Bhojshala – The Beautiful Puzzle

Discovering Dhar

Last time you were here, Dhar served as the base for your visits
to the twin wonders of Maheshwar and Mandu. Since then you
have progressively explored Mandu several times but Dhar
remained in the shadows. You had seen the Dhar Fort with the
Kharbuja Mahal and you were convinced there was nothing more
to the town. Just like the ancient town of Kannauj, Dhar too seems
to have faded in the mist of time from its glorious period as
capital of the mighty Parmars. You never saw any temples or
evidence of their rule as you went around Malwa (yes there is the
mighty Bhojpur Temple near Bhopal and lots of images in Bhopal
Museum from Hinglajgarh in Mandsaur District). The mist is about
to lift.
 The Beautiful Mihrab and Minbar of the Bhojshala

The Pillar that brought you here!

The Beautiful Tree Shaded Complex of Bhojshala - That is an old

 Tamarind or Imli Tree

A few years ago, you saw this black & white photo with a pillar
resting against the ruined wall of a structure called Lat Masjid.
That monument has been playing on your mind all these years.
You are in Dhar only for a day and you need to investigate if this
mosque still exists. Leaving early in the morning and asking for
directions, you arrive at the entrance of this complex with huge
trees. Vendors sit outside selling flowers and chadars. Just beyond
is a police post where a constable sits reading the newspaper. His
presence does feel a little strange but you push the thought out.
The cop is nice to talk to and nothing like the nasty guards you
encountered at Rudra Mahalaya in Siddhpur.

Almost seems like a British era sign - Entry Ticket to Bhojshala is only
Rs 1! You feel every monument should have entry ticket
Bhojshala in Dhar - When was the last time you saw such instructions?

A path leads to some promising structures all around in a peaceful

setting shaded by old beautiful trees. Past the platform by the
path where alm-seekers sit is a painted doorway to a presumably
dargah. Just beyond is a more archaeologically significant looking
structure. Outside are the two most bewildering ASI signs you
have seen. One sign announces an entry ticket of Rs. 1 – only one
rupee! While ASI has recently increased the entry tickets to Rs. 15
and Rs. 30, here one rupee will get you in. The second sign makes
you do a double take. The instructions written make your eyes
pop. For the first time, you realise the monument here could be a
little controversial. Now this explains the presence of a police
post.

Now that you are here and the wall almost looks like the wall in
that photo, you want to know where that pillar is. There are more
surprises. The guard takes that one rupee coin that you have dug
out from your wallet and hands over you a printed ticket. The
guard informs that this place is called Bhojshala while there is
another mosque nearby called Lat Masjid named after the pillar
that actually brought you here! Before you get to Lat Masjid, you
need to see what Bhojshala is all about.

Entering the eastern gateway brings you into a colonnaded

verandah. Inside, the architecture looks so familiar. This is the
basic template of Ghurid Mosques that you have seen in places
like Delhi, Ajmer, Kaman and Mandu. Just like Quwwat-ul-Islam
mosque in Qutb Complex in Delhi, Bhojshala is a square enclosed
structure with arcades or colonnades running on all four sides. In
the centre is an open courtyard. This is a typical hypostyle
mosque where the pillars hold the roof.

The Beautiful North Arcade leading to the Prayer Hall - Bhojshala in

Dhar MP
You walk in the pillared verandahs or cloisters. The sculpted
sandstone pillars decorated with floral motifs and geometric
patterns again look so familiar. You could be actually standing in
the mosque at Qutb Minar. Like across the country, these pillars
also came from demolished temples; here the temples of the
Parmars from 11th or 12th century were felled.
The Ornate Corbelled Dome that would have been a part of the Mandap
of the temple

Delhi it seems has always been the trendsetter. Once the

Quwwat-ul-Islam, Delhi’s first mosque, came up, the template was
adopted across Delhi Sultanate’s rule. The Standard Operating
Procedure would have been simple. Find a group of temples, bring
them down, harvest the pillars and celings, find another area
nearby or sometimes on top of the temple platform or jagati, set
up the cloisters with an elaborate west prayer hall and bingo you
had mosques in the minimum time. No wonder Ajmer’s mosque is
called Adhai Din ka Jhopra – according to legend, the mosque was
erected in two and a half days. The main challenge would have
been to dismantle the corbelled dome of the mandap and then
put it all back together. It would have been heartbreaking for the
masons.
 The Mihrab, Minbar and Exquisite Corbelled Dome at Bhojshala

It is quite possible, the architecture firm that provided the design

for Qutb mosque was hired for all these places too with a nudge
from the Sultan. The only difference would have been the height
of arcades. Here except the prayer hall, the arcades are a pillar
high, while in qutb, the arcades have two or three pillars mounted
on top of each other. Ajmer’s Adhai Din ka Jhopra, is probably the
highest with three and four pillars doing the balancing act.

