Jayapala
Jayapala Janjua Shahi, the son of Asatapala and father of Anandapal, was the first king and founder of the Hindushahi dynasty of Afghanistan and Northwest Pakistan.[1] He succeeded the last Brahman Shahi king Bhimadeva in about 964 CE, and thus began the Janjua Rajput phase of Shahiya Dynasties.[1] Epithets from the Bari Kot inscriptions record his full title as "Parambhattaraka Maharajadhiraja Paramesvara Sri Jayapala deva" the first Emperor of the Janjua Shahi phase.
Contents |
[edit] Career
He is celebrated as a hero in his struggles in defending his kingdom from the Turkic rulers of Ghazni. Jayapala saw a danger in the consolidation of this new kingdom and assaulted Ghazna both in the reign of Sebuk Tigin and in that of his son Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna, thereby beginning the Ghaznavid and Hindu Shahi struggles.[2] Sebuk Tigin, however, defeated him, and he was forced to pay an indemnity. [2] He defaulted on the payment and took the field once more.[2] Again defeated, he lost lands all the way from Kabul valley to the Indus River.[3] In 1001, soon after Mahmud came to power and was occupied with the Qarakhanids to his north, he assaulted Ghazni once more and upon suffering yet another defeat by the Ghaznavid forces in 1001, near Peshawar, committed himself to a funeral pyre because his subjects thought he had brought disaster and disgrace to the dynasty.[2]
The Minháj ad-Dīn's chronicle Tabaqát-i Násiri,[4] bears a testament to the political and powerful stature of Maharaja Jayapala Shah, "Jayapála, who is the greatest of all the ráis (kings) of Hind..." Minháj wrote on Jaypala: "(He) was perhaps the last Indian ruler to show such spirit of aggression, so sadly lacking in later Rajput kings." [5]
[edit] Succession
He was succeeded by his son Anandapala[2] and other succeeding generations of the Shahiya dynasty took part in various unsuccessful campaigns against Ghazni, and were eventually exiled to Kashmir Siwalik Hills.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Hussain Khan (2004), Chronicles of Early Janjuas, iUniverse, ISBN 059528096X, http://books.google.com/?id=lDcMHW7shO4C, "... Jayapala, son of Asatapala, succeeded Bhimadeva in about 353/964. Jayapala was a scion of the Janjua (Rajput) dynasty ... Jayapala being Janjua (Rajput) was known as Hindu Shahi and had succeeded the former Brahman Hindu Shahi ..."
- ^ a b c d e P. M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton, Bernard Lewis (1977), The Cambridge history of Islam, Cambridge University Press, p. 3, ISBN 0521291372, http://books.google.com/?id=5ccI0u5XDR0C, "... Jaypala of Waihind saw danger in the consolidation of the kingdom of Ghazna and decided to destroy it. He therefore invaded Ghazna, but was defeated ..."
- ^ Ferishta (Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah), History of the Rise of Mohammedan Power in India, Volume 1, p. Section 15, http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=06901021&ct=12, retrieved 2009-06-27, "... finding, by their reiterated invasions, that he was unlikely to enjoy tranquillity at home, he raised a great army, and brought together numerous elephants, with a design to attack them in their own country ..."
- ^ H. G. Raverty's trans., Vol.1, p.82.
- ^ Indian Resistance to Early Muslim Invaders Up to 1206 AD, R.G. Misra, Anu Books, repr. 1992.
[edit] Other sources
- Ram Gopal Misra, Indian Resistance to Early Muslim Invaders Up to 1206 A.D., Anu Books, Shivaji Road, Meerut city, 1983. The book has been reprinted in 1992.
- Sita Ram Goel: Heroic Hindu Resistance to Muslim Invaders, 2001.
