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 ...
: Siṃharāja, r. c. 944–971 CE) was an Indian king belonging to the Shakambhari Chahamana dynasty. He ruled the Sapadalaksha country, which included 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. He was the first Chahamana ruler to assume the title
Maharajadhiraja
Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a prince. However, in late ancient India ...
.
Early life
Most sources mention Simharaja as the successor of his father
Vakpatiraja I
Vakpatiraja I (reigned c. 917–944 CE), also known as Vappayaraja, was an Indian king belonging to the Shakambhari Chahamana dynasty. He ruled the Sapadalaksha country, which included parts of present-day Rajasthan in north-western India. He ap ...
. However, the
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 ...
inscription places one Vindhyanṛpati (or Vindhyaraja) between Vakpati and Simharaja. Historian H. C. Ray theorized that Vindhyanṛpati was a part of Vakpati's name. But according to
Dasharatha Sharma
Dasharatha Sharma (1903–1976) was an Indologist with a 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 degree ...
, Vindhyanṛpati was probably an elder brother of Simharaja and had a very short reign.
Military career
Simharaja was the first ruler of the family to assume the title
Maharajadhiraja
Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a prince. However, in late ancient India ...
("great king of kings"). This suggests that he became independent of the
Gurjara-Pratihara
The Pratihara dynasty, also called the Gurjara-Pratiharas, the Pratiharas of Kannauj or the Imperial Pratiharas, was a prominent medieval Indian dynasty which ruled over the Kingdom of Kannauj. It initially ruled the Gurjaradesa until its vi ...
s, the overlords of his ancestors.
According to the
Harsha
Harshavardhana (Sanskrit: हर्षवर्धन; 4 June 590 – 647) was an emperor of Kannauj from April 606 until his death in 647. He was the king of Thanesar who had defeated the Alchon Huns, and the younger brother of Rajyava ...
inscription, Simharaja killed the Tomara chief Salavana (or Lavana), whose soldiers either fled the battlefield or were imprisoned. The prisoners were released only when the common overlord of these two rulers came to Simharaja and secured their release. The overlord, who is called ''Raghukule Bhuchakravarti'' ("Emperor from Raghu's family") in the inscription, was probably a weak Gurjara-Pratihara emperor. Although the identity of this emperor is not clear; he might have been Devapala or one of his successors, such as Vijayapala or Rajyapala. Salavana probably belonged to the
Tomara dynasty
The Tomaras of Delhi (also called Tomar dynasty in modern vernaculars due to schwa deletion) ruled parts of present-day Delhi and Haryana in India during 8th–12th century. Their rule over this region is attested to by multiple inscriptions ...
of Delhi; historian R. B. Singh identifies him with Tejapala, who has been mentioned as the contemporary Tomara king in a Kumaon-Garhwal manuscript. He probably belonged to same family as Rudra, who had been killed by Simharaja's grandfather Chandana.
Simharaja is also said to have defeated a Muslim general. The ''
Prabandha Kosha
''Prabandha-Kosha'' (IAST: Prabandhakośa) is an Indian Sanskrit-language collection of ''prabandha''s (legendary biographical narratives). It was compiled by the Jain scholar Rajashekhara Suri in 1349 CE. It describes the lives of 24 people, inclu ...
'' names the defeated general as Heji-ud-Din, and states that the battle took place at Jethan (possibly modern Jethana). The ''
Hammira Mahakavya
''Hammira Mahakavya'' (IAST: ''Hammīra-Mahākāvya'') is a 15th-century Indian Sanskrit kavya, epic poem written by the Jain scholar Nayachandra Suri. It is a legendary biography of the 13th century Chahamanas of Ranastambhapura, Chahamana king H ...
'' calls him Hetim, and states that Simharaja captured four of his elephants after killing him. The identity of the defeated general is uncertain, but he might have been a subordinate of the
Amir
Emir (; ' (), also transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or ceremonial authority. The title has ...
of
Multan
Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...
.
The ''Hammira Mahakavya'' further claims that Simharaja defeated the kings of Gujrata,
Lata
Latha (Hindi: लता, Kannada: ಲತಾ) is a Hindu Indian female given name, which means "creeper" and "Durga". Latha may refer to:
Notable people named Lata
*Lata Mangeshkar (1929–2022), Indian singer.
*Lata Bhatt (born 1954), Indian sin ...
,
Karnataka
Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
,
Chola
The Chola Empire, which is often referred to as the Imperial Cholas, was a medieval thalassocratic empire based in southern India that was ruled by the Chola dynasty, and comprised overseas dominions, protectorates and spheres of influence ...
and
Anga
Anga was an ancient Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan tribe of eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age in India, Iron Age. The members of the Aṅga tribe were called the Āṅgeyas.
Counted among the "sixteen great na ...
. This is obviously a hyperbole, although Simharaja may have achieved some military successes against his neighbours.
Personal life
The ''
Prithviraja Vijaya
''Prithviraja Vijaya'' (IAST: Pṛthvīrāja Vijaya, "Prithviraja's Victory") is an eulogy, eulogistic Sanskrit kavya, epic poem on the life of the Indian Chahamanas of Shakambhari, Chahamana king Prithviraja III (better known as Prithviraj Chauhan ...
'' suggests that like his father, Simharaja was a devout
Shaivite
Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the supreme being. It is the second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia (predominantly in ...
, and commissioned a large temple dedicated to
Shiva
Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...
at
Pushkar
Pushkar is a temple town near Ajmer City and headquarters of Pushkar tehsil in the Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is situated about northwest of Ajmer and about southwest of Jaipur.Harshadeva temple, and granted four villages for its maintenance: Simhagoshtha, Trailkalakaka, Ishanakupa, and Kansapallika. The Kinsariya inscription describes him as ''naya-sutra-yuktah'', which probably indicates that he was knowledgeable about
logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
(see
Nyāya Sūtras
The ''Nyāya Sūtras'' is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text composed by , and the foundational text of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy. The date when the text was composed, and the biography of its author is unknown, but variously estim ...
).
Last days
Simharaja was succeeded by his sons Vigraharaja II and Durlabharaja II in that order. He had two other sons, Chandraraja and Govindaraja (not to be confused with the earlier Chahamana kings bearing same names). The Harsha inscription states that Vigraharaja revived the fortunes of his distressed family. This indicates that Simharaja suffered a tragic defeat at the end of his life. His enemies might have included the Pratiharas.