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No. 9.] BIJHOLI ROCK INSCRIPTION OF CHAHAMANA SOMESVARA: V. 8. 1226. 85
Ajmer. It now forms a part of the State of Udaipur. It is very rich in archeological remains, being possessed of numerous ancient monuments now mostly in ruins, of superb architectural and sculptural beauty, such as the temples at Bärolli and Menal which Col. Todi and James Fergusson bave so highly eulogised. The localities of Jahāzpur, Māndalgarh, Bijholi, Menāl, etc., comprised in this tract, are also the find-spots of a number of epigraphs important for the chronology of the Imperial Chahamăna dynasty. In fact, every nook and corner of this picturesque table-land has to narrate & story about itself through either sculptures, epigraphs or architectural remains. Princes of the Hūņa tribe, it is said, were the first founders of towns like Bijholi here, and were the paramount lords of the whole country extending from near the Koţă border to the precincts of Būndi." This Hūna possession, in course of time, came under the Imperial Chāhamāna control through conquest and subsequently passed into the hands of the Guhilots of Mewar and is still in their possession.
Thus, Bījholiis an important archeological site with certain ancient temples of unique design and elaborate sculptures, still surviving. The place is at present held by one of the sixteen firstclass Umarāvas or vassals of the Rāņās of Udaipur, who is called the Rão of Bijholi. He is an offshoot of the Paramāra family, whose ancestors had come to Mewār from Jagner between Agra and Baiana in about A.D. 1610.
The first antiquarian who visited this place was Col. James Tod who has described it in his Annals and Antiquities of Rājasthān, Vol. III, pp. 1797-1800 (W. Crooke's ed.). Later on, Mr. Carlleyle, assistant to Major-General Alexander Cunningham of the Archeological Survey of India, paid a visit to the place and described it and its antiquities in the A. S. R., Vol. VI, pp. 234-62. Subsequently some other scholars, such as Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar, also had oocasion to visit the place. Mr. Carlleyle stayed at Bijholi for about five days during which period he examined all that was of archeological interest and importance there, minutely describing them in his Report ; but unfortunately due to heavy rains which prevented him from further exploration, he could not find the rock inscription under description the existence of which he knew from Tod only. He has, therefore, not been able to tell anything about the present record.
The inscription is engraved on a flat undulating rock under & Mahuvā (Bassia latifolia) tree, within the encircling wall, towards the north of the big reservoir of water attached to the shrine of Pārsvanātha situated about three-quarters of a mile to the south-east of the town of Bijholi. Tod has described this site in his "Personal Narrative ", but his account is somewhat vague and confused, for, he here speaks of no less than five temples to Pārsvanatha, the twenty-third of the Jain pontiffs, all of considerable magnitude and elaborate architectural details'. But in reality, there is only one large Jain temple dedicated to Pärsvanātba with four small shrines on its four corners, &9 Mr. Carlleyle rightly observes'. Moreover, the architectural details of the temple of Pārsvanātha which Tod mentions as elaborate are really anything but elaborate. The whole style and execution of the temple is, as a matter of fact, so commonplace that there is hardly
* Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. III, pp. 1762-60 and 1796-1806 (W. Crooke's ed.). • Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, pp. 448-451. • Cunningham, A. 8. R., Vel. VI, p. 234.
• For the various spellings of this geographical place as used by various scholars, see Ray's Dy. Hie., Vol. II, p. 1081, n. 7.
Cunningham, A. 8. R., Vol. VI, p. 242.
