History of Somnath/Queen Shobha - Page 3

Originally posted by: jhum_86

it was 1178 A.D when prc in the age of 13 defeated bhimdev solanki...and in 1026 A.D when mahmud destroyed somnath...the bhimdev solanki of ssk was the crowned king...ssk bhimdev was ancestor of prc bhimdev...and somnath temple was reconstructed by prc bhimdev...

A ruler, titled Grah Ripu (possibly a yadav ruler of Okhamandal) had his capital in Vamansthali (Vanthali), and was supposedly very tyrannical and agressive. Mulraj next engaged him in a major battle, where Mulraj struck Grah Ripu in the battle field. Lakho Fulani, the Jadeja chieftain from Kutch also came to aid Grah Ripu during this battle with Mulraj. Eventually, Mulraj vanquished Lakha Fulani also and extended his borders further into Saurashtra and Kutch.

Mulraj made strong alliances with other powerful princes of different regions of India, including the Rathore of Marwar, to whom he presented his sister in marriage. Towards the end of his prolific military career, Mulraj, like Asoka the Great, was remorseful and repentant. He visited multiple places of pilgrimage and granted large land holdings to Brahmins and their families, hoping to atone for his sins. Chief amongst these land gifts, were the towns of Sihor, Khambhat and Sidhpur which he granted to the Brahmins.

His son, Chamund Raj was also a worthy warrior and ruled successfully after his father. He had a properous reign of 12 years, during which he reigned justly and peacefully. He abdicated in favor of his eldest son, Vallabh Raj, who however, succumbed to Small-pox during an invasion of Malva, soon after his being crowned as the king. His younger brother Durlabh Raj was then placed on the throne. Durlabh's reign in Anhilwar was also peaceful and spent in the construction of temples and improvements in his kingdom. He did not have a male issue, so his younger brother's(Nag Raj) son, Bhim Dev, was crowned the sovereign of Anhilwar, upon the abdication of Durlabh Raj.

The first sack of Somnath (A.D 1025), by the Afghan plunderer, Mahmud of Ghazni, occurred during the reign of Bhim Dev. During Mahmud's sixteenth raid on India, he had vowed to destroy the great temple of Someshwar Mahadev (Somnath), and marched rapidly across Sindh, Ajmer and Abu into Anhilwar. Bhimdev was unprepared for battle, and had to flee. However, he gathered his forces and attacked Mahmud at Somnath on the third day of the seige, along with other Rajput chiefs consisting mainly of the Gohils of Mangrol, the Valas of Chotila. Bhimdev however, was thoroughly routed after a fierce battle, and Somnath fell to the Mohammedan plunderer. Mahmud destroyed the idol and looted all the riches before commencing his march back to Anhilwar. He decided to pursue Bhimdev to teach him a lesson for his insolent attack. He sacked the fort of Gandhvi, where Bhimdev had fled, and plundered it. Thereafter, Mahmud retired back to Anhilwar, and before commencing this long journey back to Afghanistan, he decided to establish a vassal ruler over Anhilwar, who would agree to pay tribute to him. A Dabhi Rajput ruler may have been temporarily installed in Anhilwar by Mahmud, but he was quickly deposed by Bhimdev, and Anhilwar was once again brought under the control of the Solankis.

After an eventful and long reign, Bhim Dev abdicated in favor of his son Karan Raj. The reign of this king was mostly peaceful excepting for small skirmishes with tribal chieftains in forests on the banks of the Mahi. He founded the city of Karnavati. His reign ended due to his untimely demise, and his son Siddhraj being a minor in age, his queen, Minal Devi governed the kingdom in his stead.

