Master of History? - Page 2

Hi CherryPrincess,
try the following link again:
http://www.hinduvoice.net/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?flavor=archi ve&list=nll&id=20070301163649

You should be able to open it. If not, tell me, I'll post the article here...it's not very long, ok?

Oh sorry, the link is not working, don't know why?

The content on this site is as follows:

Chand Bardai€™s Prithviraj Raso is Authentic History ( Murlidhar H. Pahoja, Ph.D.) (The Hindu Renaissance, Vijayadashmi Yugabda 5108)
Kaviraj Chand Bardai was a court poet of Maharana Prithviraj and his composition "Prithviraj Raso" is an historical epic and an authentic source of India's medieval history. But the British termed it as spurious and fake. Dr. Buhler was instrumental in having the British regime put a ban on Raso's publication. Regrettably some Indian scholars were also taken in by the British slander against the Raso. Kaviraj Syamaldas of Udaipur wrote an article supporting the British thesis. But Raso is an authentic history and this can be established from data available in inscriptions.

Dr. Buhler's thesis as also the criticism by Kaviraj Syamaldas, are mainly in relation to the interpretation of certain facts mentioned in the Raso. Their main arguments are as follows:

1. The Raso states that Prithviraj Chauhan's sister Prithabai was married to Raval Samar Singh of Chittaurgarh. Chronologically this is an impossibility as Prithviraj Chauhan (c.1200 AD) and Raval Samar Singh (c.1300 AD) are placed a century apart.

2. The Raso states that Prithviraj Chauhan defeated and killed Solanki Bhola Bhim of Gujarat in a battle. Solanki Bhim was living even after the death of Prithviraj as is proved by Solanki Bhim's copper plate grant of Sam vat 1256 (1199 AD).

3. The dates given in the Raso do not correspond with the known dates and uniformly precede the known dates by 90 years. The dates given in Raso are therefore, in error and are not reliable.

The above arguments are examined below: Raval Samar Singh:

Guhil Raval Samar Singh, father of Raval Ratna Singh of Pad mini fame, is placed in c.1300 AD, is true. But the Raso does not associate Samar Singh with the Guhil clan of Rajputs. It is true that Chittaurgarh was ruled by the Guhil Rajputs for centuries and the first Guhil Raval was the famed Bappa Raval. But the question here is who was the contemporary of Prithviraj, ruling at Chittaurgarh. Was there another Raval Samar Singh? Sure enough, an examination of the list of inscriptions brings forth another Samar Singh placed in the required time period. Songira Chauhan Maharaj Samar Singh Dev issued two inscriptions dated in Samvat 1239 and 1242 corresponding to AD 1182 and 1185 (Bhandarkar, List Nos. 396 and 406) 3. Kirtipal (also known as Kitu), father of Samar Singh Dev was the founder of the Songira branch of the Chahamanas at Jalor. Kirtipal took possession of Chittaurgarh by defeating Guhil Samant Singh. Kirtipal was succeeded by his son Samar Singh. It was this Samar Singh who was ruling at Chittaurgarh during the times of Prithviraj and whose wife was Prithabai the sister ofPrithviraj.

In addition to the above inscriptions, there are available documents of the time of Samar Singh which corroborate the marriage of Prithabai and Samar Singh. These are as follows':

1. Letter from Prithviraj dated Anand Samvat 1143 (1175 AD) to Acharaj Rishikesh telling him that he has been assigned to Prithabai as part of her dowry.

2. Letters ofRaval Samar Singh to Acharaj Rishikesh

(i) Dated Anand Samvat 1139 (1171 AD) welcoming him as a part of Prithabai's entourage and assigning him his rights.

(ii) Dated Anand Samvat 1145 (1177 AD) stating that the village of Moi is being granted to Acharaj Rishikesh.

3. Letter of Prithabai to her son informing him that Samar Singh has been killed in battle and I am performing Sati, please take care of Rishikesh and his children.

It is clear from the above that Raval Samar.Singh of the Rasa is a Songira Chauhan ruler and not a Guhil King and that this Raval Samar Singh was ruling at Chittaur and was married to Prithabai.

