The Chronology of Ancient Kashmir

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The Chronology of Ancient Kashmir (From 3147 to 1339 CE) 1. First of all, we have to fix the date of Kalhana, the author of Rajatarangini. Kalhana mentioned that he wrote Rajatarangini in the Saka year 1070. The era referred to by Kalhana was Saka and not Salivahana. Based on the various solar eclipses mentioned in the inscriptions, I have established that Saka era commenced in 583 BCE whereas Salivahana era commenced in 78 CE. Kalhana starts the history of Gonanda I (who was the contemporary of Jarasandha) from Mahabharata era. Jonaraja himself states that Kalhana gave the history of Kashmir starting from the beginning of Kaliyuga. 2. This can also be established that Kalhana mentions that Bilhana left Kashmir when Kalasa was ruling. Bilhana also confirms this in his work “Vikramankadevacharitam”. Bilhana painfully narrated that when he reached Dhara in Madhya Pradesh, Paramara King Bhoja was no more. I have conclusively proven that King Bhoja flourished around 338-394 CE. The inscriptions of Bhoja and his ancestors are dated in Karttikadi Vikrama era that commenced in 719-718 BCE. Therefore, Kalhana wrote Rajatarangini in Saka 1070 i.e. 487 AD (487+583 = 1070) and not in 1148 CE. 3. Undoubtedly, some verses in Rajatarangini were inserted Verse 49-51 and Garga’s sloka (Verse 56: Asan Maghasu Munayah...) was also inserted in Rajatarangini. Sanskrit scholars never insert the slokas of ancient scholars in their works without referring to the names. There is also evidence that George Buhler distorted the statement “Kalergataih Sayaka-netra (25) varshaih Yudhishthiradyah tridivam prayatah” to “Kalergataih Sayaka-netra (25) varshaih Saptarshivaryastridivam prayatah”. Kalhana simply stated that “By 25 years from Kali epoch (3102 BCE), Yudhishthira etc. were no more. Kalhana indicates the year 3077 BCE as the epoch of laukika era. If Yudhishthira died in 3077 BCE, how Jarasandha can be dated around 2448 BCE. 4. It also appears that some references to the laukika era years have also been edited considering the epoch of Saka era in 78 CE. For instance, the Saka year 1070 has been distorted to Laukika year 24. Kalhana clearly mentions at the end of Rajatarangini that Simhadeva completed his 22nd regnal year in the 25th year of Laukika era. It indicates the Kalhana wrote the history of Kashmir up to the 25th year of Laukika era. 5. In fact, Indians forgot the epoch of Saka era by the 10th or 11th century. Gradually, People started referring to the Saka-nripa-kalatita era (earlier name of the Salivahana era) as the Saka era. Indian astronomers introduced the name of “Salivahana” in the 10th century to eliminate this confusion but people forgot the epoch of 583 BCE and only one epoch of 78 CE became popular due to perfect calendric necessities. By the 15th century, Jonaraja also had the knowledge of only 78 CE. Therefore, he mistakenly identified Simhadeva of the 5th century to be

