View source for Mewar 02: Kanaksen

 [[Category:India |M ]]
[[Category:History |M ]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This page is an extract from <br/>
ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES <br/>
OF <br/>
'''RAJASTHAN '''<br/>

OR THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN <br/>
RAJPUT STATES OF INDIA <br/>

By <br/>
LIEUT.-COL. JAMES TOD <br/>
Late Political Agent to the Western Rajput States <br/>

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by <br/>
WILLIAM CROOKE, CIE. <br/>
Hon. D.Sc. Oxon., B.A., F.R.A.l. <br/>
Late of the Indian Civil Service <br/>

In Three Volumes <br/>
VOL. IV: ANNALS OF MEWAR<br/>
[The Annals were completed in 1829]<br/>

HUMPHREY MILFORD <br/>
Oxford University Press <br/>
London Edinburgh Glasgow New York <br/>
Toronto Melbourne Bombay <br/>
1920 [The edition scanned] <br/>
</div>
|}
Note: This article is likely to contain several spelling mistakes that occurred during scanning. If these errors are reported as messages to the Facebook page, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com] your help will be gratefully acknowledged.

=Mewar 02: Kanaksen=
==Kanaksen==


At least ten genealogical hsts, derived from the 
most opposite sources, agree in making Kanaksen the founder of 
this dynasty ; and assign his emigxation from the most northern 
of the provinces of India to the peninsula of Saurashtra in S. 201, 
or A.D. 145. We shall, therefore, make this the point of outset ; 
though it may be premised that Jai Singh, the royal historian 
and astronomer of Amber, connects the line with Sumitra (the 
fifty-sixth descendant from the deified Rama), who appears to 
have been the contemporary of Vikramaditya, a.c. 56. 
The country of which Ayodhya (now Oudh) was the capital, 
and Rama monarch, is termed, in the geographical writings of the 
Hindus, Kosala ; doubtless from the mother of Rama, whose 
1  Tiiese inscriptions will be described in the Personal Narrative. 
name was Kausalya. 1  The first royal emigrant from the north 
is styled, in the Rana's archives, Kosala-putra, ' son of Kosala.' 

==Titles of the Chiefs==

Rama had two sons, Lava and Kusa : 
from the former the Rana's family claim descent. He is stated 
to have built Lahore, the ancient Lohkot ; 2  and the branch from 
which the princes of Mewar are descended resided there until 
Kanaksen emigrated to Dwarka. The difficulty of tracing these 
races through a long period of years is greatly increased by the 
custom of changing the appellation of the tribe, from conquest, 
locality, or personal celebrity. Sen 3  seems to have been the 
martial termination for many generations : this was followed by 
Dit, or Aditya, a term for the ' sun.' The first change in the 
name of the tribe was on their expulsion from Saurashtra, when 
for the generic term of Suryavansi was substituted the particular 
appellation of Guhilot. This name was maintained till another 
event dispersed the family, and when they settled in [216] Ahar,4 
Aharya became the appellative of the branch. This continued 
till loss of territory and new acquisitions once more transferred 
the dynasty to Sesoda, 5  a temporary capital in the western moun
tains. The title of Ranawat, borne by all descendants of the 
blood royal since the eventful change which removed the seat of 
government from Chitor to Udaipur, might in time have super
seded that of Sesodia, if continued warfare had not checked the 
increase of population ; but the Guhilot branch of the Suryavansi 
still retain the name of Sesodia. 

