Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.502

v3.c43.t1.502

One inscription records the actions of the dynasty of Chitor, and they are so intermingled as to render it almost impossible to separate the Guhilots from the Chauhans. It begins with an invocation to “ Sakambhari Janami Mata, the mother of births, guardian of the races (sakham),² and of mighty castles (durga), hills, and ruins, the Protectress.” Having mentioned the names of nine Chauhans (of Vats-gotra), it flies off to Srimad Bapparaj, Vindhya Nirpati, or, ‘Bappa, sovereign of the Vindhya Hills,’ the founder of the Ranas of Mewar; but the names that follow do not belong to his dynasty, which leads me to imagine that the Chauhans of Uparmal were vassals of Chitor at that early period. Since antiquarian disquisitions, however, would be out of place here, we shall only give the concluding portion. It is of Kuntpal, the grandson of Irnaraj, “who destroyed Jawalapur, and the fame of whose exploit at the capture of Delhi is engraved on the gate of Valabhi. His elder brother’s son was Prithiraj, who amassed a parb of gold, which he gave in charity, and built in Morakara a temple to Parsvanath. Having obtained the regal dignity, through Someswar, he was thence called Someswar, for the sake of whose soul this mandir was erected, and the village of Rewana on the Rewa, bestowed for its support.—S. 1226 (A.D. 1170).” This appears completely to set at rest the question whether the Chauhans wrested by force the throne of Delhi from the Tuars;¹ and it is singular, that from the most remote part of the dominions of this illustrious line, we should have a confirmation of the fact asserted by their great bard Chand. The inscriptions at Asi (Hansi), and on the column of Delhi, were all written about the same period as this (see p. 1456). But the appeal made to “the gate of Valabhi,” the ancient capital of the Guhilots in Saurashtra, is the most singular part of it, and will only admit of one construction [744], namely, that when Prithiraj revenged the death of his father, Someswar, who was slain in battle by the prince of Saurashtra and Gujarat, Kuntpal must have availed himself of that opportunity to appropriate the share he had in the capture of Delhi. Chand informs us he made a conquest of the whole of Gujarat from Bhola Bhim.²