History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.s3.30

v3.c34.s3.30

Mūlarāja also ruled for a short time only and he was succeeded by his brother Bhīma who was also a minor then, his mother carrying on the regency. Bhīma II called Bholā ruled long, like Jayasinha, from 1178 to 1241 A. D. a period of 63 years which is not unbelievable, if we remember that he came to the throne when a boy. Like Jayasinha also he called himself Siddharāja or rather new (Abhinava) Siddharāja, though his attainments were not as great. There are many inscriptions of his time found dating from 1199 to 1238 A. D. It cannot, therefore, be doubted that he reigned till 1242 A. D. as stated by chroniclers. His power was, however, usurped by his nobles and feudatories, though they always acknowledged him as king of Anhilwad. Thus an inscription of one Jayantasinha, to be noticed further on, states that Bhīma ruled in Anhilwād. Subsequently the Vaghela chieftain Lavaṇaprasād and his son Viradhavala became powerful and Bhīma II is said even to have declared that Viradhavala was his successor. The Vaghela chieftains were a scion of the Chaulukya family itself and Arṇorāja the founder was a son of Kumārapāla's mother's sister. He assisted Kumārapāla in obtaining the throne and the latter gave him the village of Vyāghrapalli near Anhilwad, whence the family obtained the surname Vaghela. Lavaṇaprasāda, son of Arṇorāja was a great general under Bhīma II and eventually Viradhavala, his son, established himself at Anhilwad in place of Bhīma's effete successor Tribhuvanapāla, who seems to have ruled for about four years after Bhīma (Gaurishankar's Tod). A copper-plate of Tribhuvanapāla dated 1299 St. or 1242 A.D. has been found and it seems that this king did for a time rule. But Vīradhavala who was virtual master must have soon set him aside and founded the Vaghela kingly family at Anhilwad which lasted for four generations after him viz: Vīsaladeva, Arjunadeva, Sāraṅgadeva and Karṇa (1286-1304) in whose time Gujarat was finally conquered by the Mahomedans. The Vaghela kings were a powerful family and their two great Jain ministers Vastupāla and Tejapāla built the famous Jain temples at Abu and Girnar. The modern representative of the Vaghela family is the family ruling at Rewa; while the Chaulukya family of Mūlarāja is represented by the chiefs of Rūpanagar in Mewad and of Kot in Marwad (Gaurishankar's Tod). There are some Maratha families such as Dubals of Karhad in Satara district who represent themselves as descendants of the Chaulukyas of Gujarat, their gotra being Bhāradvāja.