Long before it was known as Mandsaur, this town on the banks of the Shivna was Dashapura — a seat of power referenced in inscriptions that survive to this day on stone pillars near the town.
Local tradition and surviving inscriptions link this era to Yashodharman, remembered as a ruler of the Aulikara line whose reign is associated with Dashapura's rise to prominence in the 6th century.
The pillars associated with this period, still standing in Mandsaur, remain one of the town's most visited historical landmarks — a quiet, stone-carved bridge between the Mandsaur of today and the Dashapura of centuries past.
For a temple town whose devotional life is anchored in Pashupatinath and the Shivna ghat, this pre-temple chapter of Dashapura is a reminder that Mandsaur's heritage runs deeper than any single monument.
“A name that still lives in the pages of history — Yashodharman.”
