History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.5.2

v3.c34.5.2

When Firishta mentions Ajmer kings taking part in the confederacy of Rajput kings against Sabuktagin or Mahmud, he merely makes a surmise by ante-dating Ajmer owing to its fame in the days of Shihabuddin Ghori. Goving further on, we find that instead of Śrichandra of the Bijolia inscription, R. B. Gaurishankar gives the name Chāmuṇḍa and mentions that he built a Vishnu temple (as stated in Hammira-Kāvya) in a town in Marwar; while Kielhorn gives Simhata and Dūsala as separate kings (See Ep. In. VIII Appendix). Prithvīrāja I is said to have given a golden kalaśa (pinnacle-pot) usually covered with gold to a Jain temple in Ranathambhor. His son Ajayadeva is said to have built the fort of Ajmer and founded the modern town, towards the end of the 11th century A. D. and to have removed his capital from Sām-bhar to Ajmer. He must have been a powerful king as coins struck in his name and in the name of his queen Somalādevī have been found (Ind. Ant. 1912). His son Arṇorāja or Ānā was a more powerful king. He built the Ānā-sāgar tank and bund and "thus purified the place defiled as it had been by the invasion of Mahomedans". (This is perhaps a poetic fancy of the Prithvīrāja-Vijaya poem). His reign is assigned by Mr. Harbilas Sarda to 1125 to 1150 A. D.* which does not much differ from the computed date given in our genealogy. Pandit Gaurishankar mentions that Kumārapāla of Gujarat invaded Ajmer in the time of Arṇorāja in St. 1207 or 1150 A. D. and Mr.