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The Gahadavala dynasty (IAST: Gāhaḍavālas), also known as Gahadavalas of Kannauj, was a Rajput that ruled parts of the present-day Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, during 11th and 12th centuries. Their capital was located at Varanasi (now Varanasi) in the Gangetic plains, and for a brief period, they also controlled Kannauj.
Chandradeva, the first monarch of the dynasty, established a sovereign kingdom sometime before 1090, after the decline of the Kalachuri power. The kingdom reached its zenith under his grandson Govindachandra who annexed some of the Kalachuri territories, warded off Ghaznavid raids, and also fought the Pala Empire. In 1194, Govindachandra's grandson Jayachandra was defeated by the Ghurid dynasty army under Qutbuddin Aibak, which effectively ended the dynasty's imperial power. The kingdom completely ceased to exist when Jayachandra's successors were defeated by the Delhi Sultanate Mamluk dynasty ruler Iltutmish ().
According to Chandrawati inscriptions from 1093 CE and 1100 CE, the Gahadavalas occupied Kanyakubja after the descendants of Devapala had been destroyed. This Devapala can be identified as the mid-10th century Gurjara-Pratihara king of Kanyakubja. Chandradeva probably started his career as a feudatory, but declared independence sometime before 1089 CE.
The sudden rise of the Gahadavalas has led to speculation that they descended from an earlier royal house. Rudolf Hoernlé once proposed that the Gahadavalas were an offshoot of the Pala Empire of Gauda, but this theory has been totally rejected now. Another theory identifies the dynasty's founder Chandradeva as the Kannauj Rashtrakuta scion Chandra, but this theory is contradicted by historical evidence. For example, the Rashtrakutas of Kannauj claimed origin from the legendary solar dynasty. On the other hand, the Gahadavala inscriptions state they gained power after the destruction of the solar and the lunar dynasty dynasties. Moreover, Kumaradevi, the queen of the Gahadavala ruler Govindachandra came from a Rashtrakuta branch that ruled in Bodh Gaya. Her Sarnath inscription mentions the Gahadavalas and the Rashtrakutas as two distinct families and does not indicate that one was a branch of the other.
Yet another theory identifies Chandradeva as Chand Rai, a "keeper of elephants" according to the medieval Muslim historian Salman. The Diwan-i-Salman states that a Ghaznavid army led by Mahmud (c. 971-1030) invaded India and defeated one Jaipal. As a result of this victory, the feudatory chiefs from all over the country lined up to offer allegiance to Mahmud. Mahmud received so many elephants as gifts from these chiefs, that an elephant stable was set up in Kannauj, with Chand Rai as its manager. According to the theory, Chand Rai acquired the rulership of Kannauj by promising to pay a tribute to the Ghaznavids. The Ghaznavid raids of the Gahadavala kingdom resulted from the non-payment of this tribute. The Gahadavalas inscriptions mention a Turkic peoples-danda ("Turkic punishment") tax, which according to the proponents of this theory, was collected to pay a tribute to the Ghaznavid (Turkic) overlord. This theory can be criticized on several grounds. First, no Muslim chronicles mention imposition of any tribute on Chand Rai. Secondly, the meaning of Turushka-danda is not certain. Lastly, neither Hindu nor Muslim sources indicate that the Ghaznavid invasions were as a result of non-payment of tribute.
C. V. Vaidya and R. C. Majumdar, who connected the Gahadavalas to the Rashtrakutas, speculated that the dynastic name might have derived from "Gawarmad", a place-name mentioned in a 1076 CE Kannada language inscription. However, the term is not mentioned in the early Gahadavala inscriptions. Therefore, if the dynasty's name has any geographical significance, it points to the newly acquired territories in northern India.
According to the rulers of the Kantit zamindari, who claimed descent from the Gahadavalas, the term "Gahadavala" derives from the Sanskrit word grahavāra ("overcomer of the evil planet"). Their fanciful legend claims that Yayati's son acquired the title grahavāra after defeating the evil planet ( navagraha) Shani.
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The Gahadavala power was concentrated in what is now eastern Uttar Pradesh. At times, their rule extended to the western parts of Bihar. The 1090 CE Chandrawati inscription of Chandradeva states that he protected the sacred places of Kashi (Varanasi), Kushika (Kannauj), Uttara Kosala (the area around Ayodhya) and Indrasthaniyaka.
