History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c18.s1.43

c18.s1.43

Legend avers that the Rathors of Marwar are descended from one Sīhāji, the son or grandson or grandnephew of Jayacandra, who escaped the wreck of the latter’s kingdom. It is contended that the descendants of Sīhāji would not be called Rathors unless we assume the inclusion of the Gāhaḍavālas within the larger body of the Rathors. Secondly, support for this view is found in the list of 36 Rajput clans as mentioned in Cand Bardāi’s *Prithvīrāja Rāso*, which omits to give a separate place to the Gāhaḍavālas. Thirdly, it is generally believed that Jayacandra belonged to the Rathor stock, and the great Hindi bard also applies the epithets Kamadhaja and Rathor to him. Lastly, there are indications that the Rāṣṭrakūṭas were settled in the United Provinces prior to the rise of the Gāhaḍavālas. A passage in the Surat grant of Trilocanapāla dated 1151 A. D. bears testimony to their earliest connexion with Kanauj, when it says: “O thou Caulukya, king of kings, marrying the princess of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas in Kanyākubja, bless thou (the world) with offspring obtained from her”.² But even if the verse be differently interpreted, as has been done by Dr. Hoernle³, the evidence of the Badaun stone inscription of Lakhanapāla, in conjunction with that of the Saheṭ-Maheṭh record, has been taken to prove definitely that “princes born in the Rāṣṭrakūṭa lineage” were ruling over Kanauj about the third quarter of the 11th century A. D. Indeed, Pandits Rāmakaran and Bisheswar Nath Reu go so far as to assert that Candra of the former epigraph is identical with Gāhaḍavāla Candra, the conqueror of Kanauj according to the copper plates.¹