Mewar as the Locus of Guhila State (Part-II)

The Guhilas had territorially and politically integrated most parts of Mewar (Southern Rajasthan) into a state/political identity by the tenth century. The new heights in territorial, political and military accomplishments were matched with royal claim to a new prestigious caste-status, Brahmanical origin. — Prof. Nandini Kapur Sinha

The consolidation of Nagda-Ahada Guhila power is corroborated by the long genealogical lists occurring in their official records for the first time in the tenth century. The Atapura inscription of the Guhila, Saktikumâra contains an interesting genealogical information. Ðaktikumâra is stated to have obtained the glory of Bhart[patta (II) and consolidated his kingdom. The reference to King Úaktikumâra as the prince who consolidated the kingdom also indicates the point of time (the second half of the tenth century) when the early Guhilas consolidated power in their central area and beyond. This may be taken as the second phase in the growth of the processes of state formation in Mewar. Aghata or Ahada was made the new capital by Saktikumara: he is stated to have established himself at Aghatapura. It is important to note that Säranesvara Inscription of 953 does not eulogize the town of Ahada unlike the Atapur Inscription of 977.30 This evidence indicates that Ahada had not acquired political importance or status of a capital till 977. Even Kailash Chand Jain comments that Allata, the son and successor of Bhart[patta II, probably transferred his capital from Nagda to Ahada. Transfer of capital from Nägda to Ahada was apparently due to the latter’s increasing economic significance in the tenth century and did not signify any territorial acquisition.” Guhila King Bhart[pamma (II) bears the title of mahârâjâdhiraja in the Pratapgarh inscription of Pratihâra Mahendrapaladeva (II) of 945-6.34 It is again Bhart[patta (II) who is eulogized in the Atapura inscription as the ‘ornament of the three worlds’.” Thus new political titles and a genealogical list are claimed in the tenth century by the Nagda-Ahada Guhilas.

The new heights of political power are expressed in ambitious claims about origins. The records now for the first time speak of the ancestor, Guhadatta as a brahmana belonging to a family of Anandapura (Anandapuravinirgatah Viprakulähnandano%-mahideva jayati Œri Guhadatta% prabhava% Sri Guhilavamsasya). Anandapura is identified with present Vadnagar in Idar, north-east Gujarat. It is a very significant development when contrasted with the simple expression of Guhilänvaya of seventh-century records. The same genealogical list and origin myth are repeated in the eleventh century, as is evident from the Kadmal plates of 1083 of Guhila Vijayasimha.

The Pratihâra power in southern Rajasthan had by this time begun to decline. Pratihara hold over the strategic fortress of Chittaurgarh weakened by the second half of tenth century. The Rastrakûta invasions into northern India had undermined the Pratihara power militarily as it is evident by Karhad plates and Deoli Plates of K[cGa III. This was also the period when powerful rulers like Paramâra Siyaka II, Mûlarãja Caulukya, and Candella Dhanga were making intrusions into the Pratihära dominion from central and western India. In the weakening of the Pratihara hold over the fortress of Chittaurgarh, the Guhilas of Nagda-Ahada are likely to have played a significant role as is evident from an unpublished inscription of the reign of Guhila King Allata (Alu Raval of tradition). King Allata is said to have been killed in the battle field, by a strong enemy named Devapäla” (identified with Pratihära King Devapäla of Kanauj of the late tenth century). Thus, the extent to which the Nagdä-Ahada Guhilas helped in weakening the Pratihara hold over Citrakuta remains a matter of conjecture. The fact that the Guhilas of Nagdä-Ahada had become a power to be reckoned with is borne out by the Paramara invasion of Aghata, their capital. The Bijapur Inscription of Dhavala Rãstrakûta of Hastikundi records that Prince Dhavala gave shelter to the armies of a king whose name is lost and the army of the Gurjaras when Paramâra Muñjarâja had destroyed Aghata, the pride of Medapâta and caused them to flee.” Thus they figure in the official records of their contemporaries for the first time in the tenth century. Paramâra Muñja was the contemporary of Guhila King Saktikumâra. As is evident from the Hastikundi record, Guhila Saktikumâra was given political refuge by the Rästrakûta prince of Hastikundi at the time of the sack of Aghata (Ahada). It was on this occasion that the fortress of Chittaur passed into Paramâra hands. Muñja Vâkpati’s nephew Bhoja is known to have often resided at Chittaur. Construction of the temples of Tribhuvana-NârâyaGa” (now known as Mokalji’s temple) and Samäddhiúvara is attributed to Paramâra Bhoja. Next to the Paramâras, it was the Cahamânas who continued to keep up pressures on the Nagda Ahada Guhilas, Guhila Saktikumara’s son Ambâprasâda is known to have been killed by his contemporary Cahamana, Väkpati II of Säkambhari in an attack on the capital.”

However, these occasional inroads into Nagda-Ahada might be considered as minor setbacks in the political career of the Guhila dynasty without seriously jeopardising the processes of state formation at this point of time.”

Increasing political power had to be supplemented with higher social claims. There were matrimonial alliances with the contemporary Rajput families of different lineages in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Some of these families not only belonged to respectable lineages but were also important political powers. Allaa had a queen from a royal Hûna family of central India.” Hûna Princess Hariyadevi (the name seems to suggest that this Huna family had already been absorbed into the Rajput fold, which facilitated a Guhila-Hûòa marriage) is also called the founder or an associate of the town of Harcapura (Harshuada, district Hoshangabad). The Hûnas may have sought matrimonial alliance with Guhilas of Nagda-Ahada to thwart the rising Paramara power of Malwa. The alliance also secured for the Guhilas a political ally in the Hûnas of central India against the Paramara. Bhart[patta’s queen Mahalaksmi is stated to have been of Räcmrakûta ancestry (most probably from Rastrakutas of Hastikundi, Marwari),” Naravahana also had a Cahamana queen. Not only the ruling family but their important functionaries also began to seek matrimonial alliances with respectable Rajput families. Two epigraphical records of 1000 and 1008 refer to the two wives of Guhila mahäsämantadhipati of Nägad[aha (Nagdâ) as Mahârâjñi Sarvadevi, daughter of a mahasamantadhipati of the Surya vamsi family and Mahârâjñi Jâjukâ, daughter of a mahâsâmantâdhipati of another Suryavamsi family of Bharukaccha.

Territorial expansion of the Guhila state occurred in the late eleventh century to the north, beyond the traditional boundary of Mewar, into the Godwar region . Kadmal plates record the grant of the fifth part of the produce of the village Palli, embracing all its receipts, by Guhila King Vijayasimha to a brâhmaGa Unanalâcârya. The village of Palli has been identified with the modern town of Pali in the district of Pali (Godwar region). Godwar region was commercially strategic to Rajasthan as the trade route to the seacoast of Gujarat from northern India passed through it in this period.

[To be continued...] 

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