Alha (
देवनागरी
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...
: आल्हा ;
ISO
ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization.
ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance
* Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007
* Iso ...
: Ālhā ) was a legendary general of the
Chandel king
Paramardideva (also known as Parmal), who fought
Prithviraj Chauhan
Prithviraja III ( IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; reign. – 1192 CE), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, with his capital at Ajmer in presen ...
in 1182
CE. He is one of the main characters of the ''
Alha-Khand'' ballad.
Origin
According to the legend, Alha and
Udal were children of the Dasraj, a successful commander in the army of Chandel king Parmal. They belonged to the
Banaphar clan, which are of mixed
Ahir and
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
descent, Purana states that Mahil a Rajput and an enemy of Alha and Udal said that Alha has come to be of a different family (kule htnatvamagatah) because his mother is an
Aryan Ahir.
The ''
Bhavishya Purana'', a Sanskrit text, states that Alha's mother was called Devaki and was a member of the Ahir caste. The Ahirs are among the "oldest pastoralists" and were rulers of Mahoba.
Folklore
In addition to the ''Aalha Khand'' and the ''Bhavishya Purana'', the story of Alha is also found in a number of medieval manuscripts of the ''
Prithviraj Raso''. There is also a belief that the story was originally written by Jagnik, bard of Mahoba, but no manuscript has been found.
See also
*
Udal of Mahoba
Notes
References
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External links
*{{Cite book , last=Mishra , first=Pt. Lalita Prasad , title=Alhakhand , language=hi , edition=15 , year=2007 , publisher=Tejkumar Book Depot (Pvt) Ltd , location=
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
(India) , pages=614
Rajput era
History of Madhya Pradesh
12th-century Indian monarchs
Chandelas of Jejakabhukti
Medieval India
Rajputs
Ahir history
Indian legendary characters