The Hindu rite for the dead at the footprint of Vishnu on the Phalgu: rice-balls (pinda) offered by pilgrims from every part of India, guided by hereditary priests who keep the family lists (general knowledge; no source opened).
The present temple of Vishnupad is a rebuilding of the eighteenth century; the footprint on the rock is the old object. The Pala-line king at Gaya (Palapala of Gaya) protects it.
Who holds it
- Name
- not named
- Title
- The hereditary Brahman priests of Gaya (later called Gayawals)
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
What it holds
- The Vishnupad shrine and the Phalgu ghats
How things stand that morning
Open and busy; the one Hindu house of Magadha with real income, from the dead.
Wealth
Pilgrim fees.
Threats
- None recorded
Places of note
- Vishnupad: The footprint shrine.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: General knowledge; the campaign board lists only the crossing.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A small disc for the house and its home villages; the granted villages lay scattered.
Primary sources for Magadha and Anga
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Nasirean Generations (a general history of the Muslim dynasties), Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (completed 1260 at Delhi). The fullest narrative of the Ghurid conquest of northern India. Read online
- The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
- Inscriptions of Bengal, vol. 3, Various (the Sena kings' chanceries), edited by N. G. Majumdar (copper plates of the 10th to early 13th centuries; edited 1929). The one-volume edition of the Sena copper plates, the main documentary evidence for Bengal around 1200. Read online
- Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
- The History of India as Told by its Own Historians: the Muhammadan Period, vol. 2, Various (Ibn al-Athir, Hasan Nizami, Awfi, Juzjani and others), edited by H. M. Elliot and John Dowson (the sources date from the 1190s to the 14th century; the collection was published in 1869). A one-volume anthology of the Arabic and Persian accounts of the Ghurid conquest. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.