History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.s6.64

v3.c34.s6.64

There are some very important general remarks which we have to make regarding these Śilāhāra kings and their inscriptions. The first thing to point out is that these kings do not assign themselves in their inscriptions to the solar or lunar vamśas to which all Kshatriyas assigned themselves in those days. They derive their descent from Jīmūtavāhana, a Vidyādhara or heavenly being who in ancient legend is said to have offered his own body for being devoured by Garuda in order to liberate a Nāga or serpent. It is, therefore, natural to suppose that these Śilāhāras were not Kshatriyas. But that these Śilāhāras were Kshatriyas and were looked upon as Kshatriyas there is not the least doubt as their name is included in the list of the 36 royal clans. As related before, this enumeration appears to have been made about the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century A. D. during the reign of the orthodox emperor Chandra Gāhadavāla of Kanauj, "the rehabilitator of the solar and lunar races of Kshatriyas" or in the days of Govindachandra at the latest and this inference about its date is strengthened by the inclusion of the Śilāhāras among the 36. The Vidyādhara vamśa itself suggests to our mind, that they were Kshatriyas; for a Kshatriya alone could sacrifice himself in this manner and cut off flesh from his body (one is reminded here of Karṇa's legend in the Mahābhārata and possibly the Kshatriya Śilāhāras had assisted the Nāga race people of Southern India). The Śilāhāras always declare in their descriptions that they came from Tagarapura, a town mentioned by Pliny in Southern India on the Godavari east of Paithan. Thus the Śilāhāras were Kshatriyas from the very centre of the Maratha country. They became famous throughout India as independent powerful kings under Anantadeva or Anantapāla who ruled from 1085 A. D. to 1125 A. D. and the list of 36 royal families which appears to have been made from Kshatriya ruling clans (Rajputs) at the time, properly included the Śilāhāras of Thana. They were Kshatriyas and Rajputs though they called themselves Vidyādhara-vamśa-born, and their fame had gone as far north as Kashmir where at the congress of pandits called by Mankha the ambassadors of two kings in India are mentioned as attending, Tejahkantha, ambassador of Aparāditya I of Konkan and Subala of Govindachandra of Kanauj. Kanauj, Konkan and Kashmir thus came together in about 1085 A. D. (B. B. R. A. S. XII extra number p. 51) and we need not wonder that we have a clear reference to the 36 Royal clans of India, in which number Śilāhāras have a place, in Kalhaṇa’s Rājataranginī of 1154 A. D. The Śilāhāras are the only people in this list who do not figure in Northern India and who have a kingdom in the south only. Rathods and Chālukyas are both northern Rajputs and southern Rajputs but Śilāhāras are only southern Rajputs or Marathas.