Sallakshana-Varman (reigned c. 1100–1110 CE;

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: Sallakṣaṇavarman) was a king of the

Chandela The Chandelas of Jejakabhukti was an Indian dynasty in Central India. The Chandelas ruled much of the Bundelkhand region (then called ''Jejakabhukti'') between the 9th and the 13th centuries. They belonged to the Chandel clan of the Rajputs. ...

dynasty of India. He succeeded his father Kirttivarman as the ruler of the Jejakabhukti region (

Bundelkhand Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central & North India. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the larger portion lyin ...

in present-day

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

). The inscriptions of his descendants suggest that he achieved military successes against the Paramaras, the

Kalachuris of Tripuri The Kalachuris of Tripuri ( IAST: ), also known the Kalachuris of Chedi, ruled parts of central India during 7th to 13th centuries. They are also known as the Later Kalachuris to distinguish them from their earlier namesakes, especially the Kal ...

and the ruler of

Kanyakubja Kannauj ( Hindustani pronunciation: ənːɔːd͡ʒ is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the c ...

Military career

The partially illegible Mau inscription of Sallakshana's descendant Madana-varman appears to credit him with successful campaigns in "Antarvedi ''

vishaya A vishaya (IAST: Viṣaya) was a historical administrative unit of India, generally equivalent to a modern district. Several other terms for units equivalent to a modern district appear in historical inscriptions, including ''āhāra'', ''rashtra'' ...

''".

Kalhana Kalhana ( sa, कल्हण, translit=kalhaṇa) was the author of ''Rajatarangini'' (''River of Kings''), an account of the history of Kashmir. He wrote the work in Sanskrit between 1148 and 1149. All information regarding his life has to be d ...

's writings suggest that Antarvedi was a name for the land between the

Ganga The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

and the

Yamuna The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...

rivers, centered around

(Kannauj). Because of the fragmentary nature of the inscription, different scholars have interpreted it in different ways.

Alexander Cunningham Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly ...

believed that Sallakshana's forces merely carried out a brief raid in this region. H. C. Ray speculated that Sallakshana fought with a Kannauj Rashtrakuta prince (possibly Gopala or one of his predecessors) before aborting his campaign. S. K. Mitra theorized that he unsuccessfully tried to capture Kannauj. D. C. Ganguly, on the other hand, proposed that the Chandelas defeated the rulers of Kannauj, which was subsequently ruled by the

Gahadavala The Gahadavala dynasty (IAST: Gāhaḍavālas), also Gahadavalas of Kanauj, was a Rajput dynasty that ruled parts of the present-day Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, during 11th and 12th centuries. Their capital was located at Varanas ...

s. N. S. Bose theorized that the Gahadavalas invaded the Chandela territory; the military success mentioned in the inscription was Sallakshana's repulsion of this attack. According to R. K. Dikshit, the

Ghaznavids The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...

under Masud III invaded Kannauj region during the reign and defeated the Gahadavalas and their Rashtrakuta feudatories. Taking advantage of this situation, Sallakshana may have captured Antarvedi. Sallakshana-varman is also mentioned in the

Ajaygarh Ajaigarh or Ajaygarh is a town and a nagar panchayat in the Panna District of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. Ajaigarh State was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. The state was founded in 1785, an ...

rock inscription of Kalyanidevi, the wife of his descendant Viravarman. According to this inscription, Sallakshana's sword "took away to the fortune of the Malavas and the Chedis. The success against the

Malavas The Malavas (Brahmi script: 𑀫𑁆𑀫𑀸𑀭𑀯 ''Mmālava'') or Malwas were an ancient Indian tribe. Modern scholars identify them with the Mallian people (Malloi) who were settled in the Punjab region at the time of Alexander the Great, A ...

may have been a raid against the

Paramara The Paramara dynasty (IAST: Paramāra) was an Indian dynasty that ruled Malwa and surrounding areas in west-central India between 9th and 14th centuries. They belonged to the Parmara clan of the Rajputs. The dynasty was established in either th ...

king

Naravarman Naravarman (reigned c. 1094-1133 CE), also known as Naravarma-deva, was an Indian king from the Paramara dynasty, who ruled in the Malwa region of central India. The Paramara power greatly declined during his reign, as a result of multiple milit ...

. The success against the Chedis (the

) was probably refers to an expedition against the Kalachuri king Yashah-Karna." An inscription of Jajalla-deva, the Kalachuri king of

Ratanpur Ratanpur was historical capital of Chhattisgarh until British takeover of Central Province from Maratha. Ratanpur is a town and a nagar palika in Bilaspur district in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. It is located about from Bilaspur on Nat ...

, dated to 1110s CE, states that he was "honoured like a friend" by the ruler of Jejakabhukti.

F. Kielhorn Lorenz Franz Kielhorn (31 May 1840, Osnabrück - 19 March 1908, Göttingen) was a German Indologist. He studied under Theodor Benfey at the University of Göttingen, where he became member of Burschenschaft Hannovera (fraternity), and under Ad ...

identified this Jejakabhukti ruler with Sallakshana's father Kirttivarman. But

V. V. Mirashi Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi (1893–1985) was a Sanskrit scholar and a prominent Indologist of the 20th century who hailed from Maharashtra, India. He was an expert of his times on stone and copper inscriptions and the coinage of ancient India. ...

believed that this ruler was Sallakshana himself, because Jajalla appears to have imitated his copper coins.

Administration

The Mau inscription suggests that Sallakshana-varman was well-versed with arts and literature. It indicates that his father's chief minister Ananta continued to hold the post during his reign. Some sons of Ananta were also appointed to important posts, after having been tested by the king. The Ajaygarh inscription mentions another hereditary minister, Yashahpala of Gauda family. Sallakshana-varman issued gold and copper coins. Unlike the Chandela inscriptions, these coins mention his name as "Hallakshana-varman" (''Srimat-Hallakshana-Varma-Deva''). This anomaly can possibly attributed to inefficient minting, although the exact reason is not certain. A copper-plate inscription of his descendant Paramardi-deva mentions a place called "Sallakshana-Vilasapura". This place was probably named after Sallakshana-Varman, and is identified with the modern Pachar near Jhansi. Sallakshana-varman was succeeded by Jayavarman.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Chandelas of Jejakabhukti Chandelas of Jejakabhukti 12th-century Indian monarchs