Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of IndiaTod, James
History
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of India
Tod, James
Rajasthan (India) -- History; Rajput (Indic people) -- History
The celebrated Abu, or Arbuda, the Olympus of Rajasthan, was the scene
of contention between the ministers of Surya and these Titans, and their
relation might, with the aid of imagination, be equally amusing with the
Titanic war of the ancient poets of the west [91]. The Buddhists claim
it for Adinath, their first Buddha; the Brahmans for Iswara, or, as the
local divinity styled Achaleswara.[2.7.42] The Agnikunda is still shown
on the summit of Abu, where the four races were created by the Brahmans
to fight the battles of Achaleswara and polytheism, against the
monotheistic Buddhists, represented as the serpents or Takshaks. The
probable period of this conversion has been hinted at; but of the
dynasties issuing from the Agnikulas, many of the princes professed the
Buddhist or Jain faith, to periods so late as the Muhammadan invasion.
The Pramara, though not, as his name implies, the ‘chief warrior,’ was
the most potent of the Agnikulas. He sent forth thirty-five sakha, or
branches, several of whom enjoyed extensive sovereignties. ‘The world is
the Pramar’s,’ is an ancient saying, denoting their extensive sway; and
the Naukot[2.7.43] Marusthali signified the nine divisions into which
the country, from the Sutlej to the ocean, was partitioned amongst them.
Maheswar, Dhar, Mandu, Ujjain, Chandrabhaga, Chitor, Abu, Chandravati,
Mhau Maidana, Parmavati, Umarkot, Bakhar, Lodorva, and Patan are the
most conspicuous of the capitals they conquered or founded.
Though the Pramara family never equalled in wealth the famed Solanki
princes of Anhilwara, or shone with such lustre as the Chauhan, it
attained a wider range and an earlier consolidation of dominion than
either, and far excelled in all, the Parihara, the last and least of the
Agnikulas, which it long held tributary.
Maheswar, the ancient seat of the Haihaya kings, appears to have been
the first seat of government of the Pramaras. They subsequently founded
Dharanagar, and Mandu on the crest of the Vindhya hills; and to them is
even attributed the city of Ujjain, the first meridian of the Hindus,
and the seat of Vikrama.
There are numerous records of the family, fixing eras in their history
of more modern times; and it is to be hoped that the interpretation of
yet undeciphered inscriptions may carry us back beyond the seventh
century.
The era[2.7.44] of Bhoj, the son of Munja, has been satisfactorily
settled; and an [92] inscription[2.7.45] in the nail-headed character,
carries it back a step further,[2.7.46] and elicits an historical fact
of infinite value, giving the date of the last prince of the Pramaras of
Chitor, and the consequent accession of the Guhilots.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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