As the history of India at this period is totally dark, we gladly take advantage of the lights thus afforded. By combining these facts with what is received as authentic, though scarcely less obscure or more exact than these native legends, we may furnish materials for the future historian. With this view, let us take a rapid sketch of the irruptions of the Arabians into India, from the rise of Islamism to the foundation of the Ghaznivid empire, which sealed the fate of the Hindus. The materials are but scanty. El-Makin, in his history of the Caliphs, passes over such intercourse almost without notice. Abu-l-Fazl, though not diffuse, is minute in what he does say, and we can confide in his veracity. Ferishta has a chapter devoted to this subject, which merits a better translation than yet exists.[[4]] We shall, however, in the first place, touch on Bappa’s descendants, till we arrive at the point proper for the introduction of the intended sketch.
Of the twenty-four tribes of Guhilot, several issued from the founder, Bappa. Shortly after the conquest of Chitor, Bappa proceeded to Saurashtra and married the daughter of Yusufgol, prince of the island of Bandardiva.[[5]] With his bride he conveyed to Chitor the statue of Vyanmata, the tutelary goddess of her race, who still divides with Eklinga the devotion of the Guhilot princes. The temple in which he enshrined this islandic goddess yet stands on the summit of Chitor, with many other monuments assigned by tradition to Bappa. This princess bore him Aparajit, who from being born in Chitor was nominated successor to the throne, to the exclusion of his less fortunate elder brother, Asil (born of the daughter of the Kaba (Pramara) prince of Kalibao near Dwaraka), who, however, obtained possessions in Saurashtra, and founded a race called the Asila Guhilots,[[6]] whose descendants were so numerous, even in Akbar’s reign, as to [242] be supposed able to bring into the field fifty thousand men at arms. We have nothing important to record of the actions of Aparajit, who had two sons, Kalbhoj[[7]] and Nandkumar. Kalbhoj succeeded Aparajit, and his warlike qualities are extolled in an inscription discovered by the author in the valley of Nagda. Nandkumar slew Bhimsen Dor (Doda), and possessed himself of Deogarh in the Deccan.
Khumān I.
The Muhammadan Invasion, A.D. 644-55.
GUHILOT AND CONTEMPORARY PRINCES[[13]]
| Guhilot Princes | Eras. | Caliphs of Baghdad and Kings of Ghazni. | Eras. | Remarks. | |||
| Samvat. | Christian. | A.H. | A.D. | ||||
| Caliphs of Baghdad. | |||||||
| Bappa, | born | 769 | 713 | Walid (7th Ummaiya Caliph) | 86 to 96 | 705 to 715 | Conquered India to the Ganges. |
| ——— | obtained Chitor | 784 | 728 | Omar II. (9th do.) | 99 to 102 | 718 to 721 | Sindi conquered. The Mori prince Chitor attacked by Muhammad (son of Kasim), the General of Omar. |
| ——— | governs Mewar | Hasham (10th do.) | 104 to 125 | 723 to 742 | Battle of Tours, A.D. 732, and defeat of the Caliph’s army, under Abdulrahman, by Charles Martel. | ||
| ——— | abandons Chitor | 820 | 764 | Al-Mansur Abbasi (2nd do.) | 136 to 158 | 754 to 775 | Final conquest of Sind, and the name of its capital, Aror, changed to Mansura. Bappa, founder of the Guhilot race in Mewar, retires to Iran. |
| Aparajit, Kalbhoj | Harunu-r-rashid (5th do.) | 170 to 193 | 786 to 809 | Partition of the caliphat amongst Harun’s sons. The second, Al-Mamun, obtains Zabulistan, Sind, and India, and ruled them till A.D. 813, when he became Caliph. | |||
| Khuman | 868 to 892 | 812 to 836 | Al-Mamun (7th do.) | 198 to 218 | 813 to 833 | Invasion and attack on Chitor from Zabulistan. | |
| Bhartaribhat. | |||||||
| Singhji. | |||||||
| Allat. | |||||||
| Narabahan. | Kings of Ghazni. | ||||||
| Salivahan. | |||||||
| Sakti Kumar | 1024 | 968 | Alptigin | 350 | 957 | Inscription of Sakti-kumar from ruins of Aitpur. | |
| Amba Pasao. | |||||||
| Naravarman | Sabuktigin | 367 | 977 | Invasion of India. | |||
| Jasuvarman [or Kirtivarman] | Mahmud | 387 to 418 | 997 to 1027 | Invasions of India, destruction of Aitpur. | |||
Al-Mansur, when only the lieutenant of the Caliph Abbas, held the government of Sind and of India, and made the island of Bakhar on the Indus, and the adjacent Aror,[[14]] the ancient capital, his residence, naming it Mansura; and it was during his government that Bappa Rawal abandoned Chitor for Iran.
The celebrated Harunu-r-rashid, contemporary of Charlemagne, in apportioning his immense empire amongst his sons, gave to the second, Al-Mamun, Khorasan, Zabulistan, Kabulistan, Sind, and Hindustan.[[15]] Al-Mamun, on the death of Harun, deposed his brother, and became caliph in A.H. 198 or A.D. 813, and ruled to 833, the exact period of the reign of Khuman, prince of Chitor. The domestic history brings the enemy assailant of Chitor from Zabulistan; and as the leader’s name is given Mahmud Khorasan Pat, there can be little doubt that it is an error arising from ignorance of the copyist, and should be Mamun.