The Vagad

Who he is

Name

not pinned: Samantasimha's heirs, or Vijayapala, the chief Bhima II posted there about 1185

Title

Lord of Vagada (disputed)

Since

Samantasimha about 1171 to 1185; Vijayapala from about 1185 (Wikipedia)

Born

not pinned

Family

Samantasimha was the elder brother of Kumarasimha of Mewar. Local tradition (Ojha, from the Virpur inscription) says he joined Prithviraja III and died at Tarain; the Wikipedia page treats this as tradition. Later, Jaitrasimha's younger son Sihlada seems to have ruled the Vagad (after 1213).

Confidence

low

Wikipedia says Samantasimha set up a principality in the Vagad (Dungarpur and Banswara) with Baroda (Vatapadraka) as capital about 1171; Bhima II overthrew him about 1185 and posted his chief Vijayapala. The earliest firm epigraphy for the cadet line at Vatapadraka is April 1287 (board). The Dungarpur town does not exist until 1282.

Overlord

Bhima II of Gujarat (the Chaulukya governor Vijayapala), against the Guhila claim

What it holds

• Baroda (Vatapadraka) and Arthuna
• Sagwara, Galiakot and the Mahi crossings

How it was acquired

Seizure about 1171, Chaulukya conquest about 1185.

Allies and rivals

Kin to the Rawal at Nagda; owes homage to Bhima II.

How things stand that morning

Disputed and thinly documented.

Wealth

Arthuna's market (a price-list inscription of 1080 names barley, sugarcane, jaggery, liquor and brass ware).

Threats

• Gujarat
• Mewar
• Bhil headmen

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. 1213 and laterJaitrasimha's younger son Sihlada seems to rule the Vagad (Wikipedia)Depends on: Mewar's recovery Stopped by: Gujarat strong

Places of note

• Arthuna: Paramara temple town on the western Mahi

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry baroda-vatapadraka calls this 'the seat of the Guhila cadets before Dungarpur exists' and rests it on the inscription of April 1287; Wikipedia gives the c. 1171 foundation and the c. 1185 Chaulukya conquest, which the campaign board omits.

Evidence: Wikipedia's Guhila page; the campaign board.

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

On the map: A march, not a province.

Primary sources for Guhilas of Mewar

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.

• 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
• The Wishing-Stone of Narratives, Merutunga (a Jain monk of the Nagendra gaccha) (1305 (Vikrama 1361) at Vadhvan in Gujarat). A Jain collection of historical anecdotes about the kings of Gujarat and Malwa, a century after 1200. Read online