The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c34.s1.127

Language: English

v2.c34.s1.127.1

The seven inscriptions noticed above give the dates V.S. 1228-1258, corresponding to *c.* 1171-1202 A.D., for Sāmantasiṁha. But they supply no details of the incidents of his reign.¹ He has however been identified with the Sāmantasiṁha who is mentioned in an inscription in the shrine of Neminātha on Mt. Abu dated in V.S. 1287 (1230 A.D.) as contemporary with Prahlādana, the younger brother of the Candrāvatī Paramāra Dhārāvarṣa (*c.* 1163-1219 A.D.).² This inscription tells us that Prahlādana, apparently during the administration of his brother, defended the Gurjara king when his power had been broken by Sāmantasiṁha. I have already suggested the identification of the Gurjara king with the Caulukya Ajayapāla (*c.* 1173-76 A.D.), the nephew and successor of Kumārapāla (*c.* 1144-73 A.D.).³ Kumārapāla, as we have seen, was in possession of the fort of Chitor and a large portion of Mewar. It is possible that Sāmantasiṁha, taking advantage of the trouble that followed Kumārapāla's death *c.* 1173 A.D., tried to recover Chitor or otherwise to strengthen his position. The Abu inscription and the provenance of his records show that he at first gained considerable degree of success, but Ajayapāla partially recovered his position with the help of his feudatory's brother.

v2.c34.s1.127.2

There is reason to believe that Ajayapāla took such drastic steps against Sāmantasiṁha that the latter for some time at least had to take shelter in the hills of Vāgaḍa, which lies to the east of the Mahi, and is now known as the State of Dungarpur. The Abu inscription of Samarasiṁha (V.S. 1342)⁴ relates that Kumārasiṁha, the successor of Sāmantasiṁha, "made the earth possessed of a good king after having taken it away again from the possession of the enemy." The unpublished Kumbhalgarh inscription of Kumbha says that after Sāmantasiṁha his brother Kumārasiṁha ousted from the country the enemy prince Kītu, who had seized his kingdom, and after pleasing the Gurjara king became king at Āghāṭapura.¹ This Kītu has been identified with Kīrtipāla,² a younger brother of the Naddūla Cāhamāna Kelhaṇa (*c.* 1163-92 A.D.), the reputed founder of the Jāvālipura Cāhamānas. I have shown elsewhere that Kelhaṇa was a feudatory of the Caulukya Kumārapāla about 1171 A.D.,³ and it is not unlikely that he continued to acknowledge the sovereignty of his successor Ajayapāla. The principality of Kīrtipāla assigned to him in his father Ālhaṇa's reign (*c.* 1152-62 A D.) appertained to Naddūlāī,⁴ modern Nādlai in Godwar (Jodhpur State), not far from the frontiers of Mewar. It is therefore quite likely that on the instructions and with the assistance of Ajayapāla, Kīrtipāla invaded Mewar and occupied it on behalf of the Caulukya king.

v2.c34.s1.127.3

This possibly happened sometime after *c.* 1171 A.D., the date of the Jagat inscription of Sāmantasiṁha, and before *c.* 1179 A.D., the date of his Solaj inscription. The former was found in the state of Udaipur and the latter in the State of Dungarpur (Vāgaḍa). According to Muhaṇota Naiṇsī,⁵ Sāmantasiṁha voluntarily abdicated his throne of Chitor in favour of his younger brother, in reward of his devoted service to him, and having ousted and killed Caurasīmalaka, the prince of Vāgaḍa, established his line in that region.⁶ We can well believe the chronicler as regards his statement about the retirement of Sāmantasiṁha from Mewar to Dungarpur, for this is supported by the Solaj stone-inscription of the Guhila prince. But what he writes about the voluntary abdication, when read with the statements of the tradition contained in his successor's inscriptions, seems clearly to be wrong. It appears that after the defeat of Sāmantasiṁha, when the country was occupied by the Jalor Cāhamāna Kītu, his brother Kumārasiṁha succeeded in pacifying the wrath of the Caulukya sovereign and with his assis-tance got himself installed on the throne of Āghāṭa-pura (mod. Ahar), from which his brother had been ousted. Kītu seems to have retired to his Jalor principality after peace had thus been restored between the two powers. Kumārasiṁha, we may assume, must have acknowledged the supremacy of the Caulu-kyas.

v2.c34.s1.127.4

As we have inscriptions of Kīrtipāla's son Samarasiṁha dated in 1182 A.D., the restoration of the Guhila power appears to have occurred sometime before this date. The contemporary Caulukya prince may have been Ajayapāla (*c.* 1173-76), or any of his two immediate successors, Mūlarāja II (*c.* 1176-78 A.D.) and Bhīmadeva II (*c.* 1178-1241 A.D.). The inscriptions Nos. 3-7 of Sāmantasiṁha, if they really belong to him, seem to indicate that he took full advantage of the weakness of the Caulukyas during the period *c.* 1176-1202 A D. to recover his power to some extent and even extend his authority across the Aravalli Range into the Sirohi and Jodhpur States.