Naravarman

Naravarman (नरवर्मन) or Nara Varman (नरवर्मा) (404 AD) was ruler of Mandsaur before Huna victory of Yashodharman.

History

At the time of Gupta rulers in Malwa there is mention of one more dynasty of rulers in Malwa. Sinhavarma was contemporary of Samudragupta (335-375 AD). Singhavarma had two sons namely Chandravarman and Naravarman. Chandravarma moved from Malwa and established kingdom in Marwar. Narvarma remained ruler in Malwa. Narvarma had two sons namely Bandhu Varma and Bhim Varma. Guptas had increased their powers in Malwa and Bandhuvarma accepted subjection of Gupta rulers. Bhimvarma became samant of Skandgupta Vikramaditya (455-467), son of Kumaragupta I. He was probably samant of Kaushambi.

Bhangupta Baladitya became ruler of Malwa after 40 years period of Skandagupta. Baladitya has been mentioned along with Jat ruler Yasodharman in defeating the Huns. If we add name of Vishnuvardhan after Bandhuvarma the chronology of these rulers becomes as under:

• Sinhavarman, his two sons Chandravarman and Naravarman.
• Naravarman had one son – Vishvavarman. He had two sons – Raghuvarman and Bhimavarman.
• Raghuvarman’s son was Vishnuvardhan and his son Yasodharman. Yasodharman’s son was Shiladitya.

Another Naravarmma in Rajatarangini

Rajatarangini tels us that Bhikshachara (r.1120 AD), on account of his amour towards Jayamati, wife of Sussala, was ordered to be killed. He was by the king's orders taken by the executioners at night to the place of execution. There he was dashed on stone and thrown into the Vitasta. But kind fate landed him on a bank where the trees were waved by the wind. A certain Brahmana who had some money revived him to life; and thinking that Asamati was a relative of Didda, the daughter of Shahi, he brought Bhikshachara to Didda, and wily Didda, took him and sent him to another country and there in the south he lived privately. When Naravarmma, king of Malava came to know who he was, he instructed him in learning and in arms as his own son.

Some say that Jayamati saved Bhikshachara by destroying another boy like him, and of his age. When

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[p.21]: the king learnt, through his spies that Bhikshachara had returned from foreign countries, his affection towards Jayamati began to abate. But the patient king without disclosing his designs concluded terms with the kings through whose territories Bhikshachara was to come to prevent his entrance into Kashmira.

Some again say, that after Bhikshachara had been killed, Didda brought a boy like him and caused him to be known by Bhikshachara's name.

Susunia inscription of Chandravarman dated 4th century AD

The Indian Archaeology Blogspot provides us following information about Susunia inscriptions of 4th Century A D From Ancient History of Bengal, vol. I, on Susunia inscriptions:

The Susunia Rock inscription,the earliest reference to the cult of Vaishnavism, is a short Sanskrit inscription in three lines engraved in Brahmi script on Susunia hill, recording the installation of an image of Vishnu during the reign of Chandravarman.

The first two lines of it incised below a big wheel (chakra) with flaming rib and hub, refer to it as the work of the illustrious Maharaja Chandravarman, the lord of Pushkarna....

The third line is incised to the right of the wheel, but its reading and consequently its meaning is not very clear. It certainly refers to the dedication (of the cave) to Chakrasvamin, which literally means the 'wielder of the discuss, i.e., Vishnu...It may be reasonably inferred that the excavated cave, on the wall of which the inscription was incised, was intended to be a temple of Vishnu. Suniti Chattapadhaya "holds that Puskarana mentioned in Susuniya inscription is the modern Pokarnya or Pakharna situated in Bankura District of which Candravarma was the king." (Prachin Vanger Puskarna-janapad - in Vangasri, 1339-40 B.S., 1932-33 A.D., pt. 1, p. 135-136).

On the rock face another script is visible, which is "Sankha Lipi (script)" from a period between 8th to 10th Century A.D. Till date this Sankha Lipi can not be deciphered. Many observe this not as script but symbols.

