The Bhojshala (IAST: Bhojaà ÂÃÂlÃÂ, ) is a historic building located in the city of Dhar, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The name is derived from the celebrated king Bhoja of the ParamÃÂra dynasty of central India, a patron of education and the arts, to whom major Sanskrit works on poetics, yoga and architecture are attributed. The architectural parts of the building proper are of different periods but mainly date to the twelfth and thirteenth centuris; the Islamic domed tombs in the wider campus were added between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The monument was repaired under the Powars of DhÃÂr and more extensively by the Archaeological Survey of India over the last five decades.
Bhojshala is a Monument of National Importance protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), under the Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. While Hindus and Muslims sometimes claim the site and use it for their prayers, the Republic of India has ultimate juridiction. According to ASI guidelines, Muslims are permitted to offer prayers every Friday and Hindus on Tuesday. The site is open to visitors on other days. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 also supports the administration and regulation of the monument, with day-to-day rules set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Rules 1959, published in The Gazette of India.
The term Bhojà ÂÃÂlà(also Bhojshala or Bhoj Shala) became linked to the building in the early twentieth century. The name was based on the poetic inscriptions and incised geometric drawings found at the site by K. K. Lele, the Superintendent of State Education and head of the archaeology department in Dhar State. Eugen Hultzsch, in his publication of the DhÃÂr inscription of Arjunavarman in Epigraphia Indica of 1905-06, referred to a paper sent to him by Lele that described the discovery of the Sanskrit and Prakrit inscriptions at the 'Bhoja Shala' (sic.). The use was established at that point. A copy of Lele's paper was secured by S. K. Dikshit, who printed it in his study and translation of PÃÂrijÃÂtamañjarë. Concurrently, Captain E. Barnes reported only that the mosque was "known among the Hindoo (sic.) population as 'Raja Bhoja ka Madrassa', i.e. Raja Bhoja's school." C. E. Luard in his Gazetteer of 1908 also called it Raja Bhoja's school, noting the term was a "misnomer." By the 1930s, however, the term Bhojà ÂÃÂlàwas well established, with rulings issued by Dhar State referring to it under this rubric. The term Bhojà ÂÃÂlàcannot be in found sources from the nineteenth century or before. William Kincaid, in his "Rambles among Ruins in Central India," published in the Indian Antiquary in 1888 made no mention of the Bhojà ÂÃÂlÃÂ, noting only the "Well of Wisdom" in front of the tomb of KamÃÂl al-Dën, so called because of the number of Arabic books that had fallen into the well many years before. Kincaid was a cynical observer but he lived in Malwa for two decades and had significant antiquarian interests. The absence of the term Bhojà ÂÃÂlàin his writing indicates was "no living tradition about the BhojÃÂlàin the middle decades of the nineteenth century" among those with whom he interacted." John Malcolm visited Dhar and reports collecting an inscription there. This is the RÃÂüla vela of Roá¸Âa, now kept in Mumbai. Of the building itself, Malcolm only says that is a "ruined mosque."
King Bhoja, who ruled between circa 1000 and 1055 CE in central India, is considered one of the greatest kings in the Indian tradition. He was a celebrated author and patron of the arts and out of reverence to his memory a large number of Sanskrit works on philosophy, astronomy, grammar medicine, yoga, architecture and other subjects are attributed to him. Of these, a well studied and influential text in the field of poetics is the à Âá¹Âá¹ gara PrakÃÂà Âa. Likely one of Bhoja's actual and original works, the core premise of the text is that Sringara is the fundamental and motivating impulse in the universe.
Along with his literary and art support, Bhoja began constructing a Shiva temple at Bhojpur. If it had been completed to the extent planned, the temple would have been double the size of the temples at the Khajuraho Group of Monuments. The temple was apparently abandoned at the king's death in about 1055. Kirit Mankodi has suggested that it was intended as Bhoja's funerary monument. That building activity was taking place at Bhojpur in Bhoja's time is shown by a dated inscription in the neighbouring Jain temple. The designs and rock-cut line drawings for the construction are discussed in a volume by Adam Hardy.
One of Bhoja's successors was king Arjunavarman (circa 1210-15). He and others in the Hindu and Jain traditions held Bhoja in such high regard that they stated they were Bhoja's reincarnation or were described by others as such. Centuries later, Bhoja remained a revered figure as evidenced by Merutuá¹ ga's PrabandhacintÃÂmaá¹Âi, completed in Gujarat in the early fourteenth century, and BallÃÂla's Bhojaprabandha composed at Varanasi in the 17th century. This tradition was revived in the 20th century, with Hindu scholars describing Bhoja as a champion and exemplar of the glorious Hundu past.
