Impact of Vedic Culture on Society
by Kaushik Acharya | 2020 | 120,081 words
This page relates ‘Mingling of Cultures (X): The Candellas’ of the study on the Impact of Vedic Culture on Society as Reflected in Select Sanskrit Inscriptions found in Northern India (4th Century CE to 12th Century CE). These pages discuss the ancient Indian tradition of Dana (making gifts, donation). They further study the migration, rituals and religious activities of Brahmanas and reveal how kings of northern India granted lands for the purpose of austerities and Vedic education.
Mingling of Cultures (X): The Candellas
The Candella kings were originally feudatories of the Gurjara -P ratihāra s. During c. 925-950 CE Candella King Yaśovarmaṇ acknowledged the Pratihāra dominion, but became practically independent by conquering fortress of Kālānjara, and some of the places of the dynasties like the Pālas, the Khāsas, the Kalāchuris of Tripuri, the Somavaṃśis, the Kurūs and among others by his military power.[1]
Yaśovarmaṇ was Parama-Vaiṣṇava and the famous Lakṣmaṇa temple dedicated to Vaikuntha-Viṣṇu (an aspect of lord Viṣṇu) in Khajuraho built by him in second quarter of 10th century.
King Yaśovarmaṇ's successor was Dhāṇgadeva who ruled independently in Candella sovereignty during c. 950-999 CE. Nanyaurā Copper Plate Inscription of Dhāṇgadeva (10th Century CE)[2] issued by the King Dhāṇgadeva of Candella dynasty records the bestowal, by the Candella King Dhaṅga, of a village to a brāhmaṇa. In the prose passage here in the inscription, mentioned the titles of Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja, and Parameśvara with an additional epithet of kālaṇjar-ādhipati attached to the name of Dhāṇgadeva.
The king for the increase of the religious merit and fame of his parents and himself gave the community Chullī (or Yullī) to Yaśodhara-bhaṭṭa of the Bhāradvājago tra, with three pravaras viz., Bhāradvāja, Āṅgirasa, and Bārhaspatya, of the Vājasaneya-śākhā of Śukla-Yajurveda, who had migrated from Tarkārikā. ParamaMāheśvara Dhāṇgadeva also commissioned a magnificent temple at Khajuraho, which is identified as the Viśvanātha Temple (c. 999 or 1002 CE)[3] when Candellās were no longer vassals of the Pratihāra s by this time.
Similar examples are found in various inscriptions issued all over India at different times, where the coexistence and mingling of different religious cultures actually testified to religious liberalism of that time.
Footnotes and references:
[2]:
USVAE, vol. VII, pp. 466-469.
[3]:
R.K. Dikshit, The Chandellas of Jejākabhukti, p. 69.