01Vidisha of the Shungas
The Mahavamsa says that Ashoka, while governor at Ujjain, married Devi, a merchant’s daughter of Vidisha, and that she was the mother of Mahendra and Sanghamitra. Under the Shungas, Agnimitra governed from Vidisha, and Kalidasa set his play Malavikagnimitram at his court; the Meghaduta sends the cloud-messenger past Vidisha too. The old city lies at Besnagar across the Bes. There the envoy Heliodorus, sent by the Greek king Antialcidas to the court of Bhagabhadra, set up a pillar to Vasudeva, Devadeva, and called himself a Bhagavata. Excavations around it found the plan of an early Vasudeva temple. Udayagiri, with the Varaha of Chandragupta II, is 6 km away and Sanchi 10.
02The Vijaya Mandir
In the 11th century the Paramaras raised a large temple at Vidisha, remembered as the Vijaya Mandir, or Bijamandal. The town, called Bhilsa by then, lay on the road from Delhi to the Deccan. Iltutmish raided it in 1233–34, and in 1292 Alauddin Khalji, then governor of Kara, plundered Bhilsa and carried idols back to Delhi, as Barani records. In 1682 Aurangzeb had the Vijaya Mandir demolished and a mosque built on its plinth. In 1991 heavy rain brought down part of that platform and exposed sculpted temple pillars and images; the ASI excavated the site and keeps the finds in a shed beside it.
The life of this place
- c. 113 BCEHeliodorus raises the Garuda pillar to Vasudeva at Besnagar.
- 401 CEChandragupta II’s minister records his presence at the Udayagiri caves nearby.
- 1233–34Iltutmish raids Bhilsa.
- 1292Alauddin Khalji plunders Bhilsa and sends its idols to Delhi.
- 1682Aurangzeb orders the Vijaya Mandir demolished; a mosque is raised on its plinth.
- 1991Rain brings down part of the platform, exposing the temple; the ASI excavates.
Vidisha is on the Delhi–Bhopal railway, 55 km from Bhopal. Do the Heliodorus pillar, Udayagiri and the Bijamandal in one day, Sanchi the next.
