Padmavati, identified with modern Pawaya a village in

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

, was an ancient Indian city mentioned in several classic Sanskrit texts, Malatimadhavam of

Bhavabhuti Bhavabhūti (born Śrīkaṇṭha Nīlakaṇṭha; Devanagari: भवभूति; -) was a classical Sanskrit scholar, poet, and playwright of eighth-century India. He is considered a key successor to Kalidasa and is often regarded as matching ...

Harshacharita The ''Harshacharita'' (, ; English: ''The deeds of Harsha'') is the biography of Indian emperor Harsha by Banabhatta, also known as Bana, who was a Sanskrit writer of seventh-century CE India. He was the ''Asthana Kavi'', meaning ''Court Poet ...

of Bana, and Sarasvatīkaṇṭhabharaṇa of Raja

Bhoja Bhoja was the Paramara dynasty, Paramara king of Malwa from 1010 until his death in 1055. He ruled from Dhara (city), Dhara (modern Dhar), and Military career of Bhoja, fought wars with nearly all his neighbours in attempts to extend his king ...

. Bhavabhuti describes the city with tall mansions and temples with shikharas and gates, located between Para and the Sindhu rivers. It is also mentioned in inscriptions like the Kokkala

Grahapati Gahoi is a merchant Vaishya-Baniya community in central India. Gahois are divided into 12 gotras, each gotra is divided into six ''all''s. They have traditionally interdined with the Parwar Jain community of Bundelkhand. The "Grahapati" fami ...

inscription of

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, famous ...

. The inscription mentions that the city had rows of tall mansions. The dust used to arise because of running of strong horses.

Identification

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

identified Padmavati with present

Narwar Narwar is a town and a nagar panchayat in Shivpuri district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Narwar is a historic town and the Narwar Fort is just east of the Sindh River and is situated at a distance of 42 km from Shivpuri. Narwar w ...

near

. M B Garde carried out excavations at Pawaya in 1924-25, 1933–34 and 1941. He identifies Pawaya with ancient Padmavati rejecting Cunningham’s identification with Narwar. Coins of several Naga kings, who have been dated between 210-340 AD, have been found at Pawaya.

Antiquities

Among the antiquities found at Pawaya is an image of Yaksha Manibhadra.Jaina-Rupa-Mandana, Volume 1, Umakant P. Shah, 1987, Page 205 It has an inscription that mentions that it was installed in the fourth regnal year of King Sivanandi and was worshipped by the gosthas or merchants.

References

{{Reflist

External sources

* Pawaya – Glamour of the Ancient Padmavati, http://puratattva.in/2011/07/11/pawaya-glamour-of-the-ancient-padmavati-159.html Monuments and memorials in Madhya Pradesh Shivpuri district

Identification

Antiquities

See also

References

External sources