Having premised thus much, we must retrograde to the darker 
ages, through which we shall endeavour to conduct this celebrated 
dynasty, though the clue sometimes nearly escapes from our 
hands in these labyrinths of antiquity. 6  When it is recollected 
1  [It is the other way : Kausalya took her name from Kosala.] 
2  [See p. 116 above.] 
3 Sen, 'army'; kanak, 'gold.' [Kanaksen is entirely mythical. It 
has been suggested that the name is a reminiscence of the connexion of 
the great Kushan Emperor, Kanishka, with Gujarat and Kathiawar {BG, i. 
Part i. 101).] 
4 Ahar, or Ar, is in the valley of the present capital, Udaipur. 
5  The origin of this name is from the trivial occurrence of the expelled 
prince of Chitor having erected a town to commemorate the spot, where 
after an extraordinarily hard chase he killed a hare {sasu). 
6 The wila fable which envelops or adorns the cradle of every illustrious 
family is not easily disentangled. The bards weave the web with skill, and 
it clings like ivy round each modern branch, obscuring the aged stem, in 
to what violence this family has been subjected during the last 
eight centuries, often dispossessed of all but their native hills and 
compelled to live on their spontaneous produce, we could scarcely 
expect that historical records should be preserved. Chitor was 
thrice sacked and destroyed, and the existing records are formed 
from fragments, registers of births and marriages, or from the 
oral relations of the bards. 

==Legend of Kanaksen==

By what route Kanaksen, the first 
emigrant of the solar race, found his way into Saurashtra from 
Lohkot, is uncertam : he, however, wrested dominion from a 
prince of the Pramara race, and founded Birnagara in the second 
century (a.d. 144). Four generations afterwards, Vijayasen. 
whom the prince of Amber calls Nushirwan, founded Vijayapur, 
supposed to be where Dholka now stands, at the head of the 
Saurashtra peninsula. 1 Vidarba was also founded by him, the 
name of which was afterwards changed to Sihor. But the most 
celebrated was the capital, Valabhipura, which for years baffled 
all search, till it was revealed in its now humbled condition as 
Walai, ten miles west [217] of Bhaunagar. The existence of this 
city was confirmed by a celebrated Jain work, the Satrunjaya 
Mahatma. 2  The want of satisfactory proof of the Rana's emigra
tion from thence was obviated by the most unexpected discovery 
of an inscription of the twelfth century, in a ruined temple on the 
tableland forming the eastern boundary of the Rana'? present 
territory, which appeals to the ' walls of Valabhi ' for the truth 
of the action it records. And a work written to commemorate 
the reign of Rana Raj Singh opens with these words : "In the 
west is Sorathdes, 3  a country well known : the barbarians invaded 
it, and conquered Bal-ka-nath ; 4  all fell in the sack of Valab
hipura, except the daughter of the Pramara." And the Sandrai 
the time-worn branches of which monsters and demi-gods are perched, 
whose claims of affinity are held in high estimation by thesfe ' children of 
the sun,' who would deem it criminal to doubt that the loin-robe (dhoti) of 
their great founder, Bapa Rawal, was less than five hundred cubits in circum
ference, that his two-edged sword (khanda), the gift of the Hindu Proserpine, 
weighed an ounce less than sixty-four pounds, or that he was an inch under 
twenty feet in height. 

1 [Vijayapur has been doubtfully identified with Bijapur in the Alima
dabad district (BG, i. Part i. 110).] 
2  Presented to the Royal Asiatic Society of London. 
3  Sorath or Saurashtra. 4  The ' lord of Bal.' 
roll thus commences : " When the city of Valabhi was sacked, 
the inhabitants fled and founded Bali, Sandrai, and Nadol in 
Mordar des." 1  These are towns yet of consequence, and in all 
the Jain religion is still naaintained, which was the chief worship 
of Valabhipura when sacked by the ' barbarian.' The records 
preserved by the Jains give s.b. 205 (a.d. 524) as the date of this 
event.2  