Radhakumud Mookerji writes that Susunia Rock inscription describes Chandravarma as ruler of Pushakarana (village near Susunia hill in Bankura district). The Susunia inscription describes Chandravarma as son of Simhavarma. Mandsaur inscription of Malwa year 461 = AD 404 also mentions Simhavarma,son of Jayavarma and father of Naravarma. The Gangdhar inscription of Malwa year 480 = AD 423 mentions Vishvavarma as son of Naravarma. The Mandsaur inscription of Malwa year 493 = AD 436 and 529 = AD 472 refers to Gopta Nripa Vishvavarma and his son nripa Bandhuvarma as feudatories at Dashapur under Kumaragupta I. Thus these three inscriptions testify to the following line of Malwa Kings:

Simhavarma → Naravarma (AD 404) → Vishvavarma (AD 423) → Bandhuvarma (AD 426)

The Simhavarma of this list is counted by H P Sastri as identical with Simhavarma, with his son Chandravarma, as mentioned in the Susunia inscription, in which case Chandravarma becomes a brother of Naravarma.

Gangdhar Stone Inscription of Vishvavarman (423-424 CE)

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the arm of (the god) Vishnu; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the serpentine movements of the trunk of (Airâvata) the elephant of (Indra) the lord of the gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !

• (Line 2.)— Born in a lineage of rulers of the earth who were possessed of renowned prowess and fame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . beautiful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . there was the illustrious king Naravarman, the famous one;— who pleased the gods with sacrifices, the saints with observances of a noble nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (his) servants with honourable treatment that was unequalled in the world, and the whole earth with excellent achievements;— [who] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the appliances of elephants and horses . . . . . . . . . . . . . in [battle-fields] which were full of the rays of (his) sword; (and whose) enemies, losing the power of motion through fear, are destroyed (by simply) seeing his face in the van of war.

• (L. 5.)— [His son] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . magnanimous; equal to Brihaspati in intellect; possessed of a countenance like the full-moon; the standard of comparison, as it were, for (even) Râma and Bhagîratha; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . on the earth, (was) Visvavarman;— who surpassed (the mountain) Meru in firmness, Vainya in hereditary virtue, the moon in development of lustre, (the god) Vishnu in strength, and the most unendurable fire of universal destruction in brilliance, and (Indra) the lord of the gods in prowess;—who, when he grasps (his) weapon, cannot be gazed upon even for a moment by (his) enemies, whose eyes are blinded by fear, just like a sun, which, turning back upon (its) course, has an unendurable form and a brilliant and terrible lustre that is heightened by rising in a cloudless sky;— to whom obeisance is performed by the waterlilies which are the faces of the lovely women of (his) enemies, frightened beforehand by (hearing of) the prowess of (his) strength, (and now) destitute of ornaments, moist on the cheeks with the water of the tears that cling there, (and) deprived of beauty by having their wearing of adornments stopped;— whose forces, moreover, have reverence done to them by [the oceans], the palmyra-trees on the shores of which are beautified by the lustre of the production of jewels (from the waters); the rows of the foam on which are broken through by the terrified sharks and marine monsters; (and) all of whose hands, which are their waves, are shaken about by a fierce wind;—at the time of the journeying forth of whose army, the earth has (its) thickets emptied of the beasts and birds which flee away from fear of the lances that uproot the trees and make the mountains tremble, and, having (its) highways made uneven by protuberances, sinks down as it were (under the tread of his troops);— whose reputation has respect paid to it in a reverential manner in the sky by the Vidyâdharas, bound in the fetters of the arms of (their) mistresses, who are blinded by the radiance, directed towards (them), of the rays of the jewels in (his) diadem, (and) the upper parts of whose cheeks are shaded by the lifting up of (their) joined hands in the act of respectful salutation;— and who, even when he was still in early youth, nourished (his) pure intellect by following the sacred writings, and now effects the protection of the world like Bharata, pointing out, as it were, the path of the true religion among kings. While he, the king, the bravest among kings, is governing the earth, just as (Indra) the lord of the gods, of unmeasured majesty, (governs) the heavens, there is never any one [among mankind] who delights in wickedness, [or] is beset by misfortune, or is destitute of happiness.

