Harishchandra

Who he is

Name

Harishchandra

Title

Maharajadhiraja (as he styles himself in 1197)

Since

about 1194

Born

not known

Family

Son of Jayachandra, grandson of Vijayachandra. Kinsmen: Ajayasimha, a nephew of Jayachandra, in the Etawah country. Later a Gahadavala Adakkamalla appears at Nagod (1237).

Confidence

low

The Kotwa stone of 1197 gives him sovereign titles (Wikipedia, Jayachandra and Gahadavala pages). No later dated record.

Overlord

disputed: a Ghurid vassal (one theory) or a sovereign (the stone of 1197)

What it holds

• A claim on the Kashi country (Varanasi, Jaunpur, Bhadohi, Ghazipur), the Mirzapur and Kaimur hills, and the Ayodhya and Kosala lordship in name

How it was acquired

Inherited 1194.

Allies and rivals

Enemies: Aibak's commanders at Benares and Awadh. Kin who split off: Ajayasimha. The Chandelas are friends of his house, with no capacity to help.

How things stand that morning

A displaced king, perhaps a Ghurid vassal, with pilgrims' revenue gone and a few forts and chiefs. Kashi's Brahmin communities are the substance of his claim.

Threats

• Ghurid commanders (Aghul-bak at Awadh and Benares)
• Khalji raiders from Bhagwat and Bhiuli

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. 1200 to 1203The Ghurid commanders close in on the last Gahadavala chiefs of the Mirzapur edge.Depends on: Aghul-bak and Bakhtiyar free to raid. Stopped by: A call to Khurasan.

Where the sources disagree

• See the realm record.

Evidence: One dated stone (1197).

On the map: A claim, not possession.

Primary sources for Gahadavalas

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 Tree of Genealogies, and the Manners of War and Bravery, Fakhr-i Mudabbir (Fakhr al-Din Muhammad ibn Mansur Mubarakshah) (the Shajara about 1206, dedicated to Qutb al-Din Aibak; the Adab al-harb in the 1220s for Iltutmish). The prose introduction to the Shajara, written within six years of 1200, praises Aibak and tells of his rise under Mu'izz al-Din of Ghur, his consecration at Lahore in 1206 and the Ghurid campaigns in Hindustan, with some notice of the Turkish peoples.
• 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
• 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