Epigraphia Indica Vol 12

Author(s): Sten Konow
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 70

No. 9.)
BATIHAGARH STONE INSCRIPTION
There can be little doubt that Mahmud of Yoginipura (another name of Delhi) was no other than the Turk Näsir-ud-din Mahmud of the Slave dynasty who reigned between 1246 and 1266 A.D. Mahmäd subdued the Bundēlk hapd country, or, more correctly Chanderi and Mälwa in 1251 A.D., over which he appointed a governor. This governor, whose name does not appear to be mentioned in the Persian histories, was apparently Malik Julachi. Between the conquest of Mahmud and the record of our inscription there is an interval of 77 years, spread over 3 governors, the Malik, his son Hisām-ud-din, and Jalal-ud-din, giving a fair normal average duration of administration for each. It is well known that these Musalman conquests in this part of the country were not permanent, but in A.D. 1321 wo find Tughlaq Shih despatching his son with the troops of Chanderi, Badaun and Malwa against Telingånå, only 7 years before our inscription was engraved. It is therefore evident that the Musalmans had a hold over the country at the time, at least there can be no doubt that the Damob district was under a Musalman governor. This is however only of local interest.
But what makes the inscription very interesting, is the mention of the Kharpara armies, the Chēdi country and the title of Mahmūd as Sakēndra. I think that the Kharparas of onr inscription are identical with the Kharparikas mentioned in Samudragupta's stone pillar inscription of Allahabad. They are there mentioned amongst the tribes conquered by this great monarch in the 4th century of the Christian era. They must have been a war-like people and inust have offered not a little resistance to have deserved notice. Mr. V. A. Smith* a decade ago stated that the Kharparikas may have occupied Seoni or Mandla district of the Central Provinces. How very near the mark this surmise was, is evident from the present inscription. Seoni and Mandla are not very far away from Damoh, which was apparently garrisoned by the Kharpara armies in the 13th century. That Damoh was included in the Chodi country, is another inference which may be drawn from this record and which goes to support in a way Justice Pargiter's localisation of the Chodi country. Somo have held that Chandori, if it is not a corruption of Chodi, was at least in the centre of that ancient country, and it is to Chandori that Mahmúd sent his forces in 1251, and there he left a governor, who in our inscription is designated as Chēdidēsādhipa. Lastly the title Sakēndra of this monarch may be noted. The word saka here as in several other instances, means Musalman.
The geographical names mentioned in the inscriptions are Yöginipura, Chēdi and Batihādim, all of which have been incidentally identified above. Yoginipura mentioned in Chand Bardai's Prithviraja Rasol as Jugginipura, is an old name of Delhi. Chodi is the well. known classical name of the country with the rulers of which the history of the northern and eastern portions of the Central Provinces was associated for many centuries. It was in this country that Baţihadim, the present Batihägarh, was included. Batihadim in the local dialect means a heap of a collection of cow-dung cakes, and the name seems to have changed its dim to garh when a fort was later on built there. A step-well still exists there containing a fragmentary Persian inscription which informs us that it was constructed in the time of Jalāl Isahāka or Jalal-ud-din, who killed Usman and became Naib with the title of Akhta, in the reign of the just and pious monarch to whom the whole of Hindustan paid respect and by whose sword the whole of Turkistān was subdued. This well may be identical with the one referred to in Our inscription, but there are two other old ones, one of which, called chaurāsi baoli, is situated
1 See Brigg's Ferishta, Volume I, p. 239, and Tabakät-i-Nasiri as quoted in Dawson-Elliott, Volume II, p. 861.
* See Cunningham's Reports, Volume II, p. 402.
Gupta Inscriptions, p. 18. • Journal, Royal Asiatic Society, 1897, p. 893. 5 Journal, Bengal Asiatic Society, 1895, p. 249 ff. • Compare Ep. Ind., Vol. II, p. 409; Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXVI, p. 352; XXXVII, p. 42, and above, p. 18.
See Nagari Prachäriņi Sabbá Edition, Vol. I, p. 112.