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{{Short description|Village in Madhya Pradesh, India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name = Sondani
| alternate_name = Sondhni
| image = Sondani.jpg
| image_size = 270px
| imagealttext = Victory pillar of Yashodharman at Sondani, Mandsaur
| caption = Victory pillar of Yashodharman at Sondani, Mandsaur
| map_type = India#India Madhya Pradesh
| relief = yes
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| coordinates = {{coord|24.0413|N|75.0918|E|display=inline, title}}
| location =
| region =
| type = Monuments
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'''Sondani''', also '''Sondhni''', is a small village at a distance of about 4 km from [[Mandsaur]] situated on Mhow-Neemuch Highway towards [[Neemuch]] in [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[India]].

==Victory monuments (525 CE)==
{{main|Mandasor Pillar Inscriptions of Yasodharman}}
The spot is famous for a series of monuments with inscriptions, established by [[Yasodharman]] (ruled 515 – 545 CE), who praised himself for having defeated the [[Alchon Hun]] king [[Mihirakula]].<ref>[http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase9?language=en Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna]</ref>

{{Blockquote|[[File:Mandasor_stone_pillar_inscription_of_Yashodharman.jpg|200px|left|Mandasor stone pillar inscription of Yashodharman.]]"He (Yasodharman) to whose two feet respect was paid, with complimentary presents of the flowers from the lock of hair on the top of (his) head, by even that (famous) king [[Mihirakula]], whose forehead was pained through being bent low down by the strength of (his) arm in (the act of compelling) obeisance"|[[Sondani inscription|Sondani pillar inscription]].<ref>Punjab Monitor, April 2013 [http://www.punjabmonitor.com/2013/04/sondhni-pillars-where-punjabis-met-with.html], from Fleet, John F. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum: Inscriptions of the Early Guptas. Vol. III. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publications Branch, 1888, 147-148.</ref>}}

The victory monuments consist in two pillars, with various other sculptural elements pointing to the existence of a former temple at this spot.<ref name="HB484">{{cite book |last1=Bakker |first1=Hans |title=Monuments of Hope, Gloom, and Glory in the Age of the Hunnic Wars. 50 years that changed India |date=2017 |publisher=J. Gonda Fund Foundation of the KNAW |location=Amsterdam |isbn=978-9069847153 |pages=484–534 |url=https://www.knaw.nl/en/news/publications/monuments-of-hope-gloom-and-glory/@@download/pdf_file/20170619-gondalezing-bakker-web.pdf}}</ref>

==Style==
The art and style of the sculptural remains at Sodani are considered as a good marker of the final period of [[Gupta art]], being dated to the reign of [[Yasodharman]] (ruled 515 – 545 CE), and more precisely to about 525 CE.<ref>[http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase9?language=en Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna]</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Joanna |title=The Sculpture of Mandasor |journal=Archives of Asian Art |date=1972 |volume=26 |page=63 |jstor=20111042 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20111042.pdf |issn=0066-6637}}</ref> After that point and for the next centuries, Indian politics became extremely fragmented, with the territory being divided between smaller dynasties.<ref>"The reign of Yasodharman thus forms an important dividing point between the period of the imperial Guptas, whom he emulated, and the following centuries, when India fell into a kaleidoscopic confusion of shifting smaller dynasties" in {{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Joanna |title=The Sculpture of Mandasor |journal=Archives of Asian Art |date=1972 |volume=26 |page=52 |jstor=20111042 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20111042.pdf |issn=0066-6637}}</ref> The art of Sondani is considered as transitional between Gupta art and the art of [[Medieval India]]: it represents "an aesthetic which hovered between the classical decorum of Gupta art on the one hand and on the other the medieval canons which subordinated the figure to the larger religious purpose".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Joanna |title=The Sculpture of Mandasor |journal=Archives of Asian Art |date=1972 |volume=26 |page=64 |jstor=20111042 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20111042.pdf |issn=0066-6637}}</ref> A buff sandstone doorframe fragment from Sondani, now in the [[National Museum, New Delhi]], depicts a flying celestial couple and a smaller standing couple; it has been described as a [[Vidyadhara#Sondani_relief|Vidyadhara]], [[Gandharva]], or celestial mithuna-type motif.<ref name="MuseumFlyingCelestial">{{cite web |title=Flying celestial |url=https://museumsofindia.gov.in/repository/record/nat_del-51-94-4736 |website=National Portal and Digital Repository for Museums of India |publisher=Ministry of Culture, Government of India |access-date=24 April 2026}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:The Sondani site in 1908.jpg|The Sondani site in 1908
File:Plan of Sondani.jpg|Plan of Sondani
File:Sondhni overview.jpg|Sondani overview
File:Sondhni pillar.jpg|Sondani pillar
File:Sondhni, two Dvarapalas.jpg|Sondani, two [[Dvarapalas]]
File:Vidyadharas.jpg|[[Vidyadhara]], Sondani, circa 525 CE. [[National Museum, New Delhi]]
File:0111321 Sondhni Vijayastambha, Mandasor Victory Pillars site, Mandsaur Madhya Pradesh 072.jpg|Sondani pillar capital
File:Sondani4.jpg|Info of Victory pillar of Yashodharman at Sondani, Mandsaur
File:Sondani statues.jpg|Sondani reliefs
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Villages in Mandsaur district]]

Sondani - Revision history

Umaiordarame: starting post