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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA BHOPĀL COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF MAHĀKUMĀRA UDAYAVARMAN region as a subordinate to the Imperial Paramāra house. He was succeeded by his son Hariśchandra, and Hariśchandra by his son Udayavarman, as the inscription informs us.[1] While editing the fragmentary Ujjain grant of Lakshmīvarman, of Saṁvat 1191 and 1200, we have seen that the statement of the present inscription, viz., that Lakshmīvarman ‘appropriated a portion of Mālwā by the favour of the sword (nija-kara-kṛita-karavāla-prasād-āvāpta-nijādhipatyaḥ)’ should be interpreted to mean that he wrested the territories that he governed, not from his brother Jayavarman but from the contemporary Chandēlla king Madanavarman, in whose hands the portion of the Paramāra kingdom appears to have passed.[2] .... We have seen that the villages which were re-donated by Lakshmīvarman in (V.) S. 1200 or 1144 A.C. were situated in the Mahādvādaśaka-maṇḍala, and his son Hariśchandra also donated a village in (V.) S. 1214 or 1157 A. C. in the same region, which shows that this house retained its hold on that region at least up to 1157 A.C. But some time subsequently, this region passed into hands of the Chaulukya Kumārapāla, as is evident from fragmentary inscription of the ruler, which, according to Kielhorn, is dated V.S. 1220 i.e. 1163 A.C., and also from the inscription off Ajayapāla at Udaipur of V.S. 1229 or 1172 A.C.[3] But though the Mahākumāra branch of the Paramāra house lost its hold over this region, it appears to have succeeded in extending its territories farther southwards, as we know from Hariśchandra’s Piplianagar grant and Udayavarman’s Bhopāl grant, the first of these donating a village to the south of the Narmadā in the Hoshaṅgābād District, and the second, to its west in the Nēmāwar region, as we shall see below, while identifying the names of places mentioned in the present grant.
...Thus we know that the Imperial house of the Paramāras failed to retrieve their fortune during all these years and they were still staggering under the blows dealt on them by the Chaulukyas. Referring to that history, we know that Jayavarman’s son Vindhyavarman succeeded in recovering his ancestral dominions from the Chaulukya Mūlarāja 11, but he could not do so before the present grant was issued ; for had he succeeded finally establishing himself in Mālwā, we would have, as rightly suggested by Dr. N. P. Chakravarti, found his name mentioned in the present grant.[4] He had also to fight hard against his southern neighbours who were at that time rising,viz., Bhillama V of the Yādava house of Dēvagiri and Ballāla II Dōrāsamudra,[5] before he could completely assert his authority over Mālwā ...
Of the geographical names mentioned in the present inscription, Rēvā (1. 13) is the wellknown Narmadā, and Narmadapura (a city on the Narmadā) seems to be no other than
Nēmāwar, an ancient town on the north bank of the Narmadā where the stream known as
Jāmnēr pours its waters into it. The place is at present included in the Dēwās District of
by north-west of Hardā, a station on the Mālwā section of the Central Railway. Philologically
also both these names can be connected through the intermediate step Nemma-ā-üra ; and this
ancient place is about 72 kms. south by west of Uljamūṁ where the plates were found[6]
Guvāḍā-ghaṭṭa (1. 13) is evidently a local name of a bathing place on the river a Nēmāwar ; the name
is possibly identical with Guvāḍiā, a petty hamlet connected with Nēmāwar. Gaṇaürā, the giftvillage, (1. 9), is the modern Ganōra, about 50 kms. north by north-east ; and Vōḍasirā, with
[1] Hariśchandra’s relationship with Lakshmīvarman is not specified in the present grant. This again shows, as we have already observed while editing the Ujjain grant of Lakshmīvarman, that inscriptions do not always give all the details or even all the names of the members of the family.
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