Kotgarh

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Author: Laxman Burdak IFS (R)
Kotgarh Mudfort
Map of Janjgir-Champa district
Bilaspur-Masturi-Banari-Kotgarh Location Map

Kotgarh (कोटगढ़) is a village in Akaltara tahsil in Janjgir-Champa district in Chhattisgarh.

Variants

Jat Gotras Namesake

  • Kot (Jat clan) = Kotgarh, a village in Akaltara tahsil in Janjgir-Champa district in Chhattisgarh. Raipur Museum Stone Inscription Of Prithvideva II: The polished slab of red sand-stone, on which this inscription is incised, was found at Kôtgadh from where the Malguzar removed it to his own house at Akaltarâ. It was lying there for some time and has been removed to the Raipur Museum. To distinguish this from the preceding inscription of Vallabharàja which was also found at Kôtgadh, I have named it after the Museum in which it is deposited.

Location

It is located 45 kmKM towards west from District head quarters Janjgir, 3 km from Akaltara. This Place is in the border of the Janjgir-champa District and Bilaspur District. Bilaspur District Masturi is west towards this place . Kotgarh is a Village in Akaltara Tehsil in Janjgir-champa District of Chattisgarh State, India. Kotgarh Pin code is 495552 and postal head office is Akaltara . Katghari ( 2 KM ) , Khatola ( 3 KM ) , Katnai ( 3 KM ) , Bamhani ( 3 KM ) , Padariya ( 5 KM ) are the nearby Villages to Kotgarh. Kotgarh is surrounded by Baloda Tehsil towards East , Masturi Tehsil towards west , Pamgarh Tehsil towards South , Nawagarh Tehsil towards South .Akaltara , Naila Janjgir , Champa , Bilaspur are the near by Cities to Kotgarh.[4]


History

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.212-13

[p.212]: The place mentioned above as Kotgarh consists of really two distinct places close to each other, named respectively Kot and Garh, or the citadel and the fort : the Garh is a square fort with earthen ramparts 50 feet high; there are remains within it of sculptured temples, but nothing now standing, and, as before said, the materials are now being used up at Akaltara. There are two gates to the fort on the east and west; the west gate is standing, and has fretted arches ; there is an inscription in the gateway in characters which resemble those of the 10th century, and the remains there must, therefore, be assigned to a period subsequent to the 10th century, but the existence of the fretted arched gateway would bring it down to modem times, and the conclusion can be avoided only by supposing the arched-way to be a later addition,—a by no means improbable supposition, for the fort is strong, and in the troubled times just preceding the Maharatta conquests, must have been a place of importance ; tradition ascribes the fort to Jaya Sinha, a petty chieftain, subject to the Rajas of Ratanpur, and as the inscription mentions a Jaya Sinha without the title of Raja, I am willing to accept the tradition as in the main correct ; tradition also makes the fort about 500 years old, which is probable, although I must say that richly sculptured temples like those that existed here are not likely to have been erected so late as the 14th century. The fort abuts on its north against a natural low hill ; the space within the fort is very confined from the great width of the walls at the base, which, being 50 feet high and of earth, necessarily take up a great deal of room ; the Kot is on the north of, and close to, the hill mentioned.

Close to the place is the village of Mahamadpur ; here is an inscription said by the Malguzar to have been brought from the ruins in the fort by stone-cutters to cut up for manufacture into dishes, but fortunately preserved by him ; it is incomplete, the last portion with the date being worn or peeled off ; in characters it resembles the inscription on the gateway of the fort and is subsequent to the 10th century ; the pepeole of the place, however, say that the inscription belonged to the temple on Jamaital in Mahamadpur ; the temple has entirely disappeared, leaving only a shapeless mass of ruins, whence all useful stone has been carried off, and I think this version of the original site of the inscription more likely to be correct than the Malguzdr’s story.