Solanki Bhola Bhim:

Detractors of Raso cite Chaulukya Bhimdev's copper plate grant of Samvat 1256 (No. 438 of Bhandarkar's list) 3 to point out that Solanki (Chaulukyas of Gujrat are also called Solanki) Bhimwas living even after the last battle of Prithviraj (Samvat 1249) and hence conclude that Raso was wrong in stating that Bhola Bhim was killed by Prithviraj. As a matter of fact Inscriptions of Solanki Bhim Dev are available from Samvat 1235 (1178 AD) to Samvat 1296 (1239AD) (Nos. 381, 386, 435,438, 451, 452, 486,487,526 and 527 of the Bhandarkar list) 3 However, all of these do not belong to the same Bhim Dev. The inscription of Samvat 1236 (No. 386 of Bhandarkar list) calls Bhim as Bala Bhim son of Ajay. The geneology given in the copperplate of Sam vat 12560n the other hand, shows Bhim as grandson of Ajay and son of Mulraj. Clearly, Bala Bhim and Mulraj were brothers and Bhim Dev son of Muldev was a nephew of Bala Bhim. It is significant that Bhola Bhim is also called Balakka Bhim in the Raso. This Bala Bhim of inscriptions is the Bhola Bhim or Balakka Bhim of Raso who was killed in battle by Prithviraj sometime after Samvat 1236 (1179AD).

Anand Samvat:

The Samvats of Raso uniformly precede the known Vikram Samvats by 90 years. It only means that the Samvat used in the Raso has a starting point in 90 Vikram Samvat. In fact the Rasa itself states that the Samvat of Prithviraj is Anand Samvat and is different from Vikram Samvat.

In the year 1115 by Vikram Anand reckoning, Prithviraj took birth to win in battle the cities of the enemies.

The Raso equates the Anand Vikram era with Gupta Era.
The year 1100 refers to the reckoning of Prithviraj which like Vikram and Dharmaraj era's is a third era described by the learned as 'Gupta'.

This is an important statement regarding Gupta Era the starting point of which the Raso fixes at 90 Vikram. This is at variance with the view held by historians that the Gupta Era starts at 376 Vikram which view needs to be reconsidered in the light of the above assertion in the Raso.

In conclusion it can be said that based on inscriptional data, the objections raised with regard to the authenticity of the Raso are without foundation and result from ignorance of facts and incomplete home work on the part of the detractors of Raso. The decision by the British Regime to ban the publication of Raso was a highhanded and ill-motivated action. Dr. Buhler who initiated the action, did not base his recommendations on objective analysis and his claim to scholarship is questionable.

References

1. Kaviraj Syamaldas "The Antiquity, Authenticity and Genuineness of the epic called the Prithviraj Rasa and commonly ascribed to Chand Bardai" J Asiatic Soc. of Bengal, V55,Pt.1,1886.

2. D.R. Bhandarkar : List of Inscriptions of Northern India in Brahmi and its derivative scripts from about 200 A.C., Appendix to Epigraphia Indica Vol XIX to XXIII, 1983.

3. D.C. Ganguly, "Northern India during the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries", History and Culture of the Indian People, Ed. R.C. Majumdar, Vol 5, Ch II, pp 87-88, Bombay 1979.

About the Author (Murlidhar H. Pahoja)

The author is a Ph.D in Theoretical & Applied Mechanics (University of Illinois, USA) with specialization in Computer Applications in Engg. Analysis. He was also associated with lIT Kharagpur for nine years as Faculty & Research in Tractor and Farm Machinery. He retired in 1998 from Escorts Research Centre, Faridabad.

Solanki bhola Bhim

According to the wiki on PRC,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prithviraj_Chauhan

Prithviraj Chauhan killed Bhimdev Solanki, when he was 13...Thus, the Bhimdev in the show IS bhimdev solanki...

But, another Wiki about the Solanki Rulers of Gujarat says the following:

Solanki rulers of Gujarat

* Mulraj I (942/960-995/997).
* Chamundaraj (c.995 -c.1010)
* Vallabharaj (c.1010)
* Durlabhraj (1009-1021).
* Bhimdev I (1021-1063). Son of Naagraj and Nephew of Durlabhraj.
* Karnadev I (1063-1093). Son of Bhimdev I.
* "Siddhraj" Jaysinh I (1093-1143)
* Kumarpal (1143-1173). Descendant of Karandev I.
* Ajavapal. Nephew of Kumarpal. (c.1171-c.1176)
* Mulraj II (c.1176-c.1178)
* Bhimdev II (c.1178-1242).
* Jaysinh II (c. 1223) -co-ruler of Bhimdev II
* Tribuvanpal (1242-1244)

Neither Bhimdev I or Bhimdev II died in Prithvi's time period. One died too early, and the other was born around the time he should've died...

