Bhimadeva of Hindushahi
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Bhimadeva (921-964), son of Kamaluka, was a king of Hindu Shahi Dynasty.
Variants
History of Bhimadeva of Hindushahi
Mentioned as 'Bhima' in Al-Biruni's list, and identified with the Śri Bhīmadeva coin series, Bhimadeva was one of the most accomplished rulers of the Hindu Shahis alongside Lalliya.[1] His rise to power was concurrent with the growth of neighbouring Hindu kingdoms such as that of the Pala Empire. According to the Khajuraho stone inscription, the Kangra Valley was under the authority of a Shahi king assumed to be Bhimadeva, and it is further presumed that the city of Bhimanagar in present day Kangra was named after him.[2] The Rajatarangini states that Bhima's daughter was married to the Lohara dynasty king of Kashmir, and his grand-daughter noted as Didda became the Queen and last ruler of the Utpala dynasty.[3]
Victory over the Samanid Empire
In the final years of Bhima's reign in c. 962, Alp-Tegin, a rebel Turkish chief of the Samanid Empire, had annexed the regions of Zabulistan and Kabul with the aim of waging holy war against the Lawik dynasty and the Hindu Shahis. The Lawik king fled to the Shahi domain in hopes of gaining re-inforcements to conquer the lost territory and in c. 963 Bhimadeva was successful in capturing Ghazni. This victory is engraved in the Hund Slab Inscription dated to c. 989 CE during the reign of the succeeding Shahi Jayapala.[4]
Buddha Prakash mentions
Buddha Prakash[5] mentions ....[p.136]: After Lalliya, Samantadeva (सामन्त देव) ascended the Sahi throne at Ohind. His coins, they are elephant and lion type but mostly of the bull and horseman type, have been found at Sultanpur, Sunet, Joner and Kapalmochan in East Panjab, on the one hand, and near Rostow in the Yaroslavi province, Gniezdovo in the Smolensk province, Tatarski Tolkish in the Kazan province, now in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Denissy in the Poltava province, Vaabina in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, Obrzicho in Poland and Chivaz near Taskent, in the U.S.S.R. and eastern Europe, on the other. The discovery of his coins over such a wide stretch of territory from East Punjab to Poland shows that
[p.137]: under him his kingdom had acquired considerable importance. Yaqubi states that, from the ninth century, Kabul was visited by tradesmen for the so-called mirobalan which was very much valued by the medical practitioners of medieval times. Trade in this as well as other commodities seems to have carried the coins of Samantadeva far abroad (A.A. Bykov, ‘Finds of Indian Medieval Coins in East Europe', Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, Vol. XXVII (1965) part II, pp. 146-156).
Thus it is clear that Samantadeva consolidated the Shahi Kingdom on the frontier so firmly as to make it a centre of economic progress and commercial prosperity. But soon internal troubles queered the pitch for him. A son of Lalliya, Toramana, advanced his claim to the throne and sought the help of Kashmira in support of it. Kashmira was keen to resuscitate her influence over the frontier state of the Shahis which was shaken when Lalliya overthrew Laghturman and befriended the Pratiharas of Kanauj who had acquired hegemony over the Panjab. Hence she took the occasion by the forelock and her minister, Prabhakaradeva, led an army against Ohind, overthrew Samantadeva and installed Toramana under the name Kamaluka or Kamalavarman (Rajatarangini,232-3).
The new ruler issued the copper coins with peacock with outspread wings to left on the obverse and lion to right and the legend Sri Kamara on the obverse. It may also be that he issued the bull and horseman type of silver coins with the Iranian legend Shri Khudavayakaḥ , corresponding to Xvatāvaya, for circulation in the Iranian world. This revolution changed the balance of power on the frontier and brought the Shahis and Kashmira together against the Pratiharas.
Kamaluka’s successor Bhima further strengthened his ties with Kashmira by marrying his daughter to the ruler of Lohara, Simharaja, whose daughter Didda became the queen of the king of Kashmira, Kshemagupta (c. 950-958). At that time the Shahis had considerable influence over Kashmira an evidence of which is afforded by the richly endowed temple of Vishnu, called Bhimakeshava, the remains of which have been identified by Stein with the Ziarat of Bamzu near Martanda, built by Bhima. The coins of Bhima with the legend of Shri Bhimadeva, those of silver having a recumbent humped bull on obverse and horseman with lance on the reverse and those of copper having elephant to right on the obverse and lion to right on the reverse, have been found in Kabulistan and his inscription, showing that he adopted the title of Maharajadhiraja Parameshvara, has been
[p.138]: discovered at Dewai in the Gadun country. That Bhima was the: paramount monarch of the North-West with a dominant influence over Kashmira admits of no doubt. Under him the Shahi kingdom must have reached a high point of progress.
Hund inscription of Jayapaladeva.[6]
...To the north of the Indus, which is a mass of complete merit here on earth, there is (a city) by name Udabhandra, which has been made their home by learned men forming communities, just as Meru (was made their home) by the immortal (gods) and other (supernatural beings)...
...Therein dwelt the chief of kings, Bhīma, of terrible valour (or with valour like that of Bhīma, the legendary hero), by whom, having conquered his enemies' troops, the earth was protected...
...The king of that (country) is (now) Jayapaladeva, who, through his body, origin, and birth, has become the sole hero, whose very pure fame, having left heaven, has attained the eternal abode of Brahman....
— Excerpts of the Hund inscription of Jayapala (HSI), inscribed Year 146 (968 CE). Translation by Abdur Rehman.[7]
Bhima's death
Bhima's death is chronologically placed within the span of 964 to 965 CE. The Hund Slab Inscription attributes his passing to him 'burning himself through Shivas desire but not through the terrible enemy', suggesting a ritualistic suicide, and the absence of any noted political setbacks further supports the inference that his death occurred under such circumstances. In c.965 CE Ghazni was recaptured from the Lawik dynasty by Abu Ishaq, the successor of Alp-Tegin, after Bhimas death.[8]
External links
References
- ↑ Rehman, Abdur (January 1976). The Last Two Dynasties of the Sahis: An analysis of their history, archaeology, coinage and palaeography (Thesis). Australian National University.p.121
- ↑ The Last Two Dynasties of The Shāhis. 1976. p. 124.
- ↑ The Last Two Dynasties of The Shāhis. 1976. p. 123-124.
- ↑ p. 128-130.
- ↑ Buddha Prakash: Evolution of Heroic Tradition in Ancient Panjab, XI. The Era of Consolidation and Expansion, pp.136-138
- ↑ Rehman 1976.
- ↑ Rehman, Abdur (1978). "An Inscription of Jayapāla Śāhī". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1): 32–33. ISSN 0035-869X. JSTOR 25210916. Hinüber, Oskar (2003). Beiträge zur Erklärung der Senavarma-Inschrift. Abhandlungen d
- ↑ The Last Two Dynasties of The Shāhis. 1976. p. 130.
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