History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.s1.5

v3.c33.s1.5

Who was Jaipal king of Hindustan? He is evidently the king of Kabul belonging to the Brahmin dynasty founded by Lalliya and described in the previous volumes. (Vol. II. p. 157 and Vol. I. p. 201). But this obvious identification has not been accepted by the now almost authoritative Early History of India which states even in the third edition (1914) as follows "In those days a large kingdom comprising the upper valley of the Indus and most of the Panjab to the north of Sind extending westward to the mountain and eastward to the Hakra river was governed by a king named Jaipal whose capital was Bathinda (Bhatinda) situated s. s. w. of Lahore and westward from Patiala". This, though not expressly, clearly distinguishes this Jaipal from the Brahmin Jaipal king of Kabul. In the foot-note here (p. 382) Smith remarks that this summary statement has been given by him from Raverty, "differing as it does from current accounts". He gives greater details in his article on the Chandellas in I. A. XXXVII (1908) where he refers for Bathinda to a note in Raverty's translation of Tabakat-i-Nasiri and further observes in a note there that Miss Duff in her 'chronology' is wrong when she identifies this Jaipal with the Jaipal of Wahind. He further states in a note on p. 383 E. H. I. that "Elliot mixes up the dynasty of Bathinda commonly called the Shahis of Ohind with that of Kabul and so renders the whole story unintelligible". But after giving due consideration to the arguments advanced by Raverty in the aforementioned note and the whole evidence on this subject, it appears to us that Sir Vincent Smith is mistaken in setting up a distinct kingdom for this Jaipal and that the earlier view of Miss Duff and Elliot is correct. We proceed to examine this question at length.