North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

unsettled conditions that followed Jayasiṁha’s death in V.S. 1200 or 1142-43 A.C., Jayavarman re-occupied Mālwā, [1] and on his way back to his home province he made an announcement of the grant already made at Chandrapurī, before the people at Vardhamānapura, where he had his temporary stay.

... We are justified in stating that the date which does not appear in the writing on the present plate must have been given on the second plate. Kielhorn assigns the grant to the time between Vikrama years 1192 and 1200. [2] But we can minimise the time and hold that it was between the Vikrama years 1195 and 1200, the first being that of the capture of Yaśōvarman and consequently Jayavarman leaving Dhārā,= [3] and the second, of Lakshmīvarman confirming the grant made by his father Yaśōvarman. Up to 1195 A.C. when Yaśōvarman was on the throne, his son Jayavarman cannot be considered to have issued a charter in his own name.

...The localities mentioned in the inscription are : (1) Vardhamānapura, where the grant was re-announced, in 11. 34 ; (2)Vaṭakhēṭaka, the principal of the thirty-six village-group, (3) Māyamōḍaka, the donated village in 1. 8 ; and (4) Chandrapurī, where the grant was originally made. None of these places was identified by Kielhorn, but Vardhamānapura is no doubt the modern Badnāwar ( Long. 75o 17’ E. ; Lat. 23o 2’ N.), the chief town of a parganā in the Dhār District, as already said. The name is found on the pedestals of some images of the medieval period discovered at that place. [4] The other places must be looked for in the eastern part of the Paramāra kingdom where Jayavarman seems to have fled, and accordingly, Vaṭakhēṭaka appears to me the same place now known as Barkhēḍā, about 10 kms. south-east of Bhopāl, or it may be the village Barkhēḍī, situated about 27 kms. further south of Barkhēḍā. Chandrapurī, which is a common name in the region, is probably Chāndpur, lying about 48 kms. east-southeast of Barkhēḍā or 43 kms. south-east of Bhopāl. Māyamōḍaka I am unable to identify. It may be stated here, however, that a village of the name of Mōwākhēḍā. lies about 6 kms. north of Chāndpur, and both these names appear to be somewhat similar. All these places are situated in the same region and the little distance of each of these from the other goes to corroborate the views expressed above about Jayavarman’s shifting to the Bhopāl region soon after Jayasiṁha Siddharāja annexed Mālwā to his kingdom.

TEXT [5]
[Metres : Vv. 1-2 and 4 Anushṭubh ; v. 3 Vasantatilaka].

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[1] S.E., p. 76.
[2] Op. Cit., p. 350.
[3] The Gālā inscription of V.S. 1193 (I.N.I., No. 236) is the first to call Jayasiṁha as Avanti-nātha, but it does not mention the capture of Yaśōvarman.
[4] For antiquities at Badnāwar see Ind. Cult. Vol. XI, p. 166 ; Cent. Ind. Series, pp. 494 and 513. For an inscription at that place, see I.N.I., No. 306.
[5] From photograph.
[6] Expressed by symbol which is damaged.
[7] A redundant curve of the mātrā of i also appears on this letter.
[8] A redundant ē-mātrā appears to have been carved on स.
[9] The horizontal stroke of this letter, as of some others below, is not engraved.
[10] This akshara appears as त्र or तू. The word समावासात is to be connected with वो(बो)धयति in 1. 9.
[11] The sandhi, which is necessary here, is not observed.
[12] Kielhorn takes these signs of punctuation to be redundant ; but what precedes the daṇḍas may also be a complete sentence.

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