Jaysimhadeva of the 12th century and started writing history of Kashmir from Jaysimhadeva onwards. I have proven in my book with reference to Baharistan-ishahi; how the history given in Baharistan-i-shahi is different from Kalhana’s account. Kalhana was the eyewitness to the history related to Simhadeva. According to Baharistan-i-shahi, Ram Dev, Lakhman Dev and Jaysimhadev were the rulers whereas Kalhana says Uchchala, Sussala and Simhadeva were the rulers. Kalhana has no knowledge of the invasion of Mongol Miku Khan during the beginning of the 12th century as mentioned by Baharistan-i-shahi. 6. Moreover, the historical account of Shahi kings (Lalliya-Tomarana-BhimaThakkana-Trilochanapala[the sons of Trilochanapala : Rudrapal,Kshmapal,Anangpal]) given by Kalhana is completely different from the historical account of Brahmana dynasty (so-called Hindushahi dynasty : KallarSamanta-Kamlu or Kamala or Kamalavarman – Bhim-Jayapal-AnandpalTrilochanapal-Bhimpal) 7. If we place Kalhana in the 12th century, we have to accept that Paramara Bhoja was in the 11th century and we also have to accept that Sandrokottus was Chandragupta Maurya because the time gap between Samudragupta and Paramara Bhoja was 669 years. I gave irrefutable epigraphic evidences to prove that Paramara Bhoja was not in 11th century. Therefore, Kalhana wrote Rajatarangini in Saka 1070 (487 CE) and not in Salivahana 1070 (1148 CE). In view of the above, I came to conclusion that Kalhana gave the history of Kashmir up to 22nd regnal year of Simhadeva i.e. 25th year of Laukika era i.e. 449 AD. Since Kalhana covered the history of Kashmir for a period of 3596 years, he gives the history and chronology of Kashmir from 3147 BCE to 449 CE. The history of Kashmir: From 3147 BCE to 1881 BCE (1266 years) 1. Gonanda I 2. Damodara I 3. Yasovati 4. Gonanda II 5 to 39. The names of 35 kings lost 40. Lava 41. Kusheshaya 42. Khagendra 43. Surendra 44. Godhara 45. Suvarna

52 Kings ruled for 1266 years from 3147 BCE to 1881 BCE.

46. Janaka 47. Shachinara 48. Asoka 49. Jaloka 50. Damodara II 51. Hushka, Jushka & Kanishka 52. Abhimanyu The history of Kashmir: From 1881 BCE to 449 CE (2330 years)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Gonanda III Vibhishana I Indrajita Ravana Vibhishana II Nara I / Kinnara Siddha Utpalaksha Hiranyaksha Hiranyakula Mukula / Vasukula Mihirakula Vaka Kshitinanda Vasunanda Nara II Aksha Gopaditya Gokarna Narendraditya I / Kinkhila Yudhishthira I

22 23 24 25 26 27

Pratapaditya I Jalauka Tungjina I Vijaya Jayendra Sandhimati / Aryaraja

28 Meghavahana 29 Shreshthasena/Pravarasena I / Tungjina II

Duration Y M D 35 53 35 6 0 35 39 60 30 37 60 60 70 63 30 52 60 60 60 57 36 70

6 9

In CE 1881-1846 BCE 1845-1792 BCE 1792-1757 BCE

0

1756-1720 BCE 1720-1680 BCE 1680-1620 BCE 6 1620-1589 BCE 7 1589-1552 BCE 1551-1491 BCE 1491-1431 BCE 1431-1361 BCE 0 13 1361-1298 BCE 1298-1268 BCE 2 1268-1216 BCE 1215-1155 BCE 1155-1095 BCE 1095-1035 BCE 11 1035-977 BCE 3 10 977-944 BCE 5 10 944-874 BCE

32 32 36 8 37 47

874-842 BCE 842-810 BCE 809-773 BCE 772-764 BCE 763-726 BCE 725-678 BCE

34 30

677-643 BCE 642-612 BCE

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

Hiranya Matrigupta Pravarasena II Yudhishthira II Narendraditya I / Lakshmana Ranaditya / Tungjina III Vikramaditya Baladitya

The Karkota Dynasty (4th Taranga) 1 Durlabhavardhana 2 Pratapaditya 3 Vajraditya I or Chandrapida 4 Tarapida 5 Lalitaditya Muktapida 6 Kuvalayapida 7 Vajraditya II or Vappiyaka or Lalitaditya II 8 Prithivyapida I 9 Sangramapida I 10 Jayapida (together with usurpation of Jajja) 11 Lalitapida 12 Sangramapida II or Prithivyapida II 13 Chippata Jayapida or Brihaspati 14 Ajitapida 15 Anangapida 16 Utpalapida The Utpala Dynasty (5th Taranga) 1 Avantivarma 2 Sankaravarma 3 Gopalavarma 4 Sangkata 5 Sugandha 6 Partha 7 Nirjitavarma 8 Chakravarma 9 Suravarma 10 Partha (2nd time) 11 Chakravarma (2nd time) 12 Sambhuvardhana & rd Chakravarma (3 time) 13 Unmattavanti

