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No. 16 GYARASPUR INSCRIPTION OF MAHAKUMARA TRAILOKYAVARMADEVA
K. G. KRISHNAN, OOTACAMUND
(Received on 3.4.1958) Gyaraspur, a town in the former Gwalior State, lies at a distance of 24 miles from Bhilsa on the road from Bhilsa to Sagar. Cunningham gave an account of the antiquities of the place in his Reports. He noticed two fragmentary inscriptions engraved on a plain pillar built into a platform near what is known as the Hindola Toian. The first of these records is dated V. 8. 936. The second inscription, which is of a much later date, forms the subject of this article. It is published here with the kind permission of the Government Epigraphist for India.
The language of the inscription, which is fragmentary, is Sanskrit and the characters employed are Nagari of about the 12th century. There are only four lines of writing, the concluding part of all of which is broken away and lost. The inscription refers to the consecration of an imago of the god Chāmundasvāmidēva and records the grant of a village, excluding the lands already in the enjoyment of gods and Brāhmaṇas, with a view to provide for the god's worship. The donor's name is given as Mahākumāra Trailokyavarmadēva who made the grant from his camp at Harshapura. The passage containing the other royal epithets enjoyed by the ruler is insufficiently preserved. In connection with the date, the tithi navami is mentioned in the extant part. But the other details of the date and the grant are lost due to the fragmentary nature of the inscription.
The record is important inasmuch as it is the only stone inscription of Mahākumāra Trailöky&. varmadēva who no doubt belonged to the Paramāra dynasty of Malwa. The Bhopal plates of the Paramāra Mahākumāra Harichandradēva (Hariéchandradēva) published in this journal revealed to us for the first time that the said Paramāra ruler acquired sovereignty through the favour of Mahākumāra Trailökyavarman who had obtained the privilege of the five great sounds. It is also stated in that record that Trailökyavarman meditated on the feet of the illustrious Ya4varmmadēva, the well-known Paramāra king of that name. The late Dr. N. P. Chakravarti suggested that Trailökyavarman, if he was not identical with Harischandra's father Lakshmivarman, may have been a son, or more probably a brother, of Lakshmivarmane and that he was possibly ruling as a regent during the minority of Harischandra with the full power of a chief. Though the present record does not throw any light on the position of Trailokyavarman in the genealogy of the Paramāras, it confirms the fact that he ruled for sometime as a Mahakumāra.
The Bhopal plates, dated in V.8. 1214 Kāittika su. 15, lunar eclipse, corresponding to Saturday, the 19th October, 1157 A.D., were issued when Harischandra was ruling. He seems to have ascended the throne sometime before that date. Thus Trailokyavarman, the donor of our record, Fuled as # Mahākumāra about the middle of the 12th century. The grant under study is stated to have been made by Truilökyavurman when he was oncamping at Harshapura which is no doubt the same as Harsaudū, inentioned us Hur lupura in un inscriptious of Paramūra Devapaladeve, dated V. S. 1275. Harsauda is a village in the Nimar District of Madhya Pradesh. This suggests that the truct over which Trailokyavarman ruled extended from the Gyaraspur region in the
Op. cit. Vol. X (Report of Tours in Bundelkhand and Malw) in 1874.75 and 1876-77), pp. 31
K. Ep., 1952-53, App. B, No. 151. The stone bearing these insoription is now deposited in the Gwalior Museum.
. Above, Vol. XXIV, pp. 220 ff. • Ibid., p. 228. . Ind. Ant., Vol. XX, pp. 310 €.