Upon his reaching manhood, Siddhraj Jaisingh continued the munificent work of his late father and his noble mother. He first demonstrated his heroic prowess with his attack and long seige on Malwa in retaliation to a stealth attach by King Yashovarman of Malwa, on Anhilpur in Siddhraj's absence. He captured Yashovarman and strengethened the kingdom of Anhilwar. Siddhraj Jaisingh is credited for being a brave a chivalrous ruler, and is considered to be one of the greatest Rajput heroes of Gujarat. The story of Siddhraj's war with Ra Khengar of Junagadh over the hand of Rainak Devi has been immortalized by the bards. The seige on Junagadh is supposed to have lasted for over 12 long years, after which Siddhraj finally managed to gain access to the impenetrable fortress, and killed Ra Khengar. However, he was not able to win over the object of this war, as the captured queen Rainak Devi, refused his advances, and readily immolated herself on the banks of the Bhogavo river, near present day town of Wadhwan. Ruins of a shrine that Siddhraj built in her memory is still present there.

Siddhraj Jaisinh was an illustrious ruler and his long reign of 49 years was replete with battles, and noble acts of chivalry, justice and generosity. It is during the reign of this ruler that the Gohils first entered Gujarat from Rajasthan, under their ruler Sejakji Gohil. Siddhraj passed without an issue, and the throne passed to Kumarpal Solanki, a nephew of Siddhraj. Kumarpal's accession of the throne of Anhilwar was quite dramatic, especially as he was the youngest of 3 brothers, and had fallen from the favors of Siddhraj and had been driven from the kingdom. Many of Siddhraj's loyal supporters refused to accept the election of Kumarpal as the legitimate king and left Anhilwar in disgust, to join hands with enemies of the state. Amongst these, a certain Vahad, the son of Siddhraj's former minister, left Anhilwar and joined the services of Raja Anak Chauhan, the monarch of Ajmer. The king of Malwa also took this opportunity to march against Kumarpal. However Kumarpal was able to withstand and emerge victorious against both these enemies, through a grand display of military skill and personal valor. He next extended his territories by subduing the chief of Konkan and taking control of his dominions. During times of peace, Kumarpal spent much effort in repairing and constructing places of worship, both for the Brahmanic as well as the Jain sects.

Some smaller chiefs of Sorath rebelled against Kumarpal, and an attempt to subdue them with a large army from Anhilwar resulted in heavy losses and a sound defeat for Kumarpal. This uprising was led by a Vala Rajput ruler of the area of Chotila, called Samarsinh. This event sparked a period of furious struggles between Kumarpal and the chiefs of Sorath over an extended period of his reign. However, Kumarpal is remembered as one of the great monarchs of Gujarat and a worty successor to Siddhraj Jaisinh.

Kumarpal has a long and generally prosperous reign of 31 years after which he was succeeded by his nephew, Ajaypal, as he had died without an issue. Ajaypal was a tyrant and vehemently opposed to the Jain religion, to which his uncle Kumarpal had developed a deep respect and afforded a lot of support to, during his reign. However, his tyraniccal acts resulted in an assisination of Ajaypal just 3 years after his coming to the throne of Anhilwar. He was succeeded by his young son, Mulraj-II, who is also known as Bal Mulraj, due to his young age at the time of his father's death. The kingdom was administed by Mulraj's uncle, Bhimdev-II, on account of his being a minor in age. Mulraj-II died shortly after being proclaimed king of Anhilwar, and his uncle, Bhimdev-II was crowned the next king. Bhimdev-II was an illustrious and valiant warrior, and successfully defeated Mohammad Ghori during an invasion on India. Bhimdev-II however, was an impulsive ruler and prone to making rash decisions, due to which he is also popularly known as Bhim Bholo. Bhimdev-II. The period of his rule is filled with intrigues and petty wars with surrounding chieftains, and many historians believe that Bhimdev may actually have been the biggest cause for the lack of unity amongst the contemporary Rajput rulers of his era, which resulted in the muslims gaining a huge advantage by defeating Prithviraj Chauhan at the battle of Terrain.