The Prayer Hall with the Qibla Wall

The Western Prayer Hall is the most elaborate and is Five Pillars Deep
 View from South Western Corner looking towards the Rauza of Chisti
Saint Kamal Maula

It is serene inside. You love it when you have monuments all to

yourself. The guard stays a comfortable distance behind you. You
are making your way to the domed western prayer hall. The
prayer hall several pillars deep is the most striking. The wall has
the niche called mihrab which the worshippers face when praying
and which indicates the direction of Mecca. The mihrab has pretty
black and golden touches. On the right of the mihrab is the
minbar or the pulpit with nine steps where the imam stands to
deliver sermons or khutbah. Next to the minbar is a pretty
enclosure with stone jaalis. It is possible the enclosure was the
Zenana and was used by the royal ladies. Looking up you see the
beautiful corbelled dome that would have been part of the
mandap of a temple.

Inscriptions
Now the things are getting even more interesting. Several pillars
have taped plastic see-through covers. Inscriptions! This pillar has
the most incredulous inscription which to you looks like a very
complex Janam Kundli! These serpentine designs probably denote
Sanskrit grammar rules. Each cell has a word written in it topped
with a few lines that appears to be Sanskrit or Prakrit.

The inscribed pillar in the prayer hall denoting Sanskrit grammar rules
in Serpentine form
The Eastern Arcade has the huge black stone slabs with Prakrit
inscriptions - the slabs were found behind the Mihrab
Never seen before this big inscribed slab - Bhojshala is full of surprises

The largest inscriptions are in the Eastern arcade, again,

thankfully covered. These two black stone slabs were discovered
from behind the mihrab. One inscription contains two odes in
Prakrit, one ode being composed by Bhoj himself. The other
contains the Sanskrit play which praises Arjunvarma, a Parmar
successor of Bhoj (1210-15). The play also describes a Saraswati
Temple. Some more inscriptions and tablets have been found in
and around this site. One slab was taken by John Malcolm
(Occupant of Malcolm Kothi in Nalcha) which formed the floor of
the minbar. The inscription is probably the Raula Vela of the
12th century poet Roda. The inscription is safely housed in CSMVS,
Mumbai.
View looking towards West
 Two of the Four Tombs here - The front seems to belong to Mahmud
Khilji

The central courtyard has an ablution tank which is now empty. It

seems a hawan kund has been constructed in the middle where
some ash can be seen. Steps lead up to the top of eastern arcade
but have been fenced off. Outside, in a cluster of some
magnificent trees is the Cemetery complex with a group of four
tombs. The main tomb or Rouza belongs to the Chisti saint Kamal-
al-Din, a protégé of Farid Shakar and Nizamuddin Auliya. The
tomb right opposite to the dargah belongs to Mahmud Khilji
(1436-69) who wanted to be buried in front of the saint. There are
more assorted graves in the open. But more than the tombs here,
the trees are making you gasp.

Frangipanis are usually grown as ornamental trees in parks with

their fragrant white and pink flowers and which usually doesn’t
grow too big. Rajghat and Shakti Sthal have quite a few iconic and
some soon to turn iconic trees. Vittal Temple in Hampi has a
beautifully gnarled frangipani that seems quite old judging from
the British time photos.
 The Grandest Frangipani you have ever seen - Could possibly be The
Frangipani of India

Monuments usually have old peepal and imli trees. Here among
the graves and tombs rises a handsome, majestic and
monumental, beautifully knotted and gnarled Frangipani tree. You
do several takes. You never ever imagined Firangipani tree to be
this HUGE. It’s a wondrous sight. It is still early morning and under
a hushed darkening sky with few devotees you pause for few
moments to look up. Then you realise that God probably loves
trees more than men and that is why He made them this tall so
that they are closer to Him.

