Varika Vishnuvardhan Victory Tower situated in Bayana Fort belongs to which period?

Correct — option (4), The Gupta period.

The pillar of Vishnuvardhana of the Varika tribe, in the hill-fort of Bijayagadh (Vijaygarh) near Bayana, is dated to A.D. 371–72, which falls in the Gupta period.

J. F. Fleet's Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol. III (1888), says the inscription is dated "when the year four hundred and twenty-eight had expired". He refers the date to the Malava or Vikrama era, "with the result of A.D. 371-72 expired".

Fleet adds that this "shews that the Varika Vishnuvardhana was in all probability a feudatory of the Early Gupta king Samudragupta".

Fleet's reading calls the pillar a yupa, a sacrificial post, set up on the completion of a pundarika sacrifice. The stem's "Victory Tower" (Hindi: विजय स्तम्भ) is the popular name: Wikipedia's Bayana article calls this red-sandstone pillar of 371 the Bhimalat, "also called Vijay Pillar".

Bayana pillar of Vishnuvardhana: year 428, A.D. 371–72, Gupta period.

Why the others are wrong

• (1)
  The Sultanate period — The Delhi Sultanate began in the early 13th century (1206), more than eight centuries after this pillar's date.

  Fleet does note a much later addition: two lines naming an ascetic Brahmasagara, in characters of about the 10th to 12th century, possibly with a date of A.D. 951-52. The original inscription is of 371–72.

• (2)
  The Mughal period — The Mughal period began in 1526, more than eleven centuries after A.D. 371–72.

  The pillar's own inscription gives the year 428 of the Malava (Vikrama) era, as Fleet reads it, which places it under the early Guptas, not the Mughals.

• (3)
  The Mauryan period — The Maurya Empire, founded around 320 BCE, lasted until 185 BCE, several centuries before this pillar.

  Fleet takes Vishnuvardhana to be a feudatory of Samudragupta, a Gupta king of the 4th century CE, so the date does not fit the Mauryan period.

The Bijayagadh inscription is a dated record of a local ruling family of the Bayana region. It names Vishnuvardhana, son of Yashovardhana, grandson of Yashorata and great-grandson of Vyaghrarata, of the Varika tribe.

Fleet describes the pillar as a red-sandstone monolith near the south wall of the fort at Bijayagadh, near Bayana in the old Bharatpur State. Its date is written both in words and in numerical symbols: the year 428, which Fleet refers to the Malava or Vikrama era because of the type of characters and the find-spot.

D. C. Shukla's Early History of Rajasthan suggests that the Varikas were an offshoot of the Malava stock, and that Vishnuvardhana was a contemporary of Samudragupta.

Key facts

• The Bijayagadh stone pillar inscription of Vishnuvardhana is No. 59 in Fleet's Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol. III (1888).
• It is dated in the year 428 expired, which Fleet refers to the Malava or Vikrama era: A.D. 371–72.
• Fleet: Vishnuvardhana of the Varika tribe was in all probability a feudatory of Samudragupta.
• The inscription records the setting up of the pillar as a yupa on the completion of a pundarika sacrifice.
• Bijayagadh hill-fort lies near Bayana, in the old Bharatpur State (Fleet).

Common traps

• The stem calls the pillar a Victory Tower (Vijay Stambh); Fleet calls it a yupa, a sacrificial post. Both refer to the red-sandstone pillar at Bijayagadh near Bayana.
• The number 428 is not a date in the Christian era. Fleet refers it to the Malava or Vikrama era, giving A.D. 371–72; the Saka era would give A.D. 506–07, which D. C. Shukla says goes against the palaeography of the record.
• A later two-line addition on the pillar, of about the 10th to 12th century, does not date the original inscription.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2013 here once that paper is published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  According to J. F. Fleet, the date of the Bijayagadh (Bayana) pillar inscription of Vishnuvardhana should be referred to which era ?

  • (a)Malava or Vikrama era
  • (b)Saka era
  • (c)Gupta era
  • (d)Harsha era
  Answer(1) — Fleet refers the year 428 to the Malava or Vikrama era, giving A.D. 371–72. Option (2), the Saka era, would give A.D. 506–07; Fleet notes this reading, but the type of characters points him to the Malava era. Option (3) and option (4) are not the era he assigns.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Vishnuvardhana of the Bijayagadh pillar inscription near Bayana belonged to which tribe ?

  • (a)Varika
  • (b)Yaudheya
  • (c)Malava
  • (d)Arjunayana
  Answer(1) — Fleet reads the inscription as one of a Raja named Vishnuvardhana of the Varika tribe. Option (2), the Yaudheyas, are known from a different inscription from the Bijayagadh region; option (3), the Malavas, are only suggested by D. C. Shukla as the stock from which the Varikas branched; option (4) is not named in the inscription.