The Solanki are a Hindu Agnivanshi Rajput clan of Gurjar stock who ruled parts of western and central India bet ween the 10th and 13th centuries. Solankis are descended from 6th Century Badami Chalukyas. The name Solanki comes from Chalukya the ancient Indian dynasty. During 543-566, Pulakesi I, established the kingdom at Vatapi (present-day Badami, Bagalkot District in North Karnataka of Karnataka). The Solanki clan-name is found within the Rajput and Gurjar community of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
I often wonder that why Mewar is called so great, that its patrons, the Maharanas called themselves Hindupati, Chattis Kul Sringar (gem among 36 clans of Rajputs). After becoming familiar with its history i came to know the reason.
Mewar is the place in whole of the Rajputana, where almost all of the rajput clans came over the centuries, becoming nobles here, making it much respected among all others Rajput states. Whether it is Chauhan, Rathore, Solanki, Bhati, Jhala, Panwar, Tanwar, you will find their names in history of Mewar. These clans came from different areas where they themselves werShrinathjie rulers, but with different reasons they came to settle in Mewar. They fought and made sacrifices in every single battle fought for Mewar. You name a battle and you'll find these people in it. Some even sacrificed their whole clan, with not even a single child living to carry on their names, like Ramshah Tanwar of Gwalior. That makes it great, that makes Maharana Chattis Kul Sringar.
It is not like that only Rajputs came to settle in Mewar, even God themselves came to seek refuge here.
When Mughal Aurangzeb (1658-1707) came to power in Delhi, he became notorious for zealous destruction of Hindu (infidel) shrines and icons throughout India. He also outlawed the worship of Krishna. Anticipating a raid on the northern holy city of Mathura, traditional birthplace of the god, one of the faithful removed a famous black-stone statue of the deity (Khesavdeva, a form of Krishna).
This statue came to Kota, Rampura and Jodhpur, but no one was able to give refuge to their own god. Nobody had the dare to fight with Aurangzeb. Then at last in 1671, the idol came to Mewar. As, no other Rajput state was able to give refuge to the God, the priest asked Maharana Raj Singh, that can he accept the idol of Lord Krishna? Rana replied, " Maharaj, i cannot guarantee that aurangzeb can't touch or destroy the idol, but i can guarantee that he will be able to do it after treading over the bodies of my one lakh Rajputs.". No wonder Maharanas were called Hindupati. Atleast Maharana Raj Singh truly deserved it.
The legend says the cart carrying the idol got stuck in the mud at the village of Sihar in the fief of Delwara. A sanguni (augur or prophet) interpreted this accident as the pleasure of the god in that he desired to dwell there and from there the statue was duly removed from its chariot. Overjoyed at this decided manifestation of favour, the Delwara chieftain hastened to make a perpetual gift of the village and its lands, which was speedily confirmed by Maharana Raj Singh, who gave the land to the village, in perpetuity as requested. Rana Raj SinghTwenty years later the famous temple that now houses the black marble statue was built, and the village was renamed Nathdwara. After more than 300 years, Nathdwara has become one of the biggest temple in the country in terms of earnings. Lakhs of people come every year, and make offerings.
It is not like that Aurangzeb didn't came to Mewar, he did, but every time he came, he was beaten, his army getting killed and looted, but that's a different story.
Maharana Raj Singh and his nobles showed that whatever people think about Mewar is true in every respect and it is still great.
Posted by Solanki at 4:59 AM 3 comments:
Labels: Mewar, Nathdwara, Rana Raj Singh
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Journey from Chalukya to Solanki
Chalukya - the name without which no part of India's ancient history is complete.
There are many beliefs regarding the origin of the name "CHALUKYA".
One says, it is the name of the warrior who was born from the Agnikund of Abu,
and thus his descendent's were called Chalukyas. This beliefs is based on the concept
of Agnikula Rajputs.
Second theory, which is also based on fiction as the first one, says that, Lord Brahma has created a warrior by taking Gangajal in his "chuluk" (palm) and ordered him to protect
mankind from the "Asurs". Being created from Brahma's chuluk, he was called Chalukya. Most south Indian Kings belonging to Chalukyan family had followed this belief.
Another theory which is not much famous, but is believed to be near true says that, in the lineage of Arjun,the famous warrior from Mahabharat, there was a King named Chalukya, and after his name, his descedents were called Chalukyas. This theory gets some support from history of Solankis of Gujarat, which also mentions lunar race of Solankis, descendents of Arjun.
Gaurishankar Ojha, most famous historian of Rajputana after Col. James Tod, had written a book "Early history of Solankis". In this book, he had given many accounts of ancient Chalukyan inscriptions which says that Chalukyas are of Lunar race ("Chandra Vanshis").