The Controversy
How did the architecturally apparent mosque come to be known
as Bhojshala?

Bhojshala is made of two words - Raja Bhoj (1010 – 1055) was the
greatest Parmar king with his capital in Dhar and Shala means
School and thus Bhojshala means Raja Bhoj’s School. In this
timeline, Mahmud Ghazni had already taken over Mathura,
Kalanjar and Somnath by 1030. The capital of MP, Bhopal is
named after him. During Raja Bhoj’s reign Dhar was renowned
throughout India as a seat of learning and scholarship. Raja Bhoj,
himself a scholar, was famous as a patron of learned men. You
know Bhoj from the monumental unfinished Shiv Temple in
Bhojpur near Bhopal. In 1304-05, Alauddin Khilji took Dhar and
for the next five hundred years, Dhar became a Muhammadan
town. From 1401 till 1530, Dhar was one of the principal town of
Malwa Sultans. The Bhojshala was presumably built in 1400 when
similar looking Dilawar Khan Mosque was built in nearby Mandu.
Let's look at the recorded evidence over the years:

Sir John Malcolm in his memoirs of 1824 (one of the most

detailed and quoted for Central India) mentions removing an
inscribed slab from the mosque but does not mention the name
Bhojshala.

The entrances to the Bhojshala and Dargah - the Imli tree can
still be seen
Not much has changed except maybe the bright colours on the gateway
to the Dargah - Bhojshala in Dhar

Major General William Kincaid, one time Political Agent at

Bhopawar, in the first edition of the book History of Mandu
published in 1875, says of Dilawar Khan that he destroyed many
beautiful temples at Dhar for the construction of his own palace
and masjids.

The back of the book carries several detailed notes. Of these, the
Note XXVI talks about a loquacious Muslim man he met at Kamal
Maula complex who narrated number of remarkable stories
including of the ‘Akl ka Kua’ in front of the Rauza of the saint. The
storyteller does not say anything about the mosque being called
Bhojshala otherwise Kincaid would have caught it and noted it in
the book. Kincaid just refers to the mosque simply "as a small
masjid". There is no mention of Bhojshala at all.
Till 1875, there is nothing like Bhojshala that exists in
Dhar.

Things are about to change.

Alois Fuhrer, a German Indologist, coined the fanciful term ‘Bhoj’s

School’ after seeing the inscriptions in 1893. This was a ridiculous
interpretation and for his efforts, ASI after investigating his
reports dismissed him from the department. It wasn’t just Fuhrer.

In 1902, during Lord Curzon’s visit to Dhar, KK Lele, the

Superintendent of Education in the state of Dhar, showed the
inscriptions to Curzon. Later in 1903, Lele published his report
entitled The Summary of the Dramatic Inscription found at the
Bhoja Shala (Kamal Maula Mosque), Dhar where the term
'Bhojshala' was first used.

Major Luard, Superintendent of Gazetteer in Central India, uses

the term Bhojshala in his chronicles of 1912, but says that
Bhojshala is a misnomer.

It was the beginning of 20th century when the myth of Bhojshala

took shape because of a spurious ASI person.
 Jain Goddess Ambika in British Museum
The inscription records the making of the image of Ambā by Vararuci
after he had made a goddess of speech (Vāgdevī ) and three Jinas.
This Vararuci may be identified as Dhanapāla, the author who
enjoyed a prominent place in the court of king Bhoja - Photo and
Comment Courtesy British Museum

The Myth now gets stronger.

At this stage Goddess Saraswati makes an entrance.

Michael Willis, in his 2012 remarkable essay "Dhar, Bhoja and
Sarasvati: From Indology to Political Mythology and Back" says,
the presence of Saraswati in the inscription of Arjunvarman brings
a new twist in the story. A statue of Jain Goddess Ambika in the
British Museum was made out to be the Saraswati of inscription.
The Ambika statue was found in Dhar’s palace ruins by William
Kincaid and had an inscription indicating Vagdevi or Saraswati.

