Chámuṇḍa, a.d. 997–1010.Of Múlarája’s son and successor Chámuṇḍa no historical information is available. The author of the Prabandhachintámaṇi assigns him a reign of thirteen years. The author of the Dvyáśraya says that he had three sons Vallabha Rája, Durlabha Rája, and Nága Rája. According to one account Chámuṇḍa installed Vallabha in a.d. 1010 (S. 1066) and went on pilgrimage to Benares. On his passage through Málwa Muñja the Málwa king carried off Chámuṇḍa’s umbrella and other marks of royalty.[19] Chámuṇḍa went on to Benares in the guise of a hermit. On his return he prayed his son to avenge the insult offered by the king of Málwa. Vallabha started with an army but died of small-pox. The author of the Prabandhachintámaṇi gives Chámuṇḍa a reign of six months, while the author of the Vicháraśreṇi entirely drops his name and gives a reign of fourteen years to Vallabha made up of the thirteen years of Chámuṇḍa and the six months of Vallabha. This seems to be a mistake. It would seem more correct, as is done in several copperplate lists, to omit Vallabha, since he must have reigned jointly with his father and his name is not wanted for purposes of succession. The Vicháraśreṇi and the Prabandhachintámaṇi agree in ending Vallabha’s reign in a.d. 1010 (S. 1066). The author of the Dvyáśraya states that Chámuṇḍa greatly lamenting the death of Vallabha installed Vallabha’s younger brother Durlabha, and himself retired to die at Śuklatírtha on the Narbadá.
Durlabha, a.d. 1010–1022.Durlabha whom the Sukṛitasankírtana also calls Jagatjhampaka or World Guardian came to the throne in a.d. 1010 (S. 1066). The Prabandhachintámaṇi gives the length of his reign at eleven years and six months while the Vicháraśreṇi makes it twelve years closing it in a.d. 1022 (S. 1078). The author of the Dvyáśraya says that along with his brother Nága Rája, Durlabha attended the Svayaṃvara or bridegroom-choosing of Durlabha Deví the sister of Mahendra the
Chapter II.
The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242.
Durlabha, a.d. 1010–1022. Rája of Nadol in Márwár. The kings of Aṅga, Kásí, Avantí, Chedí, Kuru, Húṇa, Mathurá, Vindhya, and Andhra were also present.[20] The princess chose Durlabha and Mahendra gave his younger sister Lakshmí to Durlabha’s brother Nága Rája. The princess’ choice of Durlabha drew on him the enmity of certain of the other kings all of whom he defeated. The brothers then returned to Aṇahilaváḍa where Durlabha built a lake called Durlabhasarovara. The author of the Prabandhachintámaṇi says that Durlabha gave up the kingdom to his son (?) Bhíma.[21] He also states that Durlabha went on pilgrimage and was insulted on the way by Muñja king of Málwa. This seems the same tale which the Dvyáśraya tells of Chámuṇḍa. Since Muñja cannot have been a cotemporary of Durlabha the Dvyáśraya’s account seems correct.
Bhíma I. a.d. 1022–1064.Durlabha was succeeded by his nephew Bhíma the son of Durlabha’s younger brother Nága Rája. The author of the Dvyáśraya says that Durlabha wishing to retire from the world offered the kingdom to his nephew Bhíma; that Bhíma declined in favour of his father Nága Rája; that Nága Rája refused; that Durlabha and Nága Rája persuaded Bhíma to take the government; and that after installing Bhíma the two brothers died together. Such a voluntary double death sounds unlikely unless the result was due to the machinations of Bhíma. The Prabandhachintámaṇi gives Bhíma a reign of fifty-two years from a.d. 1022 to 1074 (S. 1078–1130), while the Vicháraśreṇi reduces his reign to forty-two years placing its close in a.d. 1064 (S. 1120). Forty-two years would seem to be correct as another copy of the Prabandhachintámaṇi has 42.
Two copperplates of Bhíma are available one dated a.d. 1030 (S. 1086) eight or nine years after he came to the throne, the other from Kacch in a.d. 1037 (S. 1093).
Bhíma seems to have been more powerful than either of his predecessors. According to the Dvyáśraya his two chief enemies were the kings of Sindh and of Chedí or Bundelkhand. He led a victorious expedition against Hammuka the king of Sindh, who had conquered the king of Sivasána and another against Karṇa king of Chedí who paid tribute and submitted. The Prabandhachintámaṇi has a verse, apparently an old verse interpolated, which says that on the Málwa king Bhoja’s death, while sacking Dhárápuri, Karṇa took Bhíma as his coadjutor, and that afterwards Bhíma’s general Dámara took Karṇa captive and won from him a gold maṇḍapiká or canopy and images of Ganeśa and Nílakaṇṭheśvara Mahádeva. Bhíma is said to have presented the canopy to Somanátha.