[p.213]: If, however, we accept the local tradition, and I must mention that tradition ascribes to the temples at Janjgir an age also of 500 years, we must ascribe the temples both here and at Janjgir to the 14th century, and although externally the latter are like the Khajuraho temples, the innovation in the interior, in the introduction of historical or mythological continuous sculptured scenes, does point to some difference of age, and these temples must on that account be placed subsequent to the Khajuraha temples, some of which date only to the 11th century, but in therefore ascribing these to the 14th century I fear the distance in time becomes too great, and I would willingly assign them to a century earlier at least, or the 13th century, i. e., just after the time of the Muhammadan conquest of Upper India, which naturally would lead to many of the architects in Upper and Central India seeking shelter and patronage in the courts of Rajas not yet subdued by the Muhammadans.

Akaltara Stone Inscription Of Ratnadeva II

Akaltara Stone Inscription Of Ratnadeva II - The stone which bears this inscription was found at Kôtgadh, a small village, a mile and a half north of Akaltarâ, in the Jânjgir tahsil of the Bilaspur District in Madhya Pradesh. It was brought down to Akaltarâ by the Malguzar and built into the plinth o£ the temple of Siddhësvara Mahadëva in the back-yard of his bouse at Akaltarâ. Though the present inscription originally belonged to Kôtgadh, I have called it Akaltarâ stone inscription in order to distinguish it from another stone inscription, now deposited in the Raipur Museum, which also comes from Kôtgadh. The inscription refers itself to the reign of Ratnadêva II4 of the Kalachuri Dynasty of Ratanpur. The object of it is to record the construction of a temple of Revanta and the excavation of a tank, evidently at Kôtgadh, by Vallabharâja, a feudatory chief of Ratnadêva II.[5] (For details see Akaltara )

Raipur Museum Stone Inscription Of Prithvideva II

No 85, Plate LXIX
Raipur Museum Stone Inscription Of Prithvideva II

Source - Corpus Inscriptionium Indicarium Vol IV Part 2 Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era, Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi, 1955, p.436-442

This inscription was discovered by Sir Alexander Cunningham's Assistant, Mr. Beglar, who refers to it in the Archeological Survey of India Reports, Vol VII (1873-74), p 211. It has subsequently been noticed by several scholars, eg , by Dr Kielhorn who transcribed a few names of historical importance occurring in it in the Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX, p 84 , by Dr D R Bhandarkar in the Progress Report of the Archœological Survey, Western India for 1903-4, p 52 and finally by Rai Bahadur Hiralal in his Inscriptions in the Central Provinces and Berar4. Though noticed several times, the inscription has not been edited anywhere. I edit it here from the original stone which I personally examined in the Raipur Museum.

The polished slab of red sand-stone, on which this inscription is incised, was found at Kôtgadh5 from where the Malguzar removed it to his own house at Akaltarâ6. It was lying there for some time and has recently been removed to the Raipur Museum. The inscription is fragmentary. The preserved portion consists of 16 lines, all of which except the last are incomplete. The writing covers a space 2' high. The length of the

1. For vaby-âi which I have translated as 'outskirts of the town' see Kielhorn's remarks in Ep Ind , Vol VI, p 250, n 5. I think this sense suits all the passages of the Râjataranginî cited by him For the pleasure-house in the tank, see above, p 431, n 2

2 There is a play on the words kshana, sàmànya and pramâna in consequence of which the adjectives in the first hemistich are intended to be construed with both the tank and the Buddhist doctrine.

3. Kirtti here refers to the tank and perhaps also to the temple of Rëvanta

4. First edition p 111, second ed p 123

5. To distinguish this from the preceding inscription of Vallabharàja which was also found at Kôtgadh, I hâve named it after the Muséum in which it is deposited.

6. It was lying near the Malguzar's house at Akaltarâ in 1903 See PRA.S W I (1903-4), p 52

[p.437]: lines gradually increases.....The chatacters are Nâgarï .... The language is Sanskrit, and except for the opening obeisance to Shiva and the name of the sculptor at the end, the record is metrically composed throughout. There are, in all, thirty verses, all of which except the last are numbered. The prasasti, as the inscription is called in line 25, was composed by Dëvapâni (देेवपाणी), and engraved by the sculptor Pâlhùka (पालहूक). Dëvapâni was also the author of the Akaltara and Ratanpur inscriptions of Vallabharâja. The present inscription has consequently several verses in common with those two records, especiaUy with the latter. Thus, verses 4-21 of the present inscription occur in the same order in that record The orthography shows the same peculiarities as the Akaltara stone inscription.