The myth had just become a reality - there was Bhojshala, there
was a Saraswati inscription and now the Saraswati idol has been
found! After another study of the inscription on British Museum's
Ambika idol, the fact emerged that the inscription on the Ambika
idol says that the sculptor after making the image of Vagdevi or
Saraswati, was making this image of Ambika. The Saraswati idol,
if there was one, has not been recovered so far.

Today
Today the Bhojshala becomes a flashpoint sporadically. The
Hindus consider it as a Saraswati Temple of Raja Bhoj. To diffuse
the situation, ASI has assigned days and hours and issued
instructions as seen on the signboard – Tuesday for Hindus when
they can come pray and Fridays for Muslims when they can offer
Namaz – so that peace prevails.

On Basant Panchami, Hindus pray to Goddess Saraswati and

usually the worship lasts all day. Matters come to head when
Basant Panchami falls on Fridays and Hindus refuse to leave for
few hours for the Namaz. In the past, riots and consequent
curfews have taken place in the otherwise peaceful city.

Your Take
Bhojshala was probably built in early 14th century and much
earlier than the assumed date of 1400. The evidence is irrefutable
that the mosque rose from the architectural members of Hindu
and Jain temples of 11th or 12th century. According to an inscription
found in the complex, the mosque was repaired by Malwa
Governor Dilawar Khan in 1392 which means the mosque would
have been at least 50-60 years old by then. Considering the
architecture, the mosque would have been built by someone
deputed from Delhi.

Dhar had a huge number of temples that were demolished and

their remains repurposed to construct the mosque. It is quite
possible that in this group of temples, there was a temple
dedicated to Goddess Saraswati. However, the idol has not been
found yet. It is also possible that this Saraswati Temple was used
as a school or learning centre. But there are no temples in history
that have been ascribed / attributed to Kings. The inscribed slabs
would have come from different temples and therefore they do
not form a single narrative.

Even a layman like yours truly knows that this mosque is a

composite structure built out of a number of temples. These
temples would be both Hindu and Jain dedicated to different gods
and goddesses and hence the monument can’t be straitjacketed
into a particular dedication.

In Conclusion
As for you, you are just relieved that the temples in Dhar have not
completely disappeared like the Parmar, Pratihar and Gahadvals
temples in North India, Mathura and Kannauj. The temples here
live on, albeit in a different form.

Bhojshala has been the ultimate surprise. You have loved every
short minute you spent here. You would like to come back and
discover more inscriptions and speak to the townsfolk
worshippers. On a beautiful overcast monsoon day, the
monument is an oasis. The plain, hushed and restrained beauty is
almost overwhelming. You are in love with these stones all over
again. You will come back.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhojshala#Sarasvat.C4.AB

A Memoir of Central India including Malwa, 1824, by Major General Sir John Malcolm, 2 nd Edition, Volume I,
Page 28 – no mention of Bhojshala even though he visits the mosque and takes custody of an inscription slab

History of Mandu, The Ancient Capital of Malwa (1844) by A Bombay Subaltern republished in 1879 by
William Kincaid, Page 71, 102
Western States (Malwa) Gazetteer Volume V Part A, 1908, Captain CE Luard (Superintendent of Gazetteer in
Central India), Page 397 – for history of Bhoj and Dhar

Dhar & Mandu, A Sketch for the Sightseer, 1912, by Major CE Luard, Page 1, 9 – calls Bhojshala a misnomer

Willis, Michael, "Dhar, Bhoja and Sarasvati: From Indology to Political Mythology and Back", Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society, Series 3, Vol. 22, 2012, pp 129-153

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41490379?read-now=1&seq=21#page_scan_tab_contents (Link of Michael Willis

Essay)

https://zenodo.org/record/1154197/files/JRAS%202012%20edited%20copy.pdf – Michael Willis Essay pdf

https://scroll.in/article/803376/madhya-pradeshs-ayodhya-how-the-british-manufactured-the-myth-of-
bhojshala

https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?
assetId=33913001&objectId=182355&partId=1 – details of the Ambika idol

https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Bhoj_Shala.html - the link

has exhaustive references

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2014/02/12th-century-varnanaga-kripanika.html

http://www.bhopale.com/place/bhojsala-legends-myths-and-history

https://alpanasinghin.wordpress.com/portfolio/bhojshala/ - the only blog you found

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