Vidisha (formerly known as Bhelsa, Besnagar and Bhaddalpur in ancient times) is a city in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is a Jain pilgrimage center and the administrative headquarters of Vidisha district. It is located 62.5 km northeast of the state capital, Bhopal. The name "Vidisha" is derived from the nearby river "Bais", mentioned in the Puranas. "Vidisha" also finds its historic reference in ancient epic Ramayana, under the rule of Rama's youngest brother Shatrughna, later on under the rule of Shatrughna's younger son Shatrughati.
History Ancient History Vidishā was the administrative headquarters of Bhelsa, or Bhilsa, during the Medieval period. It was renamed Vidisha in 1956. Vidisha is also amongst the 112 Aspirational District in the Aspirational District Programme launched by NITI Aayog in 2018. Towards the seventh or eighth century, Bhadravati was raised from its ruins by a Bheel chieftain, who surrounded it with walls, and gave it the name of Bhilsa. When, in the year 1230, the Emperor Altamsh took possession of it, it was the seat of a Rajpoot prince of the Chohan clan. It was not, however, finally wrested from the Hindus until the year 1570, under Akbar.
Besnagar
The town is situated east of the Betwa River, in the fork of the Betwa and Bes rivers, 9 km from Sanchi. The town of Besnagar, 3 km from present-day Vidisha on the west side of the river, became an important trade centre in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, under the Shungas, Nagas, Satavahanas, and Guptas, and was mentioned in the Pali scriptures. The Emperor Ashoka was the governor of Vidisha during his father's lifetime. His Buddhist Empress Vidisha Devi who was also his first wife, was brought up in Vidisha. It finds mention in Kalidasa's Meghaduta.
The ruins of Besnagar were inspected by Alexander Cunningham in 1874–1875. Remains of a large defensive wall were found on the western side of the city. Ancient Buddhist railings were also found just outside of the city, which had probably adorned a stupa. Numerous coins were found, including nine coins of the Western Satraps.
The Heliodorus Pillar is a stone column, which was constructed in about 150 BCE. This stone column was erected by the Greek ambassador of the Indo-Greek King Antialcidas, who came to the court of Bhagabhadra, a possible Sunga king. Dedicated to Lord Vāsudeva, this column was constructed in front of the temple of Vāsudeva. The pillar is situated about four kilometers away from the city on Vidisha-Ganj Basoda SH-14, located on the northern bank of the Vais River. It is a 20 feet and 7 inches tall stone pillar, commonly called Kham Baba. The script used in the inscription is Brahmi but the language is Prakrit, recording that Heliodorus erected the pillar as a Garuda Stambha to pay homage to Lord Vasudeva, who was later integrated as a manifestation of Lord Vishnu.
Medieval History Emergence as Bhelsa
Besnagar was known as Bhelsa during the medieval period. It became famous for the temple of Sun god Bhillasvamin.Art & architecture of Daśārṇa (Malwa) Region, Rahman Ali, Sharada Pub. House, 2008, p. 14 It was ruled by the Later Gupta king Devagupta of Malwa and Rashtrakuta king Krishna III. The name is first noted in an inscription of 878 CE by a merchant Hatiaka of Paravada community.(Malwa Through the Ages, from the Earliest Times to 1305 A.D, K.C. Jain, p. 485 The 12th-century Tri-shashthi-shalaka-purusha-charitra mentions an image of Bhillasvamin at Vidisa, along with a copy of Jivant Swami buried in the sand.Gleanings of Indian archaeology, history, and culture: R.N. Mehta commemoration volume, Volume 1, 2000, p. 263 Minhajuddin's Tabaqat-i-Nusiri states that the temple was destroyed by Iltutmish in 1233–34 CE.Madhya Pradesh: District Gazetteers, Vol. 42, V. S. Krishnan, Government Central Press p. 30
In 1293, Alauddin Khalji of the Delhi Sultanate sacked the city as a general of Sultan Jalaluddin. The attack was illustrative of Vidisha's importance in the medieval era.[Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India, Dineschandra Sircar, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1971, p. 117] In 1532 Bhilsa was sacked by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat Sultanate. It then passed on to the Malwa Sultans, the Mughals and the Scindias.
Modern History During the British colonial period up to India's independence, the region of Vidisha—then widely known as Bhilsa or Bhelsa—functioned primarily as a strategic administrative territory under the princely state of Gwalior.
The Quit India Movement in Madhya Pradesh was started from Vidisha in August 1942.
Geography Vidisha is situated at 23.53°N latitude and 77.82°E longitude. Nestled in the eastern Malwa region at an average elevation of 424 meters, it is bordered by the Betwa and Bes rivers, featuring highly fertile black soil, an agricultural economy, and surrounding low hills.
Climate
Demographics
As of the 2011 Census of India, Vidisha had a population of 155,951 a 24.3% increase from 2001 (125,453 in 2001 census). Males constitute 53.21% of the population and females 46.79%. Vidisha has an average literacy rate of 86.88%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 92.29%, and female literacy is 80.98%. In Vidisha, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Ethnic groups and religions
As per the 2011 Census, Hinduism was the major religion with nearly 88.09% of the adherents, followed by Islam (6.47%), Jainism (4.73%), Sikhism (0.33%), Christianity (0.23%) and Buddhism (0.07%).