The tract about Valabhipura and northward is termed Bal, 
probably from the tribe of Bala, which might have been the 
designation of the Rana's tribe prior to that of Grahilot ; and 
most probably Multan, and all these regions of the Kathi, Bala, 
etc., were dependent on Lohkot, whence emigrated Kanaksen ; 
thus strengthening the surmise of the Scythic descent of the 
Ranas, though now installed in the seat of Rama. The sun was 
the deity of this northern tribe, as of the Rana's ancestry, and 
the remains of numerous temples to this grand object of Scj'thic 
homage are still to be found scattered over the peninsula ; whence 
its name, Saurashtra, the coimtry of the Sauras, or Sun-worship
pers ; the Surastrene or Syrastrene of ancient geographers ; its 
inhabitants, the Suros (∑6pwv) of Strabo.3  
Besides these cities, the MSS. give Gayni 4 as the last refuge 
1  Marwar. 
2  [The date of the fall of Valabhi is very uncertain (Smith, EH I, 315, 
note). It is said to have been destroyed in the reign of Siladitya VI., 
the last of the dynasty, about a.d. 776 (Duff, Chronology of India, 31, 
G7, 308).] 
3  [There is possibly a confusion with the Soras of Aehan (xv. 8) which 
has been identified by Caldwell {Dravidian Grammar, 17) with the ∑wpat 
of Ptolemy, and with the Chola kingdom of Southern India. Surashtra or 
Saurashtra, ' land of the Sus,' was afterwards Sanskritized into ' goodly 
country ' (Monier Williams, Skt. Diet. s.v. ; BG, i. Part i. 6).] 
4  Gaini, or Gajni, is one of the ancient names of Cambay (the port of 
Valabhipura), the ruins of which are about three miles from the modern 
city. Other sources indicate that these princes held possessions in the 
southern continent of India, as well as in the Saurashtra peninsula. Tala
talpur Patau, on the Godavari, is mentioned, which tradition asserts to be 
the city of Deogir ; but which, after many years' research, I discovered in 
Saurashtra, it being one of the ancient names of Kandala. In after times, 
when succeeding dynasties held the title of Balakarae, though the capital 
was removed inland to Anhilwara Patau, they still held possession of the 
western shore, and Cambay continued the chief port. [For the identifica
tion of Gajni with Cambay see I A, iv. 147 ; BG, vi. 213 note. The site of 
Devagiri has been identified with Daulatabad (BG, i. Part ii. 136 ; Beal, 
Buddhist Records of the Western World, ii. 255, note).] 
of the family [218] when expelled Saurashtra. One of the poetic 
chronicles thus commences : " The barbarians had captured 
Gajni. The house of Siladitya was left desolate. In its defence 
his heroes fell ; of his seed but the name remained." 

==Invaders of Saurashtra==

These invaders were Scythic, and 
in all probability a colony from the Parthian kingdom, which 
was established in sovereignty on the Indus in the second century, 
having their capital at Saminagara, where the ancient Yadu ruled 
for ages : the Minnagara 1  of Arrian, and the Mankir of the 
Arabian geographers. It was by this route, through the eastern 
portion of the valley of the Indus, that the various hordes of Getae 
or Jats, Huns, Kamari, Kathi, Makwahana, Bala and Aswaria, 
had peopled this peninsula, leaving traces still visible. The 
period is also remarkable when these and other Scythic hordes 
were simultaneously abandoning higher Asia for the cold regions 
1  The position of Minnagara has occupied the attention of geographers 
from D'Anville to Pottinger. Sind being conquered by Omar, general of 
the caUph Al-Mansur (Abbasi), the name of Minagara was changed to 
Mansura, " une ville celcbre sur le rivage droit du Sind ou Mehran." " Ptole
mee fait aussi mention de cette ville ; mais en la depla9ant," etc. D'Anville 
places it about 26°, but not so high as Ulug Beg, whose tables make it 26° 
40'. I have said elsewhere that I had little doubt that Minnagara, handed 
down to us by the author of the Periplus as the uerpoTroXis ts ∑vdias, was 
the Saminagara of the Yadu Jarejas, whose chronicles claim Seistan as their 
ancient possession, and in all probability was the stronghold {nagara) of 
Sambos, the opponent of Alexander. On every consideration, I am inchned 
to place it on the site of Sehwan. The learned Vincent, in his translation 
of the Peripbis, enters fully and with great judgment upon this point, citing 
every authority, Arrian, Ptolemy, Al-Biruni, Edrisi, D'Anville, and De la 
Rochette. He has a note (26, p. 386, vol. i.) which is conclusive, could he 
have applied it : " Al-Birun [equi-distant] between Debeil and Mansura." 
D'Anville also says : " de Mansora a la ville nommee Birun, la distance est 
indiquee de quinze parasanges dans Abulfeda," who fixes it, on the authority 
of Abu-Rehan (.surnamed Al-Biruni from his birthplace), at 26° 40'. The 
ancient name of Haidarabad, the present capital of Sind, was Nerun (^ j »*i ; ) 
or Nirun, and is almost equi-distant, as Abulfeda says, between Debal (Dewal 
or Tatta) and Mansura, Sehwan, or Minnagara, the latitude of which, accord
ing to my construction, is 26° 11'. 

