Bhojavarman (reigned c. 1285-1288 CE) 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. T ...

dynasty of central India. He ruled in 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 lying ...

in present-day

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

). Bhojavarman succeeded Viravarman, whose last inscription is dated 1342 VS (1285-86 CE). As of 2003, six inscriptions from Bhojavarman's reign have been discovered: five at

Ajaigarh 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, and ...

(undated, 1343, 1344, 1345, 1346 VS); and one at Iashwarmau (1344 VS). The available inscriptions do not provide much information about Bhojavaraman's reign. They are either

sati Sati or SATI may refer to: Entertainment * ''Sati'' (film), a 1989 Bengali film by Aparna Sen and starring Shabana Azmi * ''Sati'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Christopher Pike *Sati (singer) (born 1976), Lithuanian singer *Sati, a character in ''Th ...

records or inscriptions issued by the families that served him. One of the Ajaigarh inscriptions was issued by Subhata, the

Kayastha Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, t ...

royal treasurer (''Koshadhikaradhipati'') and one of the king's counsellers (''sachiva''). The inscription refers eulogizes Subhata, and refers to the construction of a temple by him. This temple was most probably a now-ruined Shiva temple, which bears a short inscription mentioning one "Subhada-deva". Another 1344 VS Ajaigarh inscription mentions that Subhata commissioned images of Kedara-

Parvati Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi ...

, Vrishabha,

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

, Ambika, Tara,

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the eas ...

, Kamakshya,

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around comb ...

, Harasiddhi, Aindri,

Chamunda Chamunda (Sanskrit: चामुण्डा, ISO-15919: Cāmuṇḍā), also known as Chamundeshwari, Chamundi or Charchika, is a fearsome form of Chandi, the Hindu Divine Mother Shakti and is one of the seven Matrikas (mother goddesses).W ...

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this trad ...

ka and Ishvara-Parvati. Yet another Ajaigarh inscription mentions that Subhata's wife Devala-devi commissioned images of deities such as

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...

and

Surabhi Kamadhenu ( sa, कामधेनु, , ), also known as Surabhi (, or , ), is a divine bovine-goddess described in Hinduism as the mother of all cows. She is a miraculous cow of plenty who provides her owner whatever he desires and is often ...

. One copper-plate inscription engraved below the upper gate of the Ajaigarh fort mentions other members of the same family. Another inscription describes the achievements of Ananda, a Kayastha military officer who had served Viravarman's predecessor Trailokyavarman. Based on the inscriptions and the information available about his successors, it appears that Bhojavarman retained control of the important Chandela cities including Ajaigarh,

Kalinjar Kalinjar ( hi, कालिंजर) is a fortress-city in Bundelkhand, in Banda District of Uttar Pradesh, in India. It was ruled by several dynasties including the Guptas, the Vardhana Dynasty, the Chandelas, Solankis of Rewa, Mughal a ...

and

Khajuraho Khajuraho () is a city, near Chhatarpur in Chhatarpur district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the country's largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, fam ...

. He was succeeded by Hammiravarman after a short reign. The name of Bhojavarman has been omitted in the list of predecessors given in Hammiravarman's 1308

Charkhari Charkhari is a city in Mahoba district in the state of Uttar Pradesh , India . This is the Kashmir of Bundelkhand . It was the capital of the Charkhari concession . There are lakes named Vijay Sagar, Malkhan Sagar, Vanshi Sagar, Jai Sagar, Rata ...

copper plate inscription. The inscription mentions Bhojavarman's predecessors Paramardideva, Trailokyavarman and Viravarman. This indicates that Bhojavarman was not an ancestor of Hammiravarman. Rai Bahadur Hiralal theorized that the Bhoja and Hammira were brothers, but this assumption has not been corroborated by any other evidence. According to Eliky Zannas, the two kings were probably cousins, Hammiravarman being the son of Viravarman.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Chandelas of Jejakabhukti Chandelas of Jejakabhukti 13th-century Indian monarchs