been ruling over Tīrabhukti, the son seems to have been reigning jointly with the father as
Yuvarāja (or at least over parts of the kingdom) and to have been a patron of Śrīdhara.
Dēvasiṁha ruled from Dēvakulī about 2 miles to the north of Darbhanga while Śivasiṁha had
his headquarters at Gajarathapura or Śivasiṁhapura about 5 miles to the south-east of
Darbhanga. Three spurious copper-plate charters of king Śivasiṁha, recording the grant of
the village of Bisapī in favour of the poet Vidyāpati, bear respectively the dates V.S.
1455, Śaka 1321, and La. Saṁ. 293 equated with V. S. 1455, Śaka 1321 and San 807, i.e. probably
1399 A.D.[8] Śivasiṁha is described by Vidyāpati as the ‘ lord of the Five Gauḍas ’ and as one who
subdued the king or kings of Gauḍa. This vague and conventional claim may suggest that, unlike
his predecessors who owed allegiance to the Muhammadans, Śivasiṁha ruled for sometime as an
independent monarch. The result, however, was fatal and, according to tradition, Śivasiṁha
was defeated by the Musalmāns and carried away to Delhi.[9] The same source suggests that, after
the tragic end of Śivasiṁha’s reign, his queen Lakhimādēvī ruled for 12 years and was succeeded
by Padmasiṁha who was the younger brother of Śivasiṁha (and ruled for 6 years according to
one tradition)[10] and that Padmasiṁha’s queen Viśvāsadēvī ruled for 12 years after her husband’s
_______________________________________________
[1] JASB, N. S., Vol. XI, 1915, p. 416.
[2] Thakur, op. cit., p. 297 ; JBRS, Vol. XL, p. 102.
[3] JASB, op. cit., p. 416 and note 2 ; JBORS, Vol. XIII, p. 297.
[4] Thakur, op. cit. p. 302.
[5] JASB, loc. cit. The same title was often enjoyed by the ministers of the Ōinvār rulers, e.g. Chaṇḍēśvara
and Rāmadatta, probably because they were ruling over parts of the country as viceroys or enjoyed extensive
jāgīrs together with regal titles.
[6] Ibid., pp. 417-18. Doubtful traditions assign Bhavasiṁha’s accession to 1348 A.D. and Dēvasiṁha’s to
1385 A.D. (Eggeling, op. cit., p. 875).
[7] Ibid., pp. 418-19 ; D. C. Sen, Baṅgabhāshā-ō-Sāhitya, 5th ed., pp. 216-17. Thakur (op. cit., p. 306) ascribes
to M. M. Chakravarti the view that Dēvasiṁha ascended the throne in Śaka 1263 (1342 A.D.). But there is no
such statement in Chakravarti’s article referred to above.
[8] Cf. Bhandarkar’s List, Nos. 736, 1126 and 1470. The date of Śivasiṁha’s accession is assigned by tradition to 1446 A.D. (An. Rep. A.S.I., 1913-14, p. 249 ; Eggeling, loc. cit.).
[9] Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, p. 58.
[10] JBRS, Vol. XI, p. 120.
|
