The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t39: 31. Jajhoti.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t39
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31. Jajhoti.
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Hwen Thsang places the kingdom of *Chi-chi-to* at 1000 *li*, or 167 miles, to the north-east of Ujain. As the first and second syllables of this name are represented by different Chinese characters,* it is certain that the pilgrim must have intended them to be the equivalents of two distinct Indian characters. This requirement is fully met by identifying *Chi-chi-to* with the kingdom of *Jajhoti*, or *Jajhaoti*, mentioned by Abu Rihân, who calls the capital *Kajurâhah*,† and places it at 30 parasangs, or about 90 miles, to the south-east of Kanoj. The true direction, however, is almost due south, and the distance about twice 30 parasangs, or 180 miles. This capital was actually visited by Ibn Batuta in A.D. 1335, who calls it *Kajúra*,‡ and describes it as possessing a lake about 1 mile in length, which was surrounded by idol temples. These are still standing at *Khajurâho*, and they form perhaps the most magnificent group of Hindu temples that is now to be found in northern India.
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† Renaud, 'Fragments Arabes,' etc., p. 106.
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‡ Dr. Lee's translation, p. 162; where the name is read as *Kajwarâ*, but the original Persian characters read *Kaiurâ*.
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From these accounts of Abu Rihân and Ibn Batuta, it is evident that the province of *Jajhoti* corresponded with the modern district of Bundelkhand. The Chinese pilgrim estimates the circuit of *Chichito* at 4000 *li*, or 667 miles, which would form a square of about 167 miles to each side. Now, Bundelkhand in its widest extent is said to have comprised all the country to the south of the Jumna and Ganges, from the Betwa river on the west to the temple of *Vindhya-vásini-Devi* on the east, including the districts of *Chánderi*, *Sâgar*, and *Bilhari* near the sources of the Narbada on the south. But these are also the limits of the ancient country of the Jajhotiya Brahmans, which, according to Buchanan’s information,* extended from the Jumna on the north to the Narbada on the south, and from Urcha on the Betwa river in the west, to the Bundela Nala on the east. The last is said to be a small stream which falls into the Ganges near Banâras, and within two stages of Mirzapur. During the last twenty-five years I have traversed this tract of country repeatedly in all directions, and I have found the Jajhotiya Brahmans distributed over the whole province, but not a single family to the north of the Jumna or to the west of the Betwa. I have found them at Barwa Sâgar near Urcha on the Betwa, at Mohda near Hamirpoor on the Jumna, at Râjnagar and Khajurâho near the Kane river, and at Udaipoor, Pathâri and Eran, between Chânderi and Bhilsa. In Chânderi itself there are also Jajhotiya Baniyas, which alone is almost sufficient to show that the name is not a common family designation, but a descriptive term of more general acceptance. The Brahmans derive the name of Jajhotiya from *Yajur-hota*, an observance of the Yajur-ved; but as the name is applied to the Baniyas, or grain-dealers, as well as to the Brahmans, I think it almost certain that it must be a mere geographical designation derived from the name of their country, Jajhoti. This opinion is confirmed by other well-known names of the Brahmanical tribes, as *Kanojiya* from Kanoj; *Gaur* from Gaur; *Sarwariya* or *Sarjupária* from Sarjupar, the opposite bank of the Sarju river; *Dravira* from Dravira in the Dakhan, *Maithila* from Mithila, etc. These examples are sufficient to show the prevalence of geographical names amongst the divisions of the Brahmanical tribes, and as each division is found most numerously in the province from which it derives its name, I conclude with some certainty that the country in which the Jajhotiya Brahmans preponderate must be the actual province of Jajhoti.
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∗ Julien's 'Hiouen Thsang,' Index, iii. 530, 408. See Map No. I.
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∗ ‘Eastern India,’ ii. 452.
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*Khajurâho* is a small village of 162 houses, containing rather less than 1000 inhabitants. Amongst these there are single houses of seven different divisions of the *Jajhotiya* Brahmans, and eleven houses of Chândel Rajputs, the chief of whom claim descent from Raja Paramâl Deo, the antagonist of the famous Prithi Raj. The village is surrounded on all sides by temples and ruins; but these are more thickly grouped in three separate spots on the west, north, and south-east. The western group, which consists entirely of Brahmanical temples, is situated on the banks of the Sib-sâgar, a narrow sheet of water, about three-quarters of a mile in length from north to south in the rainy season, but not more than 600 feet square during the dry season. It is three-quarters of a mile from the village, and the same distance from the northern group of ruins, and a full mile from the south-eastern group of Jain temples. Altogether, the ruins cover about one square mile; but as there are no remains of any kind between the western group and the Khajur Sâgar, the boundary of the ancient city could not have extended beyond the west bank of the lake. On the other three sides of the lake, the ruins are all continuous, extending over an oblong space 4500 feet in length from north to south, and 2500 feet in breadth from east to west, with a circuit of 14,000 feet, or nearly 3¾ miles. This corresponds almost exactly with the size of the capital as recorded by Hwen Thsang in A.D. 641, but at some later period the city of Khajurâho was extended to the east and south as far as the Kurar Nala, when it had a circuit of not less than 3½ miles. As Mahoba must have been about the same size as Khajurâho, it is doubtful which of the two was the capital at the time of Hwen Thsang’s visit. But as the very name of Mahoba, or Mahotsava-nagara, the “City of the great Jubilee,” is specially connected with the rise of the Chândel dynasty, I think it most probable that Khajurâho must have been the capital of the earlier dynasty of Jajhotiya Brahmans; and therefore it must have been the capital of Jajhoti at the time of Hwen Thsang’s visit. But as it is upwards of 300 miles from Ujain, or just double the distance mentioned by the pilgrim, his 1000 *li* must be increased to 2000 *li*, or 333 miles, to make it accord with the actual measurement. It is a curious fact that Abu Rihân’s distance from Kanoj is also in defect in the same proportion; and this agreement suggests that the probable cause of both errors must be the same, namely, the excessive length of the kos of Bundelkhand, which is a little over 4 miles, or exactly double the ordinary *kos* of northern India.
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Hwen Thsang estimates the circuit of the kingdom of Jajhoti at 4000 *li*, or 667 miles. To meet these large dimensions it must have comprised the whole tract of country lying between the Sindh and the Tons, from the Ganges on the north to Nya Sarai and Bilhari on the south. This tract includes the famous fort of Kalinjar, which became the permanent capital of the Chândel Rajas after the occupation of Mahoba by the Muhammadans, and the strong fortress of Chânderi, which became the Muhammadan capital of eastern Malwa, after the desertion of the old city of Buri Chânderi.