When Bhíma was engaged against the king of Sindh, Kulachandra the general of the Málwa king Bhoja with all the Málwa feudatories, invaded Aṇahilaváḍa, sacked the city, and sowed shell-money at the gate where the time-marking gong was sounded. So great was the
Chapter II.
The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242.
Bhíma I. a.d. 1022–1064. loss that the ‘sacking of Kulachandra’ has passed into a proverb. Kulachandra also took from Aṇahilaváḍa an acknowledgment of victory or jayapatra. On his return Bhoja received Kulachandra with honour but blamed him for not sowing salt instead of shell-money.[22] He said the shell-money is an omen that the wealth of Málwa will flow to Gujarát. An unpublished inscription of Bhoja’s successor Udayáditya in a temple at Udepur near Bhilsá confirms the above stating that Bhíma was conquered by Bhoja’s officers.[23]
The Solaṅki kings of Aṇahilapura being Śaivites held the god Somanátha of Prabhása in great veneration. The very ancient and holy shrine of Prabhása has long been a place of special pilgrimage. As early as the Yádavas of Dwárká,[24] pilgrimages to Prabhása are recorded but the Mahábhárata makes no mention either of Somanátha or of any other Śaivite shrine. The shrine of Somanátha was probably not established before the time of the Valabhis (a.d. 480–767). As the Valabhi kings were most open-handed in religious gifts, it was probably through their grants that the Somanátha temple rose to importance. The Solaṅkis were not behind the Valabhis in devotion to Somanátha. To save pilgrims from oppression Múlarája fought Graharipu the Ábhíra king of Sorath.[25] Múlarája afterwards went to Prabhása and also built temples in Gujarát in honour of the god Somanátha. As Múlarája’s successors Chámuṇḍa and Durlabha continued firm devotees of Somanátha during their reigns (a.d. 997–1022) the wealth of the temple must have greatly increased.
Mahmúd’s Invasion, a.d. 1024.No Gujarát Hindu writer refers to the destruction of the great temple soon after Bhíma’s accession.[26] But the Musalmán historians place beyond doubt that in a.d. 1024 the famous tenth raid of
Chapter II.
The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242.
Somanátha, a.d. 1024. Somanátha, a.d. 1024.Mahmúd of Ghazni, ended in the destruction and plunder of Somanátha.[27]
Of the destruction of Somanátha the earliest Musalmán account, of Ibn Asír (a.d. 1160–1229), supplies the following details: In the year a.d. 1024 (H. 414) Mahmúd captured several forts and cities in Hind and he also took the idol called Somanátha. This idol was the greatest of all the idols of Hind. At every eclipse[28] the Hindus went on pilgrimage to the temple, and there congregated to the number of a hundred thousand persons. According to their doctrine of transmigration the Hindus believe that after separation from the body the souls of men meet at Somanátha; and that the ebb and flow of the tide is the worship paid to the best of its power by the sea to the idol.[29] All that is most precious in India was brought to Somanátha. The temple attendants received the most valuable presents, and the temple was endowed with more than 10,000 villages.[30] In the temple were amassed jewels of the most exquisite quality and of incalculable value. The people of India have a great river called Ganga to which they pay the highest honour and into which they cast the bones of their great men, in the belief that the deceased will thus secure an entrance to heaven. Though between this river and Somanátha is a distance of about 1200 miles (200 parasangs) water was daily brought from it to wash the idol.[31] Every day a thousand Bráhmans performed the worship and introduced visitors.[32] The shaving of the heads and beards of pilgrims employed three hundred barbers.[33] Three hundred and fifty persons sang and danced at the gate of the temple,[34] every one receiving a settled daily allowance. When Mahmúd was gaining victories and demolishing idols in North India, the Hindus said Somanátha is displeased with these idols. If Somanátha had been satisfied with them no one could have destroyed or injured them. When Mahmúd heard this he resolved on making a campaign to destroy Somanátha, believing that when the Hindus saw their prayers and imprecations to be false and futile they would embrace the Faith.
So he prayed to the Almighty for aid, and with 30,000 horse besides volunteers left Ghazni on the 10th Sha’bán (H. 414, a.d. 1024).
Chapter II.
The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242.
Somanátha, a.d. 1024. He took the road to Multán and reached it in the middle of Ramzán. The road from Multán to India lay through a barren desert without inhabitants or food. Mahmúd collected provisions for the passage and loading 30,000 camels with water and corn started for Aṇahilaváḍa. After he had crossed the desert he perceived on one side a fort full of people in which place there were wells.[35] The leaders came to conciliate him, but he invested the place, and God gave him victory over it, for the hearts of the people failed them through fear. He brought the place under the sway of Islám, killed the inhabitants, and broke in pieces their images. His men carrying water with them marched for Aṇahilaváḍa, where they arrived at the beginning of Zílkáda.