The archaeological sites at DhÃÂr, especially the inscriptions, attracted the early attention of colonial Indologists, historians and administrators. Malcolm mentioned DhÃÂr in 1822, along with building projects such as the dams planned and completed by King Bhoja. The scholarly study on the inscriptions of Bhojà ÂÃÂlàcontinued in the late nineteenth century with the efforts of Bhau Daji in 1871. A fresh page was turned in 1903 when K. K. Lele, Superintendent of Education in the Princely State of DhÃÂr, reported a number of Sanskrit and Prakrit inscriptions in the walls and floor of the pillared hall at KamÃÂl Maula. Study of the inscriptions has been continued by various scholars to the present. The variety and size of the inscribed tablets at the site, among them two serpentine inscriptions giving grammatical rules of the Sanskrit language, show that materials were brought from a wide area and a number of different structures.
Malcolm mentioned that he removed an inscribed panel from the minbar of the KamÃÂl Maula. This is the inscription now identified as the RÃÂüla vela of Roá¸Âa, a unique poetic work in the earliest forms of Hindi. This inscription was kept first in The Asiatic Society of Mumbai and was later transferred to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai.
Among the inscriptions found by K. K. Lele was a tablet with a series of verses in Prakrit praising Kà «rma. This is not the well-known Kà «rma incarnation of the god Viá¹£á¹Âu, but rather the primal tortise or ÃÂdikà «rma. The Kà «rmaà Âataka is attributed to king Bhoja but the palaeography of the record itself suggests that this copy was engraved in the thirteenth century, probably in the time of Arjunavarman. The text was published by Richard Pischel in 1905âÂÂ06, with a new version and translation appearing in 2003 by V. M. Kulkarni. The inscription is currently on display inside the building.
Another inscription found by K. K. Lele in 1903 is part of a drama called Vijayaà ÂrënÃÂá¹Âikàcomposed by Madana. The preceptor of king Arjunavarman, Madana bore the title 'BÃÂlasarasvatë'. The inscription opens with an invocation to à Âiva and reports that the play was performed before Arjunavarman in the temple of Sarasvatë. This suggests that the inscription came from the site of a Sarasvatë temple. The play refers to the temple under various names -- BhÃÂratë bhavana, à ÂÃÂradàsadman -- and says that it was âÂÂthe chief temple that adorned the eighty-four cross-roads of Dhar.â Old DhÃÂr being laid out as a grid, the main temple would have stood at the centre. Only the first two acts of the play are preserved, the final acts would have been given in a second tablet that has not been located. The inscription is currently on display inside the building, just inside the entrance.
The building also contains two serpentine grammatical inscriptions. These records, which contain the system of Sanskrit phonology and grammar, prompted K. K. Lele to describe the building as the Bhojà ÂÃÂlàor Hall of Bhoja because king Bhoja was the author of a number of works on poetics and grammar, among them the Sarasvatëkaá¹Âá¹ÂhÃÂbharaá¹Âa or 'Necklace of Sarasvatë'. The colophon of the grammatical chart, however, is inscribed with the statement that it is the "unique magical sword belonging to kings UdayÃÂditya and Naravarman, the worshippers of à Âiva, for the preservation of language and society." The earliest date that can be assigned to these records is thus the period of Naravarman, a ParamÃÂra king who ruled circa 1094âÂÂ1133.
The fragments of two poems in Prakrit were removed from the KamÃÂl Maula campus to the Dhar Museum, Dhar Fort by the archaeological department of Dhar State and are still on display there. One poem is devoted the sword (Skt. khaá¸Âga), the other to the bow (Skt kodaá¹Âá¸Âa), presumably that of Arjuna or RÃÂma. The texts open with the invocation oá¹ namaḥ à ÂivÃÂya. The closing line of the Kodaá¹Âá¸ÂakÃÂvya, turning from Prakrit to simple Sanskrit, names the work and ascribes it to Bhoja. The writing style, however, is of the early thirteenth century from the reign of Arjunavarman.
In 1924, some two decades after Lele identified the Bhojaà ÂÃÂlàwith the KamÃÂl Maula, O. C. Gangoly and K. N. Dikshit published an inscribed sculpture in the British Museum, announcing that it was RÃÂja Bhoja's Sarasvatë from DhÃÂr. This analysis was broadly accepted and had a significant impact. The statue in the British Museum was often misidentified as Bhoja's Sarasvatë in the years that followed.
