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Origin of the Name : |
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The District derives its
Name from the Head Quarters town of Vidisha. The earliest
reference of Vidisha is contained in Ramayana by Valmiki. It
is stated there that Shatrughna's Son Shatrughati was placed
in charge of Vidisha. In Brahmanical religious observance
again, the place is called Bhadravati, the residence of
Yuvanashva who supplied the famous horse to Yudhishthira
during his Ashvamedha sacrifice. |
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The historicity of the
ancient city of Besnagar, three Kilometers from Vidisha and
identified with ancient Vidisha, goes back to some centuries
before the birth of Christ. Besnagar figures prominently in
Buddhist, Jain and Brahmanical Literature in various forms
such as Vessanagar, Vaisyanagar etc. Tradition connects the
town with Raja Rukmangada who neglecting his own wife for the
Apsara Visva named the town Vishvanagar after her. |
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On the destruction of
Besnagar, located on the western side of the river Betwa
sometime after 7th century A.D., a new town sprang up on the
Eastern bank of the River. This new town was known as
Bhailaswamin or Bhillaswamin, the name of the place was later
corrupted to 'Bhilsa' or Bhelsa. The name Bhelsa appears to
have probably been obtained on account of the famous
Suryamandir dedicated to God Sun. |
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The Mauryas : |
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Samrat Ashok,
still a prince aged 18, was appointed as a Viceroy by his
father, Bindusaar, at Ujjain. While on his way from Patliputra
to that place he met Devi, a banker's daughter of Vidisha or
Besnagar of the Sakya clan and married her. Her son Mahendra,
and daughter Sanghmitra are famous in history as their
father's religious ambassadors to Ceylon. They are known to
have carried a twig of the original 'Bodhi' tree and led a
Buddhist Mission to that country. Devi never visited
Patliputra. She stayed at Besnagar only and embraced Buddhism
afterwards. A monastery type of building has been excavated
near Sanchi setup (nearly 8 kms away from Vidisha Town) which
is stated to have been constructed for her residence. It is
said that before sailing for Ceylon Mahendra came to visit his
mother at Besnagar. The mother took her son to a " Chaitya
Giri " which, by popular belief was none other than the Sanchi
Stup. |
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After Mauryas : |
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After the
Mauryas the Sungas, the Kanvas, the Nagas, the Vakatakas, the
Guptas, the Kalchuris of Mahishmati the Parmars, the Chalukyas
remained in power at Vidisha. Idols regarding these regimes
have been found in the Vidisha territory. Some Idols and
monuments are placed in the District Archaeology office
Vidisha. |
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Later this region
remained under Mughals, Marathas and Peshwas and thereafter
became a part of the Sciendia's Gwalior State and was a Tehsil
of Isagarh Pargana. In 1904 Vidisha was raised to a District
having two Tehsils of Vidisha and Basoda till the formation of
Madhya Bharat in 1948. The District was enlarged in 1949 by
the merger of small States of Kurwai. The Sironj Sub-Division
which was formerly in Kota District of Rajasthan State and
small pargana of Piklone belonging to the Bhopal State were
added to the District with the formation of new Madhya
Pradesh. At the same time, the town and the District were
renamed as Vidisha. However, under the Mughals Aurangzeb tried
to rename the City as Alamgiri Nagar after himself, but
without success. |
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Even today, the
antiquity and the modern historical progress of the plateau of
Vidisha vividly reflects its grandeur in the form of Besnagar,
Gyaraspur, Udaypur, Udaygiri, Badoh-Pathari etc. |
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