The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c30.s2.20

v2.c30.s2.20

The acceptance of this identification, first suggested by Kielhorn, would indicate that the Biana region was conquered by this branch some time before 1044 A.D. from the Gwalior branch, one of whose inscriptions, dated in the reign of Maṅgalarāja (*c.* 995-1015 A.D.), was discovered in the 'Ukha Mandar' at Biana.² Vijayapāla was succeeded by his son Vikramasiṁha, for whose reign we have the *Dubkund stone inscription* dated in *V.S.* 1145. It was discovered in the ruins of a temple at Dubkund in a dense forest on the left bank of the river Kunu, 76 miles to the S. W. of Gwalior. It contains 61 lines of writing, opening with *Oṁ oṁ namo Vītarāgāya* and 6 verses invoking the Jaina *Tīrthakāras* Ṛṣabha-svāmin, Śāntinātha, Candraprabha, the Jina (Mahāvīra), the sage Gotama, and the goddess of Scripture (*Śrutadevatā*) 'famous in the world under the name of *Paṅkajavāsinī*.' Then follows the genealogy of the Kacchapaghātas from Yuvarāja to prince Vikramasiṁha. The third part of the record gives the genealogy of Ṛṣi and Dāhaḍa, two Jain traders, on whom Vikramasiṁha had conferred the rank of *Śreṣṭhins* in the town Caḍobha.³ The *Śreṣṭhin* Jāsūka, their grandfather, 'is described as the head of a family or guild of merchants which had come from Jāyasapura.' Lines 39-48 contain an account of some Jain sages belonging to the Lāṭavāgaṭa-*gaṇa*, the last of whom, Vijayakīrti, not only composed this inscription, but also induced the people to build the temple at which the inscription was afterwards engraved. One of these sages, the *guru* Śāntiṣeṇa, father of Vijayakīrti, is said to have held a *sabhā* before the king Bhojadeva and defeated hundreds of disputants who had assailed Ambarasena and other learned men. The prose passage, commencing in line 54, records that the *Mahārājādhirāja* Vikramasiṁha “for the building of the temple and for keeping it in good repair, as well as for purposes of worship, assigned (a tax of) one *Vaṁśopaka* on each *goṇī* (of grain?), and gave a piece of land in the village of Mahācakra, capable of being sown with four *goṇīs* of wheat, and a garden with a well to the east of Rajakadraha; and that he moreover provided a certain amount of oil for lamps and for anointing the bodies of holy men.” The *praśasti* was written on stone by Udayarāja, and engraved by the *Śilākūṭa* Tilhaṇa. The date (*V.*) *Saṁvat* 1145 (A.D. 1088) comes in the last line.¹