Mahamahopadhyaya Kaviraja Muraridan Ashiya (1830 — 1914) served as the

Dewan ''Dewan'' (also known as ''diwan'', sometimes spelled ''devan'' or ''divan'') designated a powerful government official, minister, or ruler. A ''dewan'' was the head of a state institution of the same name (see Divan). Diwans belonged to the e ...

(Prime Minister) of

Marwar Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. The word 'maru' is Sanskrit for desert. In Rajasthani languages, "wad" means a particular area. English tra ...

during the reign of

Jaswant Singh II Jaswant Singh II, GCSI, (1838 – 11 October 1895) was Maharaja of Jodhpur from 4 February 1873 – 11 October 1895. Birth He was born in 1838 at Ahmadnagar in Gujarat and was eldest son of Takht Singh. Marriage He had eight wives, of which t ...

(1873–1895). Kaviraja is remembered as an astute politician and a farsighted administrator, who made significant contributions to the history of Marwar. He was a Tazimi

sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been u ...

(noble) and a renowned scholar, known for his prominent works including ''Yaśavaṃta-Yaśo-Bhūṣaṇa'' and ''Tawarikh Marwar.''

Early life & family

Kaviraja Muraridan was born in 1830 into the prominent family of Ashiya Charanas of Bhandiyawas. His father, Kaviraja Bharatdan, and grandfather , Kaviraja Bankidas, were renowned scholars-historians and administrators of the

kingdom of Marwar Kingdom of Marwar, also known as the Jodhpur State under the British, was a kingdom in the Marwar region from 1226 to 1818 and a princely state under British rule from 1818 to 1947. It was established in Pali by Rao Siha, possibly a m ...

. During his childhood, Muraridan learned bhasha-sahitya and

Dingal Dingal (Devnagari: डिंगल; IAST: ''ḍiṁgala''; also spelled Dimgal), also known as Old Western Rajasthani, is an ancient Indian language written in Nagri script and having literature in prose as well as poetry. It is a language of v ...

from his father Bharatdan,

Yati Yati, historically was the general term for a monk or pontiff in Hinduism and Jainism. Jainism In the late medieval period, yati came to represent a stationary monk, who lived in one place rather than wandering as required for a Jain monk. The t ...

Jnanchandra taught him

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Career

At the age of sixteen, Muraridan joined the court of Maharaja Takhat Singh and held various administrative positions under him and later rulers, including

and

Sardar Singh Sardara Singh (born 15 July 1986), sometimes referred as Sardar Singh, is an Indian former professional field hockey player and captain of the Indian national team. He usually plays the center half position. Sardara became the youngest player t ...

. By 1870, he had been appointed as the hakim of Jodhpur pargana. He also served as the musahib and hakim of Pachpadra pargana. Kaviraja Muraridan was well-known for his role in the administration of Marwar. He served as a member of the Executive Council and was Head of the Diwani (Civil) and the Faujdari (Criminal) Court. Subsequently, he was appointed as the Judge of the Appellate Court established in April 1882. Additionally, he served as the

Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

and General Superintendent of the princely state of Marwar. He also played a leading part in passing a set of laws ''Morishala'' (named after him), a type of the doctrine of lapse. According to these laws, the Jagir could not pass, by adoption or otherwise, to a person other than the progeny of the original grantee. Although he faced criticism for this act, it was viewed as a progressive move in terms of maintaining the stability of the jagir system. In addition to his political career, Kaviraja Muraridan also had an interest in education. He was one of the pioneers of the first school at Jodhpur, Gyananandi Pathshah, which was opened on April 1, 1897, with fifteen pupils. The pioneers of the school also started a Hindi weekly named ''Marudharmint'', which was printed in the lithographic press attached to it. In 1899, due to a lack of rain,

was ravaged by a severe

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

. Sir Pratap left India to participate in the China campaign, leaving the administration in the hands of a special committee consisting of Kaviraja Muraridan and Pandit Sukhdeo Prasad. The committee's most important achievement was the execution of famine relief operations based on modern principles, and the introduction of Imperial currency (1900) in the State. Kaviraja Muraridan was one of the founding members of ''Rajputra Hitkarini Sabha'' and signatory of the meeting held in Ajmer on March 10th, 1888, as representative of the Charanas of the Jodhpur State. He also acted as the caste-head for the Charanas of Jodhpur.

