Khajuraho

Who holds it

Name

Not known by name

Title

Temple trusts under the king

Since

not known

Born

not known

Confidence

low

Dedications of the temples.

Lord in 1200

Paramardideva, through the temple trusts.

How things stand that morning

A temple city under a king who lives elsewhere.

Wealth

Temple endowments (village grants), pilgrim gifts, quarry stone from the Ken.

Threats

• None named for 1200; the temples were left standing by the Ghurid conquest and fall into disuse after the Chandelas

Communities

Shaiva and Vaishnava priests, a Jain merchant community.

Walls and castle

Temple enclosures; the ancient city wall is not known.

Trade and crafts

Stone masonry, sculptors' workshops, temple supply.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry note on Khajuraho says Duladeo "went up around 1125". Duladeo is put at about 1130 by others; either way a generation or two before 1200.
• The Hindu and the Jain groups are treated in the religious records; the town here is the settlement.

Evidence: The temples stand; the town is little described.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: The temple city's near land.

Primary sources for Chandelas

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 Crown of Glorious Deeds, Hasan Nizami (Sadr al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan Nizami of Nishapur) (begun about 1205 at Delhi, carried on to about 1217). The earliest history written in Muslim India and the only contemporary account of Qutb al-Din Aibak's campaigns. Read online
• 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
• 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
• 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.
• 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