Anahilla ( IAST: Aṇahilla, r. c. 1024–1055 CE) was an Indian king belonging to the Naddula Chahamana dynasty. He ruled the area around

Naddula Nadol is a census town in Desuri tehsil of Pali district, India. Ashapura Mataji temple and Shri Nadol Tirth attract pilgrims. History Nadol was originally called Naddula. The Chahamanas of Naddula (called Chauhans of Nadol in vernacular leg ...

(present-day Nadol in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

). He defeated the

Chaulukya The Chaulukya dynasty (), also Solanki dynasty, was a dynasty that ruled parts of what are now Gujarat and Rajasthan in north-western India, between and . Their capital was located at Anahilavada (modern Patan). At times, their rule extended ...

king

Bhima I Bhima I (r. c. 1022–1064 CE) was a Chaulukya king who ruled parts of present-day Gujarat, India. The early years of his reign saw an invasion from the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud, who sacked the Somnath temple. Bhima left his capital and took ...

, defeated a general of the

Paramara The Paramara dynasty ( IAST: Paramāra) was an Indian dynasty that ruled Malwa and surrounding areas in west-central India between 9th and 14th centuries. They belonged to the Parmara clan of the Rajputs. The dynasty was established in either ...

king

Bhoja Bhoja (reigned c. 1010–1055 CE) was an Indian king from the Paramara dynasty. His kingdom was centered around the Malwa region in central India, where his capital Dhara-nagara (modern Dhar) was located. Bhoja fought wars with nearly all h ...

, and also defended his territory against the

Ghaznavid The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...

Early life

Anahilla was a son of the Chahamana king

Mahindu Mahindu (r. c. 994–1015 CE), also known as Mahendra or Mahindra, was an Indian king belonging to the Naddula Chahamana dynasty. He ruled the area around Naddula (present-day Nadol in Rajasthan). Reign Mahindu succeeded his father Vigrahap ...

. His brother

Ashvapala Ashvapala ( IAST: Aśvapāla, r. c. 1015–1019 CE) was an Indian king belonging to the Naddula Chahamana dynasty. He ruled the area around Naddula (present-day Nadol in Rajasthan). Reign Ashvapala was the son of his predecessor Mahindu (also ...

succeeded Mahindu. Ashvapala's son Ahila probably died heirless, because of which Anahilla became the next king.

Military career

According to the Sundha Hill inscription, Anahilla defeated

Bhima In Hindu epic Mahabharata, Bhima ( sa, भीम, ) is the second among the five Pandavas. The '' Mahabharata'' relates many events that portray the might of Bhima. Bhima was born when Vayu, the wind god, granted a son to Kunti and Pandu. ...

, captured Shakambhari, killed

's general Sadha, and defeated the Turushkas. Bhima, the

king of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

, was a southern neighbour of the Chahamanas. According to the Chahamana record, Anahilla's father Ahila had also defeated Bhima. It is not clear when and how Anahilla took control of Shakambhari, which was the capital of the

Chahamanas of Shakambhari The Chahamanas of Shakambhari ( IAST: Cāhamāna), colloquially known as the Chauhans of Sambhar or Chauhans of Ajmer, were an Indian dynasty that ruled parts of the present-day Rajasthan and neighbouring areas in India, between the 6th and 12t ...

. According to the epic poem ''

Prithviraja Vijaya ''Prithviraja Vijaya'' ( IAST: Pṛthvīrāja Vijaya, "Prithviraja's Victory") is an eulogistic Sanskrit epic poem on the life of the Indian Chahamana king Prithviraja III (better known as Prithviraj Chauhan in the vernacular folk legends). It i ...

'', the

king

killed the Shakambhari Chahamana king Viryarama. Historian

Dasharatha Sharma Dasharatha Sharma (1903–1976) was an Indologist with particular interest in the history of the Rajasthan region of India. Born in the Rajasthani city of Churu, he studied in the city of Bikaner and at the University of Delhi. He had degrees ...

theorizes that the Paramaras occupied Shakambhari after Viryarama's death, and were evicted by his successor Chamundaraja with help from Anahilla. On the other hand, R. B. Singh speculates that Anahilla and Bhoja formed an alliance against Viryarama; sometime later, the alliance broke, and Anahilla killed Bhoja's general Sadha. The Turushkas (Turkic people) can be identified with the Muslim

Ghaznavids The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...

. The Ghaznavid ruler

Mahmud Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''. Siam Mahmud *Mahmood (singer) (born 19 ...

invaded India around 1025 CE, and raided the Somanath Hindu temple. According to the 16th-century historian

Firishta Firishta or Ferešte ( fa, ), full name Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Astarabadi ( fa, مُحَمَّد قاسِم هِندو شاہ), was a Persian historian, who later settled in India and served the Deccan Sultans as their court historian. He wa ...

, some Hindu kings including Param Dev (identified with Paramara Bhoja) assembled a large army to attack him during his return journey. However, Mahmud chose to avoid a conflict, and returned using a different route. R. B. Singh theorizes that Anahilla was a part of the confederacy that planned to fight with Mahmud. The Chahamana claim of Anahilla having defeated the Turushkas probably refers to this event. On the other hand, Dasharatha Sharma speculates that the Ghaznavid army passed through Nadol on its way to Somanath; Anahilla defended Naddula by fighting with Mahmud or one of his generals. According to an inscription, the Naddula Chahamana kingdom comprised only 700 villages at the time of Anahilla's ascension. He increased this number to 7,000 by killing the neighbouring rulers. While this may be an exaggeration, it indicates that Anahilla was one of the most successful rulers of his dynasty. Anahilla was succeeded by his elder son

Balaprasada Bala-prasada (IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a schem ...

, who was succeeded by his younger son

Jendraraja Jendraraja ( IAST: Jendrarāja, r. c. 1070–1080 CE) was an Indian king belonging to the Naddula Chahamana dynasty. He ruled the area around Naddula (present-day Nadol in Rajasthan), and achieved military successes against the Chaulukyas. Rei ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Chahamanas of Naddula Chahamanas of Naddula 11th-century Indian monarchs