In history of both Chalukya families(South and Gujarat) mentions that their ancestors were ruling in the northern part of India, near Ayodhya and from there they had migrated to South and Central India. Chalukyan King Rajraj's inscription says that "After Udayan, there were 59 Chakravarti Kings in Ayodhya, then King Vijayaditya,of this lineage attacked Southern king Trilochan Pallav. Vijayaditya was killed in the battle, his queen, was given sheltered by a Brahmin, where Vijayaditya's son Vishnuvardhan was born. From Visnhuvardhan, all southern Chalukya kings were descended.
History of Gujarat mentions that Raj and Beej, both came from Kalyani. Most historians have mistakenly took this Kalyani as the famous Kalyani, capital of a strong Chalukyan Kingdom in Southern India. Researchers have shown that there exist a place Kalyankataka, mentioned in Prabandchintamani, Ratnamala and many other books, is believed to be in Vindya ranges in Central India. The bard of Roopnagar, the Jagir Solanki Rajputs in Mewar, traces lineage of his masters to the kings, who ruled near banks of Soram river, which is in central India.Inscriptions of Kaluchari Kings of Central India describes that this place was under the supremacy of Chalukyan Kings. Thus, the belief that Chalukya of Gujarat and Southern India, shares a common lineage and both were migrated from North-central India. Though they have got separated many years before, but shares their title.
The Chalukya brothers from Kalyankataka, migrated to Gujarat and established a dynasty, which was one of the most powerful and famous dynasty of Indian history. This dynasty had changed the future of Gujarat and its surrounding areas.
In the western India, people pronounces "Cha" as "Sa". When the Chalukya Kings migrated to Gujarat, the name Chalukya was pronounced in local language "Salukya, Saluki", and later got changed to Solanki. There are many maratha families in Maharasthra which still have their title as "Saluki or Salunke". In the inscription, which were written in Sanskrit, it was spelled correct "Chalukya", but in local language it got variations and now got a common pronounciation "Solanki". From the period, when the history was started to be written in local languages and the name was written as it was spelled "Solanki".
There are some difference in the Southern and Northern Chalukyas, as the gotra of Southern Chalukyas is "Manavya" and of Northern Chalukya is "Bhardwaj". The family insignia is also different. The clan deity is also different, Southern family worhips Lord Vishnu as their clan deity and the Northern family worhsipped Lord Somnath as their clan deity. But these difference occured due to their different ruling areas. Their is a large difference in both the cultures, thus these differences can occur. Besides these differences, both the families share a common thing, a "Shwet Chattra" which is believed to be their ancient insignia. Though, now a days, the trace of southern family is hard to find, but the northern family is still holding much of its patrimony, mostly in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and in Rajasthan, especially in Mewar.
I often wonder that why Mewar is called so great, that its patrons, the Maharanas called themselves Hindupati, Chattis Kul Sringar (gem among 36 clans of Rajputs). After becoming familiar with its history i came to know the reason.
Mewar is the place in whole of the Rajputana, where almost all of the rajput clans came over the centuries, becoming nobles here, making it much respected among all others Rajput states. Whether it is Chauhan, Rathore, Solanki, Bhati, Jhala, Panwar, Tanwar, you will find their names in history of Mewar. These clans came from different areas where they themselves werShrinathjie rulers, but with different reasons they came to settle in Mewar. They fought and made sacrifices in every single battle fought for Mewar. You name a battle and you'll find these people in it. Some even sacrificed their whole clan, with not even a single child living to carry on their names, like Ramshah Tanwar of Gwalior. That makes it great, that makes Maharana Chattis Kul Sringar.
It is not like that only Rajputs came to settle in Mewar, even God themselves came to seek refuge here.
When Mughal Aurangzeb (1658-1707) came to power in Delhi, he became notorious for zealous destruction of Hindu (infidel) shrines and icons throughout India. He also outlawed the worship of Krishna. Anticipating a raid on the northern holy city of Mathura, traditional birthplace of the god, one of the faithful removed a famous black-stone statue of the deity (Khesavdeva, a form of Krishna).
This statue came to Kota, Rampura and Jodhpur, but no one was able to give refuge to their own god. Nobody had the dare to fight with Aurangzeb. Then at last in 1671, the idol came to Mewar. As, no other Rajput state was able to give refuge to the God, the priest asked Maharana Raj Singh, that can he accept the idol of Lord Krishna? Rana replied, " Maharaj, i cannot guarantee that aurangzeb can't touch or destroy the idol, but i can guarantee that he will be able to do it after treading over the bodies of my one lakh Rajputs.". No wonder Maharanas were called Hindupati. Atleast Maharana Raj Singh truly deserved it.
The legend says the cart carrying the idol got stuck in the mud at the village of Sihar in the fief of Delwara. A sanguni (augur or prophet) interpreted this accident as the pleasure of the god in that he desired to dwell there and from there the statue was duly removed from its chariot. Overjoyed at this decided manifestation of favour, the Delwara chieftain hastened to make a perpetual gift of the village and its lands, which was speedily confirmed by Maharana Raj Singh, who gave the land to the village, in perpetuity as requested. Rana Raj SinghTwenty years later the famous temple that now houses the black marble statue was built, and the village was renamed Nathdwara. After more than 300 years, Nathdwara has become one of the biggest temple in the country in terms of earnings. Lakhs of people come every year, and make offerings.
