Alha (
ISO
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries.
Me ...
: Ālhā) was a legendary general of the
Chandel king
Paramardideva (also known as Parmal), who fought
Prithviraj Chauhan
Prithviraja III (IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; 22 May 1166 – February 1192), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chahamanas of Shakambhari, Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, w ...
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
Ahir or Aheer (derived from the Sanskrit word: abhira) is a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most of whom now use the Yadav surname, as they consider the two terms synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a ...
and
Rajput
Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...
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
''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''), Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood ...
Ahir.
The ''
Bhavishya Purana
The 'Bhavishya Purana' (') is one of the eighteen major works in the Purana genre of Hinduism, written in Sanskrit. The title ''Bhavishya'' means "future" and implies it is a work that contains prophecies regarding the future.
The ''Bhavishya ...
'', 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
*
*
*
*
*
*
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 List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...
(India) , pages=614
History of Madhya Pradesh
12th-century Indian monarchs
Chandelas of Jejakabhukti
Rajputs
Ahir history
Indian legendary characters