Mahoba

Who holds it

Name

Paramardideva Chandela

Title

King

Since

about 1165

Born

not known

Family

See the king's record.

Confidence

high

Dated stones.

Lord in 1200

Paramardideva; the town governor is not known.

How things stand that morning

The living centre of a free kingdom with a recent memory of a raid.

Wealth

Lake irrigation, granite, forest produce, betel, the tolls of the road between the Yamuna and Khajuraho.

Military

The citadel and the Kalinjar refuge; no numbers.

Threats

• Ghurid columns from the Yamuna line

Communities

Brahmin ministers, Kayastha officials, Jain scholars, Nath yogis on the Gokhar hill.

Walls and castle

The citadel above Madan Sagar; the "fort" is a ruin of later periods.

Trade and crafts

Betel leaf (a Mahoba trade in later periods, unchecked), granite working, temple building.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 28 October 1201Paramardi makes his last dated gift (the Kalanjara stone).Depends on: Peace to that date.

Places of note

• Gokhar hill: Nath yogi cave by tradition

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry has a dozen Mahoba sub-places (the Sun temple, the lakes, the Gokhar hill, the Maniya Devi shrine). All stand and are in the king's record as board ids.

Evidence: Dated stones and the lakes themselves.

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

On the map: The same ground as the king's Mahoba block.

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