The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s2.164

c5.s2.164

Bidiśā—1. Bhilsa, in Malwa in the kingdom of Bhopal, on the river Betwa or Vetravatī, about 26 miles to the north-east of Bhopal. By partitioning his kingdom, Rāmachandra gave Bidiśā to Śatrughna's son Śatrughāti (*Rāmāyaṇa*, Uttara, ch. 121). It was the capital of ancient Daśārṇa mentioned in the *Meghadūta* (Pt. I, v. 25) of Kālidāsa. It is called Baidiśa-deśa in the *Devi-Purāṇa* (ch. 76) and the *Rāmāyaṇa*. Agnimitra, the son of Pushyamitra or Pushpamitra, the first king of the Śuṅga dynasty, who reigned in Magadha in the second and third quarters of the second century B.C., was the viceroy of his father at Bidiśā or Bhilsa (*Kālidāsa's Mālavikāgnimitra*, Act V). Agnimitra, however, has been described as the king, and his father as his general. The topes, known by the name of Bhilsa Topes, consist of five distinct groups, all situated on low sandy hills, viz., (1) Sanchi topes, five and a half miles south-west of Bhilsa; (2) Sonāri topes, six miles to the south-west of Sanchi; (3) Satdhāra topes, three miles from Sonāri; (4) Bhojpur topes, six miles to the south south-east of Bhilsa, and Andher, nine miles to the east south-east of Bhilsa. They belong to a period ranging from 250 B.C. to 78 A.D. (*Cunningham's Bhilsa Topes*, p. 7). 2. The river Bidiśā has been identified with the river Bes or Besali which falls into the Betwa at Besnagar or Bhilsa (*Wilson's Vishnu P.*, Vol. II, 150).