The inscription on the sculpture mentions king Bhoja and VÃÂgdevë, another name for Sarasvatë. The word 'VÃÂgdevë' literally means the goddess of speech, articulation and learning. However, later study of the inscription by Indian scholars of Sanskrit and Prakrit languages, notably Harivallabh Bhayani, demonstrated that inscription records the making of a sculpture of Ambikàafter the making of three Jinas and VÃÂgdevë. In other words, although VÃÂgdevë is mentioned, the inscription's main purpose is to record the making of an image of AmbikÃÂ, i.e. the sculpture on which the record is incised. Moreover, the inscription shows that the Sarasvatë at DhÃÂr was the Jain form of the goddess.
The translation is given here for ready reference. <blockquote>Auá¹Â. Vararuci, King Bhoja's religious superintendent (Dharmmadhë) of the Candranagarë and VidyÃÂdharë [branches of the Jain religion], the apsaras [as it were] for the easy removal [of ignorance? by...?], that Vararuci, having first fashioned VÃÂgdevë the mother [and] afterwards a triad of Jinas, made this beautiful image of AmbÃÂ, ever abundant in fruit. Blessings! It was executed by Maá¹Âathala, son of the sà «tradhÃÂra Sahira. It was written by à Âivadeva the proficient. Year 1091.</blockquote>
The identification of the British Museum sculpture as AmbikÃÂ is confirmed by the iconographic features which conform to AmbikÃÂ images found elsewhere. A particularly close comparative example is the AmbikÃÂ in Sehore dating to the eleventh century. Like the DhÃÂr sculpture, the Sehore image shows a youth riding a lion at the foot of the goddess and a figure with a beard standing at one side.
The inscription on the Ambikàstatue shows that the VÃÂgdevë at DhÃÂr was dedicated to the Jain form of Sarasvatë. However, the VÃÂgdevë mentioned is yet to be located or no longer exists. Merutunga, writing in the early fourteenth century, reports that DhanapÃÂla, the eminent Jain author, showed Bhoja eulogistic tablets in the Sarasvatë temple that were engraved with his poem dedicated to the first Jain Tërthaá¹Âkara AdinÃÂtha. While the poem, the á¹Âá¹£bhapañcÃÂà ÂikÃÂ, has been preserved, the tablets, like the image, have not been located.
The Chaulukya and Vaghela dynasties took an aggressive attitude toward DhÃÂr, sacking the city repeatedly in the dying days of the ParamÃÂra regime. They removed libraries to western India where Paramara texts were copied and preserved, the á¹Âá¹£bhapañcÃÂà Âikàamong them. An inscription of Vësaladeva from Kodinar dated 1271 records the creation of a pleasure garden (ketana) and college (sadas) sacred to Sarasvatë, suggesting that in addition to texts, the kings of Gujarat also removed the sacred image of Sarasvatë and built a new temple for her, not far from Somanath. It is well documented that Hindu sacred places have moved, a notable case being the image of RÃÂm that was found in Ayodhya and is now in Orchha. The goddess Sila Devë in Amber Fort was likewise brought from eastern India to Rajasthan, and the shifting of sacred images is found in Jainism. The practice has deep routes in India, going back to at least the fifth century.
As noted above, the building is a Monument of National Importance under the laws of India and is under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Both Hindus and Muslims have been granted permission to use the space for their prayers by the ASI. Tensions arise when the Vasant Panchami falls on a Friday. The ASI attempts to assign hours to both Hindus and Muslims on such days. However, this been a source of communal friction and occasional disturbance when the religious group scheduled for the earlier time slot refuse to vacate the premises in time for the next.
Claims about the nature and history of the building have been ongoing since the early part of the twentieth century, with the authorities of Dhar State issuing rulings prior to Independence. However, legal challenges to the status quo have been mounted periodically, including a March 2024 writ to the Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The court stated that "The detailed arguments at the Bar by all the contesting parties fortify the court's belief and assumption that the nature and character of the whole monument admittedly maintained by the Central government needs to be demystified and freed from the shackles of confusion." The decision was upheld by the Supreme Court of India. The Archaeological Survey of India undertook a detailed survey and assessment as a result of the court order, their report in ten volumes released in 2024. The finding are currently being digested and despite claims made in the press, no definitive conclusions reached and no reviews of the ASI report as yet published in the scholarly literature.