Yasodharman

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Yashôdharman

Yasodharman or Yashôdharman (Devanagari:यशोधर्मा) was the king of Malwa, in central India, during the early part of the 6th century. The Gupta Empire had been weakened by the attacks of the Indo-Hephthalites, known in India as the Hunas, towards the end of the 5th century, which caused it to break up into smaller states. Yasodharman defeated a Huna army in 528, which checked the Huna expansion in India. Twin monolithic pillars at Sondani in Mandsaur District were erected by Yasodharman as a record of his victory. [1]

During the reign of Kumaragupta I his feudatory Bandhuvarman ruled over Mandasor as it was a major Centre of western Malwa. He belonged to the Aulikara family which perhaps ruled there up to the beginning of the sixth century A.D. Two stone pillar inscriptions from Mandasor in Madhya Pradesh, one of which is dated in 532 A.D., refer to a powerful king Yasodharman. One of these inscriptions reports the victories of Yasodharman. The inscription describes him as the victor of all those lands which had not been subdued even by the Guptas. But the names of the defeated powers have not been mentioned except that of Mihirkula. It appears that Yasodharman rose to power in about 528 A.D. and continued to rule till 532 A.D., (the date of Mandasor inscription) but by 543 A.D. his power must have been eclipsed. [2]


Three inscriptions of Yasodharman have been found in Mandsaur. One of these is of samvat 589 (532 AD). Yasodharman had acquired the title of Vikramaditya. [3] He started the vikram samvat calendar of Hindus based on Lunar movements. The Kashmiri poet Kalhana has mentioned about three Kalidasas. The second Kalidasa, who wrote the books 'Raguvansha' and 'Jyotirvidabharan', was court poet of Yasodharman. Kalidasa has mentioned the victories of Yasodharman as 'Raghu-digvijaya'. His rule extended from Himalayas in the north to Travancore in south. The ruler of Magadha had become his friend. Chinese traveler Faxian visited India during his rule. [4] The victory of Yasodharman is mentioned in the sentence “Ajay Jarto Hunan” in the grammer of Chandra of the fifth century. This mention in the phrase sentence अजय जर्टो हुणान or “Ajay Jarto Huṇān”, refers to the defeat of Huns by the Jats under the leadership of Yasodharman. [5]

The Bijayagadh Stone Pillar Inscription of Vishnuvardhan shows that Yasodharman, the father of Vishnuvardhana, was a king of Virk gotra. [6]Thakur Deshraj and CV Vaidya have concluded that the inscription of Mandsaur indicate that Yasodharman, the ruler of Malwa, was a Jat king of the Virk gotra ( clan). [7][5]

Mandasor Pillar Inscription of Yashodharman

  • May that very long banner of (the god) Sh lap ni destroy the glory of your enemies; (that banner) which bears (a representation of) the bull (Nandi), marked by the five fingers (dipped in some dye and then) placed on him by (Parvati) the daughter of the mountain (Himalaya), who causes the distant regions, in which the demons are driven wild with fear by (his) terrible bellowings, to shake; (and) who makes the glens of (the mountain) Sum ru to have their rocks split open by the blows of his horns!
  • (Line 2.) He, to whose arm, as if (to the arm) of (the god) Sh rngap ni, the fore-arm of which is marked with callous parts caused by the hard string of (his) bow, (and) which is steadfast in the successful carrying out of vows for the benefit of mankind, the earth betook itself (for succour), when it was afflicted by kings of the present age, who manifested pride; who were cruel through want of proper training; who, from delusion, transgressed the path of good conduct; (and) who were destitute of virtuous delights:
  • (L. 3.) He who, in this age which is the ravisher of good behaviour, through the action simply of (his good) intentions shone gloriously, not associating with other kings who adopted a reprehensible course of conduct, just as an offering of flowers (is beautiful when it is not laid down) in the dust; he in whom, possessed of a wealth of virtue, (and so) falling but little short of Manu and Bharata and Alarka and Mandhatri, the title of "universal sovereign" shines more (than in any other), like a resplendent level (set) in good gold:
  • (L. 4.) He who, spurning (the confinement of) the boundaries of his own house, enjoys those countries, thickly covered over with deserts and mountains and trees and thickets and rivers and strong-armed heroes, (and) having (their) kings assaulted by (his) prowess, which were not enjoyed (even) by the lords of the Guptas, whose prowess was displayed by invading the whole (remainder of the) earth, (and) which the command of the chiefs of the Hunas , that established itself on the tiaras of (many) kings, failed to penetrate:
  • (L. 5.) He before whose feet chieftains, having (their) arrogance removed by the strength of (his) arm, bow down, from the neighbourhood of the (river) Lauhitya up to (the mountain) Mahendra, the lands at the foot of which are impenetrable through the groves of palmyra-trees, (and) from (Himalaya) the mountain of snow, the tablelands of which are embraced by the (river) Ganga, up to the Western Ocean, by which (all) the divisions of the earth are made of various hues through the intermingling of the rays of the jewels in the locks of hair on the tops of (their) heads:

(L.6.) He by whom (his) head has never been brought into the humility of obeisance to any other save (the god) Sthanu; he, through the embraces of whose arms (Himalaya) the mountain of snow carries no longer the pride of the title of being a place that is difficult of access; he to whose two feet respect was paid, with complimentary presents of the flowers from the lock of hair on the top of (his) head, by even that (famous) king Mihirakula, whose forehead was pained through being bent low down by the strength of (his) arm in (the act of compelling) obeisance:

  • (L. 7.) By him, the king, the glorious Yashodharman, the firm beams of whose arms are as charming as pillars, this column, which shall endure to the time of the destruction of the world, has been erected here, as if to measure out the earth; as if to enumerate on high the multitude of the heavenly lights; (and) as if to point out the path of his own fame to the skies above, acquired by good actions; (this column) which shines refulgent, as if it were a lofty arm of the earth, raised up in joy to write upon the surface of the moon the excellence of the virtues of Yashodharman, to the effect that "His birth (is) in a lineage that is worthy to be eulogised; there is seen in him a charming behaviour that is destructive of sin; he is the abode of religion; (and) the (good) customs of mankind continue current, unimpeded (in any way) by him."
  • (L. 9.) From a desire thus to praise this king, of meritorious actions, (these) verses have been composed by V sula, the son of Kakka. (This eulogy) has been engraved by Govinda.
From: Fleet, John F. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum: Inscriptions of the Early Guptas. Vol. III. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publications Branch, 1888, 147-148.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Fleet, John F. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum: Inscriptions of the Early Guptas. Vol. III. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publications Branch, 1888, 147-148
  2. ↑ Post Gupta Kings in North India
  3. ↑ Kalhana: Rajatarangini
  4. ↑ Thakur Deshraj: Jat Itihas (Hindi), Maharaja Suraj Mal Smarak Shiksha Sansthan, Delhi, 1934, 2nd edition 1992 (Page 712)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 CV Vaidya, History of Medieval Hindu India
  6. ↑ Fleet, John F. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum: Inscriptions of the Early Guptas. Vol. III. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publications Branch, 1888, 254.
  7. ↑ Thakur Deshraj: Jat Itihas (Hindi), Maharaja Suraj Mal Smarak Shiksha Sansthan, Delhi, 1934, 2nd edition 1992 (Page 707)

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