Dulha Rai was the founder of the

Kachhwaha The Kachhwaha is a Rajput clan found primarily in India. They claim descent from the Suryavanshi (Solar) dynasty. Etymology According to Cynthia Talbot, the meaning of word ''Kachhwaha'' is tortoise. Origin There are numerous theories on ...

dynasty and also the 1st king from this dynasty who ruled the territory of Dhundhar, with his capital at Khoh in present-day

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. He started his rule from

Dausa Dausa is a city and administrative headquarters of Dausa district in the state of Rajasthan, India. It is 55 km from Jaipur, 240 km from Delhi and located on Jaipur-Agra National Highway (NH-21). Etymology The name ''Dausa'' (Hindi ...

which he obtained as a dowry from 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 present-day Rajasthan and neighbouring areas between the sixth and twelfth centuri ...

. Making

as his base, he started conquering the region of Dhundhar and soon was recognised as the ruler of this region by the Chahamanas after he successfully suppressed the rebellious Bargujar Rajputs.

History

The Kachwaha Rajputs claim descent from Kusha, son of the legendary

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

. Their ancestors allegedly migrated from Rama's kingdom of

Kosala Kosala, sometimes referred to as Uttara Kosala () was one of the Mahajanapadas of ancient India. It emerged as a small state during the Late Vedic period and became (along with Magadha) one of the earliest states to transition from a lineage ...

and established a new dynasty at

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

. After 31 generations, they moved to

Rajputana Rājputana (), meaning Land of the Rajputs, was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the entire present-day States of India, Indian state of Rajasthan, parts of the neighboring states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and adjo ...

and took away the kingdom of Dhundhar from Alan Singh Chanda. Some historians associate ''Dulha Rao'', the founder of the Jaipur Kachhwaha lineage, with the Kachchhapaghata dynasty that ruled over a part of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in 10th century. It is possible that Dulha Rao descended from the Narwar branch of this dynasty. VS Bhargava associates Dulha with the successor of the last ruler of the Nawar branch, ''Tejaskaran''. According to Jadunath Sarkar, Dulha's grandfather Ishwar Singh, the ruler of Narwar, renounced his throne and divided his estate among his younger brother and his nephew and travelled North of Chambal to live a life of religious recluse. After his death, his son Sodha crowned himself king again but soon died and was succeeded by his son Dulha who built support for his cause and soon received the fort of

in dowry from the Chauhans of Lalsot. M. L. Sharma suggests that Dulha was placed in Dausa particularly to help fight the Bargujar chief who partly controlled the city. Dulharai defeated Alan Singh Chanda, the ruler of the Chanda dynasty and captured Dhudhand. Dulha Rao soon defeated the

Meenas Meena () is a tribe from northern and western India which is sometimes considered a sub-group of the Bhil community. It used to be claimed they speak Mina language, a spurious language. Its name is also transliterated as ''Meenanda'' or ''Mi ...

of Khoh and Manchi and later completed the conquest of Dhundhar by defeating the Bargurjar after which he was granted the captured land by the Chauhans. Dulha chose Khoh as his capital after Dausa.

Death and succession

Dulha Rai died at Khoh in

in 1133 and Kakil Dev was chosen as his successor.

Sources

{{India-royal-stub Rajput monarchs 1036 deaths