History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.s5.2

v3.c34.s5.2

In the first place, in the oldest inscription found of Chandradeva himself, the race of the family is given as the solar race (Asīdāsītadyuti-vaṃśajataḥ &c.) and Chandradeva gives his name as Chadrāditya in his next two inscriptions. The Rathods of Jodhpur consider themselves all along as solar race Rajputs. (Strangely enough the Gaharwars look upon themselves as lunar race Rajputs though descended from Jaichand). They are, therefore, distinct from the Rāṣṭrakūṭa kings of Malkhed described in Volume II who plainly were lunar race Rajputs. We have already noted that their name Rāṣṭrakūṭa is an official position name meaning head of the country and is used as such in Eastern Chālukya inscriptions (See Vol. II p. 144) and the name may be borne by different clans and even castes like the modern names Deshpande or Joshi. This Rāṣṭrakūṭa clan which ruled in the north is, therefore, distinct from that which ruled in the south, though the former may have originally belonged to the Deccan as Jodhpur tradition asserts and Gāhaḍa may have been a town in the Deccan somewhere. Secondly, let us see what the name of Gāhadavāla means and how it is mentioned in the documents of these kings of Kanauj. The modern name Gaharwar of which the original form Gāhadavāla is known only recently has been fancifully explained as meaning gharbāhar (out of home) or grahavara (subduer of the planet Saturn, Mirzapur Gazetteer p. 204); but now that we have to explain the original form Gāhadavāla, taking a hint from the similar name Jammuwāl among Kshatriyas and Agarwal among Vaiśyas we think that Gāhadavāla means belonging to the town of Gāhaḍa. It seems thus to be not a clan name but a family name based on town of residence. Probably the name was given to distinguish this family of Rathods from other families and the name was a popular one. In most of the inscriptions of the Gāhadavālas of Kanauj it is not given but simply the vamśa viz. the solar, is mentioned, as noted before even in the oldest inscription of Chandradeva. The name Gāhadavāla is found in the inscriptions which were written when Govindachandra was a young man acting as Yuvarāja under Madanapāla. It is curious to note that these inscriptions depart from the settled form of the inscriptions of these Kanauj kings. Instead of beginning with invoking blessings of Śrī, they begin with a salutation to Dāmodara and say that in the Gāhadavāla vamśa was born king Mahīyala (I. A. XIV p. 103 and E. I. II p. 358) or Mahītala (I.A. XVIII p. 15. Probably here also the reading should have been Mahīyal which is the more popular form of the name). These inscriptions were drawn up in the Pāñchāla country and use the popular name of the family Gāhadavāla. Apparently it was not the clan name of the family and it has not been used in records drawn up in the usual style adopted by the court.