Jainism in Vidisha
Vidisha is considered to be Puranakshetras Jain tirtha. Bhaddalpur (now Vidisha) is also believed to be the birthplace of Shitalanatha, the tenth tirthankar. There are 14 temples in Vidisha district, among which Bada Mandir, Bajramath Jain temple, Maladevi temple, Gadarmal temple and Pathari Jain temple, built between 9th-10th centuries CE, are the most prominent. These temples are rich in architecture.
Language Hindi is the most widely spoken language, with Bundeli as its major dialect.
Culture Ravana has been worshipped in Vidisha for centuries by the Kanyakubja Brahmins. During Vijayadashami, Thousands of local Brahmins of Vidisha i.e. the Kanyakubja Brahmins and people of other castes worship him as their reigning deity.
Historic places and monuments
Inside the city
Bijamaṇḍal (historically Vijay Mandir) located near the eastern edge of the old town are the remains of a large temple of the late Paramara period. The building was probably started in the second half of the 11th century. That it was never finished is evidenced by the unfinished carved niches and architectural pieces found round the base of the temple plinth.O.P. Mishra, "Bijamaṇḍal and Carccikā: Tutelary Goddess of the Paramāra King Naravarman," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 22, 1 (2012), pp. 107–113. On top of the plinth is a small mosque made using pillars, one of which has an inscription dating probably from the time of king Naravarman (circa 1094–1134). It is a devotional inscription revering Carccikā (i.e. Cāmuṇḍā), of whom he was a devotee.H. V. Trivedi, Inscriptions of the Paramāras, Chandellas, Kachchhapaghātas and Two Minor Dynasties, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, volume 7 in 2 parts (New Delhi, 1978–91) 2: 120–122. The miḥrāb suggests the mosque was constructed in the late 14th century. To one side of the Bijamaṇḍal is a store house of the Archaeological Survey of India containing many sculptures collected in the neighbourhood. A step-well of the 7th century is in the same campus and has, beside the entrance, two tall pillars with Kṛṣṇa scenes. These are the earliest Kṛṣṇa scenes in the art of central India. The dimensions of Bijamandal Temple at Vidisha are comparable to those of Konark in Orissa.
Heliodorus pillar as known as Kham Baba is a stone column that was erected around 113 BCE. The pillar is commonly named after Heliodorus () (identified by him as a Garuda-standard), who was an ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas from Taxila, and was sent to the Indian ruler Bhagabhadra. A dedication written in Brahmi script was inscribed on the pillar, venerating Vāsudeva (Krishna), the Deva deva the "God of Gods" and the Supreme Deity.Devadeva, the "God of Gods", the Supreme Deity in Greek Culture in Afghanistan and India: Old Evidence and New Discoveries Shane Wallace, 2016, p.222-223 The pillar also glorifies the Indian ruler as "Bhagabhadra the savior". The pillar is a stambha which symbolizes joining earth, space and heaven, and is thought to connote the "cosmic axis" and express the cosmic totality of the Deity. The Heliodorus pillar site is located near the confluence of two rivers, about northeast from Bhopal, from the Buddhist stupa of Sanchi, and from the Hindu Udayagiri site. The pillar was discovered by Alexander Cunningham in 1877. Two major archaeological excavations in the 20th-century have revealed the pillar to be a part of an ancient Vāsudeva temple site. Aside from religious scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita, the epigraphical inscriptions on the Heliodorus pillar and the Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions contain some of the earliest known writings of Vāsudeva-Krishna devotion and early Vaishnavism and are considered the first archeological evidence of its existence.Osmund Bopearachchi, 2016, Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images in India: Numismatic and Sculptural EvidenceK. G. Goswami, A Study of Vaisnavism (Calcutta: Oriental Book Agency, 1956), p. 6 The pillar has been called one of the earliest surviving records of a foreign convert into Vaishnavism. An alternative interpretation is that making dedications to foreign gods was only a logical practice for the Greeks, intended to appropriate their local power and cannot be regarded as a "conversion" to Hinduism."Venerating Vāsudeva, as did Heliodor in the time of Antialkidas, should not be regarded as a "conversion" to Hinduism, but rather as the result for a search for the most helpful local powers, upholding own traditions in a foreign garb." in
Lohangi Pir is a rock formation in Vidisha District that derives its name from Shaykh Jalal Chishti, a saint who was locally known as Lohangi Pir. This small domed building is a tomb, which has two Persian inscriptions on it. One of the inscriptions dates back to 1460 CE, while the other is from 1583 CE. The tank and a large bell-capital dating back to the 1st century BCE can be seen on the nearby hill. Near the tomb are the remains of a medieval temple that survived as a pillared crypt. These are dedicated to Goddess Annapurna. Lohangi is a large rock right in the heart of Vidisha, within walking distance of the railway station, is of religious and historical significance in the region.
Outside the city, but nearby
Udaygiri is less than 10 km from Vidisha town. It is a series of at least 20 caves, containing both Hindu and Jain sculptures from the Gupta Era, sometime between the 4th and 5th century CE. According to Jain texts, Tirthankara Sheetal Nath attained nirvana here. It is basically a small hill where intricate sculptures have been cut out of the rocks.
Maladevi temple is a grand Portal of ninth century CE, situated on the eastern slope of a hill and built on a huge platform cut out of the hillside and strengthened by a massive retaining wall, Maladevi temple's imposing structure provides a panoramic valley view, in Gyaraspur, about 40 km from Vidisha along NH-86.