• (L. 19.)— And when four hundred fully-complete auspicious years, together with the eightieth (year), had here gone by; on the bright thirteenth day of the month Kârttika which brings happiness to the thoughts of all mankind;— in the seasons which abounds with waters that are of a reddish-brown colour with the pollen that is discharged from the blue waterlilies; when the skirts of the groves are radiant with the flowers of the bandhûka and bâna-trees; when there is the time of the awakening from sleep of (the god) Madhusûdana; (and) when the stars are as pure as a bed of waterlilies in full bloom;—

• (L. 22.)—He who has adorned (this) city on the banks of the Gargarâ with irrigation wells, tanks, and temples and halls of the gods, drinking-wells, and pleasure-gardens of various kinds, and causeways, and long pools, just as if (he were adorning his own) beloved wife with different sorts of ornaments; he who is, as it were, the third eye of the king; who is of noble behaviour; who is devoted to gods, Brâhmans, spiritual preceptors, relations, and holy men; and who, (by nature) not free from partiality (for thus particular virtue), has (always) applied (his) thoughts to courteous behaviour, destitute of litigation, which is applauded by the sacred writings;— he who, having reflected that the life of every man lasts not for ever and is full of feebleness, and that prosperity is as unstable as a swing, is displaying, by means of (his) lawfully acquired riches, the most extreme devotion towards (the god Vishnu) who bears the discus and the club;— he who has two handsome arms that are muscular and long and round and pendulous; who is [marked] with the wounds of swords; whose eyes stretch to the tips of (his) ears; who is possessed of a clear skin like that of a young woman of tender age; who destroys (his) enemies when they display energy through pride; who is powerful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .; who through devotion behaves like a relation towards (his) enemies; who is experienced in (the combined pursuit, without mutual conflict, of) religion and wealth and pleasure;—

• (L. 28.)— He, the illustrious Mayûrâkshaka,— who is sprung from a family possessed of wisdom and prowess; whose heroism is renowned in every region; who holds himself under control; (and) who has accomplished, in his son Vishnubhata and also Haribhata, the duty of (continuing his) lineage,— caused to be built by his sons, the favourites of great good fortune, this shrine of the divine (god) Vishnu, which blocks up the path of sin— ,seeing the aspect of which, resembling the lofty peak of (the mountain) Kailâsa, the Vidyâdharas, accompanied by their mistresses, come and gaze into it with happy faces that are like waterlilies, as if it were the very lustrous surface of a mirror;— (and) seeing which (aspect), at the moment when the surface (of the roof) has been polished by the palms of the hands of the lovely women of the gods, the sun, who in the sky is praised in chorus by the saints possessed of superhuman power of mind resulting from religious merit, reins in his chariot-horses with (their) tossing manes, which think (from the reflection) that they are returning towards (themselves), and, joining (his hands) together (so that they resemble) an expanding bud in respectful salutation, runs away in fear with bent-down head.

• (L. 35.)— Also, for the sake of religious merit, the counsellor of the king caused to be built this very terrible abode, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (and) filled full of female ghouls, of the divine Mothers, who utter loud and tremendous shouts in joy, (and) who stir up the (very) oceans with the mighty wind rising from the magic rites of their religion.

• L. 37.)— And the illustrious Mayûrâkshaka, the receptacle of virtuous qualities, caused to be made this well, which is protected by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . in the lower regions, resembling serpents; which possesses much water, cool, and sweet, and pure; (and) which rivals the ocean.

• (L. 39.)— As long as the oceans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . are full of jewels; as long as the earth, with (its) mountains, abounds with many thickets and trees and woods; and as long as the moon lights up the sky that is inlaid with the host of the planets;— so long let the fame of the illustrious Mayûrâkshaka remain abundant! Let there be success!

• From: Fleet, John F. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum: Inscriptions of the Early Guptas. Vol. III. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publications Branch, 1888, 76-78.

References

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