Rahila (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: Rāhila, reigned c. 885-905 CE) was a king of the

Chandela The Chandelas of Jejakabhukti was an Indian dynasty in Central India. The Chandelas ruled much of the Bundelkhand region (then called ''Jejakabhukti'') between the 9th and the 13th centuries. They belonged to the Chandel clan of the Rajputs. T ...

dynasty of India. He ruled in the Jejakabhukti region (

Bundelkhand Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central and North India. It corresponds to the Post-Vedic Chedi kingdom. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Prad ...

in present-day

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

). Rahila was the son of his predecessor Vijayashakti. R. K. Dikshit dates his reign approximately to 885-905 CE. In an inscription of one of his successors, his title is given as ''nṛpati'' ("Lord of men"). No royal titles have been assigned to him, which suggests that he was a subordinate to the Pratiharas, like other early Chandela rulers. Not much is known about Rahila's military career. He is mentioned in two

Khajuraho Khajuraho () is a city, near Chhatarpur in Chhatarpur district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the country's largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous ...

inscriptions of his successors. These eulogistic inscriptions praise him as a warrior, but do not provide much information of historical value. For example, the 954 CE Khajuraho inscription states that he gave enemies sleepless nights. Using analogies, it compares a battle to a ritual sacrifice, and states that Rahila was never tired of this sacrifice. The legendary text ''Paramala Raso'', which is of doubtful authenticity, contains a highly exaggerated account of Rahila's military campaigns. For example, it claims that he invaded Rameshvara with a cavalary of 2 million horses, and confiscated a thousand ships from the king of Simhala.

Historical description

Rahila is believed to have commissioned several

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

. Inscriptions at an Ajaygadh temple bear his name. The Rahilya Sagar lake in

Mahoba Mahoba is a city in Mahoba District of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the Bundelkhand region, well known for the ninth century granite Sun temple built in Pratihara style. It is also well known for the 24 rock-cut Jain tirthankara imag ...

, which has a temple on its bank, is named after him. ''Paramala Raso'' states that he established the Rasina (or Rajavasini) township, which is identified with Rasin village near Badausa. This village has a Chandela-style temple. According to ''Paramala Raso'', Rahila's queen was Rājamatī. The Kalachuri king Kokkala I married a Chandela princess Naṭṭā-devi. According to R. C. Majumdar, this princess might have been a daughter of Rahila's uncle Jayashakti. However, R. K. Dikshit, believes that she was probably a daughter or sister of Rahila.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Chandelas of Jejakabhukti Chandelas of Jejakabhukti 9th-century Indian monarchs 10th-century Indian monarchs