Those who wish to pursue this may 
examine the Eclaircisfiemens sur la Carle de Vlnde, p. 37 et seq., and Dr. 
Vincent's estimable translation, p. 386. [The site of Minnagara, like those 
of all the cities in the delta of the Indus, owing to changes in the course of 
the river, is very uncertain. Jhajhpur or Mungrapur has been suggested 
(McCrindle, Ptolemy, 72, Periplus, 1086 f.). Nirun has been identified with 
Helai, a little below Jarak, on the high road from Tatta to Haidarabad 
(EHiot-Dowson i. 400).] 
of Europe and the warm plains of Hindustan. From the first to 
the sixth century of the Christian era, various records exist of 
tliese irruptions from the north. Gibbon, quoting De Guignes, 
mentions one in the second century, which fixed permanently in 
the Saurashtra peninsula ; and the latter, from original authorities, 
describes another of the Getae or Jats, styled by the Chinese 
Yueh-chi, in the north of India.1 But the authority directly in 
point is that of Cosmas, surnamed Indikopleustes, who was in 
India during the reign of Justinian, and that of the first monarch 
of the Chinese dynasty of Leam.2  Cosmas [219] had visited 
Kalyan, included in the Balhara kingdom ; and he mentions the 
Ephthalites, or White Huns, under their king Golas, as being 
established on the Indus at the very period of the invasion of 
Valabhipura.3  
Arrian, who resided in the second century at Barugaza 
(Broach), describes a Parthian sovereignty as extending from 
the Indus to the Nerbudda.4  Their capital has already been 
mentioned, Minnagara. Whether these, the Abtelites 5  of Cosmas, 
were the Parthian dynasty of Arrian, or whether the Parthians 
were supplanted by the Huns, we must remain in ignorance, but 
to one or the other we must attribute the sack of Valabhipura. 

1  See History of the Tribes, p. 107, and translation of Inscription No. I. 
Vide Appendix. 
2  Considerable intercourse was carried on between the princes of India 
and China from the earliest periods ; but particularly during the dynasties 
of Sum, Leam and Tarn, from the fourth to the seventh centuries, when the 
princes from Bengal and Malabar to the Panjab sent embassies to the Chinese 
monarchs. The dominions of these Hindu princes may yet be identified. 
[Cosmas flourished in the sixth century a.d., and never reached India proper 
{EB, vii. 214).] 
3 [GoUas was Mihiragula (Smith, EHI, 317).] 
4 [Ibid. 230 f.] 
5  D'Herbelot (vol. i. p. 179) calls them the Haiathelah or Indoscythae, and 
says that they were apparently from Thibet, between India and China. 
De Guignes (tome i. p. 325) is offended with this explanation, and says : 
" Cette conjecture ne pent avoir lieu, les Euthehtes n'ayant jamais demeure 
dans le Thibet." A branch of the Huns, however, did most assuredly dwell 
in that quarter, though we will not positively assert that they were the 
AbteUtes. The Haihaya was a great branch of the Lunar race of Yayati, 
and appears early to have left India for the northern regions, and would 
afford a more plausible etymology for the Haiathelah than the Te-le, who 
dwelt on the waters {ab) of the Oxiis. This branch of the Hunnish race has 
also been termed Nephthalite, and fancied one of the lost tribes of Israel [?]. 