As stated above, the present record is fragmentary and though it has a considerable portion in common with three other inscriptions1 of Vallabharâja, the latter also, with the exception of the Akaltara stone inscription, have suffered too much to be of much use in the restoration of its lost text. It is not, therefore, possible to give here a connected and complete account of its contents. After the usual mangala-slôka in praise of Sambhu, the inscription seems to have mentioned the Kalachuri family and described two or three princes of it in verses 2-4. The name of the last one only, vîz , Ratnadêva (II) has been preserved at the beginning of lime 4. Like the Akaltara stone inscription, the record then seems to have turned to the ancestors of Vallabharâja, who, as feudatory chiefs, served the predecessors of Ratnadêva II. Verses 5-7 apparently eulogised Dëvarâja (देवराज), Râghava (राघव) and Harigana (हरिगण), but the name of only the last one occurs in the preserved portion. Harigana's wife was described in the next verse (8), but her name is lost The glorification of their son. Vallabharâja commenced in line 7, though his name does not occur in the extant portion till lime 16. Verses 10-15 extol his proficiency in the healing art, his appreciation of merits, his capture of elephants in the Vindhya mountain, the fierce fight in, which he distinguished himself, his raid in a distant country which was commended by his suzeram, and finally his fame and charity. Verse 16 seems to show that he was looked upon as an adopted son by Lâchchhalladëvï (लाच्छलदेवी) whom we know from the Akaltara stone inscription to be the mother of Ratnadêva II. Verse 18 described a city founded by Vallabharâja, which is said to have resembled the city of Kubëra (i.e , Alakâ). The next three verses, two of which occur in a complete form in the Akaltara record, described a tank which Vallabharâja excavated in the same city. Verse 22 probably referred to some charitable or religious works of Vallabharâja, one of which, a garden, is mentioned in the begining of line 19. In the next verse Vallabharâja is said to have loyally assigned to the king Ratnadêva (II) half of the religious merit which accrued to him on account of the aforementioned benefactions. Verse 24 records that he made a request to Ratnadêva (II) for some donation for the worship of Shiva, which

1. Vîz , No 84, above and Nos 87 and 95, below

[p.438]: seems to have been readily granted, for the final word in the next verse which occurs in the beginning of line 22 refers to a royal order. Verse 26 describes a beloved son, probably of Ratnadëva (II)1, but his name bas not been preserved. The next verse mentions his younger brother Jayasimha 2. The name of the poet Devapâni, who composed the prasasti, is preserved in line 25, while that of the writer which must have occurred in the same line is lost. The last line contains the name of the sculptor Pâlhûka who incised the present record.

The foregoing account will show that the object of the inscription was to record the construction, by Vallabharâja, of a temple of Shiva evidently at Kôtgadh and certain donations made by royal order for the worship of the deity. The present inscription is not dated, but as it mentions both the excavation of the tank Vallabhasâgara and the election of the afore-mentioned temple of Shiva, it is evidently later than the Akaltarâ stone inscription which mentions only the former. It is again earlier than the Ratanpur inscription which names many more benefactions of Vallabharâja and his wife and was incised, as expressly stated at the end of it, during the reign of Ratnadëva II's son and successor Prithvïdëva II.

The extant portion mentions no place-name3. Hattakeshvarapuri in L 16, which Rai Bahadur Hiralal took to be the name of an important place, means Alaka (अलका), the city of the lord of wealth (Kubera)4

1. The position of this verse which occurs after the description of Vallabharâja and his ancestors may suggest that the person described in it was a son of Vallabhaiàja, but the same verse occurs immediately after the description of Ratnadëva II and before the eulogy of Vallabharâja 's ancestors in the Ratanpur inscription of Prithvïdêva II (No 95, below), which shows that he is identical with Prithvîdëva II. He seems to have ascended the throne just about the time the inscription was put up. So two verses were added here in praise of him and his brother

2. Beglar found the name of Jayasimha in an inscription on the gateway of the fort at Kôtgadh and he has recorded the tradition which ascribes the building of the fort to Jayasimha, a petty chieftain subject to the Râjâs of Ratanpur (C A S I R , Vol VII, p 212). But, as shown above, Jayasimha was probably a younger brother of Prithvïdëva II.

