The Chandelas of Jejakabhukti

Who rules

Name

Paramardideva (Paramardi; Parimala or Paramala in the ballads)

Title

Maharajadhiraja Paramesvara, lord of Kalanjara (Kalanjaradhipati)

Since

about 1165 (his earliest dated stone, Semra, is of 1165 to 1166)

Born

not known; the ballads call him a child at accession (bardic, not evidence)

Family

Chandela of the lunar line. His own stones make him grandson of Madanavarman; the Bateshwar stone makes him successor to Yashovarman II. Son and successor: Trailokyavarman (inscriptions). Brahmajit and Samarjit appear only in the ballads.

Confidence

high

Dated stones, all CE: Semra 1165-66, Mahoba 1166-67 and 1173, Ichhawar 1171, Pachar 1176, Charkhari 1178, Mahoba 1183 and 1184, Ajaygarh 1187, Bateshwar 1195, Kalanjara 1201. Reign about 1165 to 1203 (Wikipedia, from the inscriptions).

What the realm holds

• Mahoba (Mahotsavanagara), the working capital, ringed by the tanks Kirat Sagar, Madan Sagar, Vijay Sagar, Kalyan Sagar and Rahila Sagar
• Kalanjara (Kalinjar), the rock fort whose lordship he names in his title; Koti Tirth and the rock-cut kunds inside the walls are its water
• Ajaigarh (Jayapura-durga), fort over the Ken valley with the tanks Ganga and Jamuna; stone of 1187
• Khajuraho (Kharjuravahaka), the temple city, unwalled and militarily worthless
• Deogarh (Kirtigiri-durga) on the Betwa, Charkhari, Madanpur, Dudhai, Erach and the Betwa and Dhasan crossings
• toll and forest country of the Panna scarp and the Ken gorge; granite and sandstone quarries

How it was acquired

Inherited about 1165 from Madanavarman (or Yashovarman II). Lost Mahoba to Prithviraja in 1182 or 1183 and recovered it within about a year.

Allies and rivals

Past friendship with the Gahadavalas of Kannauj, broken by the collapse of 1194. Old enmity with the Kalachuris of Tripuri: Paramardi beat Jayasimha and the Mahoba stone of 1183 says the Tripuri lord fainted at songs of his courage. Border with the Paramaras of Malwa on the Betwa and round Bhilsa and Chanderi, where the claims overlap. Prithviraja is dead. No recorded contact with the Ghurids before 1202.

The realm that morning

Independent, intact and building. The heartland has not been attacked by the Turks. Mahoba is a repaired capital, Kalanjara the refuge, Ajaigarh the third fort. The northern edge on the Yamuna (Kalpi, the Betwa mouth) is the exposed one, with Ghurid garrisons at Kannauj and Kara and Gwalior within a few days' ride.

Wealth

Tank-fed rice and wheat; granite and sandstone quarries; iron and forest produce (timber, lac, honey) from the scarp; tolls on the Betwa, Dhasan, Ken and Yamuna crossings; pilgrim traffic to Khajuraho, Kalanjara and Chitrakoot; a gold coin bearing the name Srimat Paramardi.

Military

A fort triangle (Kalanjara, Ajaigarh, Mahoba with Gokhar hill) rather than a field army; Brahmin generals (senapati) and Kayastha officers; war elephants from the forests. Record in war: defeated by Prithviraja 1182 to 1183, recovered; beat the Kalachuris. No numbers survive.

Threats

• A Ghurid column from Kannauj or Kalpi against Mahoba and Kalanjara (1202 to 1203)
• Paramara pressure on the Bhilsa and Chanderi marches
• Revolt of the Gond and Kol hill chiefs of the scarp if the king is beaten

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 1201A stone of Paramardi at Kalanjara records additions to the Nilakantha temple: he is alive and building.Depends on: No Ghurid attack before then. Stopped by: An early attack.
2. 1202 or 1203 (599 AH; Hasan Nizami gives 20 Rajab 599, the surrender is dated 12 or 27 April 1203)Aibak besieges Kalanjara. Paramardi sues for terms, promises tribute and dies before paying; his minister Ajayadeva fights on until the tanks run dry.Depends on: Aibak free of the Khurasan wars and of the Khokhars; the Chandela refusal to submit. Stopped by: A Ghurid reverse in Khurasan, a Chandela payment, or a quarrel between Aibak and Tughril.
3. about 1205Trailokyavarman retakes Kalanjara and calls himself Kalanjaradhipati.Depends on: The Ghurid garrison left thin. Stopped by: Reinforcement from Delhi.

Places of note

• Kalanjara: rock fort and refuge
• Ajaigarh: fort over the Ken, stone of 1187
• Khajuraho: temple city

Where the sources disagree

• Board: "Paramardideva dies in the siege". Hasan Nizami says he surrendered as a vassal and died before paying; Firishta says his minister killed him; the ballads say he killed himself or went to Gaya. All are later than 1 January 1200.
• The campaign board entry lists the Panna diamond gravels as Chandela wealth. No source we have shows the Panna diamonds worked in 1200; left out.

Evidence: Thick dated stones (about twelve) for the reign, thin for the court, the army and the Ghurid side. The ballads (Parmal Raso, Alha-khanda) are bardic and are not used as evidence of 1200.

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

On the map: The outline is the modern districts of Chhatarpur, Panna, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Tikamgarh, Niwari, Lalitpur and Jhansi. The real frontier was a patchwork of forts and tributary chiefs, and the Yamuna edge and the Chanderi march are uncertain.

Primary sources for this realm

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