It is not like that Aurangzeb didn't came to Mewar, he did, but every time he came, he was beaten, his army getting killed and looted, but that's a different story.
Posted by Solanki at 4:59 AM 3 comments:
Labels: Mewar, Nathdwara, Rana Raj Singh
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Journey from Chalukya to Solanki
Chalukya - the name without which no part of India's ancient history is complete.
There are many beliefs regarding the origin of the name "CHALUKYA".
One says, it is the name of the warrior who was born from the Agnikund of Abu,
and thus his descendent's were called Chalukyas. This beliefs is based on the concept
of Agnikula Rajputs.
Second theory, which is also based on fiction as the first one, says that, Lord Brahma has created a warrior by taking Gangajal in his "chuluk" (palm) and ordered him to protect
mankind from the "Asurs". Being created from Brahma's chuluk, he was called Chalukya. Most south Indian Kings belonging to Chalukyan family had followed this belief.
Another theory which is not much famous, but is believed to be near true says that, in the lineage of Arjun,the famous warrior from Mahabharat, there was a King named Chalukya, and after his name, his descedents were called Chalukyas. This theory gets some support from history of Solankis of Gujarat, which also mentions lunar race of Solankis, descendents of Arjun.
Gaurishankar Ojha, most famous historian of Rajputana after Col. James Tod, had written a book "Early history of Solankis". In this book, he had given many accounts of ancient Chalukyan inscriptions which says that Chalukyas are of Lunar race ("Chandra Vanshis").
In history of both Chalukya families(South and Gujarat) mentions that their ancestors were ruling in the northern part of India, near Ayodhya and from there they had migrated to South and Central India. Chalukyan King Rajraj's inscription says that "After Udayan, there were 59 Chakravarti Kings in Ayodhya, then King Vijayaditya,of this lineage attacked Southern king Trilochan Pallav. Vijayaditya was killed in the battle, his queen, was given sheltered by a Brahmin, where Vijayaditya's son Vishnuvardhan was born. From Visnhuvardhan, all southern Chalukya kings were descended.
History of Gujarat mentions that Raj and Beej, both came from Kalyani. Most historians have mistakenly took this Kalyani as the famous Kalyani, capital of a strong Chalukyan Kingdom in Southern India. Researchers have shown that there exist a place Kalyankataka, mentioned in Prabandchintamani, Ratnamala and many other books, is believed to be in Vindya ranges in Central India. The bard of Roopnagar, the Jagir Solanki Rajputs in Mewar, traces lineage of his masters to the kings, who ruled near banks of Soram river, which is in central India.Inscriptions of Kaluchari Kings of Central India describes that this place was under the supremacy of Chalukyan Kings. Thus, the belief that Chalukya of Gujarat and Southern India, shares a common lineage and both were migrated from North-central India. Though they have got separated many years before, but shares their title.
The Chalukya brothers from Kalyankataka, migrated to Gujarat and established a dynasty, which was one of the most powerful and famous dynasty of Indian history. This dynasty had changed the future of Gujarat and its surrounding areas.
In the western India, people pronounces "Cha" as "Sa". When the Chalukya Kings migrated to Gujarat, the name Chalukya was pronounced in local language "Salukya, Saluki", and later got changed to Solanki. There are many maratha families in Maharasthra which still have their title as "Saluki or Salunke". In the inscription, which were written in Sanskrit, it was spelled correct "Chalukya", but in local language it got variations and now got a common pronounciation "Solanki". From the period, when the history was started to be written in local languages and the name was written as it was spelled "Solanki".
There are some difference in the Southern and Northern Chalukyas, as the gotra of Southern Chalukyas is "Manavya" and of Northern Chalukya is "Bhardwaj". The family insignia is also different. The clan deity is also different, Southern family worhips Lord Vishnu as their clan deity and the Northern family worhsipped Lord Somnath as their clan deity. But these difference occured due to their different ruling areas. Their is a large difference in both the cultures, thus these differences can occur. Besides these differences, both the families share a common thing, a "Shwet Chattra" which is believed to be their ancient insignia. Though, now a days, the trace of southern family is hard to find, but the northern family is still holding much of its patrimony, mostly in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and in Rajasthan, especially in Mewar.
Sub-clans of Solankis
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| kuldevi of solanki Rajput |
Solanki Rajput clan is divided into several sub-clans, of which some are very rare to be found. Most of the sub-clans belong to Rajputana, Gujarat and Baghelkhand. After learning the whole lineage, their explanation will be clear. But this place is too small to give the detailed lineage, thus only small discription is given for popular clans, click to continued ..........
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