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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA MĀNDHĀTĀ COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF JAYAVARMAN (II) equivalent of which is the 12 th of May, 1261 A.C., taking the year to be Kārttikādi. [1] On this date, as we are told in lines 49-52, the charter was composed by the learned Harshadēva, the son of the learned Gāvīśa, under the approbation of Paṇḍita Mālādhara, who was employed a minister of war and treaty by the Mahārājādhirāja Śrī-Jayavarmadēva at Maṇḍapa-durga, and that it was revised by the grammarian (śābdika) Āmadēva, a disciple of the wise Gōsēka who was well versed in legal science (smṛiti-śāstra). The last two lines (52-53) have the statement that the record was engraved by the artisan (rūpakāra) Kānhaḍa and the dūta was the mahā-pradhāna, the illustrians Ajayadēva. ...The statement that the grant was made and the charter was issued by Jayavarman from his stay at Maṇḍapa-durga seems to suggest an important event ; and to understand it properly, it is necessary to consider the political situation of the time. We know that in 1233-34 A.C. Iltutmish, the Turkish Sultān of Delhi, had turned his arms against Mālwā, where he captured the fort of Bhilsā (modern Vidishā) and from there he marched to Ujjain where he destroyed the temple of Mahākāla. [2] These aggressive operations, though of a temporary nature, [3] had opened a way for the Muslims to make expeditions further in the south ; and during the years that followed, Nāsiruddīn’s general Balban successfully over-ran the land up to Chanderī and Narwar which were then on the northern fringe of the Paramāra dominions. It was about in 1250 A.C. ; [4] and almost at the same time, that this region was attacked from the south by the Yādava Kṛishṇa, whose enmity with the house of the Paramāras was hereditary and who claims success over the contemporary king of Mālava in his epigraphical records. [5] Almost about the same time the vāghelā Vīsaladēva of Gujarāt sacked Dhārā. [6] And it is possible to hold that in view of all these troubles Jayavarman or his predecessor Jaitugi may have thought it best to resort to the fort of Māṇḍū, which is a place of better strategic position than Dhārā, situated on the plains.
...Of the geographical names mentioned in the record, Dhārā (1. 12) and Mālava (1. 24)
are well known ; and Maṇḍapa-durga, where the king issued his orders(1.24), is the well-known
fort of Māṇḍū, situated about 35 kms. south of Dhār. Rēvā (1. 29) is the river Narmadā ; and
Kapilā (1.29), which is perhaps the Kuvilārā of Naravarman’s grant of V.S. 1252, is a stream now
known as kolār or Kholār, which falls into the Narmadā near the place where the plates were
found.
[7] Amarēśvara (1.29) is, of course, at Māndhātā. Mahuāḍa, mentioned as a pratijāgaraṇaka in which the donated village was situated (1.23), has already been identified while dealing
with the Māndhātā grant of Dēvapāla (No. 51), and Vaḍaüda may perhaps be the same as the
modern village Barūḍ, about 15 kms. south-west of Māndhātā. Of the places of origin of the
Brāhmaṇas, Ṭakārī (1. 35) appears to be the same as mentioned in Dēvapāla’s grant just referred
to and also in Jayasiṁha-Jayavarman’s grant which we shall edit below (No. 60). Navagāmva (1.31), as pointed out by Kielhorn, may be the town of Nawēgāon in the Chāndā District,
mentioned in the Gazetter of the (former) Central Provinces, p. 370 ; but he also states that
“there is at least one other place of the same name,” without mentioning it. I could find out
some more places with the same name in the locality, for example, one place now known as
Naugāwān, a railway station near Ratlām, and another as Nagavān which is about 12 kms. west
of Barūḍ itself and about 40 kms. south-west of Māndhātā. This place is on the Narmadā and
is the nearest of all the others. But as the donee cannot necessarily be taken as hailing from a place
[1]
Ibid., p. 120.
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