Dhara is a scholars' city: the tradition of Bhoja's Sarasvati temple (the Bhojashala) and its colleges still stands, and the Jain community of Dhara and Nalcha supports teachers.
Asadhara, a refugee from the Ghurid conquest of the Ajmer country in 1192 to 1193, is among them. Bilhana, a poet and minister, served Vindhyavarman. The court is Sanskrit and Prakrit, Shaiva and Jain.
Who he is
- Name
- Asadhara (Jain layman and scholar); Bilhana (poet-minister of Vindhyavarman); the Jain acarya Mahavira
- Title
- Scholar-poets and ministers of the court
- Since
- Asadhara came to Dhara in the reign of Vindhyavarman
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Asadhara came from Mandalgarh in Sapadalaksha (the Chahamana country) after "the mleccha king Shihab ad-Din" conquered it; he names Dhara's king Vijayavarman, which Wikipedia identifies with Vindhyavarman. His dated works are of the 1230s.
- Confidence
- medium
Wikipedia (Vindhyavarman); Asadhara's own colophons are not seen. Madana, poet and teacher of Arjunavarman, is attested only from Arjunavarman's reign (about 1210) and is not placed at court on 1 January 1200.
Overlord
Subhatavarman
What it holds
- No land: patronage, the Bhojashala college, Jain temple foundations
How things stand that morning
In place; Asadhara young; Madana not yet at court (his patron Arjunavarman reigns from about 1210).
Where the sources disagree
- The assignment lists "Asadhara, Madana" at the court of Dhara; Madana belongs to Arjunavarman's reign and is left to the likely course.
Evidence: Two sentences in Wikipedia; the colophons are not seen.
On the map: A point at Dhara.
Primary sources for Paramaras of Malwa
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 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
- 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
- Historical Inscriptions of Gujarat, Various (the Chaulukya and Vaghela chanceries), edited by G. V. Acharya (inscriptions of the 10th to 14th centuries; edited 1933 to 1942). The standard corpus of Gujarat's inscriptions. Read online
- Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era, Various, edited by V. V. Mirashi (inscriptions of the 7th to 13th centuries; edited 1955). Collects every known record of the Kalachuris of Tripuri (Dahala) and of Ratnapura (south Kosala), with text, translation and a long historical introduction. Read online
- Inscriptions of the Paramaras, Chandellas, Kachchhapaghatas and two minor dynasties, Various, edited by H. V. Trivedi (inscriptions of the 9th to 14th centuries; edited 1978 to 1991). The collected records of the Paramaras of Malwa (parts 1 and 2) and of the Chandelas of Jejakabhukti (part 3), re-edited from Epigraphia Indica and earlier journals with new finds.
- Sanskrit and Old Canarese Inscriptions relating to the Yadava Kings of Devagiri, Various (Yadava chancery), edited by J. F. Fleet (inscriptions of the 12th and 13th centuries; edited 1876). The first collected edition of the Yadava (Seuna) records, with texts and translations, from the Indian Antiquary. Read online
- The Wishing-Stone of Narratives, Merutunga (a Jain monk of the Nagendra gaccha) (1305 (Vikrama 1361) at Vadhvan in Gujarat). A Jain collection of historical anecdotes about the kings of Gujarat and Malwa, a century after 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.