The identity of an area called Indrasthaniyaka is unknown, but because of its similarity to the word "Indraprastha", some scholars have identified it as modern Delhi. Based on this, historians such as Roma Niyogi have proposed that the Tomara dynasty rulers of Delhi might have been Gahadavala feudatories. If this assumption is true, then the Gahadavala kingdom extended up to Delhi in the north-west.For a theorized map of their territory, see: However, historical evidence suggests that Delhi was under the control of the Chahamanas since Vigraharaja IV (r. c. 1150-1164 CE), and before that under the Tomara sovereigns. No historical records indicate that the Gahadavalas ever ruled Delhi. Rahin (or Rahan) village in Etawah district is the furthest point in the north-west where the Gahadavala inscriptions have been discovered. Some coins attributed to Madanapala are associated with Delhi, but according to numismatist P. C. Roy these coins were actually issued by a Tomara dynasty king of same name. According to Roy, Indrasthaniyaka should be identified with a place other than Delhi.
The vast majority of the Gahadavala inscriptions have been discovered in and around Varanasi; only one has been found in the Kanyakubja area. The majority of these inscriptions state that the king made a grant after bathing in the Ganga river at Varanasi. This suggests that the Gahadavala kings mainly lived in and around Varanasi, which was their favoured capital. They probably considered Kanyakubja as a 'capital of honour', since it had been a seat of reputed kingdoms since the Maukhari period.
A verse in the 1104 CE Basahi inscription of Madanapala states that his father Chandradeva had made Kanyakubja his capital. However, Madanapala's 1105 CE Kamauli grant omits this verse, although it repeats all the other introductory verses from the Basahi grant. Other than the 1104 CE Basahi inscription, no other inscription describes Kanyakubja as the Gahadavala capital.
Historian Roma Niyogi theorized that Chandradeva temporarily moved his seat from Varanasi to Kanyakubja, because Kanyakubja was reputed as the capital of the earlier imperial powers. However, the Gahadavalas lost Kanyakubja to somewhere between 1104 CE and 1105 CE, and Madanapala's son Govindachandra had to wage a war to recover it. As a result, the Gahadavalas probably moved their capital back to Varanasi soon after Chandradeva's reign. The writings of the Muslim chroniclers such as Ali ibn al-Athir, Minhaj-i-Siraj, and Hasan Nizami consistently describe Jayachandra as the "Rai of Banaras" (ruler of Varanasi), and make no reference to Kannauj (Kanyakubja) in their description of the Gahadavalas. This further suggests that the Gahadavalas no longer controlled Kanyakaubja by Jayachandra's time.
Since the Kalachuris controlled the area around Varanasi before the Gahadavalas, it appears that Chandradeva captured this territory from them. The Kalachuri king defeated by him was probably Karna's successor Yashahkarna. Chandradeva's inscriptions indicate that he also tried to expand his kingdom in the east, but the Pala Empire chronicle Ramacharitam suggests that his plan was foiled by Ramapala's feudatory Bhimayashas.
Govindachandra succeeded his father as the Gahadavala king sometime during 1109-1114 CE. The Gahadavalas became the most prominent power of northern India as a result of his military conquests and diplomatic relations. His adoption of the Kalachuri titles and coinage indicate that he defeated a Kalachuri king, probably Yashah-Karna or his successor Gaya-Karna.
As a prince, Govindachandra appears to have repulsed a Pala Empire invasion, sometime before 1109 CE. The Pala-Gahadavala conflict halted for a few decades as a result of his marriage with Kumaradevi, a relative of the Pala monarch Ramapala. Epigraphic evidence suggests that there was a revival of the Pala-Gahadavala rivalry in the 1140s CE, during the reign of Govindachandra and the Pala monarch Madanapala (not to be confused with Govindachandra's father). Although the identity of the aggressor is not certain, the conflict seems to have happened over control of present-day western Bihar. Both Pala and Gahadavala inscriptions were issued in this area during this period.
