North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

UJJAIN COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF JAYAVARMAN

grant of Arjunavarman [1] explicitly states that the latter of the princes mentioned here was the father of the former, calling Jayavarman as Ajayavarman ; but they were both identical, as we shall see while editing that record. The object of the inscription is mentioned in 11. 3-4 and again in 11. 8 ff., which is to make an announcement, by Jayavarman himself, from his residence at Vardhamānapura, that while staying at Chandrapurī he had granted the village of Māyamōḍaka, connected with Vaṭakhēṭaka, thirty-six (group of villages), to a person whose name is unfortunately lost in the record, as the writing on the plate comes to an end just at this point. The donee is stated to have hailed from Adriyalaviddhāvarī, included in the Dakshiṇa-dēśa, and living at Rāja-Brahmapurī. [2] He was of the Bhāradvāja (gōtra) ; and from the details given here he was doubtless the same as the donee of the following inscription.

... It is necessary to discuss here the reason that might have led Jayavarman to re-announce to the people at Vardhamānapura, a grant which he had made some time before, at Chandrapurī. The former of these places in unquestionably the modern Badnāvar in the Dhār District and the latter appears to be in the Bhopāl region, as we shall presently see. To settle the point in hand, however, it is necessary to make a reference to the contemporary historical incidents. The long-drawn war of the Paramāras with their western neighbours who were the Chaulukyas of Gujarāt, is well known ; and we also know that the Paramāras had to face a disaster when the whole of their kingdom was annexed to the Gujarāt empire by Jayasiṁha Siddharāja (V.S. 1150-1200), who proclaimed himself Avanti-nātha and also captured the contemporary Paramāra prince Yaśōvarman and threw him in a ṗrison. [3] The date of this incident, as recorded by Jayasiṁha himself in his inscription found at Ujjain is Thursday, the fourteenth of the dark half of Jyēshṭha, (Vikrama) Saṁvat 1195, [4] which is equivalent to 9th June, 1138 A.C. The inscription also tells us that Jayasiṁha, who on this occasion assumed the title of Avantinātha, appointed one Mahādeva as his governor at Ujjain.

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And under the circumstances it appears to be quite natural for Yaśōvarman’s son, Jayavarman, to leave the capital immediately and to resort to a secluded place somewhere in a remote part of Mālwā, which was possible either in the south or in the east, the north being threatened by the enemical power of the Chandēllas who, under Madanavarman, had by that time crossed the Betwā and annexed a considerable portion of Mālwā to their kingdom. [5] On the south the Paramāra province was conterminous with that of the Western Chālukyas, the contemporary Chālukya king being Jagadēkamalla ((1138-1151 A.C.), whose grandfather Vikramāditya VI had good relations with Jagaddēva, the brother of Naravarman who was the grandfather of Jayavarman. [6] But Jayavarman may be assumed to have had more intimate relations with his contemporary Kalachuri king Gayakrana, who had married Alhanadevi, the grand-daughter of Udayaditya; [7] and in view of this, we may hypothetically hold that soon after the capture of Mālwā and of Yaśōvarman, Jayavarman may have moved to the eastern fringe of his kingdom where he ruled for some time as an independent king, as is indicated by the expressions Parama-bhaṭṭāraka-Mahārājā- dhirāja-Paramēśvara of the present inscription. And it appears that at this time, from his stay at Chandrapurī, which is quite close to Bhopāl as shall presently see, he granted the village of Māyamōḍaka situated in the Vaṭakhēṭaka thirty-six. But taking advantage of the
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[1] No. 47. below.
[2] Kielhorn stated his doubt as to whether this name should be taken as the name of a town. or it means at the king’s Brahmapurī ( op. cit., p. 350. n. 1). But the name may also be explained to mean the great Brahmapurī, as we find in expressions like rāja-māsha, rāja-haṁsa and rāja-skandha (a horse). I am also doubtful whether the use of the locative in this word should be taken to mean whether the donee was then living at that place or whether the gift was made there.
[3] Sukṛita-saṁkīrtana. Canto II ; Dvyāśraya-kāvya, I.A., Vol. IV. p. 266 ; P.C.M., pp. 85 ff. Jayasiṁha calls himself Avantinātha for the first time in his Gālā grant of V. S. 1193 (1136 A. C.). See I.N.I., No. 236.
[4] A.S.I., W.C.R. for 1912-3. pp. 54-55 and Ind. Ant., Vol. XLII, p. 258. It is Bhandarkar’s List, No. 240. The inscription has not so far been edited, nor even transcribed. From an impression thereof which was kindly sent to me by the Chief Epigraphist, I transcribe the relevant portion here, also confirming it from the original stone which is at Ujjain. Lines 1-2 read: Svasti Vikramāditya-kāl-ātīta-saṁvatsara-śat- aikādasa(śa)su pañchanavaty-adhikēsu // aṅkatō’pi . . . . and11. 7-8 read : pratāpa-jita-Mālava--rājyaṁ Śrī- Yasa(śō)-varma-nāmānaṁ rājānaṁ cha jitvā . . . . The latter of the expressions suggests that Yaśōvarman too had to reconquer the kingdom.
[5] As we know from Nos. 118 and 125, respectively.
[6] See No. 28, v. 9. above.
[7] The Bhēḍāghāṭ stone inscription, Ep. Ind., Vol. II, p. 12. 17-25.

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