Jignasa Journal Of History Of Ideas And Culture Part 01

Author(s): Vibha Upadhyaya and Others
Publisher: University of Rajasthan

Page 247

Urban Centres and Urban forces in c. 600-900 CE Rajasthan:
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Dhūrtākhyāna for the benefit of the pious residents of Citrakūta or Chittor. Dharanivarāha, who ruled Chittor in 830 CE, patronized Māhuka, writer of a treatise Haramckhalā.64 The Kālikāmātā and Kumbhaśyāma temples are ascribable to the seventh and eighth centuries.65
Kalyanpura or Kişkindhā was the capital of the Guhilas of the Kişkindhā branch from the seventh to the eighth century CE. They were powerful feudatory rulers, enjoying the important privilege of pañcamahāśabda; they granted villages and plots of land to the Brāhmaṇas, details of which were recorded on copper plates. The officials and subordinates addressed in the grants include the rajasthaniya (viceroy), pratihära (guard of royal bed chamber or palace gate or capital), officer in charge of measuring the king's share of grain, balādhikrta (commander of forces), cauroddharanika (policeman of a district), dandapāśika (head of a group of policemen), saulkika (collector of custom duties), pratisäraka (gate-keeper and collector of tolls), viniyuktaka (ruler of a sub-division), drāngika (collector of revenues), minister in charge of peace and war, and rājapurusa (royal agents), indicating the vast and organized bureaucracy. The mention of the saulkika and pratisäraka indicates the commercial importance of the place. An eighth century inscription contains a significant reference to the gift of forty dramma coins. 67
Nagda, Chatsu and Dhod were important centres of Mewar, Chatsu and Dhod branches of the Guhilas respectively. The Nagda inscription of 661 CE, recording the temple construction by the wife of Guhila Aparājita's commander-in-chief, Mahārāja Varahasimha, who had defeated terrible enemies, 68 indicates the presence of military power and social surplus. The same is found also in Chatsu where the ruler Sankaragana, the Guhila ruler of Chatsu who was probably a feudatory of Nāgabhatta II, is credited with the defeat of the Bengal (Gauda) ruler and his successor Harsa is credited with the defeat of northern rulers, whereafter he presented horses of the Srivamsa breed to his overlord Bhoja, apparently the Imperial Pratihāra ruler Bhoja." The Dhod inscription of 644 CE records the existence of hatta and hattamarga, market-place and market-streets, indicating that the area was a centre of economic activity.
Kaman, Dholpur and Sambhar were the seats of power of the Sūrasenas, Cāh mānas of Dholpur and the Cāhamānas of Sākambhari respectively. Inscriptions from Kaman dated 835 and 839 CE? refer to guilds of potters and artisans functioning like banks, receiving permanent deposits and fulfilling stipulated terms. Money economy was so strong that potters undertook to pay returns for investment in paņas and artisans in drammas, i.e., in cash and not in kind.
The Dholpur inscription, 842 Ce, besides recording the establishment of a temple by Candamahāsena, ruler of the Cāhamāna line, indicates that he had subdued the Bhillas on both sides of the river Chambal. The seat of power, Dholpur, must have been a prosperous centre. As the Sambhar lake is intimately associated by the Prthvīrājavijaya with Vasudeva Cāhamāna, the founder of the Sākambhari line of the Cähamānas, it is possible that the importance of its salt resources was first realized by him." Salt merchants figure among the merchants making donations at the Harcanātha temple in 973 Ce.74 The references to Durlabharāja, possibly a feudatory of the Imperial Pratihāra ruler Vatsarāja (eighth century), having enjoyed the gauda land; his successor, güvaka I, having attained pre-eminence as a warrior at the court of Nāgabhata II;?" and gūvaka II, a warrior as great as gūvaka I," having given his daughter to the paramount sovereign Bhoja(c. 836-93 Ce), 7indicate that the area was equally prosperous in the eighth and ninth centuries.