North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

BHOPAL PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF MAHAKUMARA

victory over an enemy in a battle. The record bears no date, but from the palaeography of the writing and particularly from the mention of Lakshmīvarman’s name, we have no hesitation in assigning it to the middle of the twelfth century A.C. i.e. between 1141 and 1157 A.C., the first being the year of Lakshmīvarman’s Ujjain grant and the second being that of his son’s Bhopāl grant which we shall deal with immediately below.

...Commencing with the auspicious symbol for ōm and expressions meaning ‘hail, victory and prosperity’, the inscription introduces the name of Lakshmīvarman, as we have seen, and just after, it mentions a subordinate ruling house of the name of Adhidrōṇāchārya, to which belonged mahārāja-putra Ajayapāla, his son mahārāja-putra Pīthana. The latter’s son was mahā- rāja-putra Tējōvarmā, whose younger nephew was Vijayasiṁha, (II. 5-8). The inscription proceeds to state that Vijayasiṁha, joined with the Rāshṭrakūṭa Vaddiga, vanquished the enemy in battles fought near the village of Rālā in a maṇḍala, the name of which cannot be deciphered as the letters are mutilated (11. 8-11). This account is followed by the statement that the inscription was composed by Vijayasiṁha, the son of Rāma (11. 11-12), whose name incidentally happens to be the same as of the feudatory of Lakshmīvarman who vanquished the enemy. In the lines that follow (12-15) the inscription adds something more ; but this portion is too mutilated to make out any intelligible sense.

...Not even a single of the chiefs belonging to the feudatory house mentioned in the present record is so far known ; and this precludes the possibility of their identification. It is equally difficult to identify the Rāshṭrakūṭa Vaddiga who is stated in it to have made an alliance with Vijayasiṁha in destroying the enemies. Dr. katare has drawn our attention to five satī memorial pillar inscriptions at Pipriā in the Damoh District of Madhya Pradesh, two of which are dated in V.S. 1198 or 1141 A.C. and record a battle between the Rāshṭrakūta mahā-māṇḍalīka Rāṇaka Jayasiṁha against a certain prince called Hēmasiṁha. These records are no doubt contemporaneous, but whether or not the Rashṭrakūta Vaddiga of the present inscription was in any way connected with the mahā-māṇḍalīka Rāṇaka Rāshṭrakūṭa Jayasiṁha is not so far known.

...It is as well impossible, under the present state of our knowledge, to identify the enemy who is stated in the present record to have been vanquished by Lakshmīvarman’s feudatory Vijayasiṁha with the help of Rāshṭrakūṭa Vaddiga. Can he be the same as Ballāla who is known to have ruled over Avantī, Mālava and Dhār[2] shortly after Jayavarman who succeeded in getting his release from the Chaulukya prison and again occupied the throne of Mālava ? The details of how Ballāla captured this region are not definitely known,[3] but we know that he was killed by the Paramāra Yaśōdhavala of Chandrāvatī at the instance of Jayasiṁha’s successor Kumārapāla (1145-1172 A.C.), who, in his Vaḍnagra praśasti of V.S. 1208 or 1151 A.C., claims to have suspended his head at his gates.[4] The statement of Udayavarman’s grant[5] that Lakshmīvarman became king by the strength of his arms (nija-kara kṛita-karavāla – prasād – āvāpta – nijā- dhipatyaḥ ) would seem to support the conjecture that he too may have participated in defeating Ballāla, as his feudatory Vijayasiṁha did (if we accept the enemy to be Ballāla), or as the Paramāra Yaśōdhavada did ; but we have nothing in support of this hypothesis, and the identity of the enemy vanquished by Vijayasiṁha remains to be a mystery. It is, however, certain, as the present inscription tells us, that Lakshmīvarman had some feudatories in the Bhopāl region where the pillar inscribed with the present record was found, though we have nothing definite to show that he had any sway over the region around Dhār.

... As to the geographical names occurring in the inscription, the village of Rālā I am unable to identify, as there is no definite clue in this respect. It may, however, be stāted here that
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[1] Dr, Katare holds that Vijayasiṁha was not only an ally of Vaddiga but was also matrimonially connected with him. In this respect and with reference of Vijayasiṁha’s relationship with his predecessor, see notes 8 and 9 appended to the text below.
[2] Ep. Ind., Vol. VIII, p. 202. Katare seems to be justified in not agreeing with those who maintain that Ballāla was set up on the throne of Mālava by the Western Chālukya Jagadēkamalla II. For though the latter claims a victory over Mālava in a number of inscription ( e.g. in Ep. Ind., Vol. XVI, p. 254 and Ep. Carn., Vol. VII, Sk. No. 123), it is nowhere stated that he set up Ballāla on that throne.
[3] As above.
[4] See Ep. Ind., Vol. VIII, p. 216 and ibid., Vol, I. p. 302 respectively. Also see D.H.N.I., Vol. II, pp. 990. 886. 914 ff. and 887.
[5] Below, No. 46, 1.5.

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