The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c32.2

v2.c32.2

The bardic tradition of the Rajputs regards the Cāhamānas¹ (*Cauhāns*) as one of the four fire-born races (*agni-kula*). With the founders of the Pratīhāras (*Parihārs*), Caulukyas (*Solaṅkīs*) and Paramāras (*Pāvars*), their founder is said to have sprung from the fire-altar of the sage Vasiṣṭha on Mount Abu.² He is stated to have been ‘quadriform (*Caturaṅga*), whence his name *Cauhan*.’³ The first seat of the government of ‘Anhal, the first created Cauhan’ was Māhiṣmatī on the Narbada, from which city the power of the twenty-four *Sākhās* of the tribe spread throughout the length and breadth of India. Unfortunately, authentic archaeological and literary records which bear upon the history of the tribe and its branches contain nothing to support the data derived from bardic songs. Unlike the Paramāras, the authors of the inscriptions and the *kāvyas* in the court of the Cāhamāna princes even as late as the 14th century A.D. seem to have been ignorant of the origin of their patrons from the fire-pit. It is unknown not only to Someśvara’s Bijolia stone-inscription, dated V.S. 1226 (*c.* 1169 A.D.) but also to the *Pṛthvīrāja-vijaya*, which appears to have been composed in the life-time of Pṛthvīrāja III (*c.* 1179-92 A.D.)