Dhanpur Bilaspur

Author: Laxman Burdak IFS (R)

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Masturi on Map of Bilaspur district

Dhanpur Bilaspur (धनपुर) is a village and site of a fort in Pendraroad tahsil of Bilaspur district in Chhattisgarh.

Variants

• Dhangaon

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Dhan/Dhanasar (Jat clan) = Dhanpur, a village and site of a fort in Pendraroad tahsil of Bilaspur District in Chhattisgarh. Ratanpur Stone Inscription Of Prithvideva II - (Kalachuri) Year 915 (=1163) was originally at Dhanpur. Beglar was told by some people at Bilaspur that the slab originally came from Dhangaon i e , Dhanpur, a village in the former Pendra Zamindârï in the Bilaspur District, which contains several ruins). If the object of the inscription was to record the gift of a village in honour of Siva under the name Sômanâtha installed at Kumarâkôta (see vv 36-39), the inscription may have been originally put up at that place and later on removed to Ratanpur. (p.501, fn.5)

Location

Dhanpur is a Village in Marwahi Tehsil in Bilaspur District of Chattisgarh State, India. It is located 107 KM towards North from District head quarters Bilaspur. 10 KM from Marwahi. 215 KM from State capital Raipur. Dhanpur Pin code is 495119 and postal head office is Pendra . Salhekota ( 5 KM ) , Nagwahi ( 5 KM ) , Andi ( 6 KM ) , Mahora ( 6 KM ) , Nimdha ( 6 KM ) are the nearby Villages to Dhanpur. Dhanpur is surrounded by Gaurella-1 Tehsil towards South , Gaurella-2 Tehsil towards South , Jaithari Tehsil towards west , Anuppur Tehsil towards North . Pasan , Kotma , Chirmiri , Shahdol are the near by Cities to Dhanpur. This Place is in the border of the Bilaspur District and Anuppur District. Anuppur District Jaithari is west towards this place . It is near to the Madhya Pradesh State Border.

Temple

Dhanpur - The temple of Maa Adishakti Maa Durga is established at a distance of about 23 km on the Pandra-Seoni road. It is believed that the Pandavas stayed here during their unknown stay in this place. The ancient artwork at this place is the center of attraction of the people, mainly the statue of Benibai and other ancient sculptures.

History

Ratanpur Stone Inscription Of Prithvideva II - (Kalachuri) Year 915 (=1163) was originally at Dhanpur. Beglar was told by some people at Bilaspur that the slab originally came from Dhangaon i e , Dhanpur, a village in the former Pendra Zamindârï in the Bilaspur District, which contains several ruins). If the object of the inscription was to record the gift of a village in honour of Siva under the name Sômanâtha installed at Kumarâkôta (see vv 36-39), the inscription may have been originally put up at that place and later on removed to Ratanpur. (p.501, fn.5)

Dhanpur in Archaeological Survey of India Report

Source - Archaeological Survey of India, Report of a Tour in Bundelkhand and Malwa, 1871-72 and in the Central Provinces, 1873-74 by J D Beglar, Assistant Archaeological Survey, Vol. VII, Calcutta, 1878, p.237-38

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[p.237]: About 5 miles to the north of Pendra, are the ruins of Dhanpur, from where numerous stones, statues and ancient fragments are being, and have long been brought to Pendra, which is the head- quarters of the Pendra Chief ; the ruins are very extensive, covering nearly 4 square miles of ground ; the great mass of the ruins are, however, compressed within an area of barely half a square mile. On approaching the ruins, the first object of interest is the great tank known as the Bhautara tank ; here are several fragments of sculpture ; the tank is large, and has very clear water.

Half a mile to the north of the tank are several low mounds scattered about in scrub jangal ; the first group consists of the ruins of 6 temples ; half a mile to the west of this is a group of ruins of 4 temples, besides several smaller detached or isolated shrines close by ; to the north of these is a long chain of tanks ; these look vastly like the remains, filled up at intervals across, of a long moat, which once surrounded the city ; immediately on the opposite banks of the line of tanks, is a long range of low natural rugged hillocks, like a line of artificial earthen ramparts, several of which are covered with mounds of ruins ; one consists of a group of 4 temples, all large ones ; of these, most, if not the whole, appear to have been Jain ; not far from these is the tank known as Sobhnath, on the margin of which are collected numerous Jain fragments ; the banks of the tank are covered with an uninterrupted chain of ruins; there are Brahmanical fragments also to be se lying about, but not among the ruins in the vicinity of this tank ; this portion of the city appears clearly to have been exclusively Jain.

Among the ruins mentioned before, Brahmanical statues are to be seen ; the tank close to the ruins of the first group is called Katha talad.

The temples were of brick and stone, and also exclusively of stone ; the bricks used measure more than 14 inches long,

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[p.238]: more than 9 inches wide and about 2-1/2 or a little more in thickness; they are like the bricks at Sirpur.

There are no traditions whatever. The ruins now are so utterly denuded of all squared and dressed stone that could he used up, and of all statues, and even of bricks, that it is impossible to tell their age ; the mounds have actually been dug into, to extract all the possible useful blocks that could be obtained ; it is said, however, that the extent of ruins is very great, and no one knows or can point out all the mounds that exist, as they are all in dense scrub jangal ; those that have been discovered and utilized are, of course, accessible, but if others exist, they are inaccessible. As, how- ever, the only communicative villager I could find assured me that sometimes a fresh mound is stumbled upon by the village herdsmen or cow-boys, I think it probable, that there may still be untouched mounds in the deeper recesses of the scrub jangal ; the whole of the ruins are scattered on a wide magnificent plain with gentle undulations ; the plain is, how-ever, covered with thorny scrub. The only means of judging of the age of the temples here, now left on the spot, (i. e.) by the sculptures, shew, that they are far more recent than the Sirpur ones. I should assign them to a period not earlier than the 9th century of our era.

धनपुर

पेण्ड्रा- सिवनी मार्ग में लगभग 23 किमी दूरी पर स्थिति मां आदिशक्ति मां दुर्गा का मंदिर स्थापित है । मान्यता है कि, इस स्थान में पाण्डव यहां अज्ञातवास के दौरान यहां रूके थे । इस स्थान पर प्राचीन कलाकृति लोगो का आकर्षण का केन्द्र है । मुख्य रूप से बेनीबाई की प्रतिमा एवं अन्य प्राचीन मूर्तियां।

References

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