The Chahamana houses of Nadol and Jalor

Who rules

Name

Samantasimha at Nadol (probable), Samarasimha at Jalor, Govindaraja at Ranthambore

Title

No single king: three separate lines

Since

see the lords' records

Born

not pinned

Family

All three descend from the Chahamana house of Shakambhari: the Naddula (Nadol) branch separated about 950 with Lakshmana, the Jalor line came out of it with Kirtipala, and the main line, which held Sambhar and Ajmer, ended with Hariraja in 1194 and survives in Govindaraja at Ranthambore.

Confidence

medium

The ruler lists are from R. B. Singh (1964) and A. K. Srivastava (1979) as Wikipedia reproduces them with approximate reigns; the main line from Wikipedia's Shakambhari and Ranastambhapura pages.

What the realm holds

• Ranthambore, Jhain (Chhan) and Khandar (Govindaraja, as a Ghurid fief: see Govindaraja)
• Nadol and the Godwar (Samantasimha, probable)
• Jalor and the Sonagiri hill (Samarasimha)
• A memory of Sambhar, Ajmer and the grants of the old kingdom

How it was acquired

The house is recorded at Shakambhari (Sambhar) by 973 at the latest (the Harsha inscription, per the campaign board); Ajmer (Ajayameru) is credited to Ajayaraja, though Wikipedia's Taragarh page says the Parmars built the fort and Ajayaraja repaired it; Vigraharaja IV took Delhi and Hansi from the Tomaras in the mid twelfth century; Prithviraja III (to 1192) ruled the whole. The Naddula branch began about 950; Kirtipala took the Jalor country in the 1160s to 1180s (Wikipedia gives reign dates 1160 to 1182 for him and credits the Naddula Chahamanas, not Kirtipala by name, with the fort).

Allies and rivals

Enemies: the Ghurids, but Govindaraja is their tenant and the Nadol and Jalor houses pay no one in the sources we reached. Kin and rivals of each other. Overlords in name: the Chaulukyas of Gujarat (Bhima II), whose feudatories Nadol and Jalor were, and who profited from Prithviraja's fall. Neighbours: the Paramaras of Abu, the Paramaras of Siwana, the Pratiharas of Mandore, the Bhatis of Jaisalmer, the Guhilas over the Desuri pass.

The realm that morning

The house survives as three small powers under heavy pressure. The one place from which a Chahamana could still recover Ajmer is Ranthambore, and it is a Ghurid fief. The two western lines can still raise horsemen from the Luni country and have the Jain merchants of Bhinmal, Jalor and Osian behind them.

Wealth

The salt of Sambhar and Didwana is lost to them; Pachpadra salt on the Luni, the Pali market, the road tolls on the Marwar road and the Jain merchant houses of Jalor and Bhinmal. No revenue figure survives.

Military

Horse and foot from a district; the strong places are Ranthambore, Jalor and Siwana (the last Paramara). Record of war: Kelhana at Kasahrada (1178, or 1197 on some readings); Nadol abandoned in 1197. No counts.

Threats

• Aibak or his successors at Delhi: a Ghurid army is likely to come again by the Abu road
• Quarrels among the three lines
• Chaulukya recall of a feudatory
• Bhil and Mina hill clans taking advantage

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. 1204Samarasimha dies; Udayasimha (r. 1204 to 1257) succeeds at Jalor (Wikipedia, Chahamanas of Jalor, approximate)Depends on: Nothing changes Samarasimha's circumstances before then Stopped by: An earlier death or a coup
2. after 1204Udayasimha takes Nadol and Mandor, conquers Barmer and forms a confederacy that makes Iltutmish retreat from Marwar (Wikipedia, Jalor)Depends on: The Naddula line having failed by then and Mandor still in Pratihara hands Stopped by: A Ghurid or Chaulukya strike on Jalor
3. 1226Iltutmish takes Ranthambore and Mandor (Wikipedia, Ranastambhapura and Jalor)Depends on: A strong Delhi ruler Stopped by: Chahamana unity or a relief force
4. 1241 and laterRao Deva's Hada Chahamanas take Bundi (board); Kota is a later foundationDepends on: The Chahamana diaspora (not a Delhi-controlled event) Stopped by: Mina resistance

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board puts the whole of the Aravalli and Marwar centre under 'The Chahamana survivors'. Only Ranthambore, Nadol and Jalor are Chahamana; Jaisalmer is Bhati, Mandore Pratihara, Siwana Paramara, Barmer a watch post, Mewat Meo country, Bundi probably Mina, and the Ajmer country Ghurid. We give each its own record.
• Kasahrada: Wikipedia's Naddula page says in its text that Kelhanadeva helped the Chaulukyas defeat the Ghurids in 1178 and in its infobox and battle link 1197. The first is Kasahrada (Kayadra) of 1178; the second is the battle where Aibak won. The campaign board entry kasahrada-kayadra gives 4 February 1197 for the second, which we could not check and which the Persian chronicles do not give.
• The Wikipedia pages on Naddula and Jalor do not mention each other's supposed kinship in detail; Kirtipala is a son of Alhana and a brother of Kelhana (Jalor page).

Evidence: Wikipedia pages summarising R. B. Singh (1964), A. K. Srivastava (1979) and Dasharatha Sharma (1959); inscriptions are named but not read. The campaign board adds colour that we cannot confirm.

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

On the map: A small core in two pieces, drawn from districts. The real Chahamana lordships were villages under hills, not blocks of land.

Primary sources for this realm

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
• 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 Victory of Prithviraja, Jayanaka (a Kashmiri poet at the Chahamana court) (about 1191 to 1192, left unfinished). A court epic written at Ajmer in the months between Prithviraja III's victory at Tarain in 1191 and his defeat and death in 1192. 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
• 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