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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA the description of the same king .The Deogarh fort was built by Mahīdhara, Chief Minister of Chandēlla Kīrtivarman (c. 1070-98 A.D.), and was named as Kīrtigiri after the Chandēlla king.[1] The fort called Kīrtidurga may thus be the same as the fortress of Deogarh in the Lalitpur Subdivision of the Jhansi District, U.P. The Chandēlla contemporary of Yajvapāla Gaṇapati is difficult to identity as his reign period falls between those of Bhōjavarman whose known date is 1288 A.D. and Hammīravarman who is known to have ruled in 1308 A.D[2].When exactly Gaṇapati led an expedition against the Chandēlla kingdom cannot also be determined. There is no reference to his struggle with the Chandēlla in any other record, although Chandēlla Vīravarman’s invasion of the Yajvapāla (Jajapēlla) kingdom in 1281 A.D. and his war with Gaṇapati’s father Gōpala is referred to in several inscriptions[3]. It may be that Gaṇapati was a subordinate ally of the Muslim Sultāns of Delhi and helped the latter in their struggle with the Chandēllas. Verse 10 introduces the fort of Gōpāchala (i.e., Gwalior) and verse 11 a Māthura Kāyastha family of the Kāśyapa gōtra originally residing there. The next stanza (verse 12) mentions Alhaṇa of the said family while verse 13 speaks of Alhaṇa’s son Kānhaḍa who was a devotee of the god Kṛishṇa (Vishṇu). Verse 14 describes Kānhaḍa’s son Vijahaḍa as a mantrin (minister) engaged in the service of a king. But the name of Vijahaḍa’s master or the family to which he belonging is not mentioned. It is thus uncertain whether the king referred to had his headquarters at Gwalior or Narwar. Verse 15 mentions Vijahaḍa’s wife Mēṇagā while the next stanza (verse 16) states that, having worshipped the river-goddess Gaṅgā and Yamunā at Prayāga (near Allahabad, U.P.), Vijahaḍa got two sons who were named after the said deities as Gāṅgadēva and Yāmunadēva.
Verse 17-18 describes Gāṅgadēva and his wife Lōṇā and verse 19 refers to their four sons. The next stanza (verse 20) gives the names of the four sons of Gāṅgadēva as Palhaū, Harirāja, Śivarāja and Haṁsarāja. Verse 21 describes Palhadēva, no doubt the same as Palhaū, as his master’s favourite, and verse 22 states that he constructed a dharma-sthāna (i.e., a sacred place) for the merit of his brother Harirāja who was dead. Verses 23 ff. disclose the nature of this dharmasthāna. The first stanza of the section (verse 23) records the excavation of a vāpī. As a already indicated above, the word vāpī is generally used in the inscriptions of the Malwa-Rajasthan region in the sense of a step-well, although the description in the present case, as in the Surwāyā inscription, seems to suggest a tank rather than a step-well. This may be due to an amount of exaggeration in the description as in the Surwāyā inscription edited above. Verse 24 adds that a chaitya (i.e., shrine) for the god Śambhu (Śiva) and his consort, the goddess Umā, was also constructed apparently in the vicinity of the vāpī. Verse 25 speaks of the plantation of a kēli-vana or pleasure garden full of fruit trees and flowering plants probably around the vāpī. Verse 26 prays for the performance of the dharma-sthāna (i.e., the sacred place consisting of the vāpī, chaitya and kēlivana) created by Palhaū or Palhadēva for the merit of his deceased brother Harirāja. Verse 27 introduces a family of Kāyasthas (Lipikṛit-kula) hailing from Gōpādri (Gwalior) in which Māthura Dāmōdara is stated to have been born. The family thus belonging to the Māthura Kāyastha community. The son of Dāmōdara was Kōśādhipa (i.e., treasurer) Lōhaṭa. The name of the king whom Lōhaṭa served as a treasurer is not mentioned. Whether he was a ____________________________________________________
[1] Cf. Bhandarkar’s List, No.163.
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