30 4 60 21 13 300 42 37

2 9 3

4

1

611-581 BCE 580-576 BCE 576-516 BCE 515-494 BCE 493-480 BCE 479-179 BCE 179-137 BCE 137-99 BCE

Duration Y M D

In CE

36 50 8 4 36 1 7

0 0 0 24 11 15 0

15-10-99 BCE to 14-10-63 BCE 15-10-63 BCE to 14-10-13 BCE 15-10-13 BCE to14-5-4 BCE 15-5-4 BCE to 7-6-00 8-6-00 to 18-1-36 19-1-36 to 2-2-37 3-2-37 to 2-2-44

4 1 0 0 31 0

0 7 0

3-2-44 to 2-3-48 3-3-48 to 9-3-48 10-3-52 to 9-3-83

12 0 7 0

0 0

10-3-83 to 9-3-95 10-3-95 to 9-3-102

12 36 3 3

0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0

10-3-102 to 9-3-114 10-3-114 to 9-3-150 10-3-150 to 9-3-153 10-3-153 to 9-3-156

28 18 2 0 2 15 1 10 1 1 0 1

0 8 0 0 0 10 1 0 0 0 6 5

0 4 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

10-3-156 to 9-3-184 10-3-184 to 14-11-202 15-11-202 to 14-11-204 15-11-204 to 24-11-204 25-11-204 to 24-11-206 25-11-206 to 24-8-222 25-8-222 to 24-9-223 25-9-223 to 24-9-233 25-9-233 to 24-9-234 25-9-234 to 24-9-235 25-9-235 to 24-3-236 25-3-236 to 24-8-237

2

0

0

25-8-237 to 24-8-239

0 0 8 0 7 0 0

The Brahmana Dynasty (6th Taranga) 1 Yashaskara 9 2 Varnata 0 3 Sangrama I 0 th The Parvagupta Dynasty (6 Taranga) 1 Parvagupta 1 2 Ksemagupta 8 3 Abhimanyu 13 4 Nandigupta 1 5 Tribhuvanagupta 2 6 Bhimagupta 5 7 Didda 23 th The Udayaraja dynasty (7 Taranga) 1 Sangramaraja 24 2 Hariraja 0 3 Anantadeva 35 4 Kalasa or Ranaditya II 26 5 Utkarsa 0 6 Harshadeva 11 The Kantiraja Dynasty (8th Taranga) 1 Uchchala 2 Sankharaja 3 Sussala (1st time) 4 Bhiksachara (Harshadeva’s great grandson) 5 Sussala (2nd time) 6 Simhadeva (completed his 22 22 regnal years)

0 1 5

0 0 0

25-8-239 to 24-8-248 25-8-248 to 24-9-248 25-8-248 to 23-2-249

4 6 10 1 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

24-2-249 to 15-6-250 16-6-250 to 21-12-258 22-12-258 to 21-10-272 22-10-272 to 8-11-273 9-11-273 to 10-11-275 11-11-275 to 10-11-280 11-11-280 to 9-8-303

10 0 1 4 0 7

0 22 5 0 22 18

10-8-303 to 25-5-328 26-5-328 to 16-6-328 17-6-328 to 21-7-363 22-7-363 to 21-11-389 22-11-389 to 13-12-389 14-12-389 to 31-7-401 401-411 411 (for very short period) 412-427