He attacked Jetsinh Parmar, the ruler of Abu, to gain the hand of his daughter, who had already been promised to Prithviraj Chauhan, the ruler of Ajmer and Delhi. Bhimdev-II defeated the combined forces of Jetsinh and Prithviraj and took control of Abu. He then decided to continue his victorious tour by attacking Prithviraj Chauhan in Ajmer. Prithviraj at this time was preparing for a confrontation with Mohammad Ghori on the North-west of his dominions and was ill-prepared to fight Bhimdev. However, with his tact and great military skill, Prithviraj managed to surprise the army of Anhilwar and give Bhimdev a sound defeat. After this battle, Prithviraj immediately marched North, and routed the army of Shihab-Ud-Din Ghori from his dominions, forcing him to return to Afghanistan.

Bhimdev-II attacked Ajmer again, to avenge his earlier defeat, and under the pretext of the murder of 7 of his cousins in the court of Prithviraj Chauhan. He was confronted in Ajmer by Prithviraj's father, Someshwar Chauhan, whom Bhimdev-II soundly defeated and killed in personal combat. This resulted on an immediate attack on Anhilwar, under Prithviraj Chauhan and other united Rajput forces, who were tired of Bhimdev's impulsive behavior. Bhimdev was crushed in battle, but only after both sides took heavy losses. This war resulted in a major weakening of Prithviraj's military strength, as a result of which, he was unable to quelch a second attack by Shihab-Ud-Din Ghori, which led to the end of the Rajput control of Delhi, which fell into the hands of the muslim invaders.

After the fall of Delhi into the hands of Ghori, he left it in charge of his general, Kutb-Ud-Din, who did not lose time in extending his domions past Delhi, into Ajmer, and shortly into Gujarat thereafter. He defeated Bhimdev-II, but was unable to hold on to Anhilwar for long, and Bhimdev eventually regained control of his territories. However, Bhimdev was greatly weakend as a result of his continuous agressive activities and the resultant reprisals that he had faced. Bhimdev-II was the last substantial Solanki ruler to have contolled most of Gujarat and Saurashtra. His kingdom was breaking apart around the end of his reign and his vassals were starting to strongly rebel against him. The Vaghela Rajput rulers, who were his vassals, took advantage of this weaking of the Solanki rule, and took control of Anhilwar under Vishaldev, who expelled Bhimdev's weak successor, Tribhuwanpal Solanki.

Mulraj
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Chamundraj
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Durlabhraj
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Bhimdev-I
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Karanraj
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Siddhraj Jaisinh
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Kumarpal
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Ajaypal
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Mulraj-II (Bal Mulraj)
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Bhimdev-II (Bholo)
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Tribhuwanpal

i found this article on net.hope it'll be a li'l helpful regarding prithviraj chauhan n bhimdev.but i found lot of dissimilarities between the history given here n shown in serial.i hope those who are reading the works on somnath temple provide us with some authentic info.

Originally posted by: mnx12

Shobhna is not a fictional character, she existed at that time. I have read a novel by K. M. Munshi- "Jay Somnath", in that Bhimdev married Chaula & Shobhna dies trying to save temple. Gazni succedsin the end.

Originally posted by: -sahasra-

i read in wiki dat bhimdev marries Udaymati, a pricess of Saurastra Narvahan Khengar. He had also married to Bauladevi (also called Chauladevi) who was not a princess. Bhimdev had a son named Karndev from Udaymati and sons named Xemraj and Mulraj from Bauladevi. Mulraj died in very early age.

in one previous epi dadda chalukya was saying to vallabhraj dat shobhna is princess real name n they call her as something i don't remember(was it chaula?)

Originally posted by: BhartiKhushi909

thy call her chakuli n chaula will gng to be dada's daughter n shobhana's cousin

btw thnnx for the info my confusion is clear now😊

Originally posted by: BhartiKhushi909

here's the ol9 book version of Jai Somnath by K.M.Munshi.