3. The names of the villages which Ratnadëva II granted for the worship of Shiva are lost at the end of L.21

4. See below, p 440, n 4

Ratanpur Stone Inscription Of Prithvideva II - (Kalachuri) Year 915 (=1163)

Ratanpur Stone Inscription Of Prithvideva II - (Kalachuri) Year 915 (=1163 ....The inscription is one of Brahmadeva, a feudatory prince of Prithvïdëva II, of the Kalachuri Dynasty of Ratanpur. The object of it is to record the religious and charitable works of Brahmadeva at several places. (p.502)

The inscription opens with the customary obeisance to Siva, which is followed by three verses invoking the blessings of the deity. The next verse (v.4) describes Shesha (शेष), the lord of serpents. Verses 5-8 eulogise the 'Talahari-mandala (तलहारीमंडल) (L.6) which is called an ornament of the earth. Then begins a description of the family of Brahmadeva (ब्रह्मदेव) who put up the present record. His father Prithvipala (पृथ्वीपाल) (L.8) is eulogised in verses 8 and 9 as a very valiant and famous personage. His son Brahmadeva (L.11) was the foremost of the feudatories (mandalik-àgrani) evidently of the contemporary Kalachuri king of Ratanpur (v. 11). (p.502)

Verses (12-20) describe his valour, handsome form, learning and chanty. The only point of historical interest mentioned in the extant portion is that he obtained a victory over Jatesvara (जटेश्वर) (L.16) who is evidently identical with the homonymous son of Anantavarman Chôdaganga. We are next told that Prithvïdêva, the lord of Kôsala, called him from the Talahari-mandala, and entrusting the government of his country to him, obtained peace of mind. This Prithvideva is evidently the second prince of that name in the Kalachuri dynasty of Ratanpur. (p.503)

The next eighteen verses (22-39) describe the benefactions of Brahmadeva. He constructed a temple of Dhurjati (Siva) at Mallâla and excavated a tank, evidently at the same place. The religions merit of the former he assigned to his lord, Prithvïdëva. Besides these, he built ten shrines of Tryambaka (Siva) and dug two lotus-ponds at some place, the name of which is lost.

At Varelupura (वरेलापुर) he constructed a grand temple of Srîkantha and at Ratnapura he built nine shrines of Parvati. At the latter place he excavated also a large step-well and two tanks, one on the north and the other on the south of the City.

Several other religious and charitable works of Brahmadeva are next mentioned, viz , a tank at the village Gôthâlî (गौठाली), a temple of Dhûrjati at Nârâyanapura, tanks at Bamhani, Charauya and Tejallapura, a temple of Siva at Kumarâkôta (कुमराकोट) and a mango-grove as well as a charitable feeding house evidently at the same place. Verse 39 records that he donated the village Lônâkara (लौणाकर) to the god Sômanâtha who is probably identical with the deity installed in the temple at Kumarâkôta.

Notable persons

External links

References

  1. ↑ orpus Inscriptionium Indicarium Vol IV Part 2 Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era, Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi, 1955, p. 495-501
  2. ↑ Corpus Inscriptionium Indicarium Vol IV Part 2 Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era, Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi, 1955, p.501-511
  3. ↑ Corpus Inscriptionium Indicarium Vol IV Part 2 Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era, Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi, 1955, p.430
  4. ↑ http://www.onefivenine.com/india/villages/Janjgir_1achampa/Akaltara/Kotgarh#google_vignette
  5. ↑ Corpus Inscriptionium Indicarium Vol IV Part 2 Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era, Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi, 1955, p.430

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