Mahishmati

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Mahishmati in Mahajanapadas of India in 500 BCE.

Mahishmati (

IAST: Māhiṣmati) was an ancient city and the capital of Haihayas in the present-day central India on the banks of Narmada River (in Madhya Pradesh), although its exact location is uncertain. The city may have flourished as late as until 13th century, as indicated by a Paramara
inscription.

Identification

Map
Map showing Ujjayini and Pratishthana, with the two hypothesized locations (marked as star) of Mahishmati, which was located on the route connecting these two cities.

The following things are known about Mahishmati's location:

Several cities in Madhya Pradesh, located along the Narmada river, are claimed to be the ancient Mahishmati. These include:

Omkareshwar
Omkareshwar
).
According to Pargiter, the description of Mahishmati in
Raghuvamsa makes it clear that it was located on an island. Moreover, Harivamsa states that the founder of Mahishmati was muchukunda, the son of King Mandhata.[2]
A 1225 CE inscription of the Paramara king Devapala has been found at Mandhata. It records the grant of a village to Brahmins, and states that the grant was made while the king was staying at Mahishmati.[7]
Maheshwar
HD Sankalia,[8] PN Bose[9] and Francis Wilford,[9] among others, identify Mahishmati with present-day Maheshwar.
Pargiter criticises this identification, stating that the Bramin priests of Maheshwar claimed their town as the ancient Mahishmati on basis of similar-sounding names, in order to glorify their town.[2]
Other obsolete identifications
Writers such as Alexander Cunningham,[10] John Faithfull Fleet[11] and Girija Shankar Agrawal[12] identified Mandla as the location of ancient Mahishmati. However, this view is no longer considered as accurate by the modern scholars.[2]
smaller Kaveri, which meets Narmada near Mandhata.[2]

Mentions in ancient literature

Sanskrit texts

The Sanskrit epic

Haihaya king Kartavirya Arjuna ruled the entire earth from his capital Mahishmati (13:52).[2] He was killed by Parashurama.[13]

Mahabharata mentions Mahishmati as part of a kingdom distinct from the Avanti kingdom.[2] The Sabha Parva (2:30) states that the Pandava general Sahadeva attacked Mahishmati, and defeated its ruler Nila.[2] Mahismati was protected by Agni, due to his matrimonial relationship with the king's daughter. Agni even granted the unmarried women of Mahismati liberty of not staying with only one husband forever, and moving about freely. [14] King Nila of Mahishmati is mentioned as a leader in the Kurukshetra War, rated by Bhishma as a Rathi. His coat of mail had blue colour (Mbh 5:19,167).

Haihaya. At another place, it names the city's founder as Muchukunda, an ancestor of Rama. It states that he built the cities of Mahishmati and Purika in the Rksha mountains.[2]

The

Raghuvamsa states that Mahishmati was located on the Reva river (Narmada), and was the capital of the Anupa country.[2]

According to the Padma Purana (VI.115), the city was founded by a certain Mahisha[15]

Another account states that Kartavirya Arjuna conquered Mahishmati city from Karkotaka Naga, a Naga chief and made it his fortress-capital.[16]

Pali texts

The Buddhist text

Ujjayani to Mahishmati temporarily.[2]

The

Vindhyas and the Narmada) in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata.[2]

The

Pratishthana to Ujjayani, Mahishmati was one of the cities on the route. The inscriptions at Sanchi mention that pilgrims from Mahishmati visited the stupa at Sanchi.[2]

Epigraphic records

During the 6th and 7th centuries, Mahishmati may have served as the capital of the

Kalachuri Kingdom.[18]

Rulers of some 11th and 12th century kingdoms in present-day South India claimed Haihaya ancestry. They indicated their claimed place of origin with the title "Lord of Mahishmati, the best of the towns".[2]

Mahishmati appears to have been a flourishing city in as late as the 13th century. A 1225 CE inscription of the Paramara king Devapala mentions that he stayed at Mahishmati.[2]

In popular culture

The Baahubali film series is set in a fictionalized version of the kingdom.[19]

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-8239-3179-8
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-81-208-3394-4
    .
  3. ^ V. S. Krishnan; P. N. Shrivastav; Rajendra Verma (1994). Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: Shajapur. Government Central Press, Madhya Pradesh. p. 12.
  4. ISBN 978-81-7211-210-3
    .
  5. ^ The Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society (Bangalore). 1911. p. 65.
  6. ISBN 978-81-206-0209-0
    .
  7. ^ Harihar Vitthal Trivedi (1991). Inscriptions of the Paramāras (Part 2). Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Volume VII: Inscriptions of the Paramāras, Chandēllas, Kachchapaghātas, and two minor dynasties. Archaeological Survey of India. pp. 175–177.
  8. ISBN 9789350500347
    .
  9. ^ a b c PN Bose (1882). "Note on Mahishmati". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Calcutta, India: Asiatic Society: 129.
  10. ^ Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: Rajgarh. Government Central Press, Mahishmati. 1996. p. 175.
  11. ISSN 0035-869X
    .
  12. ISBN 978-93-5029-706-3
    .
  13. ISBN 9788177552997
    .
  14. ^ PC Roy Mahabharata, Sabha Parva, Digvijaya Parva, Section XXXI Page 73
  15. ^ Pargiter, F.E. (1972) [1922]. Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, pp.263,263fn3.
  16. ^ Pargiter, F.E. (1972) [1922]. Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p.265-7
  17. ^ Manika Chakrabarti (1981). Mālwa in Post-Maurya Period: A Critical Study with Special Emphasis on Numismatic Evidences. Punthi Pustak.
  18. ^ "Kalachuris of Mahismati". CoinIndia. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  19. ^ "Baahubali is set in Mahishmathi kingdom". The Times of India.
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