Estate

Aside from his ancestral

sasan Sāssān (Middle Persian 𐭮𐭠𐭮𐭠𐭭 Sāsān > Persian ساسان, also known as Sasan), considered the eponymous ancestor of the Sasanian (or Sassanid) Dynasty (ruled 224-651) in Persia, was "a great warrior and hunter" and a Zoroas ...

of Bhandiyawas, Kaviraja Muraridan also held the

jagir A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, start ...

of Luni. In 1894, Kaviraj Muraridan built an exquisite fortified haveli which is now famously known as Fort Chanwa. During the reign of Jaswant Singh II, besides the revenue from his jagir, he was assigned an annual salary of Rs. 8,400. He continued in service even after the accession of Sardar Singh and was paid a yearly salary of Rs. 7,500. However, in 1941, his jagir of Luni lapsed back to the state as due to the absence of a direct heir, a result of the ''Morishala'' laws that he passed.

Honours

Kaviraja Muraridan was presented with ''lākh-pasāva'' by Maharaja Jaswant Singh II upon his accession to the

throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the monar ...

. His position in the court was regarded as equivalent to the highest rank of jagirdars. He was renowned throughout

Rajputana Rājputana, meaning "Land of the Rajputs", was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan, as well as parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and some adjoining areas of Sindh in modern-day ...

for his erudition, benevolence, and farsightedness. The government wished to bestow several titles and honors related to state administration on him at various times, but he declined most of them and accepted only the title of ''

Mahamahopadhyaya Mahamahopadhyaya (Sanskrit: महामहोपाध्याय) is an honorific title given to prestigious scholars by the Government of India. Prior to 1947, the title was bestowed by the British Raj, and before them, by the kings of ancient ...

'' in recognition of his literary accomplishments.

Works

Kaviraja Muraridan was not only a skilled administrator but also a prolific writer and a renowned scholar of multiple languages, including

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

, and

Braj Braj, also known as Vraj, Vraja, Brij or Brijbhoomi, is a region in India on both sides of the Yamuna river with its centre at Mathura- Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh state encompassing the area which also includes Palwal and Ballabhgarh in Harya ...

. His works include: # ''Yaśavaṃta-Yaśo-Bhūṣaṇa (यशवंतयशोभूषण)'' # ''Jasavaṃtabhūṣaṇa'', a summary of ''Yaśavaṃta-Yaśo-Bhūṣaṇa (जसवंतभूषण)'' # ''Tawarikh Marwar (तवारीख़ मारवाड़)'' # ''Saṃkṣipta Cāraṇa Khyāti (संक्षिप्त चारण ख्याति)'' # ''Bar̥ī Cāraṇa Khyāti (बड़ी चारण ख्याति)'' # ''Saradāraprakāśikā (सरदारप्रकाशिका)'' # ''Ātmanirṇaya ( Vedant) (आत्मनिर्णय (वेदांत))'' # A Commentary on Bihari Satsai (''Bihārī Satasaī Tīkā)'' # A Treatise on ''Nāyikā Bheda''

''Yaśavaṃta-Yaśo-Bhūṣaṇa''

This is a voluminous text, an exceptional modern treatise on alankāras, the essence of which is Jasavaṃtabhūṣaṇa''' and has also been printed in Sanskrit translation. Kaviraja has considered the names of the alankāras as their characteristics (''lakṣaṇa)''. Imagining the characteristic just from the name is the specialty of this text. Just as in the Chitramimamsa, where Appayya Dikshita has established all the alankāras as types of similes, similarly Kaviraja has defined the alankāras based on the meaning of their names without creating separate characteristics for them. By examining on the opinions of the ancients, he has counted the alankāras that come under the meaning of the word in that alankāra's category.''''

''Muraridan ri Khyat''

Aside from the above listed texts, one '''Muraridan ri Khyat of unknown authorship is named after him which was discovered in the inner compartment of the walls in Jodhpur city, hidden before the occupation of Jodhpur by

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

after the death of Jaswant Singh I in 1678. Kaviraja recognized its importance and had it copied out in bahis and stored in his collection.{{Cite book , last=Sinh , first=Raghubir , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fyJuAAAAMAAJ , title=Rao Udaibhan Champawat ri khyat: Up to Rao Rinmal and genealogies of the Rinmalots , date=1984 , publisher=Indian Council of Historical Research , language=hi * Bhāṭī, Vikramasiṃha (2014). ''Murārīdāna kī Khyāta: Māravār̥ ke Śāsaka evaṃ Rāṭhaur̥ Śākhāoṃ kā Itihāsa'' (in Hindi). Royal Publication.

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...

978-93-82311-43-0.

References

Poets from Rajasthan Charan Indian male poets Rajasthani-language writers 1830 births 1914 deaths 19th-century Indian poets 19th-century Indian male writers Dingal poets Sanskrit writers Administrators in the princely states of India Rajasthani people History of Jodhpur History of Rajasthan Indian scholars 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian male writers Indian historians Indian Sanskrit scholars 20th-century Indian scholars 19th-century Indian scholars Indian dewans Rajasthani politicians Jodhpur Marwar