Jayachandra, the last powerful king of the dynasty, faced a Ghurid invasion under Muhammad of Ghor and his slave commander Qutbuddin Aibak. He was defeated and killed at the Battle of Chandawar in 1194. According to the contemporary Muslim historian Hasan Nizami, the Ghurids then sacked Varanasi, where they destroyed a large number of temples. After Jayachandra's death, several local feudatory chiefs offered their allegiance to the Ghurids. A legendary account in Prithviraj Raso states that Jayachandra allied with the Ghurids against Prithviraj Chauhan, who had eloped with his daughter Samyukta. However, such legends are not supported by historical evidence.
Jayachandra's son Harishchandra succeeded him on the Gahadavala throne. According to one theory, he was a Ghurid vassal. However, in an 1197 CE Kotwa inscription, he assumes the titles of a sovereign. According to historian Roma Niyogi, it is possible that he controlled Kanyakubja, as no contemporary Muslim historians mention that the Ghurids captured the city at that time. Firishta (16th century) was the earliest writer to claim that the Muslims captured Kannauj in the 1190s, but his account can be ignored as inaccurate because he flourished around four centuries later, in the 16th century. Harishchandra may have also retained Varanasi.
Meanwhile, the control of the region around Etawah appears to have been usurped by Jayachandra's nephew Ajayasimha. The 13th century chronicler Minhaj-i-Siraj refers to a victory achieved by the Delhi Sultanate ruler Iltutmish (r. 1211-1236) at Chandawar; Ajayasimha was probably Iltutmish's enemy in this battle.
The ultimate fate of Harishchandra is not known, but he was probably defeated by the Delhi Sultanate under Iltutmish. A 1237 inscription issued during the reign of one Adakkamalla of Gahadavala family was found in Nagod State (present-day Satna district of Madhya Pradesh). Adakkamalla may have been the successor of Harishchandra. Another possibility is that Adakkamalla was from a different branch of the family that ruled a small fief. Nothing is known about Adakkamalla's successors.
The records of the Bundela rulers of the Orchha State trace their ancestry to the solar dynasty through Hemkaran alias Pancham Singh, a Gahadavala (Gaharwar) chief of Varanasi. Henry Miers Elliot, based on the testimony of a "Mohammedan historian", believed that the Bundelas of Orchha descended from a Gahadavala ("Gaharwar Rajput") and his Khangar concubine.
The king's officials were known as amātyas. Their duties are described in Lakshmidhara's Kṛtya-Kalpataru. The most important court positions included:
The yuvaraja (heir apparent) and other princes announced grants in their own name, while the grants made by the queens were announced by the king.
The territory directly ruled by the Gahadavala monarch was sub-divided into several administrative divisions:
Vijayachandra also patronized scholars and poets including Sriharsha, whose works include Naishadha Charita and the now-lost Shri-Vijaya-Prashasti. Jayachandra's court poet Bhatta Kedar wrote a eulogy titled Jaichand Prakash (c. 1168) on his life, but the work is now lost. Another lost eulogy on his life is the poet Madhukar's Jaya-Mayank-Jasha-Chandrika (c. 1183).
The Gahadavalas were also tolerant towards Buddhism. Two of Govindachandra's queens — Kumaradevi and Vasantadevi — were Buddhists. An inscription discovered at Bodh Gaya suggests that Jayachandra also showed interest in Buddhism. This inscription begins with an invocation to Gautam Buddha, the , and one Shrimitra (Śrimītra). Shrimitra is named as a perceptor ( diksha-guru) of Kashisha Jayachchandra, identified with the king Jayachandra. The inscription records the construction of a guha (cave monastery) at Jayapura. Archaeologist Federica Barba theorizes that the Gahadavalas built large Hindu temples in traditional Buddhist cities such as Sarnath, and converted Buddhist shrines into Brahmanical ones.
The Gahadavala inscriptions mention a tax called Turkic peoples-danda ("Turkic punishment"). Scholars interpret it as a contribution towards a tribute to be paid to the Turushkas (), or a tax towards potential war expenses involving Turushka enemies. Some scholars, such as Sten Konow, had theorized this to be a tax imposed on Turushkas (Muslim Turkic people), implying that the Gahadavalas persecuted Muslim subjects — this has fallen out of favor with modern scholars.
Adakkamalla, attested by a 1237 CE inscription, may have been the successor of Harishchandra. But this cannot be said with certainty.
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