Dharavarsha of Abu

Who he is

Name

Dharavarsha

Title

Maharajadhiraja or mandalika of Arbuda, feudatory of the Chaulukyas

Since

by 1163 (earliest inscription, 1220 of the Vikrama era)

Born

not pinned

Family

Paramara (Panwar) of Chandravati; son of Yashodhavala; brother of the poet Prahladana

Confidence

high

Wikipedia after H. V. Trivedi and Balogh: inscriptions from 1163 to 1219 (Vikrama 1220 to 1276); the Muslim chroniclers call him 'Darabaraz' (Hasan Nizami) or 'Darabaras' (Firishta). He is the longest-lived neighbour on the frontier.

What it holds

• Chandravati at the foot of Mount Abu, the seat
• The Abu massif and its temples, including the Vimala Vasahi of 1031
• Kasahrada (Kayadra), the pass village
• Probably the Arbuda foot as far as Palanpur (Prahladana's town, whose founding date is disputed) and the Sirohi hills, shared with Bhil headmen
• Authority over lesser Paramara houses: Siwana and Kiradu are named by the campaign board as Paramara holdings, which we cannot confirm from the pages we read

How it was acquired

By inheritance, about 1160, from Yashodhavala.

Allies and rivals

Feudatory of Bhima II. Neighbours and kin: the Chahamanas of Jalor and Nadol (allies at Kasahrada), the Guhilas of Mewar (Samantasimha was beaten by his brother Prahladana in Ajayapala's reign), and the Paramara cadets of Siwana. Enemy: the Ghurid column.

How things stand that morning

The Abu pass has been forced once, in 1197, and Dharavarsha survived the defeat; the Paramaras held Chandravati afterward (his dated inscriptions run on to 1219; see likely_course_1200).

Wealth

Marble, tolls on the Gujarat to Marwar road, the Jain merchant gifts to the Abu temples.

Military

His own retainers and the Bhil and Koli hill-men; no number is given by any source we could check.

Threats

• A Ghurid return by the same road
• The Chahamanas of Jalor, who treat the Paramaras as kin and rival by turns

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1204 and afterUdayasimha of Jalor takes Naddula and Mandor (Wikipedia, Jalor); Abu is the next power to the south and what follows for it is not recorded in the sources we reachedDepends on: A strong Jalor king after Samarasimha's death Stopped by: Chaulukya help from Lavanaprasada
2. 1230The Luna Vasahi is built at Dilwara by Vastupala and TejahpalaDepends on: Vaghela patronage Stopped by: Loss of Vaghela patronage or the ministers' fall
3. 1219 (last dated inscription)Dharavarsha's last dated inscription (Wikipedia, Chandravati); no death is recorded in what we reachedDepends on: A long reign from 1163 holding Stopped by: Death, deposition or a Jalor conquest in play

Places of note

• Kasahrada (Kayadra): Pass village at the foot of Abu: Ghurid defeat 1178, Chaulukya defeat 1197
• Kumbhariya Jain temples: Marble Jain group on the Arbuda foot, temples of 1062 to 1136

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry chandravati-arbuda: 'fought beside the Chahamanas against the Ghurids in 1178 and beside them again in the defeat of 1197'. The 1178 role is attested (Prabandhakosa, the Kasahrada article); the 1197 role rests on Hasan Nizami's 'Darabaras' and the identification is the commonly accepted one, not proved.

Evidence: Inscriptions of Dharavarsha 1163 to 1219 and the Muslim names, all through Wikipedia's Chandravati and Kasahrada pages.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: Approximate; Mount Abu is drawn with its foot.

Primary sources for Chaulukya Gujarat

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Crown of Glorious Deeds, Hasan Nizami (Sadr al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan Nizami of Nishapur) (begun about 1205 at Delhi, carried on to about 1217). The earliest history written in Muslim India and the only contemporary account of Qutb al-Din Aibak's campaigns. Read online
• The Nasirean Generations (a general history of the Muslim dynasties), Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (completed 1260 at Delhi). The fullest narrative of the Ghurid conquest of northern India. Read online
• The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
• Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
• Historical Inscriptions of Gujarat, Various (the Chaulukya and Vaghela chanceries), edited by G. V. Acharya (inscriptions of the 10th to 14th centuries; edited 1933 to 1942). The standard corpus of Gujarat's inscriptions. Read online
• A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
• The Book of Roger (the Pleasure of Him who Longs to Cross the Horizons), Muhammad al-Idrisi (completed 1154 at Palermo). The nearest Arabic geography in time to 1200 for the Indian Ocean. Read online
• The History of India as Told by its Own Historians: the Muhammadan Period, vol. 2, Various (Ibn al-Athir, Hasan Nizami, Awfi, Juzjani and others), edited by H. M. Elliot and John Dowson (the sources date from the 1190s to the 14th century; the collection was published in 1869). A one-volume anthology of the Arabic and Persian accounts of the Ghurid conquest. Read online

1 more in the sources library for Northern India.