6

427-449 CE

Kalhana stated that he perused the records of eleven chroniclers, Nilamat Purana and also inscriptions. It is unbelievable that Kalhana was unaware of the Rajatarangini of Ratnakara (if it was written prior to Kalhana) as claimed by some historians. Actually, Ratnakara wrote the history of Kashmir after 449 CE but unfortunately no manuscript is available today. In my opinion, Mulla Ahmed came to know the names of 34 Kashmir kings who ruled after 449 CE. Since it was assumed that Kalhana lived in 12th century, Mulla Ahmed could not explain these names in the chronology. Therefore, he erroneously placed them in the list of forgotten kings. It is again a blunder that has been accepted as a fact. The history of Kashmir: From 450 CE to 1320 CE 1 2 3 4 5 6

Harnadeva Ramadeva Vyasadeva Darnadeva Simhadeva Gopaladeva

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Vijayananda Sukhadeva Ramananda Sandhiman Marahandeva and his brother Kamandeva Chandradeva Anandadeva Driptadeva Harnamdeva Sulkandeva Sanya Dut Mangala Dut Ksemendra Bhamasena Indrasena Sundarasena Galkander Baladeva Nalsena Gokarna Prahlada Wazir Bambro Pratapasila Sangramachandra Alarak Chandra Beramchandra

450-1100 CE

Raja Bibikhan Bhagavanta Mulla Ahmad also mentioned about seven more unknown kings of Kashmir Tunjina Sarabsena Lachman Gandharvasena Surak Vajraditya Vainyaditya or Vinayaditya

Jonaraja mistakenly identified Jaysimhadeva of the 12th century with the Simhadeva of the 5th century and wrote his Jonaraja-tarangini. Jonaraja was not aware of the difference between Saka era and Salivahana era. This also explains the reason why the historical account (11001148 CE) given in Baharistan-i-shahi is different from the account given by Kalhana.

The history of Kashmir: From 1100 CE to 1339 CE

3 4

Baharistan-i-Shahi Ram Dev Laxman Dev (Brother of Ram Dev) Zeyeh Sehm Dev Parmat Dev

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Vanta Dev Bupeh (Vupeh) Dev Zaseh Dev Zageh Dev Razeh Dev Sangram Dev Ram Dev Lachman Dev Simha Dev Suh Dev

1 2

In CE 1100 CE 1136 CE

Jonaraja ---

1136-1162 CE Jayasimhadeva 1162-1172 CE Paramanuka Deva 1172-1181 CE Varttideva 1181-1190 CE Vopyadeva 1190-1208 CE Jassaka 1208-1221 CE Jagaddeva 1221-1243 CE Rajadeva 1243-1258 CE Sangramadeva 1258-1279 CE Ramadeva 1279-1293 CE Laksmanadeva 1293-1305 CE Simhadeva 1305 CE Suhadeva or Ramachandra Rinchan Udayanadeva Kota Rani

In CE ---

1154 CE 1154-1164 CE 1164-1171 CE 1171-1180 CE 1180-1198 CE 1198-1213 CE 1213-1236 CE 1236-1252 CE 1252-1273 CE 1273-1286 CE 1286-1301 CE 1301-1320 CE 1320-1323 CE 1323-1338 CE 1338-1339 CE

According to me, it will be the biggest mistake to consider Kalhana in 12th century. Considering Kalhana in the 12th century and following the Puranic chronology will lead to many anomalies in the chronology and finally we have to accept the distorted chronology of modern historians. This was the reason why historians did not accept the chronology given by Kota Venkatachalam. The magic key to unravel the mysteries of Indian history is the epoch of Saka era in 583 BCE that was forgotten by the 10th century due to which unknowingly number of inconsistencies created by later Indian writers like Jonaraja etc. Kalhana committed certain errors in giving the chronology from Gonanda III to Baladitya. He gave 300 years for one king Ranaditya and many kings ruled more than 60 to 70 years which needs to be corrected with reference to other credible evidence but as per my knowledge, there is no other evidence is available at present.