History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c18.s1.33

c18.s1.33

The Gāhaḍavālas emerge into the light of history so suddenly that it is difficult to clear away the obscurity hanging over their origin. None of their numerous charters connects them with any of the well-known lines of the Sun and the Moon,² although it is worthy of note that they expressly mention the name of the family or clan and call them Kṣatriyas.³ Their modern representatives are the Gaharwars of the United Provinces, and the family bards of the head of the sept—the Rājā of Kantit in the Mirzapur district—narrate a fanciful legend to explain this designation.⁴ We are told that in the line of Yayāti’s youngest son, in whose favour the father had abdicated, there was born after many generations one named Devadāsa, who ruled over the Benares region. He incurred the wrath of the malignant deity Sani or Saturn by his virtuous deeds, so much so that the deity tried to mislead him. But the king resisted all evil influences, thus gaining the title “Grahavara” or ‘Overcomer of the Planet,” which afterwards became corrupted into Gaharwar or Gāhaḍavāla.¹ It is significant that this tradition traces the Gāhaḍavālas back to an obscure descendant of Yayāti, and refrains from linking them up with any hero of popular mythology. Does it, therefore, hint that the Gāhaḍavālas were originally an unimportant autochthonous tribe, who came into prominence as Kṣatriyas only after seizing political power and championing the cause of Brahmanism? The Paurāṇik texts, at any rate, refer to a people called “Gahvara or Girigahvara”, who are described as dwellers in jungles and caves,² and since “Gahvara” might conceivably correspond in meaning to the Prakrit “Gāhaḍa” (both words being derived from the same root), it may indeed be tempting to conjecture that the term “Gāhaḍavāla” is equivalent to “Gahvaravāsī.” Pandit Bisheswar Nath Reu has, however, another theory to offer. He thinks that Gāhaḍavāla is used in the sense of “balavān” and that they were so called because they conquered the most important kingdom of the times.³ Mr. C. V. Vaidya, on the other hand, derives it, like Agarwāla, from some place Gāhaḍa in the Deccan.⁴