Indian Antiquary Vol 40

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 30

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JANUARY, 1911.
woman, and that the children from both wore called Pratibaras, those from the first being styled Brahmaņa Pratthâras and those from the second Kshatriya Prattharas. This is not a merely traditional account, for in the same inscription, that describes the exploits of the Pratihara chieftain Bâuka, we are distinctly told in verse 27 that in his fight with king Mayûra, he was assisted by the Brahmana Pratihâras as well as Kshatriyas. The marriage of a Brahmaņa with a Kshatriya woman; with the result as related in this inscription, is curious; and can only be accounted for as being of foreign importation. The Smritis, no doubt, allow a Brahmaņa to marry a Kshatriya woman, but the offspring of such a union is relegated to the class of mixed castes, and has nowhere therein been styled Kshatriya, as appears from the inscription to have been the case with these Pratibaras,
The modern representatives of the Pratîbâras are the. Palihîrs, who form one of the four agnikulas, i.e., fire-sprang tribes. In fact, Pratibâra is only the Sanskritised form of Padibâr. Padibârs are found both in Rajputâna, Panjab and Bihar93, But no trace has yet been found of the Brâhmaņa Pratharas referred to in the Jodhpur inscription. It is, however, worthy of note that among the Pokarņa Brahmaņas of the present day, there is a kharap or sub-division called Padiyariya. May not the Pokarşas of this kharap be the descendants of the Pratibîra Brahmaņas of the inscription P
The second Rajpût tribe, which is, in all likelihood, of Gújar origin, is Chalukya or Chaulakya. There is no epigraphic evidence in the present case, but there can be no doubt that Gujarat of the Bombay Presidency bore this name only after the Chaulakyas conquered and occupied it. If the Chaulukyas had not been of Gujar extraction, it is inconceivable how that province could have been named Gujarat (Gurjaratra), when it was up till their advent known as Lata8. There were two hordes of this tribe which emigrated at two different periods. The first came forth in the last quarter of the sixth century from the Savâlakh mountains, as I shall show further on, spread as far south as the Madras Presidency, and was generally known by the nane Chalakya. The second emigrated about the middle of the tenth century from Kalyaņakataka, i.6., Kanauj, but did not go south beyond Gujarat. It was generally known by the name of Obaulukya or Solanki. Some aatiquarians are of opinion that they do not represent one tribe, as the first swarm of the invaders were called Chalukyas and the second Chanlukyas. But this view, I am afraid, has not much ground to stand upon. Because, the first have been called also Chaulukyas in several manuscripts of the Vikramdi kadeva-charita by Bilhaņa, the vidydpati of Vikramaditya VI of the Chalukya family reigning at Kalyani. The same Bilhaņa again speaks of the Solanki sovereigns of Gujarat as Chalukya in his play entitled Karnasundar786. There, therefore, seems to be no reason to hold that they were two different tribes. Like the Kadambas, as we shall see further on, the Châlukyas are represented as Haritiputras, of the Mânavya gotra and as meditating on Shadanana and the seven Divine Mothers. This indicates their Brahmana, or rather priestly origin, though we cannot perhaps say that they and the Kadambas belonged to one tribe. In their later records the Chalnkyas are spoken of as originally having been at Ayodhyâ, but I shall soon show that they really emigrated from the old Sapadalaksha country, which was in the Himalayas.
The Chalakyas are at present represented by Solankts in Rajpatînî, by Chalkes and Salunkes in the Marasht-speaking districts 87 and by Ohalbuks in Bihar,
"Annals and Antiquition of Rajasthan, by Tod, Vol. I., PP. 93—4. The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, by Risley, Vol. II., p. 165. * Cenaue Report of the Jodhpur State (Hindi), for 1891, Vol. III, p. 159. Joms. Bomb. As. Soc., Vol. XXI.,
Pp. 425-5. # Karnasundar (Kavyam414 Series), p. 5, v. 20; slao p. 52, v. 18.
" Who are the Marathas!" by
Birjo, pp. 106 & 110. #Th Thibw and Caste of Bengal, by Rialoy, p. 176.