Alha (
देवनागरी: आल्हा ;
ISO
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ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance
* Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007
* Is ...
: Ālhā ) was a legendary general of the
Chandel king
Paramardideva
Paramardi (reigned c. 1165–1203 CE) was a king of the Chandela dynasty of central India. He was the last powerful Chandela king, and ruled the Jejakabhukti region (Bundelkhand in present-day Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh). Around 1182–11 ...
(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
The term ''Alha Khand'' is used to refer to poetic works in Hindi which consists of a number of ballads describing the brave acts of two 12th century Banaphar heroes, Alha and Udal, generals working for king Paramardi-Deva (Parmal) of Mah ...
'' 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
Banaphar, also spelled Banafar and Banafer, is a clan native to the Indian subcontinent of mixed Ahir and Rajput descent.
The legendary 12th century generals Alha and Udal, who appear in the ''Alha-Khand
The term ''Alha Khand'' is used ...
clan, which are of mixed
Ahir
Ahir or Aheer are a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a ...
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
The ''Prithviraj Raso'' ( IAST: Pṛthvīrāja Rāso) is a Braj language epic poem about the life of Prithviraj Chauhan (reign. c. 1177–1192 CE). It is attributed to Chand Bardai, who according to the text, was a court poet of the king. ...
''. 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 divisio ...
(India) , pages=614
Rajput era
History of Madhya Pradesh
12th-century Indian monarchs
Chandelas of Jejakabhukti
Medieval India
Rajputs
Ahir history
Indian legendary characters