The legend of this event affords scope for speculation, both as 
regards the conquerors and the conquered, and gives at least a 
colour of truth to the reputed Persian ancestry of the Rana : a 
subject which will be distinctly considered. The solar orb, and 
its type, fire, were the chief objects of adoration of Siladitya of 
Valabhipura. Whether to these was added that of the lingam, 
the symbol of Balnath (the sun), the primary object of worship 
with his descendants, may be doubted. It was certainly con
lined to these, and the adoption of ' strange gods ' by the Sur
yavansi Guhilot is comparatively of modern invention.1 

==The Fountain of the Sun==

There was a fountain [Surya
kunda) ' sacred to the sun ' at Valabhipura, from which arose? 
at the summons of Siladitya (according to the legend) the seven
headed horse Saptasva, which draws the car of Surya, to bear 
him to battle. With such an auxiliary no foe could prevail ; 
but a wicked minister revealed to the enemy the secret of annulling 
this aid, by polluting the sacred foimtain with blood. This 
accomplished, in vain did the prince call on Saptasva to save 
him from the strange and barbarous foe : the charm was broken, 
and with it sunk the dynasty of Valabhi. Who the ' barbarian ' 
was that defiled with blood of kine [220] the fountain of the sun,2  
whether Getae, Parthian, or Hun, we are left to conjecture. The 
Persian, though he venerated the bull, yet sacrificed him on the 
1  Ferishta, in the early part of his history [i. Introd. Ixviii f.], observes 
that, some centuries prior to Vikramaditya, the Hindus abandoned the 
simple religion of their ancestors, made idols, and worshipped the host of 
heaven, which faith they had from Kashmir, the foundry of magic super
stition. 
2  Divested of allegory, it means simply that the supply of water was 
rendered impure, and consequently useless to the Hindus, which compelled 
them to abandon their defences and meet death in the open field. Alau-d
din practised the same ruse against the celebrated Achal, the Khichi prince 
of Gagraun, which caused the surrender of this impregnable fortress. " It 
matters not," observes an historian whose name I do not recollect, " whether 
such things are true, it is sufficient that they were behoved. We may smile 
at the mention of the ghost, the evil genius of Brutus, appearing to him 
before the battle of PharsaUa ; yet it never would have been stated, had it 
not assimilated with the opinions and prejudices of the age." And we may 
deduce a simple moral from " the parent orb refusing the aid of his steed to 
his terrestrial offspring," viz. that he was deserted by the deity. Fountains 
sacred to the sun and other deities were common to the Persians, Scythians, 
and Hindus, and both the last offered steeds to him in sacrifice. 

Vide 
History of the Tribes, article ' Aswamedha,' p. 91. 
altar of Mithras ; 1  and though the ancient Guebre purifies with 
the urine 2  of the cow, he will not refuse to eat beef ; and the 
iniquity of Cambyses, who thrust his lance into the flank of the 
Egyptian Apis, is a proof that the bull was abstractedly no object 
of worship. It would be indulging a legitimate curiosity, could 
we by any means discover how these ' strange ' tribes obtained 
a footing amongst the Hindu races ; for so late as seven centuries 
ago we find Getae, Huns, Kathi, Ariaspas, Dahae, definitively 
settled, and enumerated amongst the Chhattis rajkula. How 
much earlier the admission, no authority states ; but mention 
is made of several of them aiding in the defence of Chitor, on the 
first appearance of the faith of Islam upwards of eleven hundred 
years ago.