The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c32.s4.119

v2.c32.s4.119

These inscriptions range from V. S. 1210 to 1220 corresponding to *c.* 1153 to 1164 A.D. The last of them shows that by 1164 A.D. the Cāhamāna dominions had spread northwards to the foot-hills of the Himalayas, and perhaps may have included a substantial portion of the Punjab lying between the Sutlej and the Jumna. This extension of power in the Punjab must have brought Vigraharāja IV, into repeated conflict with the Yamīnīs of Ghaznī and Lahore. It is therefore natural that the inscriptions should refer to repeated victories over the *Turuṣkas* and *Mlecchas*. The success of his arms was no doubt largely due to the rapid decline of the Yamīnī power² during the administration of Khusrau Shāh Mu‘izz ud-Daulah (A.D. 1152-60) and Khusrau Malik Tāj ud-Daulah (A.D. 1160-86). The Bijolia inscription of Someśvara refers to the conquest of Ḍhillikā and Āśikā by Vigraharāja,³ while the Siwalik pillar inscription claims that the Cāhamāna prince made Āryāvarta ‘once more the abode of the Āryas’ by exterminating the Mlecchas. According to some inscriptions of the 14th century, the town of Delhi and the neighbouring region, then known as the ‘land of Hariyānaka,’ were conquered by the Cāhamānas from the Tomaras.⁴ In the S. W. Vigraharāja’s arms appear to have reached the valley of the river Sukri. The Bijolia inscription seems to state that he reduced Pallikā and Naddūla⁵ and burnt the town of Jāvālipura, which is to be identified with modern Jalor in Jodhpur State.¹ Whether his power really extended so far south as the Vindhyas is more than doubtful. For though the Paramāras during this period could offer no effective resistance to his arms, his reign synchronised with that of the powerful Caulukya monarch Kumārapāla (*c.* 1141-73 A.D.) for whom we have epigraphic records in Kirādu, Ratanpur and Bhatund in Marwar, Chitor in Mewar, and Udayapur in the Gwalior State. It rather seems that, seeing on his southern frontier such a formidable rival, he turned his whole attention to the northern region, where the fortunate decline of the Yamīnīs assured him of success. The capture of Delhi and the land between the Jumna and the Sutlej made his dynasty the guardian of the gates to the Ganges-Jumna Valley,² and, as subsequent history shows, the Cāhamānas had to bear the first shock of the revived Muslim power that was gradually issuing out from the hills of Ghūr.³