The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c32.7

v2.c32.7

and even to the *Hammīra-Mahākāvya* of Nayacandra Sūri, the grandson of the spiritual adviser of Hammīra of Ranthambhor (*c.* 1283-1301 A.D.). Like Padmagupta-Parimala, the court-poet of the Paramāra Sindhurāja (*c.* 995-1010 A.D.), these authors would certainly have utilised the myth to glorify their patrons, if it was known in their time. The authors of both the *Pṛthvīrāja-vijaya* and the *Hammīra-Mahākāvya* trace the origin of the tribe to an eponymous Cāhamāna who was born from the Sun (*Sūrya-maṇḍala*). According to the Bijolia inscription Sāmanta, the earliest representative of the family on its list, was born in the Vatsa gotra at Ahicchatrapura.¹ This Ahicchatrapura has been identified by some with Nāgapura (mod. Nagaur, Jodhpur State).² An inscription recently found in the possession of the descendants of Gyanji Jabi, Colonel Tod's *guru*, says that Ahicchatrapura was the capital of Jāṅgludeśa³ (*Jāṅgala-deśa*). Rai Bahadur Ojha would identify 'Jāṅgala country' with the region now known as Bikaner and Northern Marwar. Recent discussion⁴ however has shown that ‘Jāṅgala-deśa’ does not mean a particular tract of land. *Jāṅgala* literally means a forest or waste, and it has been shown that Jāṅgala settlements were attached to various ancient Indian States like Madra and Kuru. According to the *Mahābhārata* Ahicchatra was the capital of Uttara-Pañcāla, and this section of the state may possibly have abounded in forests and hence acquired the name of Pañcāla-jāṅgala.⁵ In that case we must suppose that the Cāhamānas, at least in the middle of the 12th century A.D., claimed to have migrated from the Upper Ganges-Jumna Valley. But it is significant that the authors of the two literary works referred to above do not mention Ahicchatra, and on the contrary seems specifically to associate the rise of the Cāhamānas with the lake Sākambharī (Sambhar), situated on the borders of the Jodhpur and Jaipur States. The provenance of the earliest inscriptions and the identification of some of the places mentioned therein suggest that the Sambhar region was possibly the cradle-land of the tribe. The well-known tradition, both literary and epigraphic, that the Cāhamānas took Delhi from the Tomaras, supported by references to conflicts between some of the earlier Cāhamānas and Tomara chiefs, seems to indicate that the movement of the tribe was from Sambhar towards the Ganges-Jumna Valley, and not *vice versa*.¹