Situated in the fork of the Betwa and Bes rivers, Vidisha, 10 km from Sanchi,
occupies an important place amonst the ancient cities in India. In the 6th and
5th centuries BC, it rose to become an important trade contre and a bustling
city under the Sungas, Nagas, Satvahanas and Guptas. The Emperor Ashoka was
governor of Vidisha and it finds mention in Kalidasa's immortal Meghdoor. Deserted
after the 6th century AD it came into prominence again as Bhilsa during the
medieval period (9th to 12 th centuries AD) . It later passed on to the Malwa
Sultans, the Mughals, and the Scindias.
The ruins of a Brahmanical shrine at Vidisha dedicated to Vishnu reveal that
the foundation bricks were cemented together with lime mortar, the first known
example of the use of cement in India. The ruins are what remains of possible
the oldest known Brahmanical stone structure, dated not later than 2 BC.
The Lohangi Rock, gumbaz-ka-Maqbara and Bijamandal Mosque, standing on
the foundations of a temple, are also worth a visit.
Close to the ruins are the remains of votive pillars with palm-leaf capitals;
the only one the still stands in the Heliodorus pillar, also known as
khambha Baba. A monolithic, free-standing column, the Pillar bears an inscription
which states that it was a Garuda Pillar, raised in honour of Vasudeva by Heliodorus,
a resident of Taxila, who had been sent to the court of Bhagabhadra as an evnoy
of the Indo-Bactrian monarch, Antialkidas. This inscription is a particularly
valuable historical record, revealing both the relations that existed between
the region and the Greek kingdoms of thd Punjab, and the remarkable fact that
a Greek had become a follower of the Hindu god Vishnu. The inclusion of the
name of Antialkidas dates the approximate erection of the pillar to 140 BC.
