The successive destruction of the sites in the vicinity may have been a result of any of such successive raids, the exact historicity of which is difficult to identify.  A study of the turbulent phases of medieval history of the region, as illustrated by the historians of those times, indicates it to be highly probable that the earlier inhabitants of Satanwada may have been forced to abandon the site owing to its destruction by the invading forces. The turbulence may have existed over a long period due to which the records of the past splendour of the site were lost in public memory.

Accordingly, a reference is being made to the history as documented in some medieval texts to search for an answer to what may have happened at Satanwada which destroyed the town fully, and left it in ruins.  Mahmud Ghori, who retreated to Ghazni only after receiving tribute from the King Solankh Pal and freeing the neighbouring country of the enemies of religion in “compliance of the divine injunction of holy war”. Referring to the capture of Gwalior by Iltutmish in AD 1232, Cunningham has mentioned about the probability of Narwar[v] having served as a shelter of the last Parihar (Pratihara) Raja who had escaped from Gwalior.

From the tradition of the Kacchwahas it is believed that Narwar must have fallen into the hands of the Parihar Prince of Gwalior in AD 1129.  Minhaj-us-Siraj in his Tabakat-i-Nasiri[vi] has mentioned about the exploits of Illtutmish, who in 1232 A.D. (A.H. 630) captured the Fort of Gwalior, and thereafter invaded Malwa, Bhilsa and Ujjain, where several ancient temples were destroyed. At Vidisha a temple which had taken three hundred years in building, and was about one hundred and five yards high, was demolished. At Ujjain, the temple of Mahakal, along with the image of Vikramaditya, believed to have been the founder of the Indian era, was demolished.  From a reading of the accounts it seems probable that Satanwada may have suffered its first round of destruction during the reign of Illtutmish, who is credited with the destruction of important temples in the vicinity.

To be continued......