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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXIII the god Sambhu (Siva) and to both Girida (Siva) and his consort Sailasutā (Pārvati). Verse 3 introduces the city of Nalapura (modern Narwar) which was the capital of the Yajvapāla kings, while verse 4 speaks of king Chahada of the Yajvapāla family. Verse 5 mentions king Nfivarman, Bon of Chāhada. He is described as a devotee of Daityāräti, probably meaning here the god Siva. Verse 6 mentions Asalladēva, son of Nțivarman, as well as his queen Lāvanyadēvi, while the next stanza (verse 7) continues Asalla's description. Verses 8-9 describe the reigning monarch Gopāla who was the son of Asalladēva apparently from the queen Lāvanyadēvi.
Verse 10 introduces a Kshatriya family, to which the hero of the prasasti belonged, as rosembling a family of Brāhmaṇas and the next stanza (verse 11) gives its name as Gaudahara and states that it belonged to the Vatsa gotra. It is possible that Gaudahara is the same as what is now called the Gaur-Rajput. Verse 12 says that the family of the Gaudahara Kshatriyas worshipped three forms of the Mother-goddess, viz. Chāmundā, the nine-formed (nava-vidhā) Dēvi and Gaudaharā. The Nava-vidhā Dēvi is no doubt the same as Nava-Durgā or Durgā having nino forms, viz. Kumārikā, Trimūrti, Kalyani, Rõhiņi, Kāli, Chandikā, Sāmbhavi, Durgā and Bhadrā. Of the three goddesses, Gaudaharā was apparently the family deity of the Gaudaharas.
Verse 13 says that Tribhuvanagiri was the capital of the stragēna king and that there lived one Dāmādara. It appears that Dāmõdara was a Gaudahara Kshatriya and that the original home of the family in quastion was Tribhuvanagiri, capital of the Sürasēnas.) The ancient capital of the Sürasēna country was Mathurā; but our inscription appears to speak of a place where a Sürasēna family was ruling at the time when Damodara flourished. The reference may be to a dynasty like the Sūrasēna royal family known from the Kama (Bharatpur District, Rajasthan) inscription of about the eight century A.D. The name Tribhuvanagiri suggests that it was a hill-fort named after a king called Tribhuvana. But it is difficult to indentify it without further evidence.
Verse 14 speaks of Damodara's son Någadēva, who seems to have been the minister of an unnamed king, and the next stanza (verse 15) of the latter's three sons, viz. Pīthana, Jalhaņa and Mälädhara, while verse 16 describes Jalhana who was the second of the three brothers. This importance accorded to Jalhana is due to the fact that he was the most famous amongst the brothers. Verse 16 tells us that Jalhana was reliable and commanded the confidence of the people and that, having learnt this fact, the Hammira himself appointed him as one of his officers at Göpasaila (i.e. Gwalior). The word hammira, derived from Arabic 'amir, was generally used in early medieval India to indicate a Turkish Musalman king, although it gradually came to be adopted sometimes by the Indians as a personal name. The stanza seems to refer to the conquest of Gwalior by Sultan Iltutmish of Delhi (1210-36 A.D.) about the beginning of 1233 A.D. It appears that, after the conquest of Gwalior, the Sulţān appointed Jalhana in order to create confidence in the minds of the recently subdued Hindus of the area. It was no doubt a wise step. But it is interesting to note that, even if Jalhana was an officer at Gwalior under the Muslims, many members of his family appear to have migrated to the Yajvapāla kingdom and settled there.
Verse 17 again refers to Pīthana, elder brother of Jalhana, while the following stanza (verse 18) gives the name of his wife as Champa. Pithana is described as a devotee of the god Pasupati (Niva). Verse 19 mentions Dēvadhara, son of Pithana and Champā, and verse 20 says that he was the Adhikari-mukhya (i.. chief minister) of king Asalladēva. The known dates of the Yajvapāla
1 Whitworth, Anglo-Indian Dictionary, s.v. • Bhandarkar's List, No. 1849. See above, Vol. XXX, p. 147.
