History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.5.3

v3.c34.5.3

Harbilas Sarda has in a paper in Ind. Ant. 1912 shown that Ānā twice warred with Kumārapāla of Gujarat, first in St. 1202 and again in St. 1207 when the latter invaded Ajmer to avenge an insult offered to his sister who was married to him. Arṇo's second son Visaladeva or Vigraharāja IV ascended the throne of Ajmer, setting aside his elder brother Jagadeva who had murdered Ānā and who probably did not at all rule. Visaladeva was a greater monarch than Ānā himself. He has recorded an inscription on the Iron pillar of Delhi in which his exploits are extolled to the highest. "From Vindhya to the Himalayas, he, moving for pilgrimage, conquered all those kings who opposed him and favoured those who bent their necks to him and he made Āryāvarta again a real Āryāvarta or abode of Aryas by slaughters inflicted on Mahomedans". And he exhorts his descendants in this way. "We have made the portion of the earth between the Vindhya and the Himalayas tributary to us. May your minds be not devoid of exertion for the conquest of the rest."† This indeed shows the vigorous character of his rule and his high ambition. We have already shown that after their conquest and annexation of the Punjab the Mahomedans had sent several expeditions into mid-India and made settlements in many places. Visaladeva drove these Mahomedans back into the Panjab and clearing Āryāvarta made it so in reality.