Also, it says Bhimdev I built the sun temple of Modhera...

Another website,
this one:

http://www.webindia123.com/history/MEDIEVAL/delhisultanate/d elhi%20sultanate1.htm

states the following information about Ghori:

In 1178 he attempted the conquest of Gujarat. He was strongly resisted by Bhimdev II who inflicted a crushing defeat on him in 1178 AD.In 1179 he conquered Peshwar and annexed Lahore. In 1186 AD Mohammad Ghori deposed Khusru Malik, the last prince in the generation of Sabuktgin and Mahmud and after occupying Punjab kept himself in a strong position in the Indus region.

So dis means bhimdev defeated Ghori wen prc was ten???

One website also states that Bhimdev later became King of Mumbai????.........

This is all really confusing...My head is beginning to hurt...

oh my god thanks guys for all these links. but first i was partially confused, now i am fully confused. 😆 now which bhimdev was there in Patan ni prabhuta? what time was of ghazani? now if neither of bhimdevs were in prithviraj's time period, how could he get killed? but as u said if he bhimdev 2 defeated ghori when prc was ten, then sounds good as apparently PRC did heroic tasks in small age itself.

now does that mean that bhimdev 1 defeated ghazani (& this one then should be a good person and bhimdev 2 defeated ghori (may be a bad person according to sagar's PRC)............. wow!!!!!!!!!!!! so many confusions!!!!!! there were 2 important names, bhimdev and jaisinh in history, and i m having now full confusions about which one was heroic famous one!!!!! oh my god!!!!!!!!! why the hell did they keep same names?????? 😡 frankly i m not sure if wikipedia is correct!!!!!!!!

but atleast thanks to u guys, one thing is clear, my bhimdev was a good and noble person.......... prithvi's times bhimdev may be good, may be bad....... who knows! when even his death is not clear. so i guess, lets just enjoy PRC and forget all these confusions! but i feel bad that i dont even properly know my own history😭

Ok didis thks a lot for your information 👏
I don't want 2 make any comment here as history was never my fav subject 🤢 ...never is 🤢 & never going to be 🤢 .....hope u got the idea 😉
I c PRC just before bcoz of RT superb acting & not to learn anything abt PRC 😆 ....i can be the meanest girl at times😈
Cheers
❤️Kai❤️

i don't want to comment here.but i have read somewhere that bhimdev ruled over gujrat about 60 years or more than 60.he was the longest ruler in gujarat. 😳

Originally posted by: Kai_Hiwatari

Ok didis thks a lot for your information 👏
I don't want 2 make any comment here as history was never my fav subject 🤢 ...never is 🤢 & never going to be 🤢 .....hope u got the idea 😉
I c PRC just before bcoz of RT superb acting & not to learn anything abt PRC 😆 ....i can be the meanest girl at times😈
Cheers
❤️Kai❤️

Same with me Kai...History was not my fav and I see PRC too, bcoz of RT superb acting and not to learn anything about PRC... I mean so many contradictory facts abt PRC!! Let me not get lost in it, better just let me enjoy a show 😛

Truly, it's Rajat, otherwise me and History or even mythology shows...really not interested; all these are for my husband in our home, well...🤔

I accidentally saw once an episode of PRC during Khajane ki khoj and this RT guy took all my attn and I was like 'this kid looks so much like a prince and acts so real!!!!!' ....for me it was some thing new, some thing hard to find ⭐️

Well, thanks to RT, he has created a craze in me to learn about PRC and other Historical characters! But I must say, these contradictory facts confuse me, make all my efforts worthless and deeply disappoint me!

Originally posted by: Kashimani

Same with me Kai...History was not my fav and I see PRC too, bcoz of RT superb acting and not to learn anything about PRC... I mean so many contradictory facts abt PRC!! Let me not get lost in it, better just let me enjoy a show 😛

Truly, it's Rajat, otherwise me and History or even mythology shows...really not interested; all these are for my husband in our home, well...🤔

I accidentally saw once an episode of PRC during Khajane ki khoj and this RT guy took all my attn and I was like 'this kid looks so much like a prince and acts so real!!!!!' ....for me it was some thing new, some thing hard to find ⭐️

Well, thanks to RT, he has created a craze in me to learn about PRC and other Historical characters! But I must say, these contradictory facts confuse me, make all my efforts worthless and deeply disappoint me!

Glad 2 know i am not alone😆...well said di👏

Cheers

❤️Kai❤️