Samantaraja (

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 ...

: Sāmantarāja, r. c. 7th century CE) was an Indian king belonging to the Chahamana dynasty of Shakambhari (modern Sambhar). He ruled parts of 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 ...

in north-western India. The exact period of Samanta is not certain. According to Dasharatha Sharma, his reign ended around 725 VS (c. 668 CE). On the other hand, Historian R. B. Singh assigned Samanta's reign to the period c. 684-709 CE and identifies Manik Rai as Samantaraja, the 7th century Chahamana ruler of Shakambhari. The 1170 CE

Bijolia Bijoliya is a census town in Bhilwara district in the state of Rajasthan, India and is surrounded by nature and waterfalls and is famous for Tapodaya Teerth Kshetra and Mandakini Temple. Geography Bijoliya Kalan is located at . It has an avera ...

rock inscription of his descendant Someshvara states that Samanta was born at Ahichchhatrapura in the

gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotr ...

of sage Vatsa. Ahichchhatrapura is identified with modern Nagaur.

Vasudeva Vasudeva (; Sanskrit: वसुदेव ), also called Anakadundubhi (''anakas'' and ''dundubhis'' both refer to ''drums'', after the musicians who played these instruments at the time of his birth), is the father of the Hindu deities Krishna ( ...

, an ancestor of Samanta, is known from the historical records, but the relationship between the two is not certain. Historian R. B. Singh theorizes that after Vasudeva, the Chahamanas were overshadowed by the Vardhanas, and Samanta restored the Chahamana rule at Shakambhari. The medieval bardic legends state that Manik Rai restored the fortunes of the Chauhan (Chahamana) family by the grace of the goddess Shakambhari. Singh identifies Manik Rai as Samanta. Samanta was succeeded by Naradeva.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Chahamanas of Shakambhari Chahamana kings of Shakambhari 7th-century Indian monarchs