History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v2.c28.s1.40

v2.c28.s1.40

Ahichchhatra again is wrongly placed in the Himalayan region. It is undoubtedly the famous capital of North Pānchāla as mentioned in the Mahābhārata and Cunningham has properly identified it from Hiuen Tsang's description with Rampur. The words "being flanked by mountain crags" need not suggest the Himālayas at all and this Ahichchhatra was properly enough the place to which Brahmins and Kshatriyas in the south looked as their original habitat. The Pānchāla country is famous in Vedic literature as the residence of learned Brahmins. It was also the country of the valiant Pānchāla Kshatriyas and Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar need not wonder that the founder of the Chāhamāna family is said to have come from Ahichchhatra. The Chāhamānas did not take the word Sapādalaksha to the new country for it was not a name like Holland which could be taken to other places but it was a word denoting a number of villages which comprised their territory. Again Karnātaka or Dhārwār was called Sapādalaksha because it contained that number of villages. The name was not taken and could not be taken from the north to Dhārwār. The strange conclusion which Dr. Bhandarkar derives from this word used for Karnātaka viz., that the habitat of the Chālukyas like that of the Chāhamānas was also the mountain region called Sapādalaksha and hence they too were foreigners is, therefore, absurd and the whole theory which he has built on the wrong identification of Ahichchhatra and Sapādalaksha is to say the least mistaken. We, therefore, think that Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar's attempt to prove that the four supposed Agnikula clans were Gujars has signally failed and his theory must be abandoned. It must be mentioned that Mr. Har Bilas Sarda of Ajmer has already pointed out that Sapādalaksha meant the Sambar country though he thinks Ahichchhatra should be identified with Nagore in Marwad. Whether the Chāhamānas came from Rampur or were originally of Nagore, it is certain that there is not a scrap of evidence to show that they were Gujars and we shall not further dilate upon this untenable theory of the foreign extraction of the Rajputs started by Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar and accepted by Jackson and Smith. We will instead in the next chapter indicate the positive arguments which in our opinion go to prove that they are the representatives of the ancient Vedic Aryans of India.