Political History of Northern India

Author(s): Gulabchandra Chaudhary
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

Page 65

CHAPTER III
THE DYNASTIES OF MADHYADESA (continued)
I. THE GURJARA PRATĪHĀRAS
The Gurjara Pratihāras played a very important part in ancient Indian History. The earliest reference to them found in the Jain sources is the famous Aihole inscription (A.D. 634) of Ravikirti, a contemporary of Pulikesin II, in which they are mentioned along with the Lāțas and the Mālavās. Bānabhațța in his Harsa Carita also refers to the Gurjaras whom Prabhākaravardhana kept in terror. Apart from these, the various references to the Gurjaras in the records of the seventh century indicate that their dynasty must have been a powerful one. Certain place names like Gujrānwālā, Gujarat, Gūjarakhān in the Punjab and Gūjargar, the name of one of the northern districts of Madhyabhārat denote the early inhabitance of the tribe. The land between these — the territory corresponding to the northern and western Rajputānā-is referred to in some inscriptions of the ninth century A.D. as Gurjaratras and must, therefore, be assumed as a settlement of the Gurjaras.
As regards their early settlement we have no definite information from the Jain sources but we can infer, from a reference made in the Jain Inscription of Ravikīrti from Aihole, wherein Gurjaras are mentioned along with the Lātas and the Mālavas, that they occupied a territory contiguous to these two provinces. One Jain author, Udyotanasūri, by way of mentioning the date of completion of his work states that in Saka year 700 or 778 A.D. the territory in which his residence Jāvālipur or Jālor (Marwar) was situated, had been ruled by a king Vatsarāja. This Vatsarāja has been rightly accepted on all hands as a member of the Gurjara Pratīhāra dynasty. One more definite information is furnished by a Jain inscription from Ghatiyalā near Jodhpur in the N.W. directions, in which it is stated that in V.E.
1 El., VI, p. 1: Tata qe Z H15 TTT: 2 Harsa Carita, p. 120 (N. S. Press) Eu furcat prior TETETTTI
गांधाराधिप गन्धद्विपकूटपाकलो, लाटपाटव पाटच्चरो मालवलक्ष्मी लता परशुः। 3 JBBRAS., XXI, p. 414. * El., VI, p. I. 5 JSS., III, Pt. II, p. 180, Vs. 25-26; See supra p. 49. & TA., XV, pp. 141-42; BG., I, Pt. II, p. 197, ft. 2.