New Light on the Ancient History of Malwa

Summary

V. V. Mirashi offers a reassessment of sixth‑century Malwa based on two inscriptions of King Gauri of the Māṇavāyani family. A slab found at Choti Sadri near Neemuch records that in Vikrama year 547 King Gauri built a temple for the goddess and supplies a genealogy: Punyaśoma → Rajyavardhana → Rāṣṭra (or Rāṣṭravardhana) → Yaśogupta → Mahārāja Gauri. A second inscription from Mandasor describes Gauri excavating a tank for his deceased mother and provides a slightly different lineage. Mirashi focuses on a third figure, Adityavardhana, mentioned in the fragmentary Mandasor record as a reigning king who defeated enemies at a city possibly called Daśapura. He reviews D. C. Sircar’s hypothesis that Adityavardhana may be identical with the Hūṇa king Toramāṇa or his son Mihirakula, or else an alternative name of Gauri. Mirashi proposes a different solution: the Aulikara kings, including Adityavardhana, Dravyavardhana and Viṣṇuvardhana (Yaśodharman), ruled from Ujjayinī (Avanti), not from Daśapura. He cites the Br̥hatsamhitā passage that refers to Mahārāja‑dhirāja Dravyavardhana of Avanti and suggests that Adityavardhana conquered territory south of Daśapura before moving his capital to Ujjayinī. The Mainavāyani family, whose records are found at Daśapura and as far north as Sadadi, were likely his feudatories installed there after the Aulikara conquest. Mirashi aligns dates by placing Adityavardhana around V. 532‑552 (475‑495 CE), Dravyavardhana around V. 552‑572 and Yaśodharman around V. 589. He argues that Yaśodharman’s famous victory pillars at Daśapura commemorate his defeat of the Hūṇas but do not indicate that Daśapura was his capital. The article thus shifts the centre of Aulikara power from Daśapura to Ujjayinī and presents the Māṇavāyani inscriptions as evidence of